Duke Sanford Admitted Students Day

[wooldogg]

I was unable to make it to the Sanford School open house. Can anyone who went comment on it? What did you learn that you weren't able to get from the website? How was Durham? I'd appreciate hearing any observations

[stilesg57]

I'll leave this thread to the visiting admitted students so they feel free to post their thoughts, but I would like to say this:

I was really impressed with the prospective students. A good group of some genuinely fine people. Lots of talent and really cool backgrounds all around. It's cool to see neat people in the same spot you were in last year; sifting through a bunch of great options the worst of which is likely still an awesome deal. Also, even given the travel distance it seemed like there was a lot of geographic diversity in the admitted group, which is a good thing.

That's all - I'll stop tainting this thread with "official" (HA!) Sanford responses

[wooldogg]

Anyone? I'm still interested in hearing! Several people have mentioned that they're excited about Sanford, especially after the admitted students day. Why? I guess I'd like to know the gut feeling you got compared to other programs, the intuition that you can't get by looking over a website. Anyone care to share?

[AdrianPrime]

I was unable to make it to the Sanford School open house. Can anyone who went comment on it? What did you learn that you weren't able to get from the website? How was Durham? I'd appreciate hearing any observations

I'll paste what I posted elsewhere in response to the same question:

I did make it to the open house. The campus is beautiful, and for someone who went to bland, non-descript commuter campuses in San Diego, I was definitely impressed by the architecture and the facilities. Duke University has money and isn't shy about spending it. Just touring the student gym facilities and libraries can sell you on attending. The staff and student ambassadors were very friendly and really went out of their way to make sure that you talked with people studying in your intended field. As someone who is looking into Environmental Policy, I was practically dragged around during social mixers by student ambassadors to meet and greet with current MPP/MEM and Enviro Concentration students. The "breakout" sessions were also very helpful. Unlike GW's open house, Sanford School held breakout sessions for each major concentration, where you got to hear from professors and current students. There was also a very informative "student life" panel. I can't emphasize enough how friendly and helpful everyone was. There is a very collaborative environment there - exact opposite of more cut-throat programs out there. In fact, group/teamwork is a basic element of most classes.

All in all, Duke and Sanford School were awesome. Any negatives I felt were either about the location (Durham) or based on my mood (exhausted from my West Coast flight and the all day open house). One of my few reservations has been about Durham itself, which on first glance is not an appealing place to live. Following that open house with my GW visit didn't help, since DC is such a dynamic and energetic city. Bad comparison. That said, I had very little time to explore Durham, and no rental car, so my first impression isn't very fair. And heck, the program is only two years long, and I think most of us could "tough it out" for two years in exchange for an awesome degree. If you have any specific questions, please let me know.

[wooldogg]

I'll paste what I posted elsewhere in response to the same question:

I did make it to the open house. The campus is beautiful, and for someone who went to bland, non-descript commuter campuses in San Diego, I was definitely impressed by the architecture and the facilities. Duke University has money and isn't shy about spending it. Just touring the student gym facilities and libraries can sell you on attending. The staff and student ambassadors were very friendly and really went out of their way to make sure that you talked with people studying in your intended field. As someone who is looking into Environmental Policy, I was practically dragged around during social mixers by student ambassadors to meet and greet with current MPP/MEM and Enviro Concentration students. The "breakout" sessions were also very helpful. Unlike GW's open house, Sanford School held breakout sessions for each major concentration, where you got to hear from professors and current students. There was also a very informative "student life" panel. I can't emphasize enough how friendly and helpful everyone was. There is a very collaborative environment there - exact opposite of more cut-throat programs out there. In fact, group/teamwork is a basic element of most classes.

All in all, Duke and Sanford School were awesome. Any negatives I felt were either about the location (Durham) or based on my mood (exhausted from my West Coast flight and the all day open house). One of my few reservations has been about Durham itself, which on first glance is not an appealing place to live. Following that open house with my GW visit didn't help, since DC is such a dynamic and energetic city. Bad comparison. That said, I had very little time to explore Durham, and no rental car, so my first impression isn't very fair. And heck, the program is only two years long, and I think most of us could "tough it out" for two years in exchange for an awesome degree. If you have any specific questions, please let me know.

Thanks Adrian. It didn't occur to me to look in the other gradcafe forums!

[mass1985]

Just found this forum after another Sanford student recommended it.

I would say the Duke open house was very well put together. Everything was organized in a well-structured manner and the students and faculty were extremely convivial with their comments and support. In full disclosure, this is coming after I had previously attended the Maryland MPP open house the day before. Juxtaposed to Maryland, the Duke accepted students day was almost like comparing a middle-school play to a broadway musical.

With all respect to UMD, I signed up for two classes to sit-in on during the day three weeks in advance, only to be kicked out of both seminars and sent to environmental policy classes (not really my field of interest) because my requested choices were "oversubscribed." To me, if a prospective student is willing to travel half-way across the country to visit your program, you might want to think twice about accommodating simple requests. Their "official" program began at around a little after 5:00 and left little time for prospective and current students to interact and network. Their new Dean, Don Kettel, gave a pretty good introduction, and I know his reputation with the Brookings Institution and with UPenn's Fels program definitely brings a significant amount of clout to the program itself. Their career services presentation by Bryan Kempton was pretty interesting, and I believe he mentioned that 75% of all students secured employment by graduation last year, which seemed fairly good given the economy. I did get a fair sense of "did we mention we're right next to DC? the metro is right there... we're 8 miles from the whitehouse" as their main selling point. He went on with some anecdotes about John Doe student who has a 20/hr week assistantship and is taking a full course load while also interning 8 hours a week on the side to gain experience. Accordingly, I recall he stated that roughly 40% of all students have some form of internship during the school year, which is why so many are able to procure jobs. Breakout sessions for specific tracks then lasted for about 45 minutes, but it was hard pressed for time and I felt slightly rushed.

The Duke open house the following day began with about an hour-long coffee and networking session in their lobby. Current students and faculty interacted with everyone in attendance, and it was nice to be able to meet and speak with prospective classmates. I definitely met some great people, and it was nice to see faculty coming up and asking what your interests were while directing you to possible classes / opportunities to expand upon your career goals. Granted, I suppose the Sanford program being so small can definitely capitalize on the "personal attention" factor.

There was an brief overview of the program requirements and policies by the Director of Grad studies and admissions staff followed by a lunch that once again encouraged networking. The second part of the day consisted of two series of break-out sessions which were extremely helpful. They brought in at least 3-4 current students and alumni within each policy area concentration to discuss with faculty the dynamics of each concentration. I got a sense that while the amount of electives are limited with what they deemed as the rigorous "core," there was a significant amount of autonomy to choose between concentration areas, so tracks were not fixed or needed to be declared, per se. Certificates, however, such as the certificate in International Development are available for more formal concentrations. I was also told that the "Masters Project" for the entire second year is a way to focus in on ones interests.

I guess the session that imparted the most substance was the Career Services panel. They really emphasized that the small class size encouraged loyal alumni, and that placement in the DC area was extremely successful; all of the students on the career panel (except for one i believe) said they received internships and job offers due to the Duke Alumni connection. To me, getting your foot in the door, especially in DC, was one of my greatest concerns. They pointed out many Sanford alums in higher-level positions at governmental agencies are able to pull resumes (which is the sad but true reality of networking as acquiring a job in DC is pretty futile given the furtive hiring environment ... i've seen 2 friends of mine given the proverbial shaft ... ((both are currently attending DC-based schools))... not because of their qualifications but simply the lack of a solidified network) Donna Dyer was pretty hysterical, and I liked how both her and an int'l career services advisor both have MPPs, so they're able to understand your interests and assist those students who haven't decided on a specific field narrow down their interests. I believe they said 90% of all students had acquired jobs within 3 months of searching.

From just the two open houses, I'd say one of the main differences I found between Duke and Maryland is that the level of course difficulty appeared to be diametrically opposed. Current Duke students mentioned the intensity of the workload and how very few get all A's. The notion of "working more than 10 hours" and "going to school" appeared almost asinine. I believe the first semester you take fifteen credits instead of your typical 12. This made me question the intensity of the courses at UMD, given that "Joe Student" was hypothetically described as maintaining a full course load, a 20hr/week assistantship, along with an internship. I suppose there's definitely a trade-off for each option.

Overall I felt as if the faculty and students at the Duke open house genuinely valued your admission and wanted you to attend. The MPP director called me 2 weeks ago to ask if I was interested in testing out of specific courses, as well as to answer any questions I may have had. Personal attention is definitely the program's biggest strength I'd say. I don't think I talked to a single prospective student who was disappointed with the program or the structure of the open house at all. The only major concern I saw was the issue of funding. Maryland offered me almost a full ride, so obviously the cost/benefit analysis is understandable and should not be looked over.

Edited April 3, 2010 by mass1985