Duke Sanford vs Georgetown McCourt MPP

[spamarparu]

Less than 48 hours till D-day and I still can't decide. Though Duke Sanford is giving me more funding, their MPP is not STEM. As an international student, would McCourt's MPP be a better choice given that it is STEM-designated? Or do the Duke name + lower cost outweigh the benefits of a STEM degree? Also, can anyone share what job prospects do international students planning to stay back in the US have after Sanford, especially in consulting? I would appreciate any information on where international students usually end up after the one-year OPT period, and how successful they are in finding employers who sponsor them.

[GradSchoolGrad]

18 hours ago, spamarparu said:

Less than 48 hours till D-day and I still can't decide. Though Duke Sanford is giving me more funding, their MPP is not STEM. As an international student, would McCourt's MPP be a better choice given that it is STEM-designated? Or do the Duke name + lower cost outweigh the benefits of a STEM degree? Also, can anyone share what job prospects do international students planning to stay back in the US have after Sanford, especially in consulting? I would appreciate any information on where international students usually end up after the one-year OPT period, and how successful they are in finding employers who sponsor them.

I feel guilty saying this because I'm basically telling you to go to the school with a lesser student experience, but McCourt by virtue of being STEM and being in DC has much better pathways for international students than Duke. Duke's specialty is State & Local policy + Public-Private collaboration. Yes, they have international development research and activities, but unless you are going to the academic research route, there isn't exactly that many opportunities to develop your career for staying in the US. 

McCourt is better for international students, but you have to understand why it is better.

a. McCourt is a data focused school and there is a shortage of data analytics talent in the US, for which employers will pay for visas. Every single international student from McCourt that I know of (not including IGO like World Bank or working for their home government in the US) did Data Analytics or Data Analytics connected work.

b. As an international student, no major consulting firm will be interested in you unless you have some crazy unique skill that is demand. The major consulting firms that hire from McCourt focus on US government (most Federal, but some State), so they want US residents. There are some boutique consulting firms that hire international students, but in all cases I have seen, they are serving data analytics roles. 

c. There are international communities within DC and they help each other with jobs (well at a certain point it depends on which community. Some are apparently more supportive than others). 

[nerwen]

 

On 4/14/2023 at 12:39 AM, spamarparu said:

Less than 48 hours till D-day and I still can't decide. Though Duke Sanford is giving me more funding, their MPP is not STEM. As an international student, would McCourt's MPP be a better choice given that it is STEM-designated? Or do the Duke name + lower cost outweigh the benefits of a STEM degree? Also, can anyone share what job prospects do international students planning to stay back in the US have after Sanford, especially in consulting? I would appreciate any information on where international students usually end up after the one-year OPT period, and how successful they are in finding employers who sponsor them.

Hey, I don't know how helpful this would be but I am in a similar dilemma albeit with duke vs Harris instead of Georgetown and ended up choosing duke. My areas of interest are social and tech policy, as well as social entrepreneurship. For me, the major reasons to choose Sanford are

1. I am not enthusiastic about Harris' curriculum and its econ-focus. As someone coming into policy, I found Duke's core better rounded and liked the ease of access to other schools' courses.

2. The class sizes and student experience - very important for me because I am introverted so a strong, collaborative community and easier access to professors were important. I couldn't imagine myself in an incoming class that could be 300-400 students! 

3. I already have a quant-heavy background with about half a decade of experience in data, software and coding. (I must add though, what @GradSchoolGradsaid about the need for data analytics has made me feel better about my decision of choosing a non-STEM program, haha!) And from my conversations with duke students and staff, I felt they are quite decent in data and focus on data driven policies. 

4. Cost!! Duke will cost me half of what Chicago is and being about 70-80k (not counting COL) in debt for an MPP didn't seem worthwhile to me personally. Even Duke's price isn't the most affordable for a 1 year OPT but slightly more doable. Plus Durham is cheap.

 

I was also considering Michigan and Columbia but finally removed those from the list thanks to costs and the general student experiences, respectively!