goodlife

stilesg57, I think that any of the schools you are choosing between will end up giving you an excellent experience. Even though I grew up in Michigan, I'm not sure that I will qualify for in-state tuition, so without the fellowship funding I received, it would be a difficult gamble. However, I forgot to mention that U-M has a number of Graduate Student Instructor positions who help teach classes and run discussion sessions (they say about 20 hours of work per week). While these positions are probably tough to get, if you land one, you get full tuition coverage for the semester AND healthcare. If you are out of state, even landing a position for one semester could cut your costs down by about 16K. It seems that these positions mostly go to 2nd years, but keep in mind that the University needs GSI's for undergrad classes, too. So if you have a strong background in some area, you could try to land one of those positions your first year and definitely try to get a GSI position for Ford School classes if you do well during your first year. Just a thought. I like all the schools I applied to, and I was pretty excited about UChicago, but my decision was made a little easier by the funding I received from UM and the intangibles I mentioned earlier (type of community at Ford School, family nearby, etc.). However, it still bothers me that such a big consideration is finances. If you really like UM, try to talk to them and current students and see how likely it is that you could obtain a GSI position, although I realize that's a big gamble when you have guaranteed money elsewhere. Best of luck and I'm sure everything will work out!

Hey All, I'm leaning heavily to the Ford School for a number of reasons. Here are some of them: 1) Strong Quant/Econ Focus - While I'm sure Duke will give you the basic skills, the fact that the Ford school teaches you calculus will allow you to explore economics at a deeper level. They also have many other econ courses, and for me, that is a plus. I don't want to crunch numbers for a living but I think a solid understanding of econ and quant methods is essential. 2) Size - While Duke isn't tiny, I like the approximately 100 student size of each cohort. It helps to give you a broader network and just keeps things interesting so you are not in the same classes with the same people all the time. I obviously have not gone to school at Duke so I can't say what it's like, but I would worry that having such a small class size could be either really awesome or absolutely annoying depending on your classmates. I'm sure everyone will be bright and nice, but if you just don't click with people, that could be a bad experience...who knows though, maybe I'm worrying about nothing. 3) Electives - Ford school has amazing electives, especially in social policy. The problem with having a smaller program like Duke is that they cannot offer lots of electives because they aren't enough students to fill them. While this may have changed, I have heard from a Duke alum and a current student that many of the electives are open to upperclass undergrads and that it is possible to have an elective with a few or even a majority of undergrads depending on how many grad students sign up. That is very unappealing to me, as I think that having grad students with a wider range of experiences to contribute to discussions is something I am really looking forward to. Plus, you can easily take classes at other schools, like business or law. Also, at U-M most electives are offered pretty regularly each year whereas at Duke its hard to tell if a class will be offered again. 4) Age - The Ford school is more developed and probably has a wider network, not to mention the benefit of having the wider U-M network, though I cannot say whether people often find jobs by using the broader network. 5) Building - Weill Hall where the policy school is housed is a beautiful building. I couldn't make it to Duke and hear that they have an amazing building, so I won't say that Ford takes this category outright. 6) Location - I've never been to Durham, but I think that Ann Arbor is probably more happening. Coming from a big city, that is something that is important to me, and I just don't think I'd be as happy in Durham. 7) Dual Degrees- Nearly 30% of MPP students pursue dual degrees and you can apply for a dual degree even during your first year. They are very accomodating and even allow you to develop your own dual degree. For example, you could pursue a dual degree in policy and political science even though they don't even offer a poli sci masters degree. That's it for now. But in the interest of full disclosure, I'll mention that I got a very generous funding package from the Ford School and grew up in Michigan so I do have family nearby. I think both schools are really good with strong faculties, but some of those "intangibles" seem to tip the scale for me. Like someone else said, I don't think you'll go wrong professionally speaking, but you need to think about where you'll be happy. And for me, I think that the Ford School is it. Hope that was helpful. Feel free to react or clear up any inaccuracies. Hope to see some of you on Friday at U-M!

Hey All, Congratulations to those accepted to the Ford School. It looks more and more like I will be going there, so hopefully I'll get a chance to meet some of you. I also wanted to mention a few things: 1) Tuition - Unless I'm mistaken the rates that Cerise had a link to are for the whole year (Sept - April), so if you are an out of state student, it will probably cost you about 67K in tution for the whole program (assuming you do not receive any funding). Check it out again below: http://www.finaid.umich.edu/Financial_A ... s/cost.asp 2) Admitted Student Website - In one of the admitted student emails, the U-M staff sent us a link to an admitted students website. If you go to the site and click on the login link on the top right corner of the screen, you can use your U-M ID to login and create a profile. A few people, including myself, have typed in a brief bio so that other prospective students can get to know some of the students who already attend the school and others who are considering attending. If you have time, make a profile so we can see what you've been up to and get to know each other. (I visited the school in the fall and may not be able to make it in April, so I'm really trying to get students who are likely to attend to make a profile!) http://www.fordschool.umich.edu/admits/ 3) Ford School Strengths/Weaknesses? - While I think I'm going to the Ford School, I'd like to hear if anyone is set on going to the school or on the fence, and if so, why? Maybe talking about it can help some people make decisions, or give future Wolverines a chance to get to know each other. Just a thought... Hope to meet some of you soon, and good luck to those still waiting for admissions decisions (I'm not holding my breath for Harvard).

I have not received an e-mail... perhaps some of us will receive our e-mail in the next few hours, or it may be possible that they are only notifying people who will be receiving some sort of aid that decisions will be given next week, since they did say that only those receiving a scholarship will be contacted today. if you receive an e-mail today, i think it's a pretty good sign. good luck everyone.