Engineering and Public Policy at CMU

[gth822]

Hello,

I guess I am one of the few people on this forum looking at this program. I am international student, but did my undergrad studies at Georgia Tech in Industrial Engineering. I mostly applied to IE and Operations Research programs, but I had really liked this, applied to it and actually got in. Since I am interested in public policy research a lot, it's actually one of the options I am paying particular attention to. What do you think of the program? Do you know of any other resources/discussions about it? I know Heinz for public policy is a pretty strong school, and to my knowledge, this particular program is not part of it but it's not a big deal. It should be still quite reputable and have many common professors/classes. Is that right? What do you think? Any inside perspective on the department, RAships, research going on, job prospects? My background is not particularly in public policy so sorry if I come across a little ignorant. Any insight, info, advice, direction would be greatly appreciated.

Edited March 12, 2010 by gth822

[zhao22]

Hello,

I guess I am one of the few people on this forum looking at this program. I am international student, but did my undergrad studies at Georgia Tech in Industrial Engineering. I mostly applied to IE and Operations Research programs, but I had really liked this, applied to it and actually got in. Since I am interested in public policy research a lot, it's actually one of the options I am paying particular attention to. What do you think of the program? Do you know of any other resources/discussions about it? I know Heinz for public policy is a pretty strong school, and to my knowledge, this particular program is not part of it but it's not a big deal. It should be still quite reputable and have many common professors/classes. Is that right? What do you think? Any inside perspective on the department, RAships, research going on, job prospects? My background is not particularly in public policy so sorry if I come across a little ignorant. Any insight, info, advice, direction would be greatly appreciated.

Hey gth822,

I just heard back from EPP a few days ago as well. I am also an international student and getting my undergraduate degree in the States, what a coincident! The reason I applied to EPP is because of its interdisciplinarity. My background is in environmental science, but I am also hoping to explore more on the public policy side of issues in graduate school, particularly on climate change and clean energy. EPP seems a pretty good place to be for that! I know CMU is the top engineering school in the country, and Heinz is one of the top public policy schools, so I guess EPP should be very strong in the field, even though there are only a handful interdisciplinary programs like EPP out there. It seems that many professors in EPP have also positions in other departments so there could be many common classes with other more traditional programs.

That's all I know and hope it helps. Are you gonna visit the school? Have you gotten your FA situation figure out yet?

[gth822]

Hey Zhao,

Thanks for your reply. I am visiting on also on the 29th and 30th of this month. are you planning to visit? I am waiting for financial support decision quite eagerly but I guess I won't find out until after the visit since the admission letter stated that "The decision on financial support for graduate study will be made in the near future. To help inform the support decision, we would like to arrange for you to visit campus as soon as it is convenient." I would love to hear about it before then though.

[yankervitch]

Hey Zhao and gth822 --

Have you heard anything from the department about FA? I heard from them back in February but have had radio silence since.... feel free to send a direct message.