McCourt, Sanford, Or Ford? (MPP)

[eakatz123]

I got into Georgetown's McCourt School, Duke's Sanford School, and Michigan's Ford School for an MPP starting in Fall 2019 and am struggling with making a decision. Financially speaking, the programs are comparable in cost after factoring in fellowships and cost of living, so that's not a determining factor. I know that all of them are well renowned, but I don't know a whole lot about the specifics of each program or what differentiates one from the others and was hoping to get some insight from here.

A few questions:

1) Does one school have a significantly better reputation than the others? I know some programs have stronger quantitative curricula and others are good at certain policy areas (e.g. social, environmental, health). I'm not sure which area I want to concentrate in yet, but I'd like to have some idea of where each program stands.

2) Ideally I'd like to end up in the DMV area, so McCourt obviously has that going for it. How much does being in DC help with securing a job there versus coming from a school like Michigan that's way outside the district but has a massive alumni network?

3) How much does ranking matter? For example, based on my research, McCourt is ranked considerably lower than both Ford and Sanford some of the categories that USNWR covers (e.g. public policy analysis, social policy).

4) Are there any other selling points I'm not considering? Anything from student organizations to career services to stuff external to the university itself (e.g. Research Triangle is really cool, winters in Michigan are terrible).

Thanks in advance!

[3dender]

Hi, I am soon to be graduating from Sanford.

1)  Ford and Sanford have a stronger reputation nationally than McCourt.  As for curriculum, I can't speak to McCourt but Sanford is strongest with education, social policy and NatSec.  They also have a decent international development curriculum.  I am a generalist and have been a little disappointed that they don't offer more on local government and nonprofits (which is what I'm ultimately gravitating toward).  I know that Ford is good for health and environmental policy, not sure about other areas.

2) McCourt clearly would have the best DC connections, although Sanford has an extensive DC network as well, and they organize a networking trip over your first winter break.  Ford, afaik, is a distant 3rd in this aspect.

3) Ranking does not really matter when you get into the top 20-30 schools.  It's all about where you want to ultimately be and which program can best facilitate that.  I do tend to agree with USNWR that the education at McCourt is not as good as you will get at Sanford or Ford.  The McCourt attraction is mostly for the DC connections, which definitely have their own value.

4) This is a personal question so I'd have to know more about you to adequately answer.  Feel free to message me with specific questions.  I will say that my favorite professor at Sanford got his PhD at Ford and raves about it.  According to him the education at Ford blows Sanford out of the water.  I will say Durham is a really cool city and one of the more interesting places to be in the country right now, not only from a social perspective but policy-wise as well.

 

[eakatz123]

@3dender thanks for the insight! I'm visiting Duke next weekend so I'm looking forward to getting a better feel for the program and campus. Any suggestions for what to look out for while I'm in Durham?

[3dender]

2 hours ago, eakatz123 said:

@3dender thanks for the insight! I'm visiting Duke next weekend so I'm looking forward to getting a better feel for the program and campus. Any suggestions for what to look out for while I'm in Durham?

There should be a lot of good music going on at MotorCo next weekend, I believe Duke Performances is sponsoring a music series there.  That area is fun to hang at, with Fullsteam Brewery right across the street and Cocoa Cinnamon, one of the city's cool coffee shops, right around the corner.

If the weather's nice Duke Gardens is beautiful and might be near peak flowers.  Lots of great food in town, but you can research that on your own.  The packet/tour they give you will have a lot of info too.  I hope you enjoy your visit.  If you want to say hi I'll be at the Policy for the People table during the student group fair.

[MPPNYC]

On 3/26/2019 at 2:10 AM, eakatz123 said:

I got into Georgetown's McCourt School, Duke's Sanford School, and Michigan's Ford School for an MPP starting in Fall 2019 and am struggling with making a decision. Financially speaking, the programs are comparable in cost after factoring in fellowships and cost of living, so that's not a determining factor. I know that all of them are well renowned, but I don't know a whole lot about the specifics of each program or what differentiates one from the others and was hoping to get some insight from here.

A few questions:

1) Does one school have a significantly better reputation than the others? I know some programs have stronger quantitative curricula and others are good at certain policy areas (e.g. social, environmental, health). I'm not sure which area I want to concentrate in yet, but I'd like to have some idea of where each program stands.

2) Ideally I'd like to end up in the DMV area, so McCourt obviously has that going for it. How much does being in DC help with securing a job there versus coming from a school like Michigan that's way outside the district but has a massive alumni network?

3) How much does ranking matter? For example, based on my research, McCourt is ranked considerably lower than both Ford and Sanford some of the categories that USNWR covers (e.g. public policy analysis, social policy).

4) Are there any other selling points I'm not considering? Anything from student organizations to career services to stuff external to the university itself (e.g. Research Triangle is really cool, winters in Michigan are terrible).

Thanks in advance!

Hi there -- where did you end up and what are your thoughts on that program? Appreciate your insight!

[eakatz123]

2 hours ago, MPPNYC said:

Hi there -- where did you end up and what are your thoughts on that program? Appreciate your insight!

Glad I checked my undergrad email for the first time in months today, otherwise I never would've seen this message.

I ended up choosing Sanford, and I'm quite happy with my decision. My heart had been set on McCourt before I even started applying to MPP programs, in part because I wanted to end up in DC and in part because Georgetown was my dream school for undergrad (and I didn't get in). But I decided to visit Durham for admitted students' day and fell in love with both the campus and program. Sanford did a stellar job selling themselves; the admissions ambassadors and faculty made me feel like I was being welcomed into a tight-knit, engaged community, and Duke's campus is phenomenal.

I ultimately picked Sanford over McCourt for two reasons. First, the Duke name carries a lot of weight, and the alumni network is exceptional. I managed to land a job in consulting because of Sanford's strong pipeline to the most prominent government consulting firms, and I scored a prestigious internship because of previous connections the career services office had with the company. Second, despite wanting to end up in DC, I found that Durham was actually in a better location for me. I'm driving distance from both DC and my family, and there are ample ways to get involved in state and local government here in North Carolina that I might not have had in DC.

From my experience, if you are interested in going into consulting, want to study social/health/technology policy, are looking for opportunities to work in state/local government, or crave nice weather, Sanford is a fantastic choice.

[MPPNYC]

33 minutes ago, eakatz123 said:

Glad I checked my undergrad email for the first time in months today, otherwise I never would've seen this message.

I ended up choosing Sanford, and I'm quite happy with my decision. My heart had been set on McCourt before I even started applying to MPP programs, in part because I wanted to end up in DC and in part because Georgetown was my dream school for undergrad (and I didn't get in). But I decided to visit Durham for admitted students' day and fell in love with both the campus and program. Sanford did a stellar job selling themselves; the admissions ambassadors and faculty made me feel like I was being welcomed into a tight-knit, engaged community, and Duke's campus is phenomenal.

I ultimately picked Sanford over McCourt for two reasons. First, the Duke name carries a lot of weight, and the alumni network is exceptional. I managed to land a job in consulting because of Sanford's strong pipeline to the most prominent government consulting firms, and I scored a prestigious internship because of previous connections the career services office had with the company. Second, despite wanting to end up in DC, I found that Durham was actually in a better location for me. I'm driving distance from both DC and my family, and there are ample ways to get involved in state and local government here in North Carolina that I might not have had in DC.

From my experience, if you are interested in going into consulting, want to study social/health/technology policy, are looking for opportunities to work in state/local government, or crave nice weather, Sanford is a fantastic choice.

Thank you so much for the insight! I didn't apply to Duke (I'm a slightly unusual older candidate and wasn't sure what my odds were in this competitive cycle), but I have been really kicking myself for not applying there.  I'm also interested in state and local government issues as well as beefing up my quantitative skills and am mulling Ford vs. McCourt vs. Maxwell right now.  But great to know that you feel that the state and local government offerings are not as strong at McCourt -- I assumed as much given the strong federal and international offerings and connections.  

[GradSchoolGrad]

26 minutes ago, MPPNYC said:

Thank you so much for the insight! I didn't apply to Duke (I'm a slightly unusual older candidate and wasn't sure what my odds were in this competitive cycle), but I have been really kicking myself for not applying there.  I'm also interested in state and local government issues as well as beefing up my quantitative skills and am mulling Ford vs. McCourt vs. Maxwell right now.  But great to know that you feel that the state and local government offerings are not as strong at McCourt -- I assumed as much given the strong federal and international offerings and connections.  

I can concur, State and Local --> McCourt doesn't got much going on. They are trying with hiring a new professor, but honestly they aren't good with it from state and local perspective. Minor exception is ed policy...

[GradSchoolGrad]

On 3/22/2021 at 3:31 PM, MPPNYC said:

Thank you so much for the insight! I didn't apply to Duke (I'm a slightly unusual older candidate and wasn't sure what my odds were in this competitive cycle), but I have been really kicking myself for not applying there.  I'm also interested in state and local government issues as well as beefing up my quantitative skills and am mulling Ford vs. McCourt vs. Maxwell right now.  But great to know that you feel that the state and local government offerings are not as strong at McCourt -- I assumed as much given the strong federal and international offerings and connections.  

Ford is an amazing combo of excellence at state & local + quant.