goldenbear26

Berkeley's Goldman School is amazing. They make it very easy to secure GSI or GSR (TA positions) positions. At just 10 hours of work a week, they'll waive your tuition. At 20 hours a week or more they'll waive your tuition and give you a healthy living stipend. I'll be entering my first year at Goldman in the fall and I secured a GSI position immediately. They'll be waiving my tuition and paying me 1500 a month (more than enough to pay for housing, food, and some books). Also, it's not like I had to try hard to get this gig. Goldman's Staff has sent out pages and pages of openings and have repeatedly said that GSPP students are incredibly sought after on campus. I applied for 1 of the many openings and got the gig immediately. So, I'll be spending two years at Goldman knowing that I'll probably graduate debt-free. That's how Goldman helps ensure that its students go back into the public sector.

Berkeley GSPP - https://www.facebook.com/groups/413943908619995/

Hey -- If any of you (or someone you know) are planning or seriously considering on attending GSPP in the fall. Join our facebook group! https://www.facebook.com/groups/413943908619995/ Go bears!

Anyone here set on Berkeley? I'll be attending for sure. If anyone on here is set on Berkeley -- or will be attending the open house -- PM me. I'd love to get a FB group going soon.

They're up. I couldn't care less about these us news rankings, but I am happy to see that berkeley snatched the top spot for public policy analysis from harvard this time around. go bears!

Duke with 22K! Anyone know if they offer travel vouchers for ASD? Might check it out -- never been to NC.

Whoops. Accidentally said that full cost of GSPP (including living expenses) is 46K. Don't know why I wrote that. It's about 70K when you have in-state residency. But again, that obviously goes substantially down when you use the GSI gigs to waive tuition.

Definitely looking at the California Legislative Analysts Office. Great salaries, great way to get into high level positions in CA state politics, and challenging work. Tons of GSPPrs end up there. They offer a great internship -- pay about 3K a month in the summer (which goes a long way in Sacramento). I'd definitely apply to intern at the WH OMB in the summer (I'd probably take the LAO though, they hire a bunch of their interns). I'll obviously take a swing at the PMF gig, too. So yeah, thinking about state or federal policy analysis type work.

Also, I like Berkeley's track record for feeding into the PMF (presidential management fellow) program. For a class of about 70, it usually has about 11 PMFs (last years number). KSG had about 30 last year between its MPP and MPA programs but from a much bigger class size. GSPP's PMF record is quite impressive.

Forgot to answer one of your questions. I know a couple people in GSPP and they seemed to indicate that getting a GSI gig after 1st semester isn't hard. And in your second year, it's even easier. Personally, I'll be reaching out to professors of mine from when I was an undergrad there to try to get a GSI gig with them from the get-go, but we'll see.

Full cost of GSPP is about $46,000 for the complete program. Full cost of KSG is about $130,000 for the complete program. Even at a half-tuition scholarship from KSG (not that they actually do that), GSPP is significantly cheaper. But really, the overwhelming majority would have to pay full sticker at KSG. That level of debt is not okay to me. And let's be honest, we really shouldn't be looking at GSPP at the $46,000 dollar level. It's likely to be much cheaper if you put in a little effort. Over half of GSPP students get a GSI/GSR/GSA position. With just 10 hours of work in one of these positions a week, you can waive non-PDST tuition and also get a wage. For me, there's the funding from this departmental fellowship plus the prospect of GSI gigs which makes GSPP's cost closer to the $20K - $30K range. That's a steal. So, for me, KSG doesn't even begin to step into the equation unless it gets into the $50K range. I want to go into public service and staying out debt plays an important role in that. As for WWS, most would probably take WWS over GSPP. It's a top program for free. No brainer. For me, personally, I'll likely take GSPP over WWS regardless. I went to Berkeley for undergrad and like what Berkeley has to offer more than Princeton. Community, bay area quality of living, the value of political organizing and social innovation, and access to the best graduate programs (law school, business school, etc), and it's especially strong for CA politics. I recognize that I'm in the minority when it comes to the GSPP v WWS comparison. Oh and obviously, this is all strictly hypothetical. Admission decisions for those schools haven't even come out, so it's not like this is even a "problem" yet -- who knows if it even will be.

Good find. Sucks that PDST isn't included, but I'm still thrilled that there is significant opportunity to get a healthy chunk of tuition waived via GSI-ing. Goldman seems to really try to make the MPP affordable, compared to some other programs out there.

One area of ambiguity seems to be with the classification of "Tuition" and "Professional Degree Suplemental Tuition". "Tuition" is $5,610 dollars a semester. "Professional Degree Suplemental Tuition" is another $3,645 dollars a semester. The document that Goldman provides regarding GSI/GSR remission only says that fee remission includes "Tuition". It doesn't explicitly say anything about PDST.

Actually, "partial fee remission" includes remission for the student services fee ($486), tuition ($5,610), and the health insurance fee ($1,075). Doesn't pay for non-resident fee. "Full fee remission" includes all of that AND the berkeley campus fee ($253). Partial fee remission + a wage is available to GSI, Reader, Tutor, and GSR positions. The GSI, Reader, and Tutor positions are only available at the "Greater than or equal to 10 hours/week" level. So, for 10 hours a week you get your tuition paid. It seems like any involvement greater than that pushes your classification into the GSR level. Source: Last page of the AS packet.

It's unlikely that GSPP will continue to award fellowship funding into the second year. GSPP is counting on its students to get GSI positions. Over 50% of its students do. Working in these positions allows you to waive tuition.