All things NYU Wagner

[mppfall2010]

Hi everyone. I wanted to get a thread going on all things NYU Wagner. I was recently admitted to their MPA PNPM program and am really excited about it. I’m not sure if I will be able to attend the Admitted Students Day and so wanted to see if I could get some questions answered by current students. These are just a few questions but really any information about Wagner would be helpful, especially for those of us trying to decide and without means to visit. I appreciate it!

1) How does NYU’s MPA compare to MPP programs such as Harris, HKS, and Duke? In my case, I am more interested in policy analysis rather than running a non-profit or the management part of it, so the fact that NYU is an MPA versus an MPP is actually a detracting factor. I am trying to assess how important this really is.

2) How is the degree structured? Are there a lot of required classes or room for flexibility?

3) How far will the NYU MPA name really take you? Is it as valued as, say, a Harris or HKS MPP degree? Those two have very quantitative focuses that are well respected (from what I perceive). How does NYU stack up?

4) What is the Wagner student body like? Friendly? Independent? How easy is it to meet other people (within Wagner, and within other NYU graduate programs)? A place like NYC can be intimidating – does Wagner have a student community at all?

5) What kind of research opportunities are there for first year students?

6) How valuable is the Capstone experience? Is it a good practicum, comparable to a Master’s Thesis at other schools?

7) What about the possibility of dual degrees? Is this a possibility (specifically, MPA/JD) and what is the process like?

Like I said - any perspectives on Wagner would be greatly appreciated. Thanks and best of luck to everyone.

[nycmpp]

I can offer answers on a couple questions but have several of the same ones...

1) Would also like to know... what's the external perspective on Wagner vs other schools?

2) I've heard from recent alums that the degree is very flexible, both within what's offered by Wagner and across the various NYU schools. You are not held that closely to your declared specialization and can take pretty much anything once some core classes are out of the way.

3) Wagner has strong ties with NYC city government and with NYC generally. I am also very curious about it's perceived value in DC and in the private sector (for govt consulting).

4) I have heard good things about the community. I've visited and so far everyone seems pretty friendly and community oriented - that said, it's a huge student body (over 800).

5) Not sure about research. It might be hard to gain access to professors given the size.

6) Can't comment on capstone.

7) Dual degrees work much like other places - you have to get admitted to both schools and then they're typically 3 years. Don't know about the MPA/JD. I've heard that the MPA/MBA with Stern has a bit of redundancy in the core classes required by each program.

Hope that helps. I'm also interested in perspectives on Wagner's reputation outside NYC.

[mppfall2010]

Anyone (current students or even other recent admits) have any thoughts?

[pea-jay]

I'll answer question #4

4) The Wagner student body is awesome. Everyone I met during my two-day visit there was super friendly (even got invited to their weekly mixer at a nearby pub). Everyone seemed excited to be there.

[mppfall2010]

I'll answer question #4

4) The Wagner student body is awesome. Everyone I met during my two-day visit there was super friendly (even got invited to their weekly mixer at a nearby pub). Everyone seemed excited to be there.

@ pea-jay: i'm sure a lot more is going into your baruch-wagner-o'meter than student body, but can i ask why you are leaning away from wagner?

[pea-jay]

I blogged about this, but the short answer is cost. I got a whopping $1500/sem towards Wagner which covers about one unit. My debt load will be quite large...at least 2.5 times larger than Baruch and that's assuming Baruch offers no aid/assistantships/whatever to me. As much as I would have liked to attend to Wagner, I cannot justify it. Baruch's program is quite good, the faculty/admin friendly and responsive and the demographics of the student body is actually a closer match to me (more older students with families). So I went with them. No hard feelings against NYU since well, I can always say I got in there.