taquinas

I've been remiss in replying this past week, what with work, Easter, and baseball games. It's a tough life, I know. JAubrey, I'm glad we agree on the scams of HKS and SIPA. But they're very high-quality scams, so it's tough to dismiss them outright. They each have a few shining faculty that I'd love to work with in the future. Hey, I'd love to do a PhD at Harvard too, but I'd want it funded. Getting back on case, as we used to say... I think there's legitimate room for discussion on how a degree effects your hirability. The overall question is: will people recognize this degree, and what's their five second reaction to it, either on a resume or during an elevator speech. I think LBJ has that name. Your circles are probably different than mine, but among Hill staff, most know of (or at least have heard of) LBJ; that's partially because it's named after a president, but partially because they've been a consistently reliable, strong program over the years. (I'm speaking of the MPAff, obviously.) Now in the field of security, I do know some MGPS people who went on to great placements in DC. But it's still a growing program, so there's that. One thing I'm curious about is the idea of a "pipeline" - maybe that exists more in your subfield than mine, but I was always skeptical of this concept. The idea that there are certain offices preconditioned to hire SAIS or SIPA grads... I get the concept, but I've never seen that occur in our generation. Maybe our parents' generation. Conversely, I've met SIPA grads who struggle to find placement. I've met SAIS students who work at World Bank, who feel trapped because they can't seem to find jobs outside of international finance. I've meet HKS grads who extol the program, but admit to me that it didn't help them get a job immedately after school. (The HKS argument is your classmates will be very high-level people in 10 years' time, and they'll remember you then.) I mean, this is all anecdotal. But LBJ is a tremendous program, and Austin is a super city. That's just my imprimateur of confidence on this conversation.

I largely agree with USMA06 points, especially on the dynamic cross-disciplinary options at UT. But I'll give half a nod (and half a rebuttal) to JAubrey as well. A few interpretative points of my own: 1) Look at the faculty LBJ has been poaching. In both the growing MGPS program and the wide-ranging MPAff, they're getting top practitioners. And they're getting them to teach full-time. That's huge. You go to WWS or HKS (or SIPA for that matter), and you have a lot of academians who'd frankly rather be somewhere else. When you go to Austin, you go to teach. LBJ faculty publish and speak at conferences, yes, but they're not blowing off students to rush to a cable news studio. 2) Finances. Seriously, this is a factor. While HKS blanket-claims their endowment is poor, go fund your own damn education, and other programs (SFS, SIPA, Fletcher, etc.) will leave you massively indebted even with help, LBJ and other public programs give you a chance at financial freedom after graduation. Given the emotional burden that debt puts on graduates, this isn't an idle consideration. It also leads to my next point... 3) Actual Public Affaris Focus. Many grads of top programs go into the private sector, and JAubrey, it sounds like you've worked with many of them in Clearance World. This isn't always a good thing. Some feel forced into the private sector because of debt. At LBJ, there's a strong desire to form leaders and public servants. Somewhere about 8-10 years ago, they started pulling out of their TX-heavy, domestic issues focus, and LBJ is now a varied powerhouse in its own right. So clearly I'm a big fan of the LBJ School, of both masters programs actually. But it's rational cheerleading. I will admit that JAubrey is right: LBJ grads don't saturate DC. But they're here. I've met them. There's more than a few, and UT's Archer Center is building momentum here as well. And I'll disagree on one statement: the name of your degree doesn't matter as much 5-7 years down the road. People care about what you've been up to lately. What you've accomplished. People don't get hired at the WH because they went to SIPA or SAIS; they get hired because they ran a steering committee on the campaign, or because they were the Hill staffer riding point on a landmark issue, or because they proved themselves big time and someone owes them a favor. Love it or hate it, that's DC. Hope this helps the applicants/admitteds out there...