daniSF

I just finished meeting with Bethany Pope at GW, so I now feel like I can comment on my perceived strengths/weaknesses of both GW and GPPI. GPPI (I attended the 4/1 open house) Pros: -Engaging faculty, especially Prof. Ferrara and EJ Dionne, who are plugged into the DC policy network -Current students were approachable and seemed to be very well positioned to get whatever job they want upon graduation -90% of students work -Very small class sizes for the core, track and thesis courses -Career services staff was warm and funny Cons: -You can really sense how far Georgetown is from the rest of (metro-connected) DC -The open house didn't provide a lot of opportunities to chat with potential future classmates, so it's hard for me to make a call on what my classmates might be like, what their interests are, etc. -Administration was polite but not warm and engaging...I think it's important to feel comfortable with this group of staff because you will likely be spending a lot of time with them over the course of two years -It was hard for me to tell how applied the classes *really* are. It seems like when students/profs say their classes are applied, they are only referring to case studies, not actual work for real clients -Thesis requirement. I know that my future career will be a collaborative one that is not research-based, so this was really unattractive to me. -Gulf between full-time and evening students GW (I did not attend the open house, but spoke one-on-one with Bethany Williams and two current students, an MPA and MPP) Pros: -GW has done a spectacular job at keeping in touch with prospective students. I have never had to wait longer than a day for a response to a question. I also extremely impressed that Bethany took it upon herself to make sure there were current students available to talk to me during my visit today. -GW's curriculum is more in line with my interests. I'm interested in urban policy, and they have a specific track for that (unlike GPPI, where I would have to cobble together my own specialized track which could be difficult and time-consuming). I also like that while you get a strong foundation in econ and stats, you can *choose* whether or not you want to do more quant, and it is totally available. As I will not be going into research, I appreciate this flexibility. -The location. Right off a metro stop = extremely accessible. -The current students. Smart, friendly, engaging, willing to answer all of my questions honestly. -There seems to be a very collegial relationship between faculty, administration, and students (everyone is on a first-name basis) -Excellent, excellent placement of students in the Presidential Management Fellowship program. According to Bethany, GW had 8 finalists this year, which is the most of any DC school. GW has also placed the most students in PMF out of all participating schools in the history of the program. -Career services: everyone talks about Paul Binkley and how great he is. I didn't get a good sense of how GPPI students felt about their career services staff. Cons: -Mostly evening classes -20% of the entering MPA/MPP class (about 120 students) are straight from undergrad. Personally, I feel that the MPA/MPP is more valuable after you've had a few years of work experience under your belt. -GW doesn't have the nationwide recognition that Georgetown has, but in DC it doesn't matter. I did ask about job placement in other parts of the country, and Paul Binkley has arrangements with other policy schools throughout the US, so that you can take advantage of their networks and career websites/databases -Doesn't really have a campus feel since it's so urban. However, I'm not trying to recreate my undergraduate experience so it doesn't matter as much at this point in my life. Overall, I think that GW can offer me the most and I can really tailor my education to fit my interests. It's also significantly cheaper to attend than GPPI. I want to work in the federal government, and I am confident that GW can get me there without requiring me to take out massive amounts of loans. I'm also not research-oriented, so I think that GPPI's curriculum will be too rigid for me. I truly enjoyed my hour-long chat with Bethany and the students, and came away feeling that GW is a better fit for me than GPPI. Laurbor, what were your thoughts on GPPI?

Could you let me know how the GWU MPP open house went? I'm deciding between GWU and Georgetown for the MPP. I'm from out of state, so I can only make the Georgetown one on Friday. And if you have any insight on GWU vs. Georgetown, that would be amazing if you could share it as well. Thanks!

laurbor, Could you let me know how the GWU open house went this weekend? I'll be attending Georgetown's on Friday. Thanks!

Hey arsenal, I don't think that you have to register beforehand (at least I didn't). I'll check with admitted students' website later tonight. Don't you wish they could have provided the link to the website in the e-mail notification, rather than on paper? Haha.

I asked Emmet Griffin about this too, since I'm planning on flying in from San Francisco to attend the April 1st open house. It looks to me like the agenda is the exact same for April 8. I've copy/pasted the agenda he sent me (this was not included in my snail mail packet): Georgetown Public Policy Institute Fall 2011 Admitted Student Open House Healy Hall 103 Friday, April 1 and 8, 2011 Agenda 1:30 – 2:45 p.m. Welcome and Program Overview 2: 45 – 3:15 p.m. GPPI Career Options 3:15 – 3:45 p.m. Financing Your GPPI Education 3:45 – 4:15 p.m. Coffee Break 4:15 – 5:00 p.m. Sample Class 5:00 – 6.00 p.m. Faculty Presentation 6:00 – 6:30 p.m. GPPI Student Perspective 6:30 – 8:30 p.m. Reception

That would be great if you could let me know how the GWU open house goes. Right now I am leaning towards the Georgetown open house. Like you, I also want to go to a school where I will feel challenged with the curriculum. It seems to me like I will leave Georgetown with harder, more technical/analytical skills under my belt. I haven't visited Georgetown since high school - I know it's a Jesuit institution, but I'm wondering if anyone who's been there feels like religion pervades the atmosphere.

I'm also debating between the Georgetown and GWU MPP programs. I didn't receive any kind of scholarship/fellowship aid from GWU, and I'm guessing that the same will apply to Georgetown. I did the math, and the tuition difference alone over two years for the full-time program is at least $30,000 - something I didn't think about until now. I'm from San Francisco, but applied to grad schools out East hoping to get some experience working in the federal policy sector. I was excited to get into GWU, but then my acceptance to Georgetown put on the blinders and that's all I've been thinking about lately. I will only be able to attend one open house, so I still have a decision to make as to where I visit. I could be totally, completely wrong here (please correct me if I am), but it seems to me that the Georgetown name carries more weight than George Washington. Maybe it's a West Coast perspective, I'm not sure. But if the name does carry more weight and opens up more job opportunities for me, then the extra $30,000 might be a worthwhile investment. Having said that, I find GWU's curriculum to be more approachable than Georgetown's (maybe the course descriptions are just friendlier). I also like that GWU has a specific Urban Policy track, which is what my interests revolve around. Another thing I've been thinking about is that while Georgetown may have some celebrities in their faculty, they might be harder to access. GWU is also centrally located and the Foggy Bottom Metro stop is really convenient too. I stumbled upon this thread from 2009, that might be of interest to you since it asks essentially the same question: