thomasgoldring

You ask a very good question about my S.O., and one I've been wrestling with ever since I got the Heinz MSPPM offer in February! Yes, I could live with my wife in Pittsburgh. She even just lined up a nice house in Shadyside for next year. I'm British, and moved to America to get married in 2008 after 3 years of long distance relationship (and am currently doing long distance between the Bay Area (where I work as an RA for a public policy evaluation firm) to Pittsburgh). I know how much long distance sucks - I definitely don't take this decision lightly! I don't want to bore you with all this, so I'll try to be as succinct as possible. I think my long-term plan is to go on to do a PhD in either public policy or economics. These are my reasons for tentatively favoring Ford (and Georgetown) over CMU, in rough order of importance: Quant focus - I perceived more of a quant focus at Ford or Georgetown, whereas Heinz has a fair number of management, finance, and practical core courses. Will doctoral programs prefer quantitatively based curricula over an MSPPM? Elective options - great range of options at Michigan, including education policy courses at Ford and the School of Education, a particular interest of mine. Employment opportunities - my thoughts are exactly the same as yours in this regard. Location - I personally prefer Ann Arbor to Pittsburgh as the location. Honestly, I don't know why I'm so hung up over Heinz. Do you really think it's just as quantitative as other schools? I'm just concerned that future PhD application committees will favor the straight MPP over the management courses at Heinz. Plus, I personally prefer leaving the management courses to one side! This decision is starting to weigh down on me like a lead balloon! I thought this would be the fun part

Thanks for all your thoughtful replies. This is a tough decision. Like you all, I have offers from other schools which include partial funding. But I think Michigan is the best curriculum for my needs (in particular, its quantitative focus). Another of my offers, Georgetown, may also be strong in that regard, but the cost of living in DC scares me! I appreciate that there are non-university jobs available in Ann Arbor, but it's the benefits (part- or full-tuition waive, insurance) of a GSI position that make them so attractive. Unfortunately, with no funding and no savings (my wife is a first yr med student at Pitt - all of my current earnings are swallowed up there!), the remuneration from a non-university job would be a drop in the ocean (not that every little helps!). One of my ex-colleagues started her MPP at Ford this academic year, and another colleague graduated from the Ford MPP last summer. The girl currently at Ford also received no aid for this academic year, and told me that they have sharply reduced awards in recent years (not that Ford is ever in the same league as some other programs!). My colleague who graduated from the program did get some funding. Initially she received a little, but she emailed and phoned Beth at admissions, attended the Open House, and they increased her funding a little. I think that may be the best strategy at this point. Now I need to decide whether to drop $300 for round-trip tickets to Detroit from the Bay Area! Incidentally, my friend who began the program this year, without funding, is pushing to complete it in 3 semesters. That way, she will save an entire semester of tuition. May be worth considering, although I'm loathe to reduce my time at Michigan!

I'm in the same boat, no funding. I don't feel particularly confident about the GSI links - after speaking with a recent graduate of the MPP program, she reported that they are extremely competitive. Do you think that those of us who haven't completed any MPP courses yet even have a shot? I would think that getting one for the first semester is next to impossible. I feel despondent - I'd really focused on Ford as my top choice over the past week, but this has made everything oh-so-confusing and difficult yet again. Relying on GSI positions for funding seems like such a huge risk.

I can't say I'm very confident at this point because I live and work in Oakland, about 15 minutes by bus from Berkeley, and I didn't get anything in the mail yesterday. But I'm sure anyone outside the East Bay has reason to feel more confident than I do. As for the personal history statement, do you mean that they weigh it more heavily than other MPP programs or other Masters programs at Berkeley? My understanding is that the personal history prompt is generic across all Masters (and PhD?) programs at Berkeley. Perhaps the GSPP folks place more emphasis on it, perhaps not. I work as a RA for a public policy firm in Oakland, and my firm has fairly close ties to Berkeley (a Goldman prof sits on our board). But several people have failed to get into GSPP in recent years, despite around 3 years of work experience (which is what myself and an ex-colleague who went to Mich for her MPP have). I guess that their reputation and ranking helps them draw such a large pool of applications, and I'm sure they have a large number of very well-rounded and suitably qualified applicants to choose from. Overall, though, I can't say I'm particularly confident about my chances, which is a shame. I wish anyone still waiting, especially non-West Coasters, the best of luck!

I'm in the same position. Saw those rejection/acceptance posts and expected to hear something today, but nothing yet. This waiting game is a killer! Did you see that one of the rejection posts said that they received 170 apps this year? Amazing. Best of luck to you!

Thank you lilanngel :-) I guess you never know until the rejection actually arrives. It's funny how nervous I get for schools that I previously didn't consider my top choices. I guess after learning how much my loans would be at Georgetown and CMU, Berkeley suddenly looked very attractive in comparison. That and it's an amazing program. Like many others here, my issue is that my wife is at med school far away in Pittsburgh... Berkeley isn't particularly conducive to seeing each other very often! Good luck everyone!

No letter for me today. I guess I'll get the bad kind of letter sometime next week instead. Sad times.

Oh boy. Now I'm nervous. I also work in the Bay Area and am currently at work. 30 minutes until all will be revealed... maybe Congratulations to those already accepted.