EC1225

How does everyone feel about the dual degree? I can’t decide if I want to do the single degree or dual.

What do you guys know about the MUP (Masters Urban Planning)? I was accepted to that too! I’m trying to figure out which one I should do between MPP, MPA, and MUP.

I’m still holding out funding hope as long as not a single MPA DP student has reported funding. It doesn’t make sense!

Anyone heard back from MPP yet?

Have any other MPA-DPs received funding? I was accepted no news about scholarship yet.

I applied for 2021! Did you end up matriculating?

What other schools are you considering? West Coast or bust?

I’ve heard great stuff about Tufts. What are you looking for specifically?

Makes sense that NYC schools are worse about community, do you have thoughts about USC or UCLA for policy? Or are you more familiar with East Coast?

What about in the development field? I would love to either end up at USAID or UNDP or something similar. Have you heard about AU/GW/G-town for that? And is SIPA as much of a cash cow as everyone says?

Oh yikes! Does GW have a better rep? And do you have thoughts on the size of the MPP? Like, 57 units (NYU) vs 40 (AU). Why are some so many more units if they’re all MPPs and all two year programs?

How bad is AU’s brand recognition? I have $$ funding to AU MPP and $ to G-town MIDP, in addition to MAID stuff from AU and GWU.

Anybody here also thinking about USC Price?

Well, isn’t UCLA only like $25,000 a year for Angelenos? Because that’s almost the same price for USC with 75%!

How minimal is minimal? Is that like $ or $$? It’s all so expensive!! And I misunderstood! I thought it was AU SIS; it’s Johns Hopkins.

Did you apply to any LA schools? I am LA-based and am torn about staying or heading East. NYU is very attractive to me, but the initial funding was very bad.

You feeling Elliott or SIS? I was accepted to both too!

Well, NYU is a higher ranked school but it is MUCH more expensive. I’m not sure about the transportation aspect specifically, but I’m sure that there will be aspects at both, since public transportation is a big deal in LA and NYC. Do you have any other deciding factors? Lol I’m also looking at both!

Dealing with similar things! Although all the programs I’ve been accepted to are two-year, some are a LOT more credits and I probably wouldn’t be able how work while doing it like some of the others. They’re also more expensive! Do you think the benefits outweigh risks with higher credit load degrees?

How about McCourt MIDP?

I need help deciding on the programs I’ve been accepted to! USC MPA is 40 credits and NYU MPA is 57 credits. They’re both 2 years, but one is both more expensive and more classes. How should I weigh this?

How much should the amount of credits required affect my decision? I applied to several MPA programs in the cities I am most interested in living in. Now that I’m getting some acceptances, I have to decide and the amount of units required is a much bigger variable than I expected! For example the MPA for USC is 40 credits and the MPA for NYU is closer to 60. I had assumed that since all of them were 2 years long, that the curriculum would be more similar to each other than what it turned out to being. So, my question is: is it more wise to pursue a cheaper degree or a degree with more classes? Thanks!

Gotcha! Thanks. Can you also tell me how I can edit my post when I receive acceptances/rejections from these schools?

What do the different dollar signs mean when describing financial aid? What's the difference between $$ and $$$? Is it a percentage thing? I'm new to thegradcafe!

Program Applied To (MPA, MPP, IR, etc.): MPA/MPP/MAID Schools Applied To: USC Price MPP/MUP/MPA, UCLA Luskin MPP, Georgetown McCourt MIDP; Walsh GHD, American U SPA MPP; SIS MAID, Schools Admitted To: Schools Rejected From: Still Waiting: All of them! Undergraduate Institution: Small Religious Undergraduate GPA: 3.99 Undergraduate Major: Intercultural Studies (Anthropology and International Development Minors) GRE Quantitative/Verbal/AW Scores: 167/169/5.5 Years Out of Undergrad (if applicable): 2.5 Years of Work Experience: 2 Describe Relevant Work Experience: 1 year AmeriCorps VISTA, 1 year university chaplain Strength of SOP (be honest, describe the process, etc): Ok. I didn't have as many specifics about what I wanted to do (as you can see by the breadth of programs I applied to) and this might have showed. Strength of LORs (be honest, describe the process, etc): Not so sure. I had two former supervisors and two former professors write my LORs. I know they like me personally and consider me a good candidate, but some of them didn't seem very confident about their abilities to write good LORs. So we'll see! I had my more confident ones take most of the applications. Other: It's weird because I'm trying to get by primarily on scores and less on experience. I know I don't have very good work experience for the programs I am applying to, but I am hoping my standardized test scores and grades will get me through.