Georgetown GHD Program

[GHDstudent]

Hi Everyone, 

I thought this forum was a super helpful resource when I was applying for grad schools and didn't see a lot of information about Georgetown's Global Human Development program, so I wanted to give it a shoutout! I am a current student in the program and would be happy to answer any questions about GHD, the application process, etc. 

Just to emphasize a few highlights here - two of my favorite things about GHD are the program itself and the people.

I chose GHD for its practitioner oriented approach to development - both through the curriculum itself and the co-curriculars like internships, the summer field placement, and the capstone project. The classes are very practical and hands on. For example, the core course in Strategy, Design, and Implementation provides the skills to identify and deconstruct a problem, conduct a socio-economic landscape analysis, design an intervention, pitch a program, etc. Other classes provide technical skills in data analysis, evaluation, economics, and more. And the program itself is super flexible, so you can tailor your specialization or other classes directly with your interests.

The people are also a HUGE part of why I chose and why I love GHD. More than any other program I applied to, the GHD program is a tight-knit supportive cohort of students and professors. The professors in particular come from incredible backgrounds and have amazing resources and connections. There is also a good mix of academics, professors of practice, and current practitioners, which provides a really fantastic and diverse perspective to many of the issues we discuss. They are also very engaged and supportive and go well above and beyond to support us both personally and professionally.  For example, this year one of my classmates mentioned how she was passionate about linguistics and one of the professors remembered this and created a workshop, led my World Bank professionals, on this topic for her and anyone else that was interested. They are also great about helping us navigate the field and get connected with opportunities with DC and abroad.

I'll stop there for now, but definitely respond or reach out if you have any questions! 

 

[Dpt620]

Why did you choose GHD vs the McCourt international development policy masters? What’s the difference?

[GradSchoolGrad]

So I am McCourt MPP grad and I will give you an outsider looking in perspective having worked on projects with both GHD and MIDP people. 

1. As a key program difference, I would broadly say:

A: MIDP is a more overall data analytics intensive program in comparison with GHD (granted GHD has a lot of data analysis as well)

B: GHD takes a more holistic approach to international development

2. Personally speaking, I find MIDP students / graduates to be more narrowly tailored towards a target set of skills and or interests and I find GHD folks to be more dynamically multi-disciplinary in terms of they engage projects. 

3. I find GHD people to be generally more professionally well rounded and armed with a problem solving mentality. I was on this Asia focused female healthcare project and it was very interesting the different approaches the people from each program took. The MIDP people were trying to align the problem with to similar problems they already knew and look for repeatable solutions. The GHD folks took a approach of considering creative solutions that comprehensively thought through strategy and implementation challenges. 

4. I also found that the GHD folks seemed to have a lot more community bonding and social activities within their program. 

Bottom line, I would drink a beer with GHD folks and hire them for coordinating and managing international development hands on work. I would probably like an MIDP person to do pure data analytics and maybe write a research paper for an international development project. 

BUT... also... last I heard GHD and MIDP were attempting to merge as "joint program". Not sure how far that has gone. 

 

Edited March 2, 2020 by GradSchoolGrad