99_boy

I am going for Public Policy.. anyone else for an MPP?

I called a few days ago and they said if you didnt get an email last week, it meant you were not a finalist. Rejection letters are supposed to arrive in the mail any day now. woo hoo.

MAs in IR and MPPs ar pretty distinct degrees, yet it seems like they get lumped together all the time. I think this is because IR grads and MPP grads (especially MPP grads that specialize in something IR related) tend to get the same jobs. I am deciding between one MPP program and a couple IR programs. Are the job prospects that much different for MPP vs. IR?

slothrop, did someone tell you we would certainly hear by the 10th? I called to inquire, but got a much more vague answer than that (was basically told in the next couple weeks). Also, getting invited for an internview means you are a finalist, but defintely not guaranteed to get the fellowship, right? Does anyone have any idea how many people get invites to interviews? I wish this thing got decided before April 15th...

Hey firefly... I am having a similar dilemma. I got roughy the same offer from Syracuse and UMD, and I just cant decide. The Public Diplomacy program is a little different from all the typical IR/MPP programs; I am just not sure if it is different in a good way. What are your career plans? I want to go fed. gov, so I feel like it just makes sense to go to UMD. But on the other hand, Maxwell and Newhouse are pretty well regarded, and the program evidently has a small, family kind of feel to it. My aid at Syracuse is not necessarily renewable for the 2nd year and it sounds like yours isnt either. Do you know if the DC semester internships are generally paid? I tried to call and find this out, but nobody immediately available had an answer. Furthermore, is it reasonable to get an assistantship for just the one semester of the that 2nd year? Seems like most assistantships require a year commitment (in general, maybe the PD program is different). Congrats on the 10K in any case! Was that the Liu Foundation thing?

I was wondering the same thing about the two degrees. I am not sure how valuable a PR degree is in general, and even moreso I am not sure if means much in public policy/IR circles. Some of the courses for the PR part of the degree seem somewhat far removed for what I want to be doing. Anyway, funding is supposed to be out by Apr 1st, which is in two days now...

I also heard that A&M is an incredibly conservative and narrow minded place, and not necessarily the best environment to study PP or IR. Sucks, since the Bush school really seems to offer decent funding to most students.

I was really leaning towards GWU but didnt get any funding. I dont have much savings and I have some decent debt from undergrad. I got $$ from UMD that would cover a good amount. Is the GWU name that much better in DC? Can GWU open doors that UMD cant? Does anyone know how likely it is for GWU students to get funding for the second year? I know a lot GWU kids work full time while they go to school, but that just seems really tough. I want to be able to excel in my courses, and it seems like that could be really difficult if my M-F schedule is 8 hours of work followed by classes all evening.

Anyone else deciding between these two programs? Overall, seems like Syracuse is better ranked, but Maryland has the DC location and therefore the networking opps. Anyone wanna weigh in on the potential drawbacks to the Syracuse location?