GSPP New Admits 2011

[dChrome]

Hello all!

Let me introduce myself. My name is David and I'm a current first-year at Berkeley's Goldman School. I used to stalk (I have no posts as you can see lol) these forums a year a so ago when applying to M.P.P. programs and I found it to be a pretty helpful source. I realize that the admits will get calls from current students about the program but feel free to use this thread for the burning questions you forgot to ask heh. I'll provide a quick background for me.. I received my Bachelors from MIT.. during college I had several internships (Urban Institute, NAACP to name some organizations) and opted to intern (and eventually work fulltime) in the U.S. House of Representatives for almost two years after undergrad. I hail from Florida (I'm pretty East Coast focused) and don't have any familial ties to California so coming to the Bay wasn't a natural choice, but one I definitely don't regret.

Feel free to ask any questions about the M.P.P. program at Berkeley and I will be very honest haha. It's not a perfect program but there are elements that set it apart from the other top tier programs in the nation that are worth considering.

-D

[Energizer]

Hi David,

May be not the kind of question you might have expected :-) I received a mail from the admissions officer at Berkeley asking me to mail my Official Degree certificate (not the transcript - which I already did as a part of the admissions process). Is this standard? I reside in India and have attended an Indian university (IIT Delhi). The more problematic part is that I am out of town for a week and would be able to send the above document only by say 21st of March - would that be a problem?

Thanks in advance! :-)

Hello all!

Let me introduce myself. My name is David and I'm a current first-year at Berkeley's Goldman School. I used to stalk (I have no posts as you can see lol) these forums a year a so ago when applying to M.P.P. programs and I found it to be a pretty helpful source. I realize that the admits will get calls from current students about the program but feel free to use this thread for the burning questions you forgot to ask heh. I'll provide a quick background for me.. I received my Bachelors from MIT.. during college I had several internships (Urban Institute, NAACP to name some organizations) and opted to intern (and eventually work fulltime) in the U.S. House of Representatives for almost two years after undergrad. I hail from Florida (I'm pretty East Coast focused) and don't have any familial ties to California so coming to the Bay wasn't a natural choice, but one I definitely don't regret.

Feel free to ask any questions about the M.P.P. program at Berkeley and I will be very honest haha. It's not a perfect program but there are elements that set it apart from the other top tier programs in the nation that are worth considering.

-D

[mushroom288]

Hey David

Thrillled to have receive a GSPP offer a couple of weeks back. I'm keen to find out about two things:

First, I understand the summer internships are a compulsory part of the two year MPP program. Is it up to the individual to proactively contact organisations they are interested in? Or are the placements setup? How much support/connections does the Faculty/Careers service provide? How strongly does the Berkeley brand name carry if trying to intern at the international organisations in DC (UN, WB)?

Second, I've received no financial support with my offer but I'm happy to work. The offer letter highlighted that there were opportunities to do "GSI, GSR, Reader or Tutor positions", they sound great, but I'm get a sense of how hard they are to come by, especially in first year? And how that changes in your second year?

Third, how difficult is it to get into a Hass B-school course? I understand the B-School operates on credit like trading system, and I'm concernd as a non-Hass student that you're last choice, which means you get only do the unpopular Hass courses. Care to share experiences on this?

Sorry, alot of questions here, and I have more... =)

Thanks

Hi David,

May be not the kind of question you might have expected :-) I received a mail from the admissions officer at Berkeley asking me to mail my Official Degree certificate (not the transcript - which I already did as a part of the admissions process). Is this standard? I reside in India and have attended an Indian university (IIT Delhi). The more problematic part is that I am out of town for a week and would be able to send the above document only by say 21st of March - would that be a problem?

Thanks in advance! :-)

[OnEdge]

In your mind, what are the greatest strengths and the greatest weaknesses of the GSPP program? What made you come all the way from the East Coast to attend? And living situation-wise, do you live in Berkeley or outside of the city (like in Oakland)? What are some good apartment hunting websites for the Oakland area? And I'd also be interested in hearing about research assistant positions specifically in the first year--how hard are they to get, are there ways to increase the likelihood of getting one, etc

Thanks for taking the time to answer all of our questions!

[coffee_fan]

David, thanks so much for starting this!! Berkeley is one of my top choices, but I have so many questions now, since leaving DC and my current policy job is scary. I'd like to second all of Mushroom's questions!

My one additional question the amount of management experience or coursework at GSPP. I understand that the MPP program will provide all the quant-training in the world, but am looking to gain both public and private management training through the MPP and Haas courses, if possible. Oh, also, how easy is it to take other courses at Berkeley, like art or languages?

Thanks!!!

Hey David

Thrillled to have receive a GSPP offer a couple of weeks back. I'm keen to find out about two things:

First, I understand the summer internships are a compulsory part of the two year MPP program. Is it up to the individual to proactively contact organisations they are interested in? Or are the placements setup? How much support/connections does the Faculty/Careers service provide? How strongly does the Berkeley brand name carry if trying to intern at the international organisations in DC (UN, WB)?

Second, I've received no financial support with my offer but I'm happy to work. The offer letter highlighted that there were opportunities to do "GSI, GSR, Reader or Tutor positions", they sound great, but I'm get a sense of how hard they are to come by, especially in first year? And how that changes in your second year?

Third, how difficult is it to get into a Hass B-school course? I understand the B-School operates on credit like trading system, and I'm concernd as a non-Hass student that you're last choice, which means you get only do the unpopular Hass courses. Care to share experiences on this?

Sorry, alot of questions here, and I have more... =)

Thanks

Edited March 10, 2011 by coffee_fan

[dChrome]

@Energizer:

I would contact Jalilah LaBrie (jalilah@berkeley.edu) about your issue.GSPP’s staff is pretty accommodating

@mushroom288: First, I understand the summer internships are a compulsory partof the two year MPP program. Is it up to the individual to proactively contact organisations they are interested in? Or are the placements setup? How muchsupport/connections does the Faculty/Careers service provide? How strongly doesthe Berkeley brand name carry if trying to intern at the internationalorganisations in DC (UN, WB)?

Summer internships are compulsory and it’s up to the individual to apply to organizations of interest but I have to put in a plug for our amazing career services staff. Each GSPP student is assigned to one of 3 staffers who we meet with at least twice a semester (but many meet with weekly, they are very accessible). The staff maintain a website dubbed GSPPjobs that is updated daily with internships over several policy realms (education, environment, international development, etc.) and I utilized this fully. On Wednesdays, the career services staff typically sponsor an event around lunchtime with local or national organizations interested in hiring M.P.P. students. They put together some large events outside campus: In November, GSPP sponsors a trip to Washington, D.C. and we have meetings with orgs (and our own meetings with alums and contacts). In the spring, typically around March or April, the career services team throws a Career Fair on campus and we have other small events such as a GSPP Alumni job fair in San Francisco in the spring. Considering international organizations, we actually had a day long event at the World Bank headquarters during our D.C. trip, in which we met with several top level staff working on different issues (education, healthcare and microfinance come to mind), thus I think our brand must be decent at these places although I will admit Goldman is definitely stronger on domestic issues. For international-related policy, I would say that the greater Berkeley community has pretty great resources but it would require a bit more work to have access to them as compared to another policy school with an international track. Discussing the Berkeley brand though (and my experience with domestic orgs), I was pleasantly surprised at its strength. When applying to a large education nonprofit located in D.C. for aninternship, their staff told me that it was a boon being attached to Berkeleyas they felt saturated by East Coast (especially D.C. based policy schools) and warranted a new perspective… it was especially surprising since I didn’t promptthe comment heh.

Second, I've received no financial support with my offer but I'mhappy to work. The offer letter highlighted that there were opportunities to do"GSI, GSR, Reader or Tutor positions", they sound great, but I'm get a sense of how hard they are to come by, especially in first year? And how thatchanges in your second year?

I was one of the lucky individuals who has a fellowship and didn’t opt to look for a GSI but I would admit that a significant populace of my first-year cohort (maybe ~50% even) has a GSI(Instructor), GSR (Researcher), Reader or Tutor positions. I’m told that GSPPers have a good reputation around campus (and have experienced this when taking a class at the Education school) and our staff have connections withtheir counterparts at other schools around campus. My cohort teaches a gamut of classes around campus – the Undergrad Business Ethics course at Haas, UG Stats and Econ courses in those respective depts. and a large contingent works for Robert Reich and his UG Wealth and Poverty class. It seems that everyone who wanted to find a GSI was able tolocate one so I would say they aren’t too hard to come by if you contact professors of interest and for 2^nd years, considering they can (anddo) GSI for 1^st year M.P.P. courses, they have even more options to consider.

Third, how difficult is it to get into a Hass B-school course? I understand the B-School operates on credit like trading system, and I'm concernedas a non-Hass student that you're last choice, which means you get only do the unpopular Hass courses. Care to share experiences on this?

I’m a Sloanie from MIT so I haven’t been too interested intaking business classes at Haas but for those in my cohort who are taking finance, nonprofit management classes at the B-School, they were able to getinto courses of interest minus one big exception, the Social Sector Solutions (http://www.haas.berkeley.edu/innovation/innovation25.html)course which is an application process that requires an essay etc. We do haveseveral GSPPers in the class (one is actually running a project in S^3) but it’s just more popular than the spots available. I don’t know if my cohort had to go through the point system but I would assume that one would have to wait until the MBA students choose to be fair. Considering the sheer amount of classes Haas offers (and several sections of popular courses), I think you’d be fine.

@OnEdge: In your mind, what are the greatest strengths and the greatestweaknesses of the GSPP program?

Great question! Let’s start with strengths: First, GSPP has an amazing community and communal vibe. I realize every school says they have an amazing community of scholars but how much doyou really get to interact with them? I know the names and general backgrounds of everyone in my cohort (as its only about 70) and I bounce ideas and collaborate with them all the time. We have full access to our faculty and our dean is always around joking with the students. Second, we work on real projects. For example, for my Intro to Policy Analysis class this semester, my group is working with a former Deputy Undersecretary of Education for Obama who is starting an organization toaddress issues of higher education in California. We are doing real research and our findings could be actually be implemented in the future. Next spring,we do a similar capstone project but individually instead of a traditional thesis. I don’t think any other top policy school has this type of practicum.For example, the Kennedy School has a two-week group project component at the end of the semester but it’s a controlled environment as the project and client are not real. Lastly, as Berkeley is a public school experiencing some of the fiscal burdens experienced in the largest state (population wise), there’s something even more ‘public’ about Goldman (if that makes sense haha). Considering I’m interested in education (higher ed specifically), there are a lot of faculty and staff in my backyard working on issues that I feel are especially relevant. California’s state government is also just so strange (directly democracy anyone?) that I feel it’s an interesting model to study even for someone like myself who is more interested in federalpolicy.

Weaknesses: First, I would say that my political education at Goldman was pretty weak. The politics class last semester was not very relevant to contemporary issues and failed to reallydelve into political feasibility (which I think is a very important thing toaddress). They have made some strides over the last couple months though, as Jennifer Granholm (recent, two-term former Governor of Michigan) will bestarting this fall as a lecturer at GSPP. Second, I would say that the course offerings at Goldman (outside of the core curriculum) are not nearly as robust as other policy schools but some like myself may consider this a strength. It’s great interacting with students in other disciplines around the school and I found this is brought a nice diversity of thought to the classroom last semester when I took at class at the Ed school. As mentioned above, the international offerings at GSPP are pretty minor but the Berkeley community makes up for it. A last weakness I would say is that Goldman is not as national policy focused as schools on the East Coast.The Bay Area is ‘la la land’ as I like to call it. Liberals own this region asa pretty center-left person myself, it’s almost too liberal (composting? banning toys in Happy Meals? haha) but all jokes aside, GSPPers encounter a decent amount of material about federal policy but California and Bay Area policies and politics really drive the focus. If you don’t want to learn at all about state politics, GSPP may not be for you but if you wouldn’t mind expanding your lens (like myself) it’s a good fit. I was able to find several jobs on the East Coast, keep up with federal politics and don’t feel at all impeded by the 3,000 miles between Berkeley and D.C… just might take a little bit more work.

What made you come all the way from the East Coast to attend?

This question is connected to the above strengths and weaknesses but I wanted to move West to gain a new perspective on policy (far away from the D.C.) and more superficially, the weather is beautiful! haha. As much as I enjoy it out here though, I feel that I may still move back to the East Coast as my interests lead back there.

And living situation-wise, do you live in Berkeley or outside ofthe city (like in Oakland)? What are some good apartment hunting websites forthe Oakland area? And I'd also be interested in hearing about research assistant positions specifically in the first year--how hard are they to get, are there ways to increase the likelihood of getting one, etc.

I live in Berkeley and I suggest living outside of it haha! Berkeley has great food and is a pleasant college town but I feel its pretty dead on weekends. My friends in Oakland and San Francisco love their areas and as someone who wants a more urban feel, I feel strongly that I will move to one of those areas next year. Use Craigslist for sure.

I addressed GSIs earlier but considering research positions – it seems that individuals in my cohort contacted professors doing research of interest and asked for an informational interview to which many were receptive. Also Berkeley has several centers who do research on a whole sort of topics and I believe their positions are usually mentioned online or blasted out by email.

@coffee_fan: My one additional question the amount of management experience or coursework at GSPP. I understand that the MPP program will provide all the quant-training in the world, but am looking to gain both public and private management training through the MPP and Haas courses, if possible. Oh, also, how easy is it to take other courses at Berkeley, like art or languages?

The quant training isn’t too bad! S^3 (Social Sector Solutions) at Haas may be a good match or they do have classes in non-profit management, etc. In additional Robert Reich teaches a core class during our first semester called Leadership - it’s not a hard skills management class but teaches soft skills that could be useful. Also taking other classes at Berkeley is ultra easy (not too sure about Haas since they may do things differently) but we can register for any other courses through the online registration system.. no paperwork necessary. Some of the classes (language) are undergraduate level courses, and per GSPP rules, we need 55 units of graduate level credit to graduate. Not saying it’s impossible to the 55 units (considering a 4 class semester is about 14-16 units, it’s not) but you’ll probably want to audit since it won’t be worth much.

Hope this was helpful yall! Sorry for any grammatical/spelling errors and weird spacing errors.. seems it didn't paste well.

-D

Edited March 10, 2011 by dChrome

[MplsAhna]

I got a call from a current student last night. She was incredibly helpful and great at answering a lot of questions that I had.

It just made me more excited to go visit in April. Now if only Harris would send me a decision so I know if I need to fly to Chicago before Cali.

[julia9109]

Hey David,

Do you know if people ever intern or work off campus during the school year? For some of the schools I've looked at, it's very common for students to intern/work while taking classes while at others students only work on campus or focus on school exclusively.

Thanks!

[coffee_fan]

Thanks dChrome...much appreciated!

@Energizer:

I would contact Jalilah LaBrie (jalilah@berkeley.edu) about your issue.GSPP’s staff is pretty accommodating

@mushroom288: First, I understand the summer internships are a compulsory partof the two year MPP program. Is it up to the individual to proactively contact organisations they are interested in? Or are the placements setup? How muchsupport/connections does the Faculty/Careers service provide? How strongly doesthe Berkeley brand name carry if trying to intern at the internationalorganisations in DC (UN, WB)?

Summer internships are compulsory and it’s up to the individual to apply to organizations of interest but I have to put in a plug for our amazing career services staff. Each GSPP student is assigned to one of 3 staffers who we meet with at least twice a semester (but many meet with weekly, they are very accessible). The staff maintain a website dubbed GSPPjobs that is updated daily with internships over several policy realms (education, environment, international development, etc.) and I utilized this fully. On Wednesdays, the career services staff typically sponsor an event around lunchtime with local or national organizations interested in hiring M.P.P. students. They put together some large events outside campus: In November, GSPP sponsors a trip to Washington, D.C. and we have meetings with orgs (and our own meetings with alums and contacts). In the spring, typically around March or April, the career services team throws a Career Fair on campus and we have other small events such as a GSPP Alumni job fair in San Francisco in the spring. Considering international organizations, we actually had a day long event at the World Bank headquarters during our D.C. trip, in which we met with several top level staff working on different issues (education, healthcare and microfinance come to mind), thus I think our brand must be decent at these places although I will admit Goldman is definitely stronger on domestic issues. For international-related policy, I would say that the greater Berkeley community has pretty great resources but it would require a bit more work to have access to them as compared to another policy school with an international track. Discussing the Berkeley brand though (and my experience with domestic orgs), I was pleasantly surprised at its strength. When applying to a large education nonprofit located in D.C. for aninternship, their staff told me that it was a boon being attached to Berkeleyas they felt saturated by East Coast (especially D.C. based policy schools) and warranted a new perspective… it was especially surprising since I didn’t promptthe comment heh.

Second, I've received no financial support with my offer but I'mhappy to work. The offer letter highlighted that there were opportunities to do"GSI, GSR, Reader or Tutor positions", they sound great, but I'm get a sense of how hard they are to come by, especially in first year? And how thatchanges in your second year?

I was one of the lucky individuals who has a fellowship and didn’t opt to look for a GSI but I would admit that a significant populace of my first-year cohort (maybe ~50% even) has a GSI(Instructor), GSR (Researcher), Reader or Tutor positions. I’m told that GSPPers have a good reputation around campus (and have experienced this when taking a class at the Education school) and our staff have connections withtheir counterparts at other schools around campus. My cohort teaches a gamut of classes around campus – the Undergrad Business Ethics course at Haas, UG Stats and Econ courses in those respective depts. and a large contingent works for Robert Reich and his UG Wealth and Poverty class. It seems that everyone who wanted to find a GSI was able tolocate one so I would say they aren’t too hard to come by if you contact professors of interest and for 2^nd years, considering they can (anddo) GSI for 1^st year M.P.P. courses, they have even more options to consider.

Third, how difficult is it to get into a Hass B-school course? I understand the B-School operates on credit like trading system, and I'm concernedas a non-Hass student that you're last choice, which means you get only do the unpopular Hass courses. Care to share experiences on this?

I’m a Sloanie from MIT so I haven’t been too interested intaking business classes at Haas but for those in my cohort who are taking finance, nonprofit management classes at the B-School, they were able to getinto courses of interest minus one big exception, the Social Sector Solutions (http://www.haas.berkeley.edu/innovation/innovation25.html)course which is an application process that requires an essay etc. We do haveseveral GSPPers in the class (one is actually running a project in S^3) but it’s just more popular than the spots available. I don’t know if my cohort had to go through the point system but I would assume that one would have to wait until the MBA students choose to be fair. Considering the sheer amount of classes Haas offers (and several sections of popular courses), I think you’d be fine.

@OnEdge: In your mind, what are the greatest strengths and the greatestweaknesses of the GSPP program?

Great question! Let’s start with strengths: First, GSPP has an amazing community and communal vibe. I realize every school says they have an amazing community of scholars but how much doyou really get to interact with them? I know the names and general backgrounds of everyone in my cohort (as its only about 70) and I bounce ideas and collaborate with them all the time. We have full access to our faculty and our dean is always around joking with the students. Second, we work on real projects. For example, for my Intro to Policy Analysis class this semester, my group is working with a former Deputy Undersecretary of Education for Obama who is starting an organization toaddress issues of higher education in California. We are doing real research and our findings could be actually be implemented in the future. Next spring,we do a similar capstone project but individually instead of a traditional thesis. I don’t think any other top policy school has this type of practicum.For example, the Kennedy School has a two-week group project component at the end of the semester but it’s a controlled environment as the project and client are not real. Lastly, as Berkeley is a public school experiencing some of the fiscal burdens experienced in the largest state (population wise), there’s something even more ‘public’ about Goldman (if that makes sense haha). Considering I’m interested in education (higher ed specifically), there are a lot of faculty and staff in my backyard working on issues that I feel are especially relevant. California’s state government is also just so strange (directly democracy anyone?) that I feel it’s an interesting model to study even for someone like myself who is more interested in federalpolicy.

Weaknesses: First, I would say that my political education at Goldman was pretty weak. The politics class last semester was not very relevant to contemporary issues and failed to reallydelve into political feasibility (which I think is a very important thing toaddress). They have made some strides over the last couple months though, as Jennifer Granholm (recent, two-term former Governor of Michigan) will bestarting this fall as a lecturer at GSPP. Second, I would say that the course offerings at Goldman (outside of the core curriculum) are not nearly as robust as other policy schools but some like myself may consider this a strength. It’s great interacting with students in other disciplines around the school and I found this is brought a nice diversity of thought to the classroom last semester when I took at class at the Ed school. As mentioned above, the international offerings at GSPP are pretty minor but the Berkeley community makes up for it. A last weakness I would say is that Goldman is not as national policy focused as schools on the East Coast.The Bay Area is ‘la la land’ as I like to call it. Liberals own this region asa pretty center-left person myself, it’s almost too liberal (composting? banning toys in Happy Meals? haha) but all jokes aside, GSPPers encounter a decent amount of material about federal policy but California and Bay Area policies and politics really drive the focus. If you don’t want to learn at all about state politics, GSPP may not be for you but if you wouldn’t mind expanding your lens (like myself) it’s a good fit. I was able to find several jobs on the East Coast, keep up with federal politics and don’t feel at all impeded by the 3,000 miles between Berkeley and D.C… just might take a little bit more work.

What made you come all the way from the East Coast to attend?

This question is connected to the above strengths and weaknesses but I wanted to move West to gain a new perspective on policy (far away from the D.C.) and more superficially, the weather is beautiful! haha. As much as I enjoy it out here though, I feel that I may still move back to the East Coast as my interests lead back there.

And living situation-wise, do you live in Berkeley or outside ofthe city (like in Oakland)? What are some good apartment hunting websites forthe Oakland area? And I'd also be interested in hearing about research assistant positions specifically in the first year--how hard are they to get, are there ways to increase the likelihood of getting one, etc.

I live in Berkeley and I suggest living outside of it haha! Berkeley has great food and is a pleasant college town but I feel its pretty dead on weekends. My friends in Oakland and San Francisco love their areas and as someone who wants a more urban feel, I feel strongly that I will move to one of those areas next year. Use Craigslist for sure.

I addressed GSIs earlier but considering research positions – it seems that individuals in my cohort contacted professors doing research of interest and asked for an informational interview to which many were receptive. Also Berkeley has several centers who do research on a whole sort of topics and I believe their positions are usually mentioned online or blasted out by email.

@coffee_fan: My one additional question the amount of management experience or coursework at GSPP. I understand that the MPP program will provide all the quant-training in the world, but am looking to gain both public and private management training through the MPP and Haas courses, if possible. Oh, also, how easy is it to take other courses at Berkeley, like art or languages?

The quant training isn’t too bad! S^3 (Social Sector Solutions) at Haas may be a good match or they do have classes in non-profit management, etc. In additional Robert Reich teaches a core class during our first semester called Leadership - it’s not a hard skills management class but teaches soft skills that could be useful. Also taking other classes at Berkeley is ultra easy (not too sure about Haas since they may do things differently) but we can register for any other courses through the online registration system.. no paperwork necessary. Some of the classes (language) are undergraduate level courses, and per GSPP rules, we need 55 units of graduate level credit to graduate. Not saying it’s impossible to the 55 units (considering a 4 class semester is about 14-16 units, it’s not) but you’ll probably want to audit since it won’t be worth much.

Hope this was helpful yall! Sorry for any grammatical/spelling errors and weird spacing errors.. seems it didn't paste well.

-D

[dChrome]

Hey David,

Do you know if people ever intern or work off campus during the school year? For some of the schools I've looked at, it's very common for students to intern/work while taking classes while at others students only work on campus or focus on school exclusively.

Thanks!

I would say that compared to other policy schools (the DC policy schools come to mind), Goldman does not have an internship culture and we have a loaded 4 class semester. However, many of my cohort do have GSI positions (GSIs at Berkeley pay a portion of your education fee AND provide a living stipend) and some, including myself, have internships related to ourfield of interest. I intern a couple days a week at Berkeley’s government relations office. It’s a great gig and keeps me educated about policy issues relevant to higher education. I know others in my cohort that intern at the SF Public Defender’s office, local business associations, running after school programs for middle schoolers, etc. If you can balance the workload, then there’s nothing to deter you from interning

Edited March 12, 2011 by dChrome

[foodlover28]

Hi David (or anyone else with any knowledge on this matter...),

do you know anything about the Goldman MPP/IAS program? Berkeley does have a good IAS department,as far as I know, and since many of us seem to be concerned about the overemphasis on domestic policies, the IAS program may be a good way to integrate the international component into the curriculum.