Georgetown MIDP (1/2 tuition scholarship), UMich MPP (full tuition + stipend), or UMD MPP (50% assistantship)

[bettyburritos]

Hi everyone,

I recently received admissions decisions, and have narrowed down my choices to the following:

• Georgetown's Master of International Development Policy (MIDP) with a $28.5k tuition scholarship for each year. I can "afford" this by using my savings for room + board, using $20k of savings directly towards tuition, and taking the rest of the tuition cost + fees (~$42k) out in loans. Throughout the program I would find a job and work 20 hrs/wk, which on the lower end would give me an extra $30k over two years to put towards those loans. That would mean graduating with ~$12k in loans and ~$8k left in my savings (not including retirement, I don't want to touch that).
  • My hesitancy with this choice is that it's draining my savings! But the program seems amazing. The director reached out to me during the review cycle to congratulate me on a well-written application and has kept in touch with me since then (yes, he was very effective in brainwashing me lol). It's a small cohort (less than 20), average age is mid-late 20s (I'm 26), and average years of work experience is 4 (I have 3). There's a fully-funded (or nearly fully-funded) required summer internship opportunity abroad. There are many international students, which is a plus for me, and I've heard the director is truly invested in the academic success of each cohort member. Some people apparently don't like his "overly involved presence", but I would appreciate it. I've internet stalked recent MIDP grads, and they're all doing incredible things and have jobs that I would salivate over. The quant-heavy aspect of this program scares me, but I want the challenge.
• University of Michigan's Master of Public Policy (MPP) with the Rackham Graduate Merit Award of full tuition and stipend for each year. No budgeting needed.
  • My hesitancy with this choice is location, unfortunately 😒 I elaborate more below. There's also no capstone project, which I thought was weird. The curriculum isn't as rigid as Georgetown's MIDP, so I have more flexibility in policy concentration and can take up to 25% of my credits across different schools.
• University of Maryland's Master of Public Policy (MPP) with a 50% assistantship. This would leave me to cover roughly ~$7.5k of tuition, which I could do out of pocket. A good chunk of room + board could be paid for by working an additional 10ish hours at a student hourly position.
  • My hesitancy with this choice is that it's lower ranked than both of my other ones, and their admissions team has not been helping to improve their image 😄 They feel discombobulated and slightly unprofessional. Because UMD is a large state school, I'd imagine I'd have to advocate for myself and actively manage my studies/opportunities, which I feel wouldn't be as big of a need with a smaller program like Georgetown's MIDP. I would really, really appreciate anyone who can talk up their program! 

Some miscellaneous considerations that have been on my mind:

• I have been working for FEMA for the past two years, and while I enjoy what I do to an extent, I am ready to pivot internationally and use that experience in humanitarian and disaster aid in graduate studies.
• I have roughly $65k in savings thanks to graduating debt free in undergrad, but do I want to blow through all of it for grad school? How could I use that money to aid my studies (unpaid internships, work abroad, etc.) if I went to a cheaper school instead?
• I decided to attend a state school for undergrad on full tuition and managed to save a lot through scholarships and fully funded study abroad programs. Higher education has always been a personal priority to me, and I don't have an issue with paying for quality/connections. At the same time, I want to make sure I'm not being blinded by prestige and name brand. I have experience tailoring my academic experience at a large state school from undergrad, and while that's not what I was hoping for with grad, I don't know if it's worth all of my savings.
• I spent my entire life in the Midwest, and just escaped last year! I know Michigan is an incredible school, but still... location is a consideration for me.
• I unfortunately love a man who can't move to Michigan and has to stay in the DMV area. We live together and feel seriously about each other, so this is a consideration for me. We would do long distance if I went to Michigan, but it would definitely be hard.

My career aspirations are in the development sector, and I am particularly interested in impact evaluation, environmental policy, and development policy. I'm not strongly set towards public sector or private sector. I'm worried that my lack of a definitive plan/goal for after graduation means I should choose a program that won't wipe my savings and leave me with debt.

I hope this post is coherent enough to prompt responses! I would really appreciate thoughts, advice, or questions for me to consider as I make such a large life decision. Thanks all 🙂

[GradSchoolGrad]

On 3/14/2023 at 5:50 PM, bettyburritos said:

Hi everyone,

I recently received admissions decisions, and have narrowed down my choices to the following:

• Georgetown's Master of International Development Policy (MIDP) with a $28.5k tuition scholarship for each year. I can "afford" this by using my savings for room + board, using $20k of savings directly towards tuition, and taking the rest of the tuition cost + fees (~$42k) out in loans. Throughout the program I would find a job and work 20 hrs/wk, which on the lower end would give me an extra $30k over two years to put towards those loans. That would mean graduating with ~$12k in loans and ~$8k left in my savings (not including retirement, I don't want to touch that).
  • My hesitancy with this choice is that it's draining my savings! But the program seems amazing. The director reached out to me during the review cycle to congratulate me on a well-written application and has kept in touch with me since then (yes, he was very effective in brainwashing me lol). It's a small cohort (less than 20), average age is mid-late 20s (I'm 26), and average years of work experience is 4 (I have 3). There's a fully-funded (or nearly fully-funded) required summer internship opportunity abroad. There are many international students, which is a plus for me, and I've heard the director is truly invested in the academic success of each cohort member. Some people apparently don't like his "overly involved presence", but I would appreciate it. I've internet stalked recent MIDP grads, and they're all doing incredible things and have jobs that I would salivate over. The quant-heavy aspect of this program scares me, but I want the challenge.
• University of Michigan's Master of Public Policy (MPP) with the Rackham Graduate Merit Award of full tuition and stipend for each year. No budgeting needed.
  • My hesitancy with this choice is location, unfortunately 😒 I elaborate more below. There's also no capstone project, which I thought was weird. The curriculum isn't as rigid as Georgetown's MIDP, so I have more flexibility in policy concentration and can take up to 25% of my credits across different schools.
• University of Maryland's Master of Public Policy (MPP) with a 50% assistantship. This would leave me to cover roughly ~$7.5k of tuition, which I could do out of pocket. A good chunk of room + board could be paid for by working an additional 10ish hours at a student hourly position.
  • My hesitancy with this choice is that it's lower ranked than both of my other ones, and their admissions team has not been helping to improve their image 😄 They feel discombobulated and slightly unprofessional. Because UMD is a large state school, I'd imagine I'd have to advocate for myself and actively manage my studies/opportunities, which I feel wouldn't be as big of a need with a smaller program like Georgetown's MIDP. I would really, really appreciate anyone who can talk up their program! 

Some miscellaneous considerations that have been on my mind:

• I have been working for FEMA for the past two years, and while I enjoy what I do to an extent, I am ready to pivot internationally and use that experience in humanitarian and disaster aid in graduate studies.
• I have roughly $65k in savings thanks to graduating debt free in undergrad, but do I want to blow through all of it for grad school? How could I use that money to aid my studies (unpaid internships, work abroad, etc.) if I went to a cheaper school instead?
• I decided to attend a state school for undergrad on full tuition and managed to save a lot through scholarships and fully funded study abroad programs. Higher education has always been a personal priority to me, and I don't have an issue with paying for quality/connections. At the same time, I want to make sure I'm not being blinded by prestige and name brand. I have experience tailoring my academic experience at a large state school from undergrad, and while that's not what I was hoping for with grad, I don't know if it's worth all of my savings.
• I spent my entire life in the Midwest, and just escaped last year! I know Michigan is an incredible school, but still... location is a consideration for me.
• I unfortunately love a man who can't move to Michigan and has to stay in the DMV area. We live together and feel seriously about each other, so this is a consideration for me. We would do long distance if I went to Michigan, but it would definitely be hard.

My career aspirations are in the development sector, and I am particularly interested in impact evaluation, environmental policy, and development policy. I'm not strongly set towards public sector or private sector. I'm worried that my lack of a definitive plan/goal for after graduation means I should choose a program that won't wipe my savings and leave me with debt.

I hope this post is coherent enough to prompt responses! I would really appreciate thoughts, advice, or questions for me to consider as I make such a large life decision. Thanks all 🙂

This sounds crazy, but ever thought about applying to Georgetown MPP (or asking if you can transition to an MPP admittance... I am thinking it might be a better fit for you).

[GradSchoolGrad]

2 minutes ago, GradSchoolGrad said:

This sounds crazy, but ever thought about applying to Georgetown MPP (or asking if you can transition to an MPP admittance... I am thinking it might be a better fit for you).

Also maybe asking for a bit more scholarship. McCourt is swimming in cash