ZacharyObama

@HappiStar I need more work experience. They encouraged me to polish my essays and apply again next year. My application otherwise is excellent, I am going to take classes at USC Price for the year and then hopefully I get in so I can make it Dr. and be done with school (ha!).

@HappiStar Declined. :-(

I work for USC so I am covered under tuition benefits as a staff member. I did pay full price for my MPA from USC so I obviously was able to justify the cost. I didn't plan on going into higher education admin, my focus was environmental policy. Education is an individual choice and is framed by individual economic circumstances. College is expensive. People choose to pay more for a private education in great numbers in our country. If I had to put one thing out there though that to me has made a big difference, it's the Trojan Family. Also, there's tons of opportunities at USC to get involved in the larger education world due to its status as a major research university. Why does anyone by the Mercedes Benz or the Kia? Because that's what they want and they can afford it.

Hello @HappiStar - still waiting. I checked with the admissions office the other day in person, they're behind schedule. I would be happy to answer any questions you may have about USC. :-)

Hello, Did anyone else apply to the USC Rossier Doctorate of Education in Education Leadership program regular Feb. 1 deadline? Still waiting for a decision! Zach

You both are very welcome. I was hoping to do one of the two welcome days but scheduling conflicts. Please feel free to ask any further questions (it's good to take a break from work!).

I should have noted in my previous post that I'm a second year MPA, Sustainable Policy and Planning Certificate student. Jobs I think Price differs from some of the schools I see discussed on this forum in that we don't use research/assistantships as an admissions tool. I think to an extent this is a function of the school focusing a bit more on professional development and a bit less on academic research. At USC Price, and USC more broadly, there are a fair amount of opportunities to secure such positions but that they are competitive. Such positions are generally with one of the research centers (some more than others) or for grant funded research projects; there are also a limited number of TA gigs. There are also a lot of opportunities to get involved in the many programs that the university has related to its administration/policy efforts as a student worker (I do this). I would also note that USC is the largest private employer in Los Angeles and if you already have relevant work experience this can be a good deal if you want to work and do school at the university. Depending on what you're interested in, you may be served well by having USC employment or you may be better served getting out there for a paid internship or job. USC Price has really good relationships with people/organizations in local government, the non-profit community, and planning/development. I think it's really about how fast and hard you are willing to go at getting a position. I know some people really rapidly found something to do and others who wanted to give being just a student a go for awhile. Careers In terms of ranking/career development, I think at a certain point the say top 15 or so are on a level playing field. The US News Rankings are simply the result of a period sampled survey and not some comprehensive assessment based on rigorous quantitative and qualitative analysis. If I were to want to try an orient my school choice to career prospecting I would look at what organizations you want to try and get in on the ground floor and then which school geographically places you in workable proximity. I think employers in an open job search are looking less at which top school you got your degree from and more at your relevant experience. The job market for policy-type positions is going to be pretty competitive and you are likely going to be competing with people who may already be a few years out of school. This is where networking really comes into play. I can't speak to the other schools you mention, but one of the main characteristics of USC is the Trojan Family (it can be a little corny, I know). We really have an ethos of networking, public service, and beating UCLA. Minnesota I Googled for the USC Alumni Club in Minneapolis and there looks to be a fairly active alumni club in the Twin Cities. I also do have a friend who came to USC Price from Minnesota and despite bouncing around a bit job-wise is pretty happy with his life in LA.

Hello All Congrats! If you haven't heard back, I do know one person who wasn't admitted until almost April and did receive some modest aid. You're not out of luck, until you're actually out. I wanted to address the cost-benefit, or benefit-cost :-) question. I had a fairly easy choice. I could pretty clearly see the writing on the wall that I needed to get ahead in the game and I needed a Masters degree to supplement my B.A. in History, which didn't too much for me in job terms. Things I like about USC Price: 1. People. Lots of people. USC Price in 2013-14 had 920 masters students, 240 people in executive programs, and 54 in PhD programs. For comparison, UCLA Luskin has 571 students in all programs, Chicago Harris has 167 students, and Harvard just over 1000. 2. Yes, You Can Work! It is entirely possible to work a full-time job (or two part-time jobs, I did) while being a full-time student (although you probably don't want more than 8 units). USC Price really encourages students to practice what they learn and learn from practicing. 3. Los Angeles is big and diverse. USC is big and diverse. You will have the opportunity to meet and work with the full panoply of people. There are 88 cities in Los Angeles County. Los Angeles County has more registered non-profits than anywhere else in the country. We are a global mecca of culture and are building strong connections with Asia and Latin America. Strengths: Weather, Diversity, Culture, Networking, Local Government, Economic Development, Non-Profits, Trojan Family. Weakness: If you want to spend a lot of time buried in books, looking at snow, and planning your next advance in the federal government this probably isn't for you. Finally, on finances. I was out of college a few years before going back. The student loan systems has changed dramatically since I started by my undergraduate education in 2004. Interest rates are now tied to the market, we have IBR and Pay as You Earn (10%), and Public Service Loan Forgiveness. I would focus a little less on finances and more on where you see yourself coming out of the various programs.

I would say your housing situation is pretty much related to your transportation decision, which is turn influenced by parking conditions and mass transit options. Furthermore, one thing to note is that shopping options are pretty limited by transport. I would also note that depending on where you choose to live childcare and shopping accessibility are probably critical issues. I'm pretty sure CA Emissions tests are fairly stringent. That said, provided there's nothing majorly wrong with your exhaust system you'll most likely pass the smog check. Housing prices sucks in LA. Traffic sucks in LA. Gas won't stay cheap.

I don't think Price releases any acceptance rates. I'm a second year MPA and I've honestly only met a few PhD students. I would imagine it's a fairly competitive program given its pretty small size. If you have any general questions about the school, please feel free to send me a private message, I'll try to check back in a couple times in the next few weeks.

I worked in Parks and Rec before starting my MPA program and I'm still very much interested in parks and public lands. I think an MPA probably provides more skills in budgeting/economics + policy design and analysis. I would imagine getting a similar return in management skills. I would guess that if you're set on working in "recreation/sport/leisure services, both public and private" you're probably just as well served by a Recreation and Sport Management program as an MPA program. I know people who have gone into those programs and they were most certainly more interested in things like running sports leagues than budgeting and financing capital improvement projects. *shrug*

As a current MPA student, I'd say that it's a fair assessment to say the Price programs aren't designed to be immersive in the field of social justice studies. By and large, I would say we're more focused on questions of good governance. I think in terms of the faculty there is a clear bent toward political scientists, sociologists, and economists with a generally shared obsession with modeling and statistics; the MPP program is more heavy than the MPA program in this regard. As a "lefty" myself, I'm often more critical of these fields and the judgments they yield than many of my classmates (my undergrad major was History). That said, I think there is enormous opportunity at USC and Los Angeles in general to not just study social justice but put it into practice; doing, much less achieving social change/improvement can be very difficult. A big part of the university culture (besides football) is community service. USC does a lot of community programming at both the University Park and Health Sciences campuses. A number of schools (not Price) have their own outreach programs, there's also the USC Volunteer Center, and programs like the Joint Educational Project - https://dornsife.usc.edu/joint-educational-project/ I think if you throw a term like "non-profit industrial complex" at most people working in non-profits they're going to be confused, and our staff (such as admissions, career services, and student services are not trained to be intellectuals); that said I think most professors would grasp that without much explanation. If you're looking for rallies and protests, this is probably not the place (and that's perfectly okay). However, if you're looking to work in the trenches there's a lot of opportunity, I mean look at where USC is in geographic terms. USC Price students aren't tone deaf to these issues, but they are also not outwardly vocal by and large unless it's on topic; many of us do work in such fields and deeply care about the issues, but it's not always the central topic of discussion in class and outside of class. I think the best way to assess whether you can make the program work for you is to start looking at the degree requirements, who teaches what on the course schedule, and then start thinking about how you could incorporate internships/employment into capitalizing on what you're learning in class. http://classes.usc.edu/term-20143/ (both PPD and PPDE (E is for expanded). I'd also note the faculty page doesn't show the number of excellent adjuncts we have so the class schedules are more useful in that regard. I would agree that USC Price is not particularly internationally focused outside of China/Korea and Mexico/Brazil. As an MPA, I actually just now looked again at the MPP requirements and they're definitely a lot more restrictive (not too late to switch before you have to take multivariate statistics). However, you can petition to have a course counted so long as there's a good reason. The MPP program is really designed to train you to do formal policy analysis for a government, private consulting, non-profits and organizations. The MPA program is more designed to train you to be the person "doing" public policy and making decisions based on the policy analysis produced by the MPP (warning, it becomes substantially harder to switch after you start). Hope this was helpful and fair.

I apologize for not responding to this sooner. I think job prospects for local and state government in California and the West in general are excellent. I think our non-profit sector is really strong too. From what I can tell, most of the alums I've met seem pretty happy with their jobs even if there is of course some trend to take the more open career routes (it's the economy) rather than pursue a particular passion.

Congrats all! I'm a first-year MPA student at USC Price. If you haven't received notification yet, don't worry. I waited like almost a month longer than other applicants last year for my letter. If people have questions, I can try to answer them as best as possible, although being an MPA I can't quite attest to the joy of the MPP experience (they really do seem to love the multivariate statistics). Fight On!

Hey All, I went through this last year and am now in the scrum of school, but I figured I would drop in and see if anyone had any questions about USC Price Programs. I'm an MPA. I'll try and check in on this periodically throughout the Fall. Don't worry too much, this process will end eventually (I say this despite my worrying which can be found in a simple archival search). I'm of course pretty busy but I'll try not to forget about this for too long (i.e. when I'm bored of doing homework/working/watching sports). Fight On!