i seem to be wavering on my decision and decided to post my thoughts as i'm sure a good number of us are on the same boat.
personally, i feel that the gppi open house was ok, it wasn't over-the-top fabulous but a lot of people seem to have been won over by the wine and crab cakes. however, i was impressed by their career services office and the sample class. fast forward a week. i am admiring the skyline as the plane starts to descend into chicago and think i am going to spend the next 2 years in the city. little did i know that uchicago is NOT the nyu of chicago. the open house at chicago was really intense, which is probably a good indication of how intense the program is going to be.
my interest is in poverty alleviation on an international level, and i feel that harris' focus primarily is on the domestic level. also, a large proportion of the graduates find a career in chicago. for a very quant school, i was surprised that they did not hand out more statistics about employment post-grad. also, i feel that quant is a necessary skill in the public policy arena but doesn't it seem like economics is mixed into every single class? on the pro-side, i really appreciate how the other grad schools within uchicago are open to the harris students.
i guess the bulk of my predicament comes down to this: i feel that georgetown would be a better fit since they offer comparative public policy core classes, have relationships with international organizations, and is less quant than harris. BUT, can you discount the rankings of the schools? thoughts? i must stop stressing and get some zzzzz. thanks!