Duke Sanford vs Chicago Harris- MPP

[nerwen]

Hey everyone, I'd appreciate some help in getting your insights as I decide between 2 schools who have given me some more time/have later deadlines.

I am considering cost, class size, student experience and curriculum relevance. My interests are social policy and social entrepreneurship with a particular focus on labour, gender and technology. As someone with no prior background in policymaking, I hope to use the MPP degree to better understand the actors and processes involved and am open to a generalist approach. I wish to work in international non-profits or multilateral organisations after graduation but that's not yet set in stone, with a few years in the US then mostly in developing countries outside my home country.

With Harris, I get a STEM degree which allows me 2 more years to work in the US and thus earn enough to pay off loans. The final tuition cost for both schools is the same (Harris recently reached out with what I'd call a sales pitch to convince me to join and increased funding by 18k each year) with living costs being slightly higher for Chicago than Durham. The class sizes are quite big too (can mean competitive access to services) and I felt that Harris had a very heavy focus on economics while I want a more holistic curriculum for policymaking since this is a career pivot for me. Additionally, both my professional and academic backgrounds have been calculus and data heavy already.

On the other hand, Sanford gave me a very generous scholarship from the beginning (about 70%) and has small classes, easier access to other Duke schools and a better core. But, their MPP is not STEM (with no hopes of this changing in the near future) so I'll only have 1 year after my degree to stay and find work in the country which is tough since most orgs wouldn't want to train me just so that I leave after a year or less.

I also have the option of attending Sciences Po which after scholarship costs me just 10k in tuition and gives me 2 years to stay and find work in France but not too sure about the job market and quality of education there.

[12wsqwedqd]

Waiting for HKS MPP, if rejected. Then the decision between Harris MPP and Sanford MPP seems a no-brainer. Though I have heard many bad things about Harris MPP, its STEM degree seems to be a key decision factor for an international student. But if you get an offer from HKS, its recognition will outweigh any Harris and Sanford. Also where do you want to work after graduation, if you want to work in Europe then Science Po is definitely the one. As for the U.S., I felt Chicago presents more opportunities for international students than North Caroline, despite the generally good vibe at Duke. If you feel like big cities and STEM are more important, then Harris.

Edited August 14, 2023 by 12wsqwedqd