2020 ||||| Decision time: share your dilemma

[Mppirgradschool]

Echoing comments made by other posters, working in public service or currently at these programs, about minimizing debt and really thinking about your future. Full sticker price means you would be paying over $220,000 (after computing interests) in the best case scenario.

Given how the economy is heading, international development firms will lack money to fund projects and state/federal/local govt will enact austerity measures. This means that recently minted graduates at any of these policy schools will be entering the workforce with entry level jobs paying salaries that will put you at the poverty level for the cities they are based out of. You will be competing for the same jobs with people at peer schools but with absolutely crushing debt. Follow your head, minimize debt and good luck with everything!

Edited April 14, 2020 by Mppirgradschool

[GradSchoolGrad]

7 hours ago, alli707 said:

I don't understand your last sentence - what do you mean by "taking into possible better experiences into lower standing"? 

For example, if hypothetically speaking HKS was viewed as having an amazing student experience, that is being taken into consideration less if classes are online since there is limited opportunity to really take advantage of that student experience virtually (at least drastically reduced). 

[GradSchoolGrad]

5 hours ago, slymoxie said:

I worry that I'm settling a bit.

I didn't apply to all of the schools I was interested in. In fact, I didn't apply to many schools. Only 3 PhD programs for Genetics/Genomics.

I applied later and simply didn't have the timing.

I got an interview at Baylor College of Medicine but no offer (Genetics and Genomics) and got an offer from the University of Alabama at Birmingham (Genetics, Genomics, and Bioinformatics).

I just fear that I'm settling on UAB although I think it's a GREAT program. Not a big name program but most of the faculty went to big name schools and have amazing accolades.

I just don't want to think I could have gotten into a school like UCSC or Johns Hopkins or University of Washington (all 3 are dreams) and I didn't because I didn't even try.

You should know that as it comes to PhD, especially in sciences, what research you do matters more than the name of the school you went to. I know people who sling shot from from random state school to ivy league by virtue of the strength of their research. 

[Haber]

I have gone through many a posts and would also like to share my dilemma. I have got admits from Chicago(50% tuition), Columbia (50% tuition) and HKS (none). Factors I have considered are cost, learning experience, networking opportunities, debt repayment, career outcomes and alike. I am leaning towards deferring the HKS offer and trying external scholarship and managing own finances so as to attend next year. Columbia's deferral is an extremely expensive prospect and then their deferral policy is not very friendly in terms of $3K ticket with funding lapse. Chicago is a good program but it's more academic and oriented towards freshers with not much work ex.

As an International student from India, I was looking for an experiential learning experience and thus HKS and Columbia have been my top choice. However, recent developments suggest that the quality of program and participation of experienced professionals is going to be affected to some degree. This does not justify the kind of tuition these programs are billing especially considering that much part might be online. Debt upwards of $50K, I find unjustified with bleak economic prospects. 

Therefore I would like to wait for a year or two and continue with my profession. I believe that policy sector is unlikely to see similar funding support and CSR activities are likely to shrink in coming 2 years. Freshers who have secured decent funding or people willing to continue in the education sector may like to make use of such an opportunity and hope for some green shoots coming out by the time they graduate. As for me, I have denied Chicago and in talks with Columbia regarding any concession they may make w.r.t. deposit deadlines.

[GradSchoolGrad]

6 hours ago, Haber said:

I have gone through many a posts and would also like to share my dilemma. I have got admits from Chicago(50% tuition), Columbia (50% tuition) and HKS (none). Factors I have considered are cost, learning experience, networking opportunities, debt repayment, career outcomes and alike. I am leaning towards deferring the HKS offer and trying external scholarship and managing own finances so as to attend next year. Columbia's deferral is an extremely expensive prospect and then their deferral policy is not very friendly in terms of $3K ticket with funding lapse. Chicago is a good program but it's more academic and oriented towards freshers with not much work ex.

As an International student from India, I was looking for an experiential learning experience and thus HKS and Columbia have been my top choice. However, recent developments suggest that the quality of program and participation of experienced professionals is going to be affected to some degree. This does not justify the kind of tuition these programs are billing especially considering that much part might be online. Debt upwards of $50K, I find unjustified with bleak economic prospects. 

Therefore I would like to wait for a year or two and continue with my profession. I believe that policy sector is unlikely to see similar funding support and CSR activities are likely to shrink in coming 2 years. Freshers who have secured decent funding or people willing to continue in the education sector may like to make use of such an opportunity and hope for some green shoots coming out by the time they graduate. As for me, I have denied Chicago and in talks with Columbia regarding any concession they may make w.r.t. deposit deadlines.

2 things I recommend you think about.

1. You probably won't get the amount of scholarship offered for next year. The budget is set for this year, and they will likely change the budget next year and it will be extensively less at all schools as they try to preserve cash. It will only get worse.

2. Are you talking about Harris or CIR for Chicago (because they the 2 are different things)? I have no idea where you get this idea that Harris people are "freshies"? I think on average they have like 1 year or so less working experience than the average at HKS MPP, it is far from "freshies". Yes Harris will have a few straight from undergrad that won't be present at HKS or SIPA, but they are an extreme minority. 

3. If you care only about the brand and nothing less, HKS makes sense. However, if you do care about learning and experiences and avoiding debt, Harris has a really wide range of amazing options and research institutions you can get yourself involved in. 

Edited April 15, 2020 by GradSchoolGrad

[Haber]

17 minutes ago, GradSchoolGrad said:

2 things I recommend you think about.

1. You probably won't get the amount of scholarship offered for next year. The budget is set for this year, and they will likely change the budget next year and it will be extensively less at all schools as they try to preserve cash. It will only get worse.

2. Are you talking about Harris or CIR for Chicago (because they the 2 are different things)? I have no idea where you get this idea that Harris people are "freshies"? I think on average they have like 1 year or so less working experience than the average at HKS MPP, it is far from "freshies". Yes Harris will have a few straight from undergrad that won't be present at HKS or SIPA, but they are an extreme minority. 

3. If you care only about the brand and nothing less, HKS makes sense. However, if you do care about learning and experiences and avoiding debt, Harris has a really wide range of amazing options and research institutions you can get yourself involved in. 

Thanks for the insights. I myself thaught a lot about the first point you have dwelt into. It's a concern that fundings will go down considering NUS hasn't offered a single fellowship this year and even World bank isn't sponsoring policy programs any more.

Personally, I come from public sector and want to come back and work in India. Public sector job isn't that well paid here and a loan of approx 60-70k will take me 15 years to repay. Both Chicago and Columbia will involve huge debt even if I put personal savings and employer support of around 50k.

HKS has offered me MC MPA option and that's a one year program which I guess is suitable for me if I get some external funding and give some time to sort personal finances. Which could happen next year. 

It feels bad to squander such wonderful opportunities but this pandemic things has thrown the entire plan astray.

[GradSchoolGrad]

19 minutes ago, Haber said:

Thanks for the insights. I myself thaught a lot about the first point you have dwelt into. It's a concern that fundings will go down considering NUS hasn't offered a single fellowship this year and even World bank isn't sponsoring policy programs any more.

Personally, I come from public sector and want to come back and work in India. Public sector job isn't that well paid here and a loan of approx 60-70k will take me 15 years to repay. Both Chicago and Columbia will involve huge debt even if I put personal savings and employer support of around 50k.

HKS has offered me MC MPA option and that's a one year program which I guess is suitable for me if I get some external funding and give some time to sort personal finances. Which could happen next year. 

It feels bad to squander such wonderful opportunities but this pandemic things has thrown the entire plan astray.

I mean if you are okay with MC MPA 1 year program at HKS and pay for all of it... you might as well defer so you can at least be in Boston for it. 

[chande_]

Hey all, I would love if anyone could give me some advice on my dilemma.

I am deciding between an MA at Johns Hopkins SAIS, which offered me 12.5K per year, and the Masters in Global Policy DC Program at the UT-Austin LBJ school, which offered me 17K per year. Given that I am a Texas resident and UT is much lower cost, I probably wouldn't have to go more than 10K in debt, whereas I am looking at about 80K in debt if I go with SAIS.

Obviously the main trade-off is that SAIS is a much more recognized program if I want to land in DC after graduation, which is my goal. What do you think? Is the extra debt worth the "brand"? Does anyone know about the LBJ reputation in DC?

[Graduate of "Elite" School]

12 hours ago, chande_ said:

Hey all, I would love if anyone could give me some advice on my dilemma.

I am deciding between an MA at Johns Hopkins SAIS, which offered me 12.5K per year, and the Masters in Global Policy DC Program at the UT-Austin LBJ school, which offered me 17K per year. Given that I am a Texas resident and UT is much lower cost, I probably wouldn't have to go more than 10K in debt, whereas I am looking at about 80K in debt if I go with SAIS.

Obviously the main trade-off is that SAIS is a much more recognized program if I want to land in DC after graduation, which is my goal. What do you think? Is the extra debt worth the "brand"? Does anyone know about the LBJ reputation in DC?

Go to the cheapest. If you are determined and smart your outcomes will be near identical. You can comfortably pay of 10k debt in a year if you live frugally. 80k will have an significant impact on your life.

[Mppirgradschool]

1 hour ago, Graduate of "Elite" School said:

Go to the cheapest. If you are determined and smart your outcomes will be near identical. You can comfortably pay of 10k debt in a year if you live frugally. 80k will have an significant impact on your life.

Completely agree! By rule of thumb, take any school admittance with an offer below ~$40k a year of funding as a rejection. Everyone makes the same upon graduation.

I work with people that have attended a variety of these programs and our consensus is unanimous, follow the funding, network and you’ll be in a great spot at UT.

Edited April 16, 2020 by Mppirgradschool

[GradSchoolGrad]

14 hours ago, chande_ said:

Hey all, I would love if anyone could give me some advice on my dilemma.

I am deciding between an MA at Johns Hopkins SAIS, which offered me 12.5K per year, and the Masters in Global Policy DC Program at the UT-Austin LBJ school, which offered me 17K per year. Given that I am a Texas resident and UT is much lower cost, I probably wouldn't have to go more than 10K in debt, whereas I am looking at about 80K in debt if I go with SAIS.

Obviously the main trade-off is that SAIS is a much more recognized program if I want to land in DC after graduation, which is my goal. What do you think? Is the extra debt worth the "brand"? Does anyone know about the LBJ reputation in DC?

Yes... SAIS has a much better brand. Yes LBJ is only starting its brand sprawl in DC (I mean it has a pretty good one to begin with... just its spread isn't that pronounced). No its not worth going into 80K debt for a superior academic experience + brand that at the end of the day only has marginal career outcomes differences in a recession. If it wasn't a recession, we could possibly explore more depending on your interests, background, and feasibility.  

I would recommend doing LBJ bottom line, but also strategically thinking of how to get project / part time gigs to pad your resume. Honestly, that resume padding will matter more than what school you go to (as long as you don't go to an utterly unknown school). 

Edited April 16, 2020 by GradSchoolGrad

[GradSchoolGrad]

On 4/15/2020 at 9:28 AM, Haber said:

Thanks for the insights. I myself thaught a lot about the first point you have dwelt into. It's a concern that fundings will go down considering NUS hasn't offered a single fellowship this year and even World bank isn't sponsoring policy programs any more.

Personally, I come from public sector and want to come back and work in India. Public sector job isn't that well paid here and a loan of approx 60-70k will take me 15 years to repay. Both Chicago and Columbia will involve huge debt even if I put personal savings and employer support of around 50k.

HKS has offered me MC MPA option and that's a one year program which I guess is suitable for me if I get some external funding and give some time to sort personal finances. Which could happen next year. 

It feels bad to squander such wonderful opportunities but this pandemic things has thrown the entire plan astray.

I don't know how things work in India (I mean I do... I worked in Mumbai before)... but not structurally as a society. Something to think about is hopping between private and public sector in India. This is generally the future regardless of country. For example... doing policy analysis for a private sector company or a MNC. I think you really might want to think about expanding your career options before you think about where you want to go to grad school (regardless of costs). 

[Haber]

16 hours ago, GradSchoolGrad said:

I don't know how things work in India (I mean I do... I worked in Mumbai before)... but not structurally as a society. Something to think about is hopping between private and public sector in India. This is generally the future regardless of country. For example... doing policy analysis for a private sector company or a MNC. I think you really might want to think about expanding your career options before you think about where you want to go to grad school (regardless of costs). 

Thanks @GradSchoolGrad for your valuable inputs. I really appreciate your analysis and feedback. I think I might give myself some time to think through.