Emory MDP, Syracuse MA-IR/MPA, UCSD MPIA, Cornell MPS-IARD (joint peace corps)

[stargirl]

I am having the hardest time deciding where to go. I've done everything from making pros/cons lists, comparing curriculums, talking to current students, reading news articles about the programs, etc. Funding isn't a huge problem for me because I am a Pickering Fellow and that will cover the majority of tuition and expenses for most of the programs. I am equally passionate/interested in diplomacy and development, but because I will be entering the foreign service upon graduation, I am looking to expand my knowledge, gain more skills and receive proper training to work in the field of international development. I am looking to gain a broad/well-rounded perspective as well as specific/scientific/applicable skills in the different sectors of development (public health, education, governance, agriculture, etc). I am also struggling with the whole generalist vs. specialist debate. I have interned at several development based orgs. and have been advised to specialize in a field of development and become an "expert" in a particular field, but many other professionals have also told me that being too specialized can be a hindrance. That it is important to be flexible, have a generalist understanding and gain some technical skills in each of the fields. I thought I would throw all of this out into the forum and see if I can get help in this way. All comments and opinions much welcomed and appreciated!!!!!

I listed several pros/cons/issues I am having with the programs I am considering:

Syracuse Maxwell School (Joint MA-IR/MPA) - no $

-graduate in 2 years with 2 degrees

-heard that IR is on the weaker side and that the MPA is very strong, which is why they offer a joint program

-James Steinberg, current US Deputy Secretary of State and has been named the 8th Dean Maxwell, not sure if this affects me or not

-Would love to take a class from faculty member, Catherine Bertini, who was head of the UN World Food Program and Asst. Secretary at the Department of Agriculture

-Heard many great things about the alumni network - referred to as the "Maxwell Mafia"

-MPA ranked #1 for several years by US News&World Report

-lots of distinguished faculty

-standard/traditional program

-APSIA accredited

-the joint program consists of 20 people, but both MA-IR and MPA have about 100 people each. According to a current student I spoke to - just b/c the joint has 20 people does not mean it feels like a cohort in any sense, you are still taking classes with the other maxwell students.

-Syracuse does not seem to be the most happening place and is apparently freezing cold for the majority of the year

Emory MDP (Master's in Development Practice) - $10,000/year and I will receive financial support (plane tickets, housing, per diem) for the 2 summer internships abroad.

-curriculum seems well rounded in the fields of int'l dvlpment and tackles public health, governance, environment, business as well as the quantitative (econ/stats)

-some classes taught by professionals in the field (ex. monitoring and evaluation class was taught by some program director at CARE)

-very small (15 students) = A LOT of personal attention

-very forward thinking and helpful/passionate director. I've spoken to him several times and he was still in the office till 11 pm....working on securing more funding for the students

-2 paid internships in either (India, Ethiopia, Rwanda, Benin, Liberia, Bolivia) with Emory's parter org. such as UNICEF, FAO, CARE, etc doing substantial development work in an area of interest (public health, conflict resolution, etc.)

-domestic internship in Atlanta (where CARE, Carter Center, CDC are headquartered)

-director is working on a residency program where after graduating, the student will work "in residency" at a development partner org.

-classes seem very hands-on and future forward (ex. global classroom - where all the MDP programs around the world take a class through new media simultaneously. Also provides a network with the 22 global MDP programs)

-http://seedmagazine.com/content/article/on_education1/ (very convincing article about the future of sustainable development and MDP's role - "The aim of the MDP is to produce highly skilled generalists equipped with basic mastery of health sciences, natural sciences, social sciences, and management")

-MDP was created after assessing all the current int'l dvlpment programs and realizing the need to make drastic changes - http://mdp.ei.columbia.edu/sitefiles/file/Final_Report_2008.pdf

-Emory's curriculum shows innovation in the theory of the field it considers issues like "scaling up" participatory development

-very new program....first graduating class will be 2011 and I would be in the 2nd graduating class (this is exciting and nerve wracking at the same time)

-No alumni network b/c it is so new

- but because the program is new, they are considering very current and relevant issues and leaving old ways behind - which didn't really work anyway

-read somewhere that Atlanta is the 3rd cheapest large city in the US

Cornell MPS (Masters of Professional Studies in International Agriculture and Rural Development) Joint with the Peace Corps - no $, but with Peace Corps the fee should be reduced

-not sure if the fellowship would fund this

-very specialized in agricultural development with classes such as "Crop Evolution, Domestication and Diversity" and "Food Systems and Poverty Reductions" (course list: http://ip.cals.cornell.edu/academics/courselisting.cfm)

-3 years: 1 year at Cornell and then 2 years doing field work (volunteering and working on a project paper with an advisor back at Cornell)

-no specific curriculum, I would select a program of study tailored to my professional interests and needs. In developing an individualized program of study, I can draw on faculty members and course offerings from across the university.

-Following the field experience, I would prepare and submit a problem-solving project paper under the supervision of my Special Committee. The paper will draw on the Peace Corps experience and what has been learned at Cornell.

-well known and respected in the field of agriculture

-Ithaca doesn't sound exciting, but is apparently very quaint, green and is a nice college town

UCSD IR/PS MPIA (Masters of Pacific International Affairs) - no $, but I live in California so the fee is much less compared to the other programs

-seems biased for international economic management

-econ/quantitative heavy: their core curriculum consists of econ, accounting, finance, stats, etc. Their career track in int'l development is also econ/quantitative heavy as well. This is important, but I don't really see a balance in other equally important fields of development

-APSIA accredited

-lots of distinguished faculty

-SD is a beautiful place

-close to home: this is good and bad....

-I found this IR/PS blog http://irpsstudent.blogspot.com/ and almost every entry on there is about how difficult and mathtacular the program is

-a student's response on the blog - "We just took our exams in quantitative methods prep today. I am not going to lie and say I enjoyed this exercise, but I do think the 4.5 hours of math a day was worthwhile, even if none of my friends understand what in the world I'm doing here. For someone who avoided math as an undergrad, the material has been hard, but I'm confident this was a necessary and helpful prelude to future classes, all of which will give us a better understanding of how large portions of our world work, ie, econ, stats, finance, etc."

-regional specializations in either Asia and Latin America

Thank you in advance for the help!!!

[palabared]

I applied to similar schools as you, 2 MDP programs (denver and florida) and two more traditional programs at UCSD and Maxwell MAIR. *beware* I will be biased in this reply as I recently accepted the offer to Maxwell. I am also thinking about taking up the MPA joint degree after the first semester.

The generalist vs specialist debate is one I thought about a lot too. I think reading Jeff Sachs' End of Poverty got me originally thinking about MDP programs, but then getting deeper into the subject and reading other books such as the White Mans Burden by Bill Easterly leveled my thinking a bit (and made me less excited about the MDGs in general). I studied agribusiness in undergrad, and have a bit of field experience which played a small role in where I applied. I'm also from California so UCSD sounded like the perfect school when I started the process. As I researched more about the programs, I felt the UCSD one didn't have a very strong international presence in terms of development work. Yes they have the Baja Project which sounded interesting, but in general I felt their int dev to not be as strong as their trade policy/econ concentrations. And I love to surf! In the end I decided that I couldn't go to a school for its location if I was accepted to a program that better suits my interests somewhere else.

Like the Emory program, Florida had a tiny cohort last year (their first) of 11 people, and while I think that would be a great experience getting to know everyone so well. For me the main end goal of grad school is to find a good position in the international dev field. I don't know much about Emory's program in terms of ag courses, but Florida's would have been a great way to "specialize" in development ag due to their well known Tropical Ag Center. I chose not to specialize to that extent.

Having a large cohort in the present and past was important to me for the wealth of networking possibilities. You hear everywhere that somewhere around 90% of jobs aren't posted and are found through networking. I'm not sure if you went to the admitted students weekend at Syracuse, but I got a good feeling of community with a somewhat tight knit cohort (for being 100 people, or in your case 200). Once one accepts their offer, they give you a ton of info on alums for networking purposes (contact info, where they work etc) which is useful.

Maybe you already talked to him, but Professor McPeak works on research in agriculture. I'm definitely taking a course from him. I also talked with Bertini a bit while at the welcome weekend, and she seemed very level headed and I was excited to take one or two of the four courses shes teaching next year.

The student I stayed with was working on a tri-degree of MPA/IR/ECON and he was loving it. He said similar things to what you just said that the MPA program was his favorite and seemed the strongest (he was a big fan of public budgeting).

The DC program for the summer or fall looked awesome and was one of the big determinants as to why I chose to accept their offer. Being able to finish in DC as an intern will make it much easier to network and find a position out of school (although this might not affect you so much right out of school). I also really liked the Fall DC seminar/courses being offered on development such as Global Development and Security:Policy & Practice and Sustainability and Environment: A Policy Primer (lead by a lady who was a foreign service officer and with guest practitioners from NGOs and Foundations).

Yes the weather scares the crap out of me too. But in a way I think it could be a good thing, in that it makes the cohort that much closer since there really isn't a lot to do when its 6 ft of snow outside. And people aren't working full time jobs on the side.

Sorry for the rambling of topics here. Hope this helps a bit with the decision. In the end those are all awesome schools and having to make a choice is far better than none at all!

Edited May 3, 2011 by palabared