UChicago Harris (MSCAPP) or Carnegie Mellon Heinz (MSPPM-DA)

[caterpillar3]

I received offers of admission from UChicago Harris (MSCAPP) and CMU Heinz (MSPPM: DA track), and I'm certain that there are others out there facing the same choice.  For what it's worth, Heinz has offered more funding than Harris (once again, I doubt that I'm the only one in this situation). 

I'm not even sure how to weigh the pros and cons of the two programs.  To people who are currently in one of the programs, how do you feel about it?  And to those trying to decide between the two options (or held offers from both places in previous years), what factors did you consider?

 

[MaxTheKillerwhale]

I have the same question. While I have some experience in engineering and am interested in CS, I am working in a public sector and would like to learn the things such as public leadership and politics...

[ma1919]

I am in literally the same boat here. 

Admitted to MSCAPP,  McCourt DSPP as well as PPM-DA, better funding by CMU as well. Torn between the two schools. From my understanding it seems MSCAPP is a more prestigious program (i might be wrong), however the employment opportunities for PPM-DA students are better. The Chicago location might be an issue. Being an international student, this is of prime importance to me as well.

Employment aside, I believe Harris is a better college than Heinz, and has worked hard to establish the CAPP. Additionally I feel CAPP also has a strong program structure in comparison to the others.

I am all ears for more opinions so that I make an informed decision.Will start getting in touch with alumni soon. What are your two cents on this? 

[GradSchoolGrad]

1 hour ago, ma1919 said:

I am in literally the same boat here. 

Admitted to MSCAPP,  McCourt DSPP as well as PPM-DA, better funding by CMU as well. Torn between the two schools. From my understanding it seems MSCAPP is a more prestigious program (i might be wrong), however the employment opportunities for PPM-DA students are better. The Chicago location might be an issue. Being an international student, this is of prime importance to me as well.

Employment aside, I believe Harris is a better college than Heinz, and has worked hard to establish the CAPP. Additionally I feel CAPP also has a strong program structure in comparison to the others.

I am all ears for more opinions so that I make an informed decision.Will start getting in touch with alumni soon. What are your two cents on this? 

Bottom line... call the admissions office and ask to talk to current students. They will give you the best perspective. 

[juanlisa]

Second year Heinz MSPPM-DA student here. I applied to MS-CAPP and was admitted to MPP, but actually preferred MSPPM-DA to MS-CAPP while I was filling out my applications. I'm hoping other people will weigh in, but I'm happy to provide my perspective, which has evolved since I made my admission decision.

Harris is probably more balanced in terms of having quality policy and analysis classes. If you're interested in analytics but also want strong coursework in a policy area other than healthcare, Harris may be a better option for you. Additionally, Harris's coursework seems much more suited towards academic/policy research. In my personal experience, Heinz's statistics/econometrics coursework is suitable for a career in analytics, but if you're hoping to bolster your academic background to work in policy research, Harris may be your best option. That being said, I personally got the impression they were somewhat elitist, which was not suitable for me as I was embarking on a drastic career change.

That being said, I'm very happy with Heinz. While Heinz does not excel at policy, if you want to learn analytics you can definitely do that here. MSPPM-DA students can take courses in information systems within Heinz, and many of my peers have also taken courses in the School of Computer Science for more advanced topics in machine learning. The first year of PPM-DA is very structured and has A LOT of core curriculum to get everyone on roughly the same page with policy, analytics, and professional skills. The curriculum for the second year, however, has been almost entirely self-selected, so I've been able to take courses ranging from data science to program evaluation to decision analytics. There's a lot of flexibility in the MSPPM-DA program to make it very easy to tailor your courses to your interests.

 

 

 

 

Edited March 20, 2020 by juanlisa

[ma1919]

3 minutes ago, juanlisa said:

Second year Heinz MSPPM-DA student here. I applied to MS-CAPP and was admitted to MPP, but actually preferred MSPPM-DA to MS-CAPP while I was filling out my applications. I'm hoping other people will weigh in, but I'm happy to provide my perspective, which has evolved since I made my admission decision.

Harris is probably more balanced in terms of having quality policy and analysis classes. If you're interested in analytics but also want strong coursework in a policy area other than healthcare, Harris may be a better option for you. Additionally, Harris's coursework seems much more suited towards academic/policy research. In my personal experience, Heinz's statistics/econometrics coursework is suitable for a career in analytics, but if you're hoping to bolster your academic background to work in policy research, Harris may be your best option. That being said, I personally got the impression they were somewhat elitist, which was personally not suitable for me as I was embarking on a drastic career change.

That being said, I'm very happy with Heinz. While Heinz does not excel at policy, if you want to learn analytics you can definitely do that here. MSPPM-DA students can take courses in information systems within Heinz, and many of my peers have also taken courses in the School of Computer Science for more advanced topics in machine learning. The first year of PPM-DA is very structured and has A LOT of core curriculum to get everyone on roughly the same page with policy, analytics, and professional skills. The curriculum for the second year, however, has been almost entirely self-selected, so I've been able to take courses ranging from data science to program evaluation to decision analytics. There's a lot of flexibility in the MSPPM-DA program to make it very easy to tailor your courses to your interests.

 

 

 

 

Thanks a lot @juanlisa. That's really informative.

I have a few more focused questions. Do you mind if I PM you with them?

[juanlisa]

7 hours ago, ma1919 said:

Thanks a lot @juanlisa. That's really informative.

I have a few more focused questions. Do you mind if I PM you with them?

Of course! I can only provide my perspective, but I'll answer as much as I can.

[caterpillar3]

Thanks so much @juanlisa!  That's very helpful.  I had a few follow up questions.

On 3/20/2020 at 2:38 PM, juanlisa said:

If you're interested in analytics but also want strong coursework in a policy area other than healthcare, Harris may be a better option for you.

Just curious, what do you think makes Harris weak on the healthcare front?  Or is it just weaker in comparison to Heinz?

[caterpillar3]

Hi @ma1919, congratulations on your offers!  You mentioned that:

On 3/19/2020 at 6:25 PM, ma1919 said:

From my understanding it seems MSCAPP is a more prestigious program (i might be wrong), however the employment opportunities for PPM-DA students are better.

I was wondering if you could share your thoughts on this a little more?  I reviewed the career outcomes reports for both schools and had a hard time deciding which school was stronger.  I got the sense that Harris alums take on a greater variety of roles and often go on to secure leadership roles, whereas Heinz students are more likely to end up either in the public sector or with a consulting firm.  In terms of starting salaries, the numbers looked comparable. 

Either way, it was hard to discern which set of outcomes looked better.  I'd love to get more perspective about this.  Maybe I'm not interpreting the stats properly?

Edited March 25, 2020 by caterpillar3

[juanlisa]

6 hours ago, caterpillar3 said:

Thanks so much @juanlisa!  That's very helpful.  I had a few follow up questions.

Just curious, what do you think makes Harris weak on the healthcare front?  Or is it just weaker in comparison to Heinz?

I don't know much about Harris's healthcare policy coursework/if it exists, but that comment was mostly referring to the fact that Heinz does have specific degree programs for Health Care Policy and Health Care Analytics and plenty of quality coursework in that field.

[caterpillar3]

11 hours ago, juanlisa said:

I don't know much about Harris's healthcare policy coursework/if it exists, but that comment was mostly referring to the fact that Heinz does have specific degree programs for Health Care Policy and Health Care Analytics and plenty of quality coursework in that field.

Ah, got it.  Thank you!  I know that Harris offers a certificate in Health Policy.  And when I visited the campus, I attended a presentation by one of the co-directors of the Center for Health Policy at UChicago.  So I feel reassured about Harris' health policy capabilities.  But you might be right that Heinz offers greater variety.

[ma1919]

On 3/26/2020 at 12:51 AM, caterpillar3 said:

Hi @ma1919, congratulations on your offers!  You mentioned that:

I was wondering if you could share your thoughts on this a little more?  I reviewed the career outcomes reports for both schools and had a hard time deciding which school was stronger.  I got the sense that Harris alums take on a greater variety of roles and often go on to secure leadership roles, whereas Heinz students are more likely to end up either in the public sector or with a consulting firm.  In terms of starting salaries, the numbers looked comparable. 

Either way, it was hard to discern which set of outcomes looked better.  I'd love to get more perspective about this.  Maybe I'm not interpreting the stats properly?

Hey @caterpillar3 

I went through their respective employment reports on the website, so that's why I wrote so. "Better" is probably an incorrect word †hat I used. The outcome is a very subjective call, I mostly got the feeling that Heinz had a better salary payout.