oldfuturehoya

I found out today that I was admitted to the McCourt School’s Master of Public Policy and Master of Policy Management programs with 55% and 50% merit aid, respectively. Now I must make a decision. I work full-time and applied exclusively to McCourt because I cannot move for grad school. I have many years of work experience in and around government and policy-focused non-profits — I’m a… mature student who doesn’t fit the student profile at all. This isn’t so much about improving my career trajectory as it is about sharpening my policymaking skills and earning a degree I wish I’d pursued much earlier in life. What should I do? I’m particularly interested in the opinions of folks who earned their MPP or MPM several years ago and have perspectives about how each is viewed by their contemporaries.