spitts77
-
Posts
23 -
Joined
-
Last visited
Posts posted by spitts77
-
-
Thanks. I think you are definitely right on the second issue and I'm glad to hear that someone else thinks the same.
-
Did you have any concerns about not being in D.C. or the fact that many of the IR professors have defected to Washington to join the Obama Administration?
-
Hi - I need to find out the following information in order to finalize my decision. Does anyone know if MPA students can do a PAE or is it reserved for MPPs? Does anyone know anything about career service's effectiveness in assisting students with summer internships/job opportunities in D.C.?
Thanks - any info would be appreciated.
-
Hi
I wanted to set up a thread for HKS Admits to discuss who has decided to attend or not and for what reasons. I was admitted to MPA and am extremely close to accepting. Today is my last mulling it over day and I would be declining Fletcher, SAIS, and SFS. I would love to hear the views of others.
Thanks.
-
Today is decision day for me. If anyone has any last minute advice for HKS MPA I would love to hear it!!!!! I'd be declining SAIS, Fletcher and SFS.
-
pritinsp
Hi - I just checked (I have been slow at checking these posts out this week) and I don't see a PM. If you want to email me, let me know and I will send you PM with email address.
-
Do you know what the terms of these loans might be like? I received a small award from HKS and definitely still want to attend, but they are suggesting I take out $20,000 (subsidized and unsubsidized) of Stafford loans (the max) and then another $27,000 in Supplemental loans. How are these loans arranged and what kind of interest rates are available? Decision day just got a lot tougher!
Am I the only person who got into HKS that didn't get any scholarship money?
-
I don't have the precise numbers you're asking for... unfortunately. What I do have are data from the 2008 MPP class' debt burden and here's how that breaks down. Of the 2008 MPP graduates:
55% have a debt load at or below $39k
19% have a debt load between $40-59k
26% have a debt load at or above $70k
Average overall debt of HKS MPP grads is $44k.
Although this doesn't account for self-selection (e.g., folks with aid will choose HKS, those w/out will not), I think it does show that there is hope for people counting on aid. At least we're not stingy like SIPA! (SIPA funds just 10% of its incoming class!!!)
This sort of bums me out as I got no $ from HKS. It makes me feel that HKS doesn't want me bad enough and that I should go somewhere they do. Anyone else feel the same?
-
Schools Applied to & Results: Accepted to Tufts MALD ($5,000/year), Johns Hopkins MA ($12,000/year), and Georgetown MSFS (awaiting $)
Ultimate Decision & Why:Georgetown MSFS
What made you choose MSFS. I have acceptances to same schools/degree programs, but having trouble deciding. Only $ I got was Fletcher ($15K).
- Cornell07 and greendiplomat
-
1
-
1
-
Pritinsp - I am also HKS MPA admit. Were you at the open house on Friday?
-
Maybe I'm way off here, but it seems like you really want to go to Harvard and you're searching for a way to justify it. Intellectually, rationally, I'd say one of the other two schools is a better choice. You already know all the reasons why that's true.
This is almost a perfect description of my own grappling re: hks
-
Thanks guys. This is all very helpful info/advice. I get the feeling that I am overanalyzing this a bit too much and I should just focus on being happy that I got accepted to these schools.
-
And finally, while funding info isn't even available yet and it wasn't the top of my list, I've got near-strangers telling me I'd be crazy not to go to Kennedy, so they're also still in the running, somewhere probably on par with SIPA and Fletcher.
Hi - I've received similar comments about Kennedy but not from people in the IR world. Do you have any idea why the people who said that did so? Were these people are in the know when it comes to these schools? By the way, SFS is sort of still on my list too. Do you have any more thoughts on it?
-
Haha oh well, I guess I'm the only one who didn't get an email from my department, then...I guess we're not that special? I don't even remember what I put as my 2nd choice.
I didn't either. We can feel not special together.
-
Am I the only one who didn't have my intended concentration mentioned in my letter? I'll just assume I got into Strat Studies? When I mailed in my letter accepting their offer, I just said that I was planning on studying strat studies...uhhh
I don't think they state a concentration in the letter unless you are in a capped program. I want to do strat studies as well and nothing mentioned. I get the feeling that you can probably change your concentration when you get there if you wish to.
Incidentally, since you are interested in strat studies, any thoughts on Walsh and Fletcher, both of which have strong securities studies programs?
-
My question is whether you can even say that Kennedy is an IR school. That worries me a little when I compare to Fletcher, SAIS, or Georgetown SFS.
-
I agree with Monika. It also seems like the typical MPP/MPA degree is more focused on domestic policy which affects job prospects, but there are some MPP/MPA programs that are mentioned consistently with the top IR programs-like KSG or WWS. Those seem to be exceptions though.
Hi - Can you let me know where that is mentioned? I am struggling in my decision re: KSG and want to know how it is regarded in IR communities. I would love to hear anything specific to its MPA program also in this regard.
-
This is the point I was trying to get across in my previous post. Harvard isn't that much more expensive than some of these other options, at least based on no scholarship information. Secondly, I think in IR there is probably little advantage to going to HKS over SAIS, SIPA, WWS, etc. But! what if you decide down the line that you'd like to go into business or law or whatever. My theory is that a Harvard degree with give me more flexibility down the line than a degree from SAIS or SIPA. While SAIS has an excellent reputation (in fact sometime a better one than HKS), it flies in a smaller circle. An HKS degree will be well respected in virtually any field.
Why do you say that in IR there is advantage going to HKS over SAIS etc?
-
...and there's the synthesis. I just read that first post after having spent two days trying to explain to family/close friends why I was still bummed about getting WL at Walsh even after hearing from HKS - there seems to be a lot of magical thinking about Harvard as the perfect institution. So long as my fellow gradcafe denizens are evaluating rationally, I'm totally unsurprised that a good many will decide that HKS is their first choice...I just read that first post and saw the same words I'd been hearing from people who really don't understand these programs very well, and I'm sorry to have implied that anyone here wasn't carefully considering all options.
My family is the same - when I got in to HKS, they were like "How can you not go?" Granted, my family is from England and so Harvard is a big familiar name over there. I almost feel guilty if I don't choose HKS.
-
I went to HKS open house and was also impressed by institute of politics. I worry about what seems to be a lack of a strong IR program. Also, I worry whether MPAs are considered sort of below the MPP students. Any thoughts? I am deciding between HKS, SAIS, Fletcher, Georgetown. My thing is national security.
-
If it makes any of you feel better, I currently have approximately $80,000 left over law school debt. My husband now has about $120,000 in debt (half way through med school). I got 15K from Fletcher, but nothing from SAIS or SFS (although I am conditional b/c econ prereqs so unlikely to get $). Still waiting on HKS $. I will be borrowing a substantial sum to attend any one of these schools, but I refuse to give up my dream b/c money. My view is that educational debt is good debt - an investment in your future as a person and professional. I gave up worrying about school debt a while ago. The reason I gave up worrying is that I know that eventually it will get paid off one way or another. It might be tough, but I am willing to sacrifice to do want I feel like I am meant to do in life. Sounds cheesy, but you have to step back and look at things from a broader perspective. I don't want to wake up one day and be 80 yrs old and look back on my life and wish I had followed my dream, and realize that I didn't because of a lousy couple 100Ks. I've already given up on one dream and I still kick myself every day. I don't intend to give up this one.
Anybody doing the IGA program at Harvard?
in Government Affairs Forum
Posted
You should check out the other offerings that are going on at HKS beyond just IGA concentration. If you look at what some of the Centers are doing and the caliber of outside fellows. There is much more going on there than meets the eye. I was torn, but when I found out all this other stuff, I felt that HKS would be very strong. Did you know that the British Government has sought a group of MPP students to advise them on some international-related issues as part of the PAE. Gordon Brown actually came and sat in at a student presentation. And this is a relationship, not just a one-off. So anyone out there who is feeling like they made the wrong decision, please check this stuff out and you will get super excited.