UW Evans MPA vs USC Price MPA

[alli707]

Hi all! 

I appreciate this thread. 

A bit about me: I am about 7 years out of undergrad (UC Davis), with work experience in the nonprofit sector, education, politics, and private sector. I am going back to grad school to gain more policy experience in climate change policy and ecological governance, so I can work on policy issues addressing climate change, inequality, and civic engagement after graduation. I have some advocacy and campaign experience, as well as some sustainability experience, but looking to deepen my skills in these areas. Two years ago, I had applied and was accepted to USC's MPA program but didn't receive any funding, and so unfortunately could not see a way to pay for it so had to decline the opportunity. I also moved to LA at this time. This cycle, I only applied to UW Evans (accepted, no funding) and UC Berkeley (rejected).

I am now reconsidering USC, since out of state tuition at UW Evans would bring tuition to close to USC and I have been living in LA for two years now, so have started to build a network here. The first people I met here, many of them were USC alums or current students so I definitely can see how strong the network can be. Before I had attended a class and loved the professor's style and liked the other students. I would have to reapply, but they are accepting applications (without scholarship consideration) until July. I would love to visit UW but with the coronavirus concerns, will probably won't be able to. One of my biggest concerns is cost, but my second biggest concern is course content, flexibility, and the network. I really appreciate the diversity in LA and the diversity of the faculty itself at USC and want to make sure I ground my policy studies in addressing inequities as it relates to environmental issues, and I feel like USC has more of that social justice focus and communications  than UW (though I could be completely wrong, again I've been to USC and spoken with more students than at UW). I also really like USC's certificate options in Sustainable Policy and Public Policy Advocacy that I would pursue if attending.

Does anyone have any suggestions on how to proceed? I am not completely guaranteed a spot at USC, but since I received admission before, I feel pretty confident. If anyone has any insights or challenges to my assumptions, that would be great. Thoughts? 

[educationmatters]

I am in a similar boat... choosing between a MPA at USC without funding or Cornell CIPA with a 56k fellowship. Does anyone have some insight or advice?

[SketchesOfSpain]

9 hours ago, educationmatters said:

I am in a similar boat... choosing between a MPA at USC without funding or Cornell CIPA with a 56k fellowship. Does anyone have some insight or advice?

Let me preface this with the usual, depends on where you want to live after school, specific interests etc.

Now here's my answer, Cornell. I got a chance to tour Cornell last year and I absolutely loved it, was blown away by the faculty and the sense of community created by them and the students. Going in I was nervous about their low US News ranking, but if you see/hear about their employment outcomes, employers don't seem to care, plus being Ivy League means everyone is trying to recruit them. I would be in Ithaca if I was single. Now a negative I will say, Ithaca is remote, remote and expensive. Housing and food costs far more than it should in a town of 31,000 in upstate New York.

USC (I've never visited the program), possibly the strongest alumni network in the country, LA, big time college feel, etc. etc. Are you ready to pay $78k in tuition alone out of pocket? Is your post-grad job going to pay enough to splurge on your tuition? Maybe you do have a good idea what your career path will pay, or you're an urbanite. 

I'm admittingly biased, but the way this internet stranger sees it, you're looking at two good schools, only one is saving you $56k on future loan paybacks

[educationmatters]

10 hours ago, SketchesOfSpain said:

Let me preface this with the usual, depends on where you want to live after school, specific interests etc.

Now here's my answer, Cornell. I got a chance to tour Cornell last year and I absolutely loved it, was blown away by the faculty and the sense of community created by them and the students. Going in I was nervous about their low US News ranking, but if you see/hear about their employment outcomes, employers don't seem to care, plus being Ivy League means everyone is trying to recruit them. I would be in Ithaca if I was single. Now a negative I will say, Ithaca is remote, remote and expensive. Housing and food costs far more than it should in a town of 31,000 in upstate New York.

USC (I've never visited the program), possibly the strongest alumni network in the country, LA, big time college feel, etc. etc. Are you ready to pay $78k in tuition alone out of pocket? Is your post-grad job going to pay enough to splurge on your tuition? Maybe you do have a good idea what your career path will pay, or you're an urbanite. 

I'm admittingly biased, but the way this internet stranger sees it, you're looking at two good schools, only one is saving you $56k on future loan paybacks

Thank you for your input! I forgot to mention that I have saved up about 100k from prior work experience and could live with my boyfriend for free in LA. It's a really tough choice for me, especially because I can't visit the programs (all tours cancelled due to COVID-19). I plan on staying in LA long-term so I'm trying to decide whether Price/CIPA would make much of a difference in employment opportunities in LA...

[SketchesOfSpain]

On 3/13/2020 at 7:29 PM, educationmatters said:

Thank you for your input! I forgot to mention that I have saved up about 100k from prior work experience and could live with my boyfriend for free in LA. It's a really tough choice for me, especially because I can't visit the programs (all tours cancelled due to COVID-19). I plan on staying in LA long-term so I'm trying to decide whether Price/CIPA would make much of a difference in employment opportunities in LA...

Hahaha, those definitely change things. The cancelled admitted students days are an absolute killer. To get to the crux of your question, I don't know if there's a stronger alumni (especially non-Ivy) network in the country than USC and LA is the center of that, if there's a network advantage, it'll be realized in LA with USC.

 

From a pure cost standpoint I would say that paying for two years of housing in Ithaca is going to significantly eat into in the $56k. Again, my qualification is being guy who consumes too much internet, but your best strategy (purely cost and future job opportunities, I know nothing of Price's culture or your desired career) is going to be leveraging the CIPA offer for some money from USC. Eat into that big tuition number however you can and take it from there.

[alli707]

On 3/13/2020 at 5:29 PM, educationmatters said:

Thank you for your input! I forgot to mention that I have saved up about 100k from prior work experience and could live with my boyfriend for free in LA. It's a really tough choice for me, especially because I can't visit the programs (all tours cancelled due to COVID-19). I plan on staying in LA long-term so I'm trying to decide whether Price/CIPA would make much of a difference in employment opportunities in LA...

Are you currently in LA right now? Where are you based? I will say as someone who has been in LA for 2 years (still not very long), but someone who initially turned down USC due to the cost, I have met so many people from USC in workplaces around the LA area, that the network is honestly very apparent and strong. I initially thought the network couldn't be as good as they said, but it does make a big difference. If you are thinking about staying in LA and cost isn't an issue, I would recommend it. 

Do you have any specific types of research and/or specialization you want to focus in? Is that a big factor to you or is it mostly location/cost? 

[educationmatters]

On 3/16/2020 at 10:48 AM, alli707 said:

Are you currently in LA right now? Where are you based? I will say as someone who has been in LA for 2 years (still not very long), but someone who initially turned down USC due to the cost, I have met so many people from USC in workplaces around the LA area, that the network is honestly very apparent and strong. I initially thought the network couldn't be as good as they said, but it does make a big difference. If you are thinking about staying in LA and cost isn't an issue, I would recommend it. 

Do you have any specific types of research and/or specialization you want to focus in? Is that a big factor to you or is it mostly location/cost? 

Thanks so much for your input! I am in the Bay Area and hoping to pursue nonprofit management.

[GradSchoolGrad]

On 3/13/2020 at 12:09 AM, educationmatters said:

I am in a similar boat... choosing between a MPA at USC without funding or Cornell CIPA with a 56k fellowship. Does anyone have some insight or advice?

Okay... so I see you got money from CIPA and none from USC. That changes the calculus a little bit. What I recommend you do is go on LinkedIn (buy premium if you have to), and find out how many people you can see that went to USC Price school that are non-profit management vs. CiPA people in Non-Profit management. And then message some alums from Price in the industry you care about and see if they can talk to you about if the brand + the Price experience is worth it.

My concern for you is this. We are likely entering a recession with this Corona madness. If 2008 recession is any indicator, it takes more than 2 years to recover from a recession. Non-profits are the first to suffer in a recession. So... the less debt you have coming out of grad school the better. 

However, one thing to keep in mind is that USC (all schools) people are super loyal to each other. I haven't met a single Cornell (from any school) person with that much school spirit out there... 

[studious_kirby]

A big question is where you want to work. If you hope to end up in LA, then yeah USC and UCLA should be on your list

UW has a lot of social justice-minded people, I know for a fact that they're making a point to recruit students and faculty who lead with equity and social justice in their work. Also, a ton of UW people end up in local WA, Seattle, and King County government, where equity and social justice are very much a focus. Both Seattle and King County have Equity/Social Justice Initiatives and strategic plans, and specifically environmental justice work happening. And UW has plenty of people coming from / going to California afterwards.

Why aren't you also considering MPP programs? Considering you want to do policy work..

Berkeley's Goldman school is one of the top policy schools, and there's amazing environmental justice work happening in the Oakland and San Francisco area as well.