UChicago MPP or Columbia MPA-ESP

[IamIndecisive]

I am in the process of deciding between pursuing a Master of Public Policy at The University of Chicago and a Master of Public Administration in Environmental Science and Policy at Columbia. I would appreciate any insight that you all have to offer!

Here are the factors I am currently considering:

UChicago

• Pro: I received a substantial scholarship 
• Pro: How general the MPP curriculum is
• Pro: Joint JD, MBA and PhDs are always a possible
• Con: Knowing my learning style, I am not enamored with the two-year format, especially in an unfamiliar city

Columbia

• Pro: 12-month format--back into the workforce quicker, more suited to my learning style
• Pro: Location in New York
• Con: No scholarships
• Con: Limited experience studying earth sciences
• Con: I am nervous about whether I want to exclusively work in the environmental policy area after school/its transferability as a degree

To make matters worse, I am still waiting to hear back from the Georgetown MPP program. Thanks in advance for your thoughts!

[GradSchoolGrad]

3 hours ago, IamIndecisive said:

I am in the process of deciding between pursuing a Master of Public Policy at The University of Chicago and a Master of Public Administration in Environmental Science and Policy at Columbia. I would appreciate any insight that you all have to offer!

Here are the factors I am currently considering:

UChicago

• Pro: I received a substantial scholarship 
• Pro: How general the MPP curriculum is
• Pro: Joint JD, MBA and PhDs are always a possible
• Con: Knowing my learning style, I am not enamored with the two-year format, especially in an unfamiliar city

Columbia

• Pro: 12-month format--back into the workforce quicker, more suited to my learning style
• Pro: Location in New York
• Con: No scholarships
• Con: Limited experience studying earth sciences
• Con: I am nervous about whether I want to exclusively work in the environmental policy area after school/its transferability as a degree

To make matters worse, I am still waiting to hear back from the Georgetown MPP program. Thanks in advance for your thoughts!

Understanding that Harris will be the more academically challenging school, unless you are afraid of academic challenges, Harris is the slam dunk answer. They gave you lot of money and they are generally good at most things. That Columbia program is a money grab to have a profitable grad program. Columbia isn’t event that good in environmental policy (Yale Forestry, Duke and Michigan grad programs are). Also if you care about student experience, don’t expect one in Columbia… community is always pretty bad. NYC is also less fun when you have to pay for things without scholarship.

[GradSchoolGrad]

3 hours ago, IamIndecisive said:

I am in the process of deciding between pursuing a Master of Public Policy at The University of Chicago and a Master of Public Administration in Environmental Science and Policy at Columbia. I would appreciate any insight that you all have to offer!

Here are the factors I am currently considering:

UChicago

• Pro: I received a substantial scholarship 
• Pro: How general the MPP curriculum is
• Pro: Joint JD, MBA and PhDs are always a possible
• Con: Knowing my learning style, I am not enamored with the two-year format, especially in an unfamiliar city

Columbia

• Pro: 12-month format--back into the workforce quicker, more suited to my learning style
• Pro: Location in New York
• Con: No scholarships
• Con: Limited experience studying earth sciences
• Con: I am nervous about whether I want to exclusively work in the environmental policy area after school/its transferability as a degree

To make matters worse, I am still waiting to hear back from the Georgetown MPP program. Thanks in advance for your thoughts!

Also, if you have Harris down, why would you even consider Georgetown MPP? It’s a tier 2 policy school.

[IamIndecisive]

1 hour ago, GradSchoolGrad said:

Also, if you have Harris down, why would you even consider Georgetown MPP? It’s a tier 2 policy school.

Are you implying that Harris is tier 1? I do not know much about the rankings, would you mind sharing which schools you consider to be top tier? Thank you so much for sharing your thoughts!

[GradSchoolGrad]

53 minutes ago, IamIndecisive said:

Are you implying that Harris is tier 1? I do not know much about the rankings, would you mind sharing which schools you consider to be top tier? Thank you so much for sharing your thoughts!

I could probably have a podcast discussing this, and there are LOTS of exceptions out there (based upon policy interest). But a sample of my personal take based upon career outcomes for MPP/MPA and equivalent (not US News because that is beauty contest among academics rating their peer academics purely on academic esteem... so things like professional outcomes pretty much don't matter). This is not exhaustive whatsoever

Tier 1: All opportunities are open, including the most competitive (top PhDs, Brookings, public sector MBB, White House staffer for a competitive administration). PMF and Deloitte Gov. Ops is pretty run of the mill. 

- HKS and Princeton

Tier 1.5: Tier 1 opportunities are accessible, but student might have to work/stretch harder for them.

- Harris/SIPA... you can make a good argument for Goldman, Heinz, Ford, and Terry Sanford

Tier 2: Competitive for good opportunities like PMF, Boren, Deloitte Gov Ops, Mathamatica. Top Tier 1 opportunities are an extreme reach but doable with extenuating circumstances (like extreme networking, internal referrals, specific diversity circumstances, and etc.) + top performance potential.

- Price, Trachtenburg, Wagner, Syracuse, Indiana, McCourt

Tier 3: Top opportunity would be PMF and Deloitte Gov Ops. Could be prime for local stuff

- American SPS

- UVA Batten 

There are some really weird schools here that hard to put in tier due to some interesting higher ed. strategies. The most extreme example would be Cornell Brooks Policy School. They have probably one of the most extreme range of outcomes I have ever seen. This is due to how they spend money on a targeted group of top talent with scholarships/military veterans who do generally well in the job market and have a really long tail okay talent. Penn Fels is another example. 

Also please keep in mind policy interest exceptions. If you cared about environmental from State/Local perspective, then I hope Indiana is top of your list. If you cared about the federal budget, then Syracuse better be top of your list