adollarninetynine

lol sorry dude but no mpp/mpa program is going to scream prestige except maybe princeton.

If you are seriously thinking that the US news list for MPAs are even close then you are delusional. First of all, the biggest factor that should matter is a school's ability to place students in jobs. Everything else is secondary. Secondly, the reason why these rankings suck compared to the ones for undergrad, law, or business is because it is just hard to collect info and streamline the methodology and rankings for MPA programs which are harder to quantify and qualify. It is better to use common sense such as knowing that any ranking that places Syracuse, Georgia, or Indiana above Princeton and Harvard clearly has a flawed system.

They are looking for many things, but there is nothing you can do at this point anyways. It is not like you can go back in time to secure more work experience/internships, graduate from a better school, get into a better school, or get better grades. Just apply broadly and widely and don't have any standards.

For full disclosure, I am a HKS student and I think I should start by saying that policy schools in general have a harder time establishing a great career services office because of the nature of the school and program. Other professional schools have it easier because the students who go there are streamlined into entering highly recruited industries. For example, it is relatively easier for career services in law schools to maintain contact with just law firms while business schools focus on investment banks or consulting firms. At policy schools, the students pursue such a wide variety of positions with employers who generally do not hire a lot of students and who are in the public sector with different hiring schedules. This makes it harder in my opinion for any policy school career services to create a streamlined recruiting process for its students or maintain connections with prospective employers. I think Vince nails it on the head regarding why WWS seems like its career services are top notch. The student quality plays a significant role. However, I have noticed from talking to WWS students that the career services there has managed to find ways to keep in contact with employers and provide ways for WWS students to have an easier time getting interviews or getting their resumes looked at. So basically the career services office there does some of the "networking" for you which is what I think should be done by career services instead of just giving empty advice to students. If you apply to any given job on the internet without connections from career services or networking, you have low odds at getting an interview just because of the typical HR process at most places. With this being said, I would say that one of the biggest assets of going to SIPA is the proximity to NYC. From personal experience, I know that being just a train ride from many prospective employers will help you a lot.

I'll just say I am in one of the more popular concentrations at the risk of being outed. I will say that our criticism's of HKS's career office may also be found at many schools, but this is just my experience at HKS. I am also in a dual degree with another professional school so my criticism are even greater than my peers because I have a point of comparison. Lastly, I will say that I do understand that career services is not there to get you free jobs and that students need to hustle and put effort, but even with that considered the HKS office has been terrible. First of all, the career office literally has no connections with any employers that allow for students to have an easier time networking or finding alumni.recruiters. Most of the time, the people working there are lazy or incompetent and their best advice is always to "network". There is no streamlined recruiting process here, and most of the times it is like looking on craigslist in that random e-mails are sent telling us to look at job postings. You literally have to do everything on your own and the process is very disorganized. From what I have heard from my WWS friends, they have their act together over there. It seems to me that the career office here expects us to ride of the back of the Harvard name and do nothing. They are also very vague regarding employment statistics. If you go look at the stats, it is impossible to discern any meaningful facts from them. A laymen reading them would think that it is reasonbly doable to get a job from Mckinsey or the world bank or hit a decent salary to pay off the loans, but in fact most of those jobs go to dual degree MBAs and it is much harder for HKS students to land their first choice jobs. This also goes back to the career office having nothing to offer in terms of making it easier for students to get their applications actually read when they apply online for a position. It is never a good thing when students know more about hiring and such than the career office. These are just some basic criticisms, but once again remember my preface. This is to be expected at most policy schools but Harvard has a higher bar because of its brand so I think it deserves the criticisms.

There is no large leap of logic since I am a current student here, and I can tell you straight off the bat that most of my classmates here know this to be true. You seriously can't take one guy on an internet board as evidence. You are right in that Princeton's class size makes it easier, but I can tell you without blinking an eye that not even close to 70 people in my class receive the level of funding at Princeton. Considering Harvard's wealth compared to Princeton's, this is ridiculous. I do agree that the funding mechanisms are different, but that is my main complaint. HKS has been historically and presently terrible at fundraising, finding resources, and building a strong foundation for students in terms of career services. Like I said, if any of you join HKS this year you will soon find out that my "bashing" is actually tame criticism compared to what you will hear when you arrive. I would not beat up any other school for these problems, but HKS does deserve it because if it is going to brand itself using the Harvard name, it needs to live up to it.

you are right in that most policy schools stink with financial aid. HKS gets a lot of crap and I think rightfully deserves to because of the amount of resources the university has and it refuses to help its students. if princeton can do what it does over at WWS, than I don't see why HKS could not do better than it does right now. if HKS low balled its students but provided ample opportunities for students or did better with its courses or something I would be more inclined to give them a break, but i am sure many of you will find out that most of the students here despise the career services office for its incompetence.

Nobody can tell you for sure even if a school says it is, but HKS is notorious for being cheapskates and they overly emphasize the ability to self fund.

He will learn how much it sucks to go to these programs without work experience when he is struggling to find a job or an employer who will touch him over someone who does have work experience.

I was politely insinuating that it is stupid to turn down money to be a ivy league prestige whore.

This is true as well. Like I said, if you have a job lined up SIPA will be great as long as you don't mind the likely six figure investment. If you already have a job lined up, I don't see why you would go to a school that gives you financial aid unless you really love SIPA.

The reason is that at schools like Tufts or SAIS, the university as a whole invests a lot in those schools while at SIPA the university pretty much ignores it and does not deliver the quality you would expect at Columbia University. SIPA's program in international affairs is more respectable within the school but just go to SIPA's website and take a look at the employment statistics. When you factor in the fact that the school manipulated the data as best as it could and it still looks that bad, you know something is off. It doesn't mean that SIPA won't take you where you want to go. I have a few friends who went there who now work at the World Bank and all the good stuff. But in comparison to Fletcher, SAIS, WWS, or HKS where the school invests money and tries not to make it second fiddle, you will need to be sure you have good work experience and know how to network and find jobs on your own. Other than that, it is a great experience and you will learn a lot. Unfortunately, the point of professional school is to get a job.

lol revolution struck again while I was gone. SIPA is a pretty good school in terms of education and academix experience, but it suffers from its crappy career services and has terrible employment statistics. if you go to SIPA, make sure you are ready to hustle your butt off and you already have high quality work experience. also, don't even think about going to SIPA at full price especially if you can't pay for the cost of living in NYC. SIPA's bad rep comes mostly from its high acceptance and the lack of career services mentioned above. More important, it really is famous as a cash cow for Columbia University. HKS is also to a certain extent, but HKS does provide its students with things you would expect at a high level institution like a mediocre career office, easy cross registration, networking opportunities within the university, etc. SIPA is kind of a school that does not make it any easier for its students to succeed after graduation while just collecting cash that gets redistributed mostly to other schools.

I feel bad for you, but you along with some people in this thread are coming off as entitled. To be blunt, you have a bad GPA, sub-par recommendations, not the most relevant or impressive work experience, and a mediocre GRE quant score and you feel bad that you get rejected everywhere? This was the most probable outcome. I agree that you need to let go of your ego and follow the advice right above me. And Destine, you should have known that applying with zero work experience was pretty much the kiss of death. Of course people around you are going to tell you what you want to hear, and you really can't believe anyone would be a shoe in at a competitive school like Harvard.

I know some of you are disappointed but if you really want HKS I would recommend that you reapply because it really does help to show them you like them and are committed. I was rejected and I reapplied and was accepted as well. School will always be there so don't feel like you have to start school again this year. And contrary to all my bashing of HKS, that sub 20% acceptance rate is real and the question is not "Why was I rejected" but "Why was I accepted".