Georgetown (McCourt) MPP 2022

[GradSchoolGrad]

Forum for those interested in the McCourt School of Public Policy MPP for Fall 2022 start

Edited May 7, 2021 by GradSchoolGrad

[accomplishedzone17]

How does McCourt MPP compares to GWU's?

[GradSchoolGrad]

20 hours ago, accomplishedzone17 said:

How does McCourt MPP compares to GWU's?

The two programs at the two Universities are very different. McCourt's is much more academic focused with an emphasis on data analysis. GWU's is more geared towards experiential learning. Granted students from both regularly have part-time internships in DC, I would argue that GWU's students generally have greater exposure to the latest and greatest in policy vs. McCourt students. 

The Georgetown brand is generally a bit stronger, but the McCourt school brand isn't anything special. It ultimately comes down on what you want to do.

It might help if you identify what policy area you are looking for and what jobs are you looking for after the fact. As an international student, please identify if you are trying to stay in the US or go back to your home country after graduate schools. That might help me help you give more targets guidance. 

[accomplishedzone17]

I would like to stay at least one year in the US (using the OPT), but I expect to return back to my home country. 

I've mainly worked in non-profits. But I would like to explore other sectors and areas as well, especially in Policy topic related to Latin America, Democracy, and Economics. 

[GradSchoolGrad]

On 5/18/2021 at 2:57 PM, accomplishedzone17 said:

I would like to stay at least one year in the US (using the OPT), but I expect to return back to my home country. 

I've mainly worked in non-profits. But I would like to explore other sectors and areas as well, especially in Policy topic related to Latin America, Democracy, and Economics. 

Its help you identified who you like to work for but I recommend that you focus area needs to be much more specific.

If you are focused on more International development stuff, McCourt MPP or MIDP makes more sense if you want to approach it from a program evaluation analytics angle. If you want to work on international development from more of an operations or relationship angle, it would make more sense if you did the Georgetown School of Foreign Service Global Human Development (GHD) program.

If you care more about Latin America from a regional perspective, then Georgetown's MA In Latin American Studies makes more sense. If you mean democracy and economics from a macro view, then you need to go to an IR type program like Georgetown's Master of Science of Foreign Service. 

Edited May 19, 2021 by GradSchoolGrad

[mnbvcxzlkjhgfds]

@GradSchoolGrad

Thanks for all your in-depth explanations of basically everything you've written in this forum. After some reading, I realize that McCourt may be one of my top choices because I am interested in international development through data analysis.

But, to be frank, I am scared of applying. My imposter's syndrome has never been this bad haha. I am going to apply straight out of undergraduate school because I have a strong sense of purpose in what I want to do. My biggest concern is that I may not get the right amount of funding or even be accepted. I am in the military reserve with almost 3 years part-time and 1 year full-time experience with a TS/SCI clearance, over 1 year worth of full-time internship experiences, I have been a McNair Scholar, currently am a PPIA Fellow, yet I'm not sure what my chances are because everyone seems to want people with work experience out of undergrad. Could you please enlighten me? 

Another aspect of McCourt that piqued my interest are the international programs that seem to be a great opportunity. I know many other places offer international programs too, but LKY was one of my programs of interest until I was told not to apply without 2+ years of full-time post-undergrad work experience. Are you able to tell a little bit more about the program? And also, if I read things right, thank you for you service.

[GradSchoolGrad]

1 minute ago, YengHwa said:

@GradSchoolGrad

Thanks for all your in-depth explanations of basically everything you've written in this forum. After some reading, I realize that McCourt may be one of my top choices because I am interested in international development through data analysis.

But, to be frank, I am scared of applying. My imposter's syndrome has never been this bad haha. I am going to apply straight out of undergraduate school because I have a strong sense of purpose in what I want to do. My biggest concern is that I may not get the right amount of funding or even be accepted. I am in the military reserve with almost 3 years part-time and 1 year full-time experience with a TS/SCI clearance, over 1 year worth of full-time internship experiences, I have been a McNair Scholar, currently am a PPIA Fellow, yet I'm not sure what my chances are because everyone seems to want people with work experience out of undergrad. Could you please enlighten me? 

Another aspect of McCourt that piqued my interest are the international programs that seem to be a great opportunity. I know many other places offer international programs too, but LKY was one of my programs of interest until I was told not to apply without 2+ years of full-time post-undergrad work experience. Are you able to tell a little bit more about the program? And also, if I read things right, thank you for you service.

A few things.

1. McCourt is trying to be military friendly, so your military experience can kind of count is work experience (although in a unique way). There is even precedent for it (but active duty military guys who went to undergrad later in life).

2. McCourt is also trying to expand the student body to include more straight from undergrads (this is a money making venture at the sacrifice of overall student body experience). So what I'm saying is that this works to advantage you, but it may not help your overall experience once you get in.

3. Do you want to continue to work in the national security or IR route? If you do, McCourt really won't do much for you. It will be seen as a generic grand school degree (granted with the Georgetown name). You might be better off going to Security Studies Program and just taking some more data focused electives. I don't remember any McCourt student with either the MPP or MIDP doing international development from a security lens. It is actually kind of frowned upon (at least with the McCourt environments I encountered).

4. Do you want to do MPP or MIDP? MPP might give you the freedom do whatever you want and make your own route with the Georgetown name, but you don't really get strong guidance from faculty (IMO). MIDP gives you a lot of direct guidance from a great faculty member. However, you are stuck with a small cohort and the faculty director is someone who has strong mixed opinions (I like him and so do a lot of other people, but other people don't - for rational reasons about personal preference). 

Long story made short, international development has many flavors and different schools approach it in different ways. You want to approach it the way that you like and not be one of those international development burn outs or people who quit midway because it isn't what they expected. One of my really good friends who went the international development route quit midway because she realized she didn't like the culture "international development community" (at least in a traditional sense. There is a lot of international development that goes on outside of the ID community).

[mnbvcxzlkjhgfds]

Thanks for the insight! Your advice so far has definitely solved more than one of my current dilemmas. Just a question to follow up. For your second point, do you mean that the student body would have less experienced individuals if more are straight from undergrad, therefore potentially putting me at a disadvantage in connections if accepted?

I don't intend to work in national security, although it was fun while it lasted. I have been told that a clearance proves how trustworthy and experienced I can be in general is why I still continue to mention it. I do hope to work on international development, but not be strictly limited to it, so the MPP might be my current route of interest. Thanks again because you have also helped me solve my indecisiveness between strictly an international development program or an MPP.

Also, what in particular made your friend realize the IDEV culture and community wasn't right for her?

[GradSchoolGrad]

2 hours ago, YengHwa said:

Thanks for the insight! Your advice so far has definitely solved more than one of my current dilemmas. Just a question to follow up. For your second point, do you mean that the student body would have less experienced individuals if more are straight from undergrad, therefore potentially putting me at a disadvantage in connections if accepted?

I don't intend to work in national security, although it was fun while it lasted. I have been told that a clearance proves how trustworthy and experienced I can be in general is why I still continue to mention it. I do hope to work on international development, but not be strictly limited to it, so the MPP might be my current route of interest. Thanks again because you have also helped me solve my indecisiveness between strictly an international development program or an MPP.

Also, what in particular made your friend realize the IDEV culture and community wasn't right for her?

1. Yes, the clearance could indicate you are trustworthy for the admissions office, but after that it won't really have any value unless you apply for a US Government job. Also, I don't recommend you talk about it to your peers, just because there will be international students who innocently (or not so innocently - ya never know) bug you about it, and I know it has been uncomfortable for some with clearances. Things like straight up - hey can you please escort me on a tour of the Pentagon or CIA. 

2. Generally speaking, you want to enter a graduate program with people with career experience, the more the better. In the short run, you get a positive education experience. In the long run, they tend to go further in their careers and have greater networking value. Unless McCourt changed its tune (which I haven't heard so), but a strategic objective was to grow the program by getting those straight from undergrad + less years of work experience. Financially this makes sense because graduate programs (even after scholarships) are profit centers that make the school money while undergrad are loss centers. The more grad students, the more money Georgetown makes for the year to stabilize their finances. Most top MPP programs haven't taken this route to maintain their premium student experience. 

It also doesn't help that it is expected to be a less competitive application cycle overall for MPP, so you will likely get more straight from undergrads in McCourt regardless.

3. My friend who quit midway basically reflected that she found the "traditional" IDEV community to be cliquish and less than innovative. As context she came from the startup community and was trying to explore merging startups with IDEV skills. Keep in mind that plenty of stakeholders who are outside of the traditional IDEV community who arguably do IDEV. 

In no way am I saying I am well versed in it, but I will try. Traditional IDEV would be something along the lines of going to a developing country, introducing Microfinance, and measuring its economic and social impacts over a set period of time within a given community. 

I personally avoided "traditional IDEV" because IMO there was:

a. Insufficient emphasis on implementation - I believe implementation matters just as much, if not more than the plan

b. It really doesn't take a systems level thinking - I personally believe that long term major impacts is better made via industrial policy rather than IDEV (not a popular opinion, but it is becoming more popular of late). IDEV is sexy because it is generally associated with being a humanitarian of sorts. Industrial policy isn't because it is more abstract and there is less easily attributable cause and effect. 

FYI: https://www.cfr.org/backgrounder/industrial-policy-making-comeback

Yes, social trends in policy school do make a mark... the quickest way to be respected among your policy school classmates is to be a IDEV person. The quickest way to be misunderstood is to be an Industrial Policy person (granted that is slowly changing). In policy school you kind of get branded based upon your policy area focus. 

 

Edited July 26, 2021 by GradSchoolGrad

[mnbvcxzlkjhgfds]

Thanks for the advice on the clearance. I never tell people about it, although it's super easy to see if I have one.

I will keep in mind the undergraduate acceptance rates when I start applying to programs.

Your friend has a very cool idea with that! Surprising that she could not work with others to implement that kind of work. It's also surprising to hear how seemingly closed-minded those in the traditional IDEV route seem to be... In terms of industrial policy, I have done some work related to it especially with China's current efforts in Africa, and although it is frowned upon it does appear to be influencing growth there. IDEV in the traditional sense also works too because it has been proven time and time again that micro research projects work because they effectively identify causal relationships. Is it possible to focus on both? 

[GradSchoolGrad]

5 hours ago, YengHwa said:

Thanks for the advice on the clearance. I never tell people about it, although it's super easy to see if I have one.

I will keep in mind the undergraduate acceptance rates when I start applying to programs.

Your friend has a very cool idea with that! Surprising that she could not work with others to implement that kind of work. It's also surprising to hear how seemingly closed-minded those in the traditional IDEV route seem to be... In terms of industrial policy, I have done some work related to it especially with China's current efforts in Africa, and although it is frowned upon it does appear to be influencing growth there. IDEV in the traditional sense also works too because it has been proven time and time again that micro research projects work because they effectively identify causal relationships. Is it possible to focus on both? 

If you manage to do both, you would be the first person I heard of do it. I'm not one to say things aren't possible, since I myself did all sorts of random academic things, but just haven't heard of it. 

[mnbvcxzlkjhgfds]

Thanks, I don't usual write on forums, but your information has been so great.

[anxiousaf]

Hi! I am planning to apply for the same intake and would love to connect with people who are doing the same!

 

[Stingray22]

@anxiousaf

Seems you are applying to all the schools that I'm applying to lol. 
 

Does anyone know when the early decisions will be out for fall 22? 

[PolicyApplier]

IIRC, they should be out sometime around mid-January. It’s the next one released after UChicago for me.

[Nomad48]

I emailed admission about the results for early action applicants and they’ve said that results should be out by the end of this week. 

[PolicyApplier]

1-2 days to go until we know!

[Ľlllllllllllkll]

Decision is out. Accepted with no scholarship lol

[Nomad48]

Yes! Accepted with merit scholarship ($). Disappointing amount

[bryan888]

Accepted into MS-DSPP!! 

Edited January 14, 2022 by bryan888

[mnbvcxzlkjhgfds]

Accepted with 28.5k per year. Not sure how many dollar signs that is, but I am surprisingly shocked.

[Nomad48]

Congratulations everyone! Thank god I was refreshing the portal as I haven’t received an email to check my portal yet.

[PolicyApplier]

38 minutes ago, Ľlllllllllllkll said:

Decision is out. Accepted with no scholarship lol

Saaaaame, which means it’s pretty much a no-go. GU and DC are too expensive of a combo without a scholarship.

[CCZZ]

Accepted!! With 19k for the first year. But nothing about the second year. Do you know if it is renewable?

[mnbvcxzlkjhgfds]

7 hours ago, CCZZ said:

Accepted!! With 19k for the first year. But nothing about the second year. Do you know if it is renewable?

From their website: https://mccourt.georgetown.edu/new-students/tuition-financial-aid-and-scholarships/

"If you have received a merit-based scholarship from the McCourt School, you would have received notification of the award with your admission letter. These are competitive awards based on merit, not financial need.

Scholarships are automatically renewed at the equivalent level in the second year of study (and third year for MPP-Evening students) as long as the student remains in good academic standing (i.e. maintains a grade point average of at least 3.0).

For scholarship recipients in dual-degree programs, merit-based scholarships from McCourt are also renewable for one additional year, as long as you remain in good academic standing. The scholarship allocation may vary depending on which dual degree you pursue and when you start each portion of the dual program. Please reach out to Julie Ito at itoj@georgetown.edu if you wish to discuss your dual-degree status and scholarship distribution more specifically."

Edited January 15, 2022 by Yengsterhoo