RyeGuy5555

Thanks! That's really helpful. I'm definitely going to avoid interning in the fall to gauge the work load, but hopefully will be able to handle a part time job from then on. Defintiely will want to take advantage of being in DC.

Hey, I'm attending GPPI in the fall and was hoping someone from the program would come around here to answer some questions! Sorry, I have a bunch: What is your program concentration? Are there any concentrations that GPPI is known for being particularly strong in? What professors did you like and would you recommend taking classes with? How difficult and time-consuming have you found the course work, particularly math classes (and how much math had you taken before enrolling)? What was your undergraduate degree in? How do you find the career services, are they knowledgable and helpful? Where do you work while you're in the program? What policy work did you do in NYC? For those curious about my stats, I applied straight from undergrad as econ/poli sci major with a GPA of 3.6 from a big ten public school, GRE scores of 730V/750Q/5.5W and several internships but only 2 directly policy related but no long-term jobs. I received a scholarship and research assistantship covering ~2/3 of tuition.

Yeah, isn't it something like 20-25% of new MPP students have had no work experience? These are probably almost entirely students going right from undergrad so don't let those "Most students have had 2-5 years of work experience" statements discourage you. I was accepted this year right out of undergrad to 5 out of 6 schools I applied to with only a 3.6 GPA and a couple policy-related internships, so if you can put together a good statement of purpose and have decent GRE scores you have a really good chance of getting in where you want to. But yeah, don't forget a safety school or 2.

There is a facebook group but it's only somewhat active. It's Georgetown Public Policy Institute 2011. I'm from Wisconsin!

Oh no, I know several Jews/Agnostics/Athiests that have attended Georgetown and they certainly didn't mention noticing any kind of religious pressure. There are definitely religious symbols around campus but I believe Georgetown's Catholic affiliation has little or no bearing on the academic and social experiences of most of the students who attend the school.

I live in Madison now, and you're not going to hate it. It's a fantastic city (Pittsburgh can't even really compare). And it's walkable, you don't need a car if you don't want (big plus for me), it's progressive and young, the whole city is centered around the university and state government. I just can't rave about it enough. If you're interested in health policy at all, try to take a class with David Weimer (and he teaches some other stuff at La Follette too, possibly education). I took one with him in undergrad and it was one of the more memorable. I just turned down funding from La Follette last week so hopefully that'll move you up the list, Mew.

I've lived in Madison, the Twin Cities, and College Park and can say that all are great places to live, with some preference for the first two. But then again, I'm from the Midwest so it may just be a regional bias. With Madison you get more of a college town feel (albiet a large college town with tons to do) while the Twin Cities are larger and have a more urban vibe. You really can't go wrong with these choices. La Follette and Humphrey are both great (somewhat underrated) schools with really dedicated faculty and lots of social policy electives, but I don't know much about UMD-CP academically.

I'll be there too! It was a really difficult decision between GPPI, Michigan, and Duke but at the end of the day I really wanted to be able to study in DC to beef up my resume. Despite the rather unsatisfying admissions process, after talking to several current students and alums it seems like everyone pretty much loves the program.

Did it seem like people in the program were pretty close and non competitive? Did they have any complaints about the difficulty of getting in touch with faculty or administration? Did it seem like people generally worked while attending grad school? Would love to get input/anecdotes from anyone who attended or will attend the open house.

I also got 10 K, but DC is so expensive and you'd think a wealthy private institution like Georgetown could give out more. Did anyone hear anything about an assistantship? It says here: http://gppi.georgetown.edu/12373.html that some people are considered for them with the affiliated research institutions during the admissions process but no one seems to have posted anything. Well, still got to wait another week to get the admissions packet, maybe that will say more.

FINALLY they email me with good news! All that stuff about being pissed off about the admissions committee being disorganized has melted away and GPPI has become my first choice :-)

Does that mean you were told what your scholarship amount would be in Mar 14? If so, when were you notified to send a statement for scholarship consideration? My notification was March 3, a day after being accepted, saying that we'd hear back the following Wednesday. Then I was told scholarship decisions were being put off for another week on March 13 but then again didn't hear anything at all this week. Guess that's probably a bad sign. Then again, maybe it's encouraging that you heard on a Saturday and today isn't over yet. Did anyone hear anything about scholarships this week?

Are you talking about straight up admissions? There are still people who haven't been admitted yet or are you refering to the second wave of scholarship considerations? Dude I'd be thrilled with $5K, I just can't believe they asked for a statement and now they're putting it off week after week and leaving us hanging after saying we'd hear back this week. And we can't even necessarily expect to hear back because they originally said only people receiving aid will get an email. And Duke is not going to offer me more aid unless Gtown offers me some! Gah, so frustrating!!

I do have to say though, the delays and the overall unsatisfying admissions process has been sketching me out about Georgetown a bit. I mean, there's no email listserv for admitted students, no method for getting in contact with current students or alumni or posting FAQs. Their website is a disaster. Are there any current GPPI MPP students reading this that can testify to the quality of the program in general? Starting to feel like if the admissions office doesn't have their shit together, the rest of the GPPI administration might be just as disorganized...?

That probably explains why they're jerking us around so much. There's another wave of applicants that GPPI wants to consider for scholarships and they don't want to make any decisions until they consider all the statements together. Sounds like you have as good a chance as any of us, pritinsp.

Sorry to nitpick, but does that mean "if you haven't received an email about being considered for funding," or "haven't received an email telling you that you are getting funding?" I assume you're referring to a phone call with or email from GPPI?

Fair enough, didn't mean to cast doubt.

Yeah, dude, I've started like making bargains with myself. "Not gonna check my email for 3 hours..." etc. It always ends up being like 30 minutes but ya know. The email should seriously have said "we'll try to get back to you by 3/11," instead of "if we don't get back to you by 3/11 then NO AID FOR YOU." Here's hoping the person nyr spoke to was correct.

Nada, it's very disappointing. We can only hope they're late like they were for the last wave.

I pretty much just peed myself after getting an email from Emmett Griffin. Then realized it was just information about the open house.

I haven't yet , crossing my fingers though.

Yeah I'm trying to decide now between Duke and Georgetown (still waiting on Berkeley) and it is such a hard decision! On one hand, I want to be in DC because it is such an exciting time and I want to work. On the other hand, I'll probably end up there long-term and figure it might be good to get some variety in location for my graduate school experience. Financial aid will probably be a big factor.

Will these come by email or by snail mail first? Well it's good to know we might get them before March 20, I need to inform Duke about my financial aid from other schools by March 19.

Does anyone know anything about the stats of those who get into the Harvard Kennedy School? Can't find them anywhere. Better yet, do any of you go there or know anyone who goes there? I'm applying to MPP (Masters Public Policy) programs (already applied to Duke, Berkeley, planning to apply to GWU and Georgetown) and I just can NOT decide whether it's worth doing the extra 4 essays it takes to apply to Harvard. I did well on the GRE, got a 730 Verbal, 750 Quantitative. However, I only have a 3.6 GPA due to a couple Cs in calculus and statistics, which I realize are pretty important to MPP programs. I'm also a little apprehensive because they recommend 3 years of full-time work experience, although it's not required, but I'm just about to graduate from undergrad (poli sci/econ major at a top public university). I do have a good deal public policy internship experience, but we're talking like 2 summers and part-time during the school year. What do you all think, any chance?