Full Scholarship for MPP/MPA?

[kwhitegocubs]

OKay, I'll make this as quick as possible. I am going to William and Mary Law School starting this fall on 3/4 scholarship. They have a JD/MPP, and I know that they are working hard on making their new-ish MPP program better, but it still pales in comparison to their nationally prestigious law school. However, I scored a 800 Quant/650 Verbal/5.5 AW on the GRE and have a 3.75 UG GPA, so I'd like to go to the best MPP/MPA program I can. From what I have read, it isn't terribly hard to make arrangements with a lot of MPP schools in order to do a JD/MPP with a different school's JD program. However, I am already (because of Cost-of-living expenses) on pace to rack up 50-75k in debt at law school. I'd like to limit debt as much as possible and I don't know how generous W&M's MPP side would be anyways.

So....what I want to know is: What are some schools that tend towards the very generous side - aka full tuition or full tuition plus stipend. If the full ride and stipend also came without an assistantship position, that would actually be better in some regards (more free time). I saw that Delaware and UConn offered some students on this forum rides and stipends, but if anyone else has suggestions on higher ranked schools that are known to be generous with funding for those with my numbers (FWIW, I also have 2 years work experience in an odd niche - Rare Coin Grading), I'd be very interested.

Edited April 22, 2010 by kwhitegocubs

[Minerva473]

OKay, I'll make this as quick as possible. I am going to William and Mary Law School starting this fall on 3/4 scholarship. They have a JD/MPP, and I know that they are working hard on making their new-ish MPP program better, but it still pales in comparison to their nationally prestigious law school. However, I scored a 800 Quant/650 Verbal/5.5 AW on the GRE and have a 3.75 UG GPA, so I'd like to go to the best MPP/MPA program I can. From what I have read, it isn't terribly hard to make arrangements with a lot of MPP schools in order to do a JD/MPP with a different school's JD program. However, I am already (because of Cost-of-living expenses) on pace to rack up 50-75k in debt at law school. I'd like to limit debt as much as possible and I don't know how generous W&M's MPP side would be anyways.

So....what I want to know is: What are some schools that tend towards the very generous side - aka full tuition or full tuition plus stipend. If the full ride and stipend also came without an assistantship position, that would actually be better in some regards (more free time). I saw that Delaware and UConn offered some students on this forum rides and stipends, but if anyone else has suggestions on higher ranked schools that are known to be generous with funding for those with my numbers (FWIW, I also have 2 years work experience in an odd niche - Rare Coin Grading), I'd be very interested.

Cornell is not that highly ranked but they seem to give substantial funding to everyone. I think they are trying to build up a new program (not sure how long that will last). University of Maryland is well respected in the DC area and they seem to give lots of scholarships + stipends. I think it depends a lot on the strength of your application, and perhaps they will like that you're doing a JD (you'll be qualified for higher paying jobs than your MPP peers and thereby up their stats). The Maxwell School at Syracuse University seems to have given substantial funding to some people (full assistantships), but these will be more competitive than Maryland or Cornell.

[berkeleybear06]

Cornell is not that highly ranked but they seem to give substantial funding to everyone. I think they are trying to build up a new program (not sure how long that will last). University of Maryland is well respected in the DC area and they seem to give lots of scholarships + stipends. I think it depends a lot on the strength of your application, and perhaps they will like that you're doing a JD (you'll be qualified for higher paying jobs than your MPP peers and thereby up their stats). The Maxwell School at Syracuse University seems to have given substantial funding to some people (full assistantships), but these will be more competitive than Maryland or Cornell.

I think it depends on what you want to do with the MPP. The LBJ School waives out of state tuition in some cases and many times gives fellowships. Its ranked 9th in Social Policy and 10th in Policy Analysis. If you're sticking around the east coast might try Georgetown... but i dont know that they give a whole lot financial help...

[kwhitegocubs]

Well, my purpose of doing an MPP (or MPA) is mainly because I want to have a better grounding in policy analysis and statistics for a possible future attempt at elected politics. That being said, I would also be interested in working for progressive think-tanks and/or working as an advisor or administrator in state or federal (but preferably not local) government. Basically, I want to use it as an expansion of the JD credential if I end up going down the political route 10 or 15 years from now.

Edited April 22, 2010 by kwhitegocubs