East_of_Eden

William and Mary's program is a great one. I went there for a visit a few months ago and was so impressed with everything! The students are intelligent and wonderful people, the faculty is kind and caring, the professors are respected and accomplished and the campus is idyllic and absolutely gorgeous. Needless to say, I left with a wonderful impression. The program itself is supposedly highly quantitative in nature. W&M, like other more suburban campuses, doesn't seem to garner the same enthusiasm from prospective students. Understandibly, most people want a campus with great access to a big city and W&M doesn't really have that. From what they told me, the program does have a lot of interaction with DC and VA state gov't offices. The program director informed me that everyone gets some form of grant funding. They're very good at evenly distributing the grant money among all students and they seem to be well funded by the state of VA. On top of that, it's already cheap being a public university. The only downer I saw was the location. While it's incredibly beautiful there, it feels very isolated. W&M, in my opinion, proves the US News rankings aren't to be taken too seriously. I mean, W&M is regarded with so little respect by them. I don't get it.

To Cloudless_Climes: How are you financing your education at Brown? Were you the recipient of a scholarship or grant? If so, how did you go about procuring one? Or, are you taking out loans through the university, etc.? BTW, you represent the program very well through your posts!

Demetrios and Saison..., well said! With each passing day, Cornell's appeal is growing on me more and more. While I'm still waiting on Hopkins, Penn and a few others, I doubt anyone else's offer (fingers crossed) will be as financially competitive as CIPA's. Anyone looking to earn his/her MPP/MPA would be a fool to turn down such great funding from such a reputable university. With the way things are looking, I'll be seeing you there in the fall.

To DefinitelyMaybe: You ought to think about contacting them regarding your application. I obviously don't know your stats and experience, but since they have been notifying applicants regarding acceptances, now is as good a time as any to let them know you're still earnestly interested. To any/everyone: I just discovered that I didn't earn a grad. fellowship to Taubman, which may mean that I can't go. I'm still looking into university grants and other ways to finance my education there outside of just loans. I'd love to go to Providence, but the prospect of being 100+k in debt at graduation isn't sitting too well w/me, especially when I already have a 25k/year fellowship to Cornell. Good luck all!

CIPA's program is very strong. I think the reason you're not seeing anything about it on this board is b/c most people are looking at schools with greater access to big cities. I think. Cornell's location makes it unappealing b/c it's, quite literally, in the middle of nowhere. But it is beautiful there. That being said, CIPA has a strong faculty, great academics, good networking options in D.C. and a powerful name in Cornell. The program is somewhat young comparatively. I have a friend there now and he loves it. He was admitted to SIPA, GW, GPPI and others, but chose Cornell b/c of the people and the program. You mentioned Syracuse in your post, but I don't know how CIPA compares in terms of name recognition. Syracuse seems to have a great program, but being an upstate New Yorker I know that the city of Syracuse is miserable. I wouldn't worry about the US News ranking; it really isn't based on enough credible info. I received an acceptance from Cornell two weeks ago and am entertaining the prospect of going there. The only downer, in my opinion, is the incredible distance from any major city. Ultimately, go where you feel the most comfortable. Hope this helps!

I too have been accepted to Taubman (Brown). While the program is in its incipient stage, those of us who are considering accepting their offer of admission need to realize that a university such as Brown doesn't just start a public policy program for the heck of it. A school of Brown's caliber has no desire to simply offer a mediocre program in one of the fastest growing fields. No young program is going to race to the top of the rankings, especially rankings solely based on peer-assessment (US News). KSG, WWS, GPPI among other programs are, and probably always will be, at the top. After visiting and meeting with people at KSG and GPPI, I made a conscious choice not to apply. This was not b/c I didn't have the stats. I believe my application is competitive with most. I got a warm, hospitable vibe at Brown -- a vibe absent at KSG and GPPI. Of course, it all comes down to one's preference(s). Some want greater networking options, some want the strongest name possible, some want a big city. For me, I want a strong name, a place I feel comfortable, great academic opportunities and people who I believe care a lot. Oh yeah, and funding. To me, Brown has what I'm looking for. Ultimately, I may not choose to go there, but it won't be because of its US News ranking or the inane comments from those idiots on that autoadmit strand. If anything, the fact that a Taubman student took the time to post helpful replies should be somewhat indicative that the program seems to care.