AMA Current Harris MSCAPP Student

[ellien575]

38 minutes ago, IndominusTaco said:

Thanks for talking about your Harris experience. I'm apply for the MPP program so my questions are about Harris in general. I'm assuming you must have graduated by now, correct? Did you end up landing a good job post graduation? How did Harris help in the job search, did you utilize their network at all? And at what point during your time at Harris did you begin thinking about/preparing for your post-graduation career?

Yep, I graduated last spring (2021)!  I did end up getting a good job after graduation-- I didn't really utilize the broader Harris network for my job search, although I did talk to CAPP alumni at adjacent companies to the one I work at now.

Harris sponsored my internship at a non-profit, so I utilized their career services in that respect (the posting for my internship was through their job board and the financial sponsorship was through them). I will say that Harris is very well set up for more standard MPP job searching, I utilized them less than I might have otherwise because I had more work experience and was looking at software engineer roles (albeit at mission-focused companies). Harris Career services is more and more helpful the fewer years of job experience you have. I had 4+ and so they were less well set up for that than they were for folks with 2-4 years.

I started thinking about my post-grad career late my first year, and really started job searching and narrowing things down in late Winter, early Spring of my second year. Depending on the kind of roles you're interested in, you may be fine skewing early or later there. Consulting/banking/etc. requires you to interview earlier than anything else for both internships and jobs (think fall term). Government is probably second-earliest, and private sector/non-profit generally don't seem to be interested in talking until spring.

[lostinstatistics]

@ellien575 Hi! I cannot thank you enough for all your thoughtful responses, they really help me so much! 

I have recently been admitted to MSCAPP and now am preparing for the scholarship reconsideration application. Meanwhile, I was reading many reviews and comments about the MSCAPP and especially Harris School of Public Policy, and the perspectives on Harris were not very positive (mostly on Reddit though). I also received a merit scholarship that is probably not able to allow me to attend the school financially unless I can take large loans. I'm an international student and I really like MSCAPP (very suitable for my interests and skills) but the tuition is too high for me. If I choose to take loans, I am honestly very uncertain about the job prospects and incomes after the program regarding the repayment (I want to do data tasks in NGO jobs but, to pay loans faster, I will need to join the private industries).

My question is that, do you know what to do if the reconsidered scholarship does not increase very much? I have tried to apply for third-party funding options too but they are really hard . Moreover, if you happen to know, did all the students who graduated from MSCAPP secure decent jobs?

Thank you very much! I appreciate any of your thoughts. 

[ellien575]

5 hours ago, lostinstatistics said:

Meanwhile, I was reading many reviews and comments about the MSCAPP and especially Harris School of Public Policy, and the perspectives on Harris were not very positive (mostly on Reddit though).

Lol, I found what you were referring to-- tbh for CAPP specifically it seems like there's one main person who really wanted CAPP to be something it is very honestly not. If all you want is a cutting edge ML job... go elsewhere?

5 hours ago, lostinstatistics said:

I also received a merit scholarship that is probably not able to allow me to attend the school financially unless I can take large loans. I'm an international student and I really like MSCAPP (very suitable for my interests and skills) but the tuition is too high for me.

Do you have any other programs to leverage in the negotiation/to attend otherwise? If attending CAPP requires you to take out a crippling amount of loans vs. attending a different program doesn't, I'd go with the other program. If your goal is data analysis at an NGO, you might be able to get by with some online coursework on data manipulation, especially if you're self motivated to learn and have experience in the NGO world.

 

5 hours ago, lostinstatistics said:

Moreover, if you happen to know, did all the students who graduated from MSCAPP secure decent jobs?

Everyone I know eventually landed somewhere that fit their interests broadly, but what different people consider 'decent' is sometimes challenging to define! Salary-wise, I think some folks were disappointed because they were switching careers and thought the Masters would give them more of a salary boost over someone entry-level than it did. Content-wise, I think most people got in the general zone they were interested in, especially if they planned ahead (networked in the field, did internships, etc.)

[dltlskxx]

@ellien575thank you so much for doing this! 

I had  question regarding scholarship negotiations, well this might come off as stupid but I haven't gotten any aid from my other two offers, of which one is a rejection. However Harris (MPP applicant here) has given me something which is super less

Is there any way one can negotiate without any funded offers and get a raise? I am an international applicant, so any money saved is a huge relief