HKS vs WWS

[argulf]

Hello All,

I'm an international prospective policy student who is in the fortunate position of having to decide between attending the MPP(IGA)program at the Kennedy School and the MPA program at WWS. I have not been given any financial aid from either so the costs will be the same. After giving this much thought, it seems to me that the IGA concentration at the Kennedy School offers more Internationally focused courses than WWS. Also, distinguished IR academics and practitioners such as Walt, Nye, William Burns..etc teach courses regularly at HKS whereas you'll be lucky if Keohane happens to teach a single course during your two years at WWS (judging by course lists on the websites). Is the fascination with WWS on this forum and others solely because of their generous financial aid policies and lower acceptance rate? I cannot see how giving up HKS for WWS would benefit me as an international student who has not been offered any aid, especially given the globally recognized Harvard brand. Any thoughts?

(PS. if anybody else is deciding between these two schools, your input would be especially appreciated.)

[zourah]

Any thoughts?

I think the fascination primarily stems from the financial generosity of WWS - if you're in there, you're almost certainly paid for. It's an exceptional program to begin with, so the free ride pushes it to the top of everyone's list. If you're looking at identical financial offers, definitely consider the K school also. I'm currently in Nick Burns's Modern Diplomacy course (note: he's sufficiently popular that it does go to the bidding process, but I got it as a first-year, as did quite a few others), and Walt teaches the sort of IR 101 that every IGA concentrator takes. I just don't know much about WWS, but if you have any questions about Kennedy that might help, message me and I'll do my best to answer them. Any chance you can make it to the visit day?

Edited April 3, 2010 by zourah