MPP in Public policy

[oracle88]

Hi All,

I am applying for MA in Publc policy (Fall 2011) . I am a techie working with Oracle corporation. I know I am a bit late ...., Planning to apply to the following places. Pls let me know your opinion , whether they are safe/ambitious, chances of funding/assistantship. I dont know anyone doing MPP Programs to turn to for advice.

Also, let me know if I missed any univ where I should have applied.

Profile

BTech in Computer Science Engineering [2009] - 79.6% ( 5th in class of 55)

Best Outgoing student of 2009 from college( from 250 students)

Lots of extra curriculars through out college, including some bit of community service work.

1 year IT work ex with Oracle Corporation , India

Class 10th: 94.3% , Class 12 :94 %

GRE: 1390[ Verbal:630, Q:760, AWA:awaited, prob 4 or 5]

1. Master of Public Admin. at Rockfeller, State university of New York

http://www.albany.edu/rockefeller/academ..._mpa.shtml

2. Master of Public Affairs at University of Texas, Austin

Master of Public Affairs Program (MPAff) | Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs

3.Master of Public policy at University of Michigan

Master of Public Policy (MPP) | Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy

4. Master of Public policy at George Mason

http://policy.gmu.edu/Home/AcademicProfe...fault.aspx

5. MPA in Development practise at Columbia University ( interesting course, seems available only at SIPA)

http://www.sipa.columbia.edu/academics/d...culum.html

6. Master of Public policy at University of Maryland

Degree Programs | Public Policy, University of Maryland

7. MA in Public policy at John Hopkins Univ

Masters of Arts in Public Policy | Institute for Policy Studies (IPS)

8. Also,University College London and London School of Economics offers a one year Msc in Public policy.

http://www.ucl.ac.uk/spp/teaching/master...lic-policy

Planning to focus on Rural Development in India, esp PURA (providing urban amenities in rural areas)

I want to shortlist to 6 universities from this list. Priority is of course chances of assistant ship/funding. Please let me know ur valuable advise.

Is my list too ambitious? Should I go for any other universities which will be more safe for me??

Please help

Thanks a ton:)

[braindead]

Hi there,

What I could not gather from your profile is whether you have any experience of working in non-profits or not? Coming from a non-social sciences background and without having much experience of working in non-profits, in my opinion it becomes tad difficult to get an admit. I am not really sure whether I would be the right person to advice you on which schools to select as I am in the same boat as you are in. What I would rather recommend you is to also check out UK schools such as IDS - Univ of Sussex, SOAS - Univ. of London, Univ of Manchester. Their course on Development Studies would be more relevant to Rural Development.

Most US schools under the MPP/MPA program donot offer rural development as a concentration. The closest you may find is International Development. Several US schools on the other hand are more renowned in the domestic policy circle. Browse this forum more to check out the reputation of the schools you've mentioned. To give you an example IPS @ JHU is more renowned for its Health Policy concentration. Again I am not sure if it would be the right choice for studying rural development.

Regards,

Hi All,

I am applying for MA in Publc policy (Fall 2011) . I am a techie working with Oracle corporation. I know I am a bit late ...., Planning to apply to the following places. Pls let me know your opinion , whether they are safe/ambitious, chances of funding/assistantship. I dont know anyone doing MPP Programs to turn to for advice.

Also, let me know if I missed any univ where I should have applied.

Profile

BTech in Computer Science Engineering [2009] - 79.6% ( 5th in class of 55)

Best Outgoing student of 2009 from college( from 250 students)

Lots of extra curriculars through out college, including some bit of community service work.

1 year IT work ex with Oracle Corporation , India

Class 10th: 94.3% , Class 12 :94 %

GRE: 1390[ Verbal:630, Q:760, AWA:awaited, prob 4 or 5]

1. Master of Public Admin. at Rockfeller, State university of New York

http://www.albany.ed...em..._mpa.shtml

2. Master of Public Affairs at University of Texas, Austin

Master of Public Affairs Program (MPAff) | Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs

3.Master of Public policy at University of Michigan

Master of Public Policy (MPP) | Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy

4. Master of Public policy at George Mason

http://policy.gmu.ed...fe...fault.aspx

5. MPA in Development practise at Columbia University ( interesting course, seems available only at SIPA)

http://www.sipa.colu.../d...culum.html

6. Master of Public policy at University of Maryland

Degree Programs | Public Policy, University of Maryland

7. MA in Public policy at John Hopkins Univ

Masters of Arts in Public Policy | Institute for Policy Studies (IPS)

8. Also,University College London and London School of Economics offers a one year Msc in Public policy.

http://www.ucl.ac.uk...er...lic-policy

Planning to focus on Rural Development in India, esp PURA (providing urban amenities in rural areas)

I want to shortlist to 6 universities from this list. Priority is of course chances of assistant ship/funding. Please let me know ur valuable advise.

Is my list too ambitious? Should I go for any other universities which will be more safe for me??

Please help

Thanks a ton:)

[jph5125]

I'm applying to MPA programs which are similar to MPP and from what I have researched your list seems pretty good. I have heard that while SUNY-Albany is a good MPA/MPP program, it is well known within the region and less so the further you go from NY (not sure how much this matters to you). If you're looking for more safe-ish schools you could try University of Pittsburgh GSPIA (http://www.gspia.pit...87/Default.aspx).

Another program you might want to check out if you are interested in D.C. programs is George Washington University Trachtenberg (http://www.tspppa.gw...emics/index.cfm), however I do not believe they have a specialization for rural development.

[oracle88]

Hi

I do not have any workex to show in non-profits/ anything relevant .

Can mention only this : was chairperson of a community service club in college, received their award for best Member at National level(India), and organized free health care camps and stuff ( Not much, I know

1.I want to do policy studies and not development studies but focus on issues affecting South Asian countries.

2. Another concern is funding

IDS - Univ of Sussex, SOAS - Univ. of London, Univ of Manchester , LSE , University college London will these places provide enough funding?

Or do US univs provide more funding?

Considering my zilch relevant work ex, let me know 1-2 safe univ in US I can apply with chances of funding

Pls let me know..

Hi there,

What I could not gather from your profile is whether you have any experience of working in non-profits or not? Coming from a non-social sciences background and without having much experience of working in non-profits, in my opinion it becomes tad difficult to get an admit. I am not really sure whether I would be the right person to advice you on which schools to select as I am in the same boat as you are in. What I would rather recommend you is to also check out UK schools such as IDS - Univ of Sussex, SOAS - Univ. of London, Univ of Manchester. Their course on Development Studies would be more relevant to Rural Development.

Most US schools under the MPP/MPA program donot offer rural development as a concentration. The closest you may find is International Development. Several US schools on the other hand are more renowned in the domestic policy circle. Browse this forum more to check out the reputation of the schools you've mentioned. To give you an example IPS @ JHU is more renowned for its Health Policy concentration. Again I am not sure if it would be the right choice for studying rural development.

Regards,

[just4u1530]

Hi,

The admission committee would be curious to know why you're moving towards public policy from IT industry. be prepared to explain this issue in detail.

Hi

I do not have any workex to show in non-profits/ anything relevant .

Can mention only this : was chairperson of a community service club in college, received their award for best Member at National level(India), and organized free health care camps and stuff ( Not much, I know

1.I want to do policy studies and not development studies but focus on issues affecting South Asian countries.

2. Another concern is funding

IDS - Univ of Sussex, SOAS - Univ. of London, Univ of Manchester , LSE , University college London will these places provide enough funding?

Or do US univs provide more funding?

Considering my zilch relevant work ex, let me know 1-2 safe univ in US I can apply with chances of funding

Pls let me know..

[oracle88]

Hi ,

Thanks all of you for advice.

@jph5125 : I decided to remove Rockfeller, SUNY from my list and apply to Pittsburgh instead.

One more query.

Amongst these, where will I have more chance of getting through with funding?

CMU/SIPA or Cornell

Also,

LSE/ UCL/ Manchester : Planning to apply to only one place.

Regards,

[mppgal55]

Cornell is a smaller program, so if you get in they'll likely give you good funding (from what I've heard).

CMU gives money to almost everyone, but gives full money to almost no-one. Your tech background would appeal to the adcomm, but you'd have to have solid reasoning for your transition to policy. CMU allows cross registration with GSPIA, which could be helpful for some development courses. We also have a very active international development group that cosponsors a conference with Harvard Kennedy School each April. We have some great faculty in the field, even though the curriculum is more skills-based and has a few less ID electives.

I know that this year, most people I know claimed SIPA was stingy. Some people who were guaranteed scholarships (based on summer programs like PPIA) actually were denied that money, even though they should have received it contractually. Not many people got money from them, and NYC is very, very pricey.

Hi ,

Thanks all of you for advice.

@jph5125 : I decided to remove Rockfeller, SUNY from my list and apply to Pittsburgh instead.

One more query.

Amongst these, where will I have more chance of getting through with funding?

CMU/SIPA or Cornell

Also,

LSE/ UCL/ Manchester : Planning to apply to only one place.

Regards,

[RH7]

IDS - Univ of Sussex, SOAS - Univ. of London, Univ of Manchester , LSE , University college London will these places provide enough funding?

Or do US univs provide more funding?

Considering my zilch relevant work ex, let me know 1-2 safe univ in US I can apply with chances of funding

Amongst these, where will I have more chance of getting through with funding?

CMU/SIPA or Cornell

Also,

LSE/ UCL/ Manchester : Planning to apply to only one place.

Have you tried external funding options?

UK schools are crap with funding, especially now with government cuts. And as above, SIPA is also pretty crap in terms of funding. Why would you only apply to one out of LSE, UCL and Manchester? UCL and Manchester are free to apply to and you can use the exact same PS.