EC1225

I'm pretty set on Fletcher at this point. 
I got in to GWU, American, Georgetown, and SAIS - but none of them have hit the level of Fletcher so far for me, in terms of funding or outreach. I'm increasingly excited about the coming year! 

I was admitted ED in December to MPA-DP. Didn’t recieve any funding in the initial letter so I am hoping to recieve somethinggggg now that all admission decision are out. 
 
I did reach out to financial aid and they said “You will be receiving more information about financial aid from our office in the coming days, thank you for your patience.” So fingers crossed?
 

that makes both of us! I just got so upset to be honest

AHH I AM ALSO ON THIS BOAT, no news from the International Fellows Program.... MPA-DP accepted, here.
Also, have all the accepted MPA-DPs NOT heard of funding yet?
I also applied to the Obama Scholars Program but have no idea when will I hear about that. 
 
 

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

And yes, does anyone have any information on the result of International Fellows Program? I applied to this program, but no news on the decision so far (also got no information on the funding ?). Is that possible that they will release the IFP decision separately? I'm pretty curious on this and planning to email the IFP coordinator if there is no update within these two days ✌️

I do agree, that they are incredibly career focused and one of the best funded schools at Tufts (I don't have the stats in front of me, but that sounds about right). However, I view them as being in a weaker position to take advantage of that career focus. They are less able to make gains from their dollars due to structure issues. Here are the issues that I see:

1. Diminishing Core Career Strengths
Fletcher has historically been known for being strong pipeline for Non-Profits/NGOs/IGOs with maybe a second (though less significantly so) towards Government Service. Those two spaces are simply diminishing in attractiveness and opportunities due to changes in the last 10 years (everything from social, to geopolitical, and etc.). The career services has been making a strong effort to diversify their pipeline into private sector via their DC and New York trips, but the bottom line is that there is strength in being known for something. 
2. A Brand Problem
Fletcher has a great brand within the IR space, but the problem is that outside of the IR space, I would argue that struggle with brand recall, let alone brand sentiment. This is purely anecdotal, but I will say that even within the DC policy space, I have seen people look at a Fletcher resume and ask what school is that. Historically, Fletcher can focus on their ares of strength and be okay with having lower brand recognition. However, with many job routes leading outside of the traditional IR space + interdisciplinary be the way of the future, this limited brand scope is going to be a problem for Fletcher students.
3. A Capability Problem
Yes... Fletcher is connected to Harvard and there is a long established relationship there. However, at the end of the day, Fletcher is not Harvard. Just because your neighbor lets you borrow their pool here and there, doesn't mean that the pool is your's to fully enjoy. I say this because, Fletcher sans Harvard is in a rather weak position to be interdisciplinary. Although Tufts has tried to improve the situation, there is still a rather sharp divide between Fletcher and the Tufts undergraduate community and limited organized synergy. Tufts doesn't exactly have other major professional schools in proximity (that being the keyword) to the Somerville campus for Fletcher students to co-create/collaborate with. Logistically, getting to Harvard from Somerville (Remember you have to go there and back) is burdensome. Columbia, Georgetown, and event GW can point to their interdisciplinary offerings range as a source strength that can drive career opportunities - something that Fletcher lacks. Yes, you can be a certified negotiator at Fletcher... but you can do that at lots of places.
4. A Location Problem
As an IR school, it helps to be adjacent to the IR network and IR institutions. Fletcher is in a suburb of Boston (not even Boston proper). This matters because this limits the amount of networking that you can do, but live projects that are accessible. You can't exactly hop on over to do a project during the semester to boost your resume as you could if you lived in DC or NYC... or even a bigger city like LA (don't get me wrong, I love Boston). You are stuck waiting for a summer internship. Harvard and MIT don't struggle with this location problem as much because people are more willing to come to them + they have invested in massive and well-funded centers that make them a destination to begin with people in the IR / IR adjacent space. + have their own organization connected project to partake in.
5. A Competition Problem
Fletcher faces tougher competition from all angles.
US only:
a. Within the US - MPP/MPA schools are getting more into IR relations type matters
b. Other IR schools are expanding their programming
c. New market entrants are coming onboard - like Yale, to the IR related grad school game.
International:
British schools like Oxford and LSE are strengthening their program offerings in IR/area studies/policy in an effort to try to attract the international student population.
Bottom Line
Fletcher will likely persist to have amazing teaching quality and a strong student experience. But with its core strengths mattering less and its dynamics confronting tough situations, its IR space focused brand value can only carry so much water.

Aren't they incredibly career focused and well funded? I think the quality of their teaching matters very little as long as those two factors are top notch. 

Tufts Fletcher is decently unique school. I wrote about it previously
 
 

I don’t know. USC or UCLA that well other than that they are great programs. However, since California is its own world of special when it comes to policy, those schools really are great for a California / West Coast network. I heard you can pull off pivoting to East Coast / DC but why walk uphill both ways?

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

I received admission offers from UChicago (25 percent aid) and Tufts (40 percent aid). I'm a lawyer from India with 6 years of experience in law and about 3 years in the policy sector (at the cusp of IR and PP). I am keen to focus on technology policy but also to develop some basic quant skills. 
Any thoughts on either of these schools? How do they compare against each other?  Is Tufts a good brand name? 
I am also waitlisted at UC Berkeley for the MPP. 

I don't now about UNDP. As for USAID, I mean at the end of the day its about who you can network with to move your application to the top of the pile. That is unless you have amazing credentials + developmental experience. Ultimately that depends on two things.
1. What strings your professors can/will pull for you.
2. What experiential learning you can do to pad your resume (this is where a better branded school gets you access to)
All grad programs are cash cows for Universities (think about it, you don't have to worry about student housing + and student life, at least not as much). That being said, SIPA is well known for being impersonal for having massively large classes + poor community (at large). When I was considering SIPA, I was told on the DL that in some classes I might not be able to have desk as they were in the process of moving/construction.  You do end up with great career opportunities, stud professors, and amazing NYC experiential learning access + awesome peers. However, all my friends who went to SIPA and enjoyed it had their separate NYC lives on their own. 

Wagner suffers from a lesser version of this problem as well. A weak community because there are too many NYC distractions. As in ALL of my Wagner friends all comment how they didn't really make any grad school friends and there wasn't any meaningful get togethers. 

So I haven’t done a deep dive even different credit variants and how they are executed, but I will say that some schools (notably DC area schools) have a soft expectation that you will work part time throughout the semester to pad your resume and therefore structure their program accordingly. Some programs are more administratively academic and often allow options to do internships as credit (since they are through the school more often than not).
Yes - GWU is decently more respected that AU. I am not trying to brand focused or mean about it but just what I seen. Seen too many of my friends from AU struggle with the competitive job market.
 

I received my acceptance today! Looks like I will be an undergrad and graduate Bruin! 

I am also waiting for it! I hope we hear good news within the next week.

My friend who got the 75% scholarship said the entire MPP at USC will be about $23k altogether.

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! 

Got into both programs I applied for (Georgetown Asian Studies and Security Studies) but got no money from either so I'm probably not going to grad school anymore
 
Applied on a whim due to pandemic and waived GRE, already employed, was gonna attend for personal enjoyment. But 75k+ for "personal enjoyment" is a bit expensive. That's a lot of personal enjoyment traveling the world five times over.

Anyone heard from GWU Trachtenberg yet? Waiting on them and SIPA ?

Extending the work of our ancestors, and doing my duty as lurker for the past few months. 
Previous versions of this thread are here: 2020, 2019, 2018, and 2017,
Format below:
Program Applied To (MPA, MPP, IR, etc.): 
Schools Applied To:  
Schools Admitted To:  
Schools Rejected From:  
Still Waiting:  
Undergraduate Institution:  
Undergraduate GPA:   
Undergraduate Major:  
GRE Quantitative/Verbal/AW Scores:  
Years Out of Undergrad (if applicable):  
Years of Work Experience:  
Describe Relevant Work Experience:  
Strength of SOP (be honest, describe the process, etc):  
Strength of LOR's (be honest, describe the process, etc):  
Other: