ca010

Did you decide on UW? I had the same decision between Evans and Duke-Sanford

Is anyone attending?

Yes I am also having trouble with leaving San Francisco for graduate school this fall. The Inner Sunset, Haight and Cole Valley neighborhoods basically surround UCSF and all seem to have a high concentration of UC students walking up the hill at all hours. All 3 are excellent neighborhoods but quite expensive. The outer sunset isn't quite as nice as the inner sunset because the inner sunset is just a little easier access to the rest of the city and has a great collection of cafes and restaurants. Cole Valley is the nicest of the areas right next to UC.

With these varied interests, it sounds like Goldman and Sanford would be the best fits. Both are known (at least on these forums) for their domestic strengths--but both also have strong global policy programs. Both are also cheapest for you (assuming you are a CA resident?). Goldman was also my dream school at the start of this process and I too am a CAL grad. I think part of it was nostalgia but it's a great program and that little brown and white building is so cool, right? I'm leaving the Bay Area for Sanford because of a generous funding offer and the chance to live somewhere new for a few years as I've lived in Northern CA most of my life. I'm a little worried about studying in North Carolina and trying to get a job in the Bay Area, but I'm not 100% set on coming back, so I'm just going to see what happens Best of luck

So you went to the open house? Or somewhere else?

This is an interesting thread. It sounds like you have a difficult choice, but you're deciding between excellent schools. I went to Berkeley as an undergrad (I also considered GSPP) and I took quite a few international-oriented classes as a History major. It seemed like GSPP had very few classes for international policy and since there is no International Affairs department at Berkeley you would piece together classes primarily from the Political Science, IAS (International and Area Studies), some ERG, and other departments. My sense of the IAS department when I was there was that it had some amazing professors but was somewhat disorganized as an interdisciplinary department. The political science and ERG departments are exceptional though, and at an info session that GSPP held in November they said they would be introducing an ERG/MPP dual degree soon if you're interested in energy. I don't think it would require a big effort to make your degree more international. I got the sense that it was the norm to take classes in departments around campus. That probably means visiting a professor at office hours to ask if you can join a graduate level seminar. Berkeley and Stanford are different in a lot of ways, but their graduate departments are top 5 in most areas and to have full access to these classes is really an advantage. Best of luck in your decision.

I wanted to start this topic because I will most likely accept Sanford's offer and would like to know who else will be attending. Also, if anyone who went to the open house today could give a quick run down of what the day was like, what your impressions were, or any pertinent information, I'd greatly appreciate it.

I have the same question, but it's Sanford not Stanford so who you might not get the response you wanted.

Thanks. Yeah they sent out an email in early January that said there was a deadline for an Educational Opportunity Fellowship and I wrote a 1 page essay. It's $1500 stipend and tuition reduction from out-of-state to in-state. Didn't expect to get it, but a pleasant surprise.

I got an email last week that said I got a fellowship that I applied for (EOF) and that funding decisions would be sent out soon.

I agree with Nimesis. I read one or two posts from last year with the same issue. It's too bad because I went into the process hoping Evans would be a school that I could possibly get some funding from and Seattle is a great city. But I'm quite skeptical at this point

Yeah I would second this advice. As a Berkeley undergrad I'm partial to the school but the difference in funding in your situation is too big. I would make an effort to land a GSI or reader position at GSPP before making the decision though.

Unfortunate that they can't just have all admit/rejection notices ready to go and sent out at once. Now I get to think about it all weekend? That's weak.

My two cents: $50 million is a lot for an MPP program, but GSPP seems to me to be a significantly better program at this point and that's not likely to change in the next few years. If the donation turns into big fellowships right away then that's a different story. Berkeley just seems like they have much better graduate programs and since you're a CA resident it's not a huge debt burden.

Fadedindreams Wow. Thanks for the answers. The information is really helpful even though I don't know if I'm in or have any funding. It eases my mind so thanks for the effort.