US News Rankings

[pauljames200116]

New rankings are up. Curious to know what people think about overall public affairs and policy analysis rankings, and if you're taking this under consideration as you're making your final decision:

https://www.usnews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-public-affairs-schools/public-affairs-rankings

https://www.usnews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-public-affairs-schools/public-policy-analysis-rankings

 

[AddSmith]

Interestingly large jump for a young Batten program out of UVA from 42 to 29. La Follette fell about eight spots, which is also interesting.

The top ten (minus La Follette from a top ten spot to #15, so who jumped into the top ten?) seem to always be the top ten, but in different rankings throughout. I'm still sticking with Heinz (not like I have much of a choice due to my limited options). 

Edited March 20, 2018 by AddSmith
miscalculations

[MPPKollege]

NYU Wagner moved up from 19 to 14, which was interesting to see. La Follette's drop for me is somewhat concerning.

[JobenMPP]

Does anyone have a grasp as to how these rankings should factor into decision making for which schools to go to?

I was admitted to Ford, Luskin, and American (all very different obviously) – would it be a catastrophic mistake to not attend Ford given it's now up to #2 for MPP programs? Or should these rankings be taken with a grain of salt? 

Just curious if anyone has any thoughts or experience with how schools are viewed out in the 'real world?'

Thanks!

[woolscarves]

3 hours ago, JobenMPP said:

Does anyone have a grasp as to how these rankings should factor into decision making for which schools to go to?

I was admitted to Ford, Luskin, and American (all very different obviously) – would it be a catastrophic mistake to not attend Ford given it's now up to #2 for MPP programs? Or should these rankings be taken with a grain of salt? 

Just curious if anyone has any thoughts or experience with how schools are viewed out in the 'real world?'

Thanks!

Don't overly concern yourself with these rankings. While Ford is an excellent school, the true importance of the school is whether it gets you where you want to be. Look at the employment statistics and see where they place people. Identify people that work in positions you want to work in and see where they went to school. Factor in things like where you would like to live/work after school and how much it's going to cost you to complete these degrees. While some of these factors are likely baked into the rankings in a certain capacity, don't make your decision based on the rankings.

Go to Ford if it will help you get to where you want to be, not because it's #2. Go to American or Luskin if they have a program you want to be a part of and you want to be in DC and don't sweat what their ranking is.

[SanfordMPPCandidate2018]

I 100% agree with woolscarves. I was considering 3 programs during the 2016 admissions cycle. Two were ranked in the top ten and one was so far down that I don't even remember its ranking. I ended up going with Duke Sanford over the other two. Ford was the other ranked program I considered. For me it came down to three things (1) personal fit, which is very important, (2) financial package, and (3) course/academic opportunities and essentially whether I thought the program would "get me where I want to go" as woolscarves said. After attending all 3 open houses, it was clear that Duke was the best personal fit. Having dealt with serious anxiety and depression issues in undergrad, I weighed this very heavily. I needed to know I would be a healthy person and a good student. Second, was financial. Duke offered me the 2nd best financial aid package, but it was close enough to my top offer that I felt considerations (1) and (3) made the slightly higher financial burden worthwhile, and I have not regretted that decision once. Third, was course offerings. I strongly recommend reading the course guides for each program you are accepted to/considering. This also clarified things for me a lot, especially when there were similarities in the "fit" category. The policy courses that most interested me at Sanford were not available at the other two schools I was considering, including Ford. So even though Michigan was ranked a little higher at the time, it would not have been able to provide me with the education I wanted/needed, and I would not have the same job opportunities that I do now. Best of luck!

[3dender]

Agree 100% with the last two posts.  I am 1st year MPP at Duke-Sanford.  Duke was #5 last year but has now fallen all the way to #9 (oh no whatever shall I do?!!).  It's mostly arbitrary.

[MaxwellAlum]

I think these rankings are useful mainly for identifying programs to apply to that you wouldn't have otherwise thought of.  As an alum of the Maxwell School at Syracuse, I have no illusions that my MPA is somehow seen as more prestigious than a degree from HKS or Princeton - it's definitely not.  But it wouldn't have occurred to me to look into applying if it wasn't for the US News rankings.  

No employer will care about your school's public affairs program ranking in US News.  They're not going to look up the most recent ranking when deciding who to interview.  Many (particularly private) will care about the brand name of the university, particularly if it's an Ivy.  Other than that, it's really about the network, and the rankings can give you a sense of how well-established a program is.  More established programs are likely to have better networks. 

My advice is use this list to identify programs to research and apply to the ones that best fit your interests and preferences.