McCourt Fall 2023 Applicants (The first class scheduled to experience the downtown campus)

[GradSchoolGrad]

To discuss Georgetown McCourt School of Public Policy

[Lalanala]

Hi, I recently get admitted to MPP program at Mccourt. My career goal is to working for a consulting firm as an consultant in the US. I wondering if Mccourt will be great choice for this goal. Thanks for answering!

[GradSchoolGrad]

On 1/14/2023 at 5:24 AM, Lalanala said:

Hi, I recently get admitted to MPP program at Mccourt. My career goal is to working for a consulting firm as a consultant in the US. I wondering if Mccourt will be great choice for this goal. Thanks for answering!

Government consulting in the US with Deloitte, yes if you are the top 25% or so professional readiness.

Boutiques - varies greatly

Other consulting opportunities (especially private sector) - No to not really

[FinPol]

Thanks for setting McCourt applicants thread ! I got an admission offer to MPM program at Mccourt few weeks ago, and I'm currently looking for additional funding sources(scholarships). Does anyone know what's the chances of receiving increased amount of merit-based scholarships ?

[GradSchoolGrad]

21 hours ago, FinPol said:

Thanks for setting McCourt applicants thread ! I got an admission offer to MPM program at Mccourt few weeks ago, and I'm currently looking for additional funding sources(scholarships). Does anyone know what's the chances of receiving increased amount of merit-based scholarships ?

Totally depends on how competitive you are vs. how many others apply.

MPM as a degree doesn’t really do much for you unless you are coming in part of cohort or fellowship or simply checking a block for a grad degree requirement. If you are trying to career pivot, you might want to do something else.

[FinPol]

On 1/28/2023 at 3:59 AM, GradSchoolGrad said:

Totally depends on how competitive you are vs. how many others apply.

MPM as a degree doesn’t really do much for you unless you are coming in part of cohort or fellowship or simply checking a block for a grad degree requirement. If you are trying to career pivot, you might want to do something else.

Thanks for answering! I was wondering whether there's possibility so that I should try to negotiate with current scholarships amount.

FYI, I'm international applicant with 8+yrs of work experience at government agency. I just want to acquire master's degree and build global network (no plans to not make changes in future career)

[GradSchoolGrad]

6 hours ago, FinPol said:

Thanks for answering! I was wondering whether there's possibility so that I should try to negotiate with current scholarships amount.

FYI, I'm international applicant with 8+yrs of work experience at government agency. I just want to acquire master's degree and build global network (no plans to not make changes in future career)

You can and should try, but I don't think the chances of you getting more are that high unless there is something super unique about you that adds to priority diversity areas that Georgetown MPM cares about.

[CaliforniaPasadena]

I got accepted with a huge amount of funding (domestic student, 4.0 GPA, quant background, 330 GRE).

Was wondering if someone heard how the course 'advanced topics in micro & macro' with akerlof is?

Also, planning to do an MBA afterwards. How easy is it to fetch letters of recommendation from professors?

[breadloafer]

That's awesome news @CaliforniaPasadena congrats!! What program did you apply to? Would you mind sharing how you heard from admissions? (phone calls, email, portal update, etc.) I'm waiting to hear back from their MS-DSPP program.

[GradSchoolGrad]

On 3/2/2023 at 6:46 PM, CaliforniaPasadena said:

I got accepted with a huge amount of funding (domestic student, 4.0 GPA, quant background, 330 GRE).

Was wondering if someone heard how the course 'advanced topics in micro & macro' with akerlof is?

Also, planning to do an MBA afterwards. How easy is it to fetch letters of recommendation from professors?

Assuming you got into MPP, I strongly recommend doing MBA and MPP as a dual degree student. It shaves off one year off your schooling and Georgetown MBA is rising. You can apply now or when you get to Georgetown.

That being said, I would not count on McCourt professors to write you letters of recommendation for any MBA, be it Georgetown or otherwise unless you develop a unique bond with one of them. In the world of academia, Business schools and Policy schools are huge rivals and Policy schools tend to look at business schools with a level of disdain and suspicion (I can go on forever about this and the reasons why). Policy professors will gladly write recommendations for law school, but less so for business school.

The Akerlof course is super challenging. As in if you don’t have a solid foundation in quant (Calc and stats), you will struggle. I have heard it compared to a PhD level course and unless you are a quant pro, you really should avoid.

[CaliforniaPasadena]

Thanks GradSchoolGrad!

Are courses in intermediate micro as well as in macroeconomics not sufficient to attend the course and mostly understand it?

 

if not, what other courses could i take in preparation for that class?

i actually aimed for harvard for my MBA… 

[GradSchoolGrad]

1 minute ago, CaliforniaPasadena said:

Thanks GradSchoolGrad!

Are courses in intermediate micro as well as in macroeconomics not sufficient to attend the course and mostly understand it?

 

if not, what other courses could i take in preparation for that class?

i actually aimed for harvard for my MBA… 

So the intermediate micro course is more a practical application course in which you learn coding based methods to analyze data. The Akerlof course is more they proofing in which you really need to know calc + stat methods to basically not hate your life. The one person I knew who had a good experience had a strong quant based econ perspective. Everyone else who went up thru the McCourt system hated their life.

Unless you want to do PE, be a professor, or do a start up there is little additional value to a Harvard MBA over a top 25 US MBA other than pure prestige and Harvard club. Once you get to the top 25 - salary outcomes are rather close.

[CaliforniaPasadena]

Thanks for your response!

Do you by any chance have slides to the course or any other material?

I would say I have a solid quant background, but still would like to see if sufficiently so…

As per the letters of recommendation, that is quite unfortunate … but good to know!

[dltlskxx]

Just got waitlisted to the MPP program at McCourt, doesn't feel that great considering MPP programs aren't that competitive. Makes me second-guess my credibility and competitiveness as an applicant 

Also thank you @GradSchoolGrad for being so active here and on Reddit about MPP's and McCourt! Have been a follower of your podcasts for a while and they truly helped me when preparing for my applications!! 

[itsybitsygradstudent]

Hey guys, I just got accepted into the MS-DSPP program at Georgetown! I just wanted to ask what the job opportunities were like for international students and what my expectations should be assuming I still want a data science focused role after the end of it!