bazoid

Thanks so much for your detailed response! I responded to some of your comments above, in orange. A few follow up questions: - I think of Georgetown as definitely having a stronger brand than GW on the national level, but is this true when you're applying to policy jobs in DC? I'm especially curious because Trachtenberg's program actually ranks slightly higher than McCourt's according to US News (not sure how much stock people put in that, though). - (I'm making the assumption you're a Georgetown alum here, sorry if I'm wrong) Did you find that Georgetown made it difficult to get academic support as well as career support? Other students/alums I've talked to have mentioned some frustration on the career side, but I hadn't heard any grumblings about their academic support systems, and I'd heard faculty are generally helpful and approachable. - What exactly do you mean by "prestige jobs"? I don't see myself pursuing an elected position and I'm not too concerned with climbing up the ranks in an organization to some sort of powerful role. At the same time, I want to set myself up for opportunities to do challenging, interesting work that is reasonably well compensated. (I know the MPP isn't the degree to pursue if you're hoping to make a lot of money...I don't need to strike it rich; just hoping to make a comfortable living.) In other words - I'm trying to clarify whether you think GW will set you up for mediocre job opportunities in a broad sense, or if it just won't be the best program for a specific set of highly coveted positions (also trying to clarify what those positions are).

I've got acceptances to several MPP programs. Currently, the top of my list consists of George Washington, Georgetown and Brandeis (not necessarily in that order). I'm having a really tough time deciding between the three. My primary area of interests is urban and housing policy. Here are my pros/cons: George Washington - Pros: heard really good things about career services/support, best ranked of my top choices, in DC (lots of job/internship possibilities) - Cons: doesn't seem like urban policy is a huge area of focus; couldn't really find many faculty on their website who were doing research I'd want to get involved with, most expensive of the three after financial aid (though very close in price to Georgetown) Georgetown - Pros: really strong on quantitative skills, strong brand name of school, found some faculty doing research that aligns with my interests - Cons: haven't heard great things about career services, also heard that the subject-specific coursework is not fantastic (as opposed to the quant classes, which are) Brandeis - Pros: supposedly they take a much more progressive approach to policy issues which is intriguing to me; a professor reached out about shared research interests which was really cool and I'd love to get involved with her work; small program so maybe more opportunities to connect with faculty; most affordable of all three (about $10k less than Georgetown) - Cons: not strong on quant, small program (both a pro and con!) so fewer peers to connect with; I have lived in Boston most of my life so it's less exciting to me and maybe has fewer policy-related job opportunities Other schools I got into but which are probably off the table: - Syracuse Maxwell MPA: I'd prefer a two-year program and to be in a larger city - Chicago Harris MPP: heard about not-great student experiences online - NYU Wagner MSPP: didn't get a lot of funding; also a one-year program Any thoughts or perspectives would be very helpful!!