American vs. USC. vs LBJ

[levinejm]

Hi everyone,

I have narrowed down my decision to accepting a spot a either American SPA, USC SPPD, or Texas LBJ. What are your thoughts about these programs? Is any clearly better than the other two?

[Putoots]

I only applied to American (MPP) so I can't really comment on the specifics of programs, other than they are really different and have their own unique properties to consider. I think if you provided some of your requirements people would be able to provide feedback.

I will say, however, that if you are simply looking at quality and prestige, all three of these schools are very good. Since you are dealing with three quality programs, it is best to focus cost and relevance (to your area of interest) over location and ranking.

If any school offered you money, that is a huge plus, and something to weigh heavily (take it from a person who received very little funding).

Edited March 30, 2010 by Putoots

[levinejm]

I only applied to American (MPP) so I can't really comment on the specifics of programs, other than they are really different and have their own unique properties to consider. I think if you provided some of your requirements people would be able to provide feedback.

I will say, however, that if you are simply looking at quality and prestige, all three of these schools are very good. Since you are dealing with three quality programs, it is best to focus cost and relevance (to your area of interest) over location and ranking.

If any school offered you money, that is a huge plus, and something to weigh heavily (take it from a person who received very little funding).

Thanks for the help. These are good points. I'm mostly interested in policy analysis and ways to examine problems in a variety of different fields (government, IR, public, private, etc). While I don't have a fellowship offer from these schools, I would get an in-state tuition reduction from Texas, making it about 5K per year. I guess I'm basically trying to see if there are any convincing reasons why I should choose either USC or American over UT, because if there aren't, I'm leaning towards Texas and would be happy there...

[publicpolicy2386]

Thanks for the help. These are good points. I'm mostly interested in policy analysis and ways to examine problems in a variety of different fields (government, IR, public, private, etc). While I don't have a fellowship offer from these schools, I would get an in-state tuition reduction from Texas, making it about 5K per year. I guess I'm basically trying to see if there are any convincing reasons why I should choose either USC or American over UT, because if there aren't, I'm leaning towards Texas and would be happy there...

I visited both LBJ and American although I will be attending a different school next fall. I liked both programs but the biggest difference that I a saw was the amount of internship experience the student were getting during their education. At LBJ, most students only interned during the summer. However at American, almost all students were interning/working during the semester at what seemed to be really interesting positions. I am not sure what your background and work experience is, but it seemed that American was very well connected in DC and that their students were not limited to only 1 summer internship. However, LBJ had a more community feel and Austin is a really nice town with a much cheaper cost of living. That being said, if I had in-state tuition I probably choose LBJ.