Harris MPP vs. Heinz MSPPM

[kn2010]

I am deciding between CMU Heinz MSPPM and University of Chicago's Harris School MPP.

Harris: #4 by US N&W Report in both social policy, policy analysis;

Heinz: #7 in policy analysis

Switched places from the last USNWR rankings for policy analysis, but both clearly top-tiered and quantitatively strong.

For financial aid, Harris offered 10k/year and Heinz 24k/year.

Which one should I choose? Does anyone know much about the differences between these two programs? Thanks!

[fishpoo]

I attend Heinz now, and I LOVE it!! I can't say anything about Harris, but Heinz offers very application-based quant courses for most students, with the option to take way more challenging courses at the PhD level or at Tepper Business school. It's all what you make of it. The selection of courses is broad. If you have a particular area of interest (machine learning? economics? optimization? Large scale data analysis?), explore our faculty/research list (not just at Heinz, but other CMU schools as well) and check out what courses you could take with them.

[Utkarsh Amitabh]

Which is the best Masters in Public Administration / Public Policy Program out of the following 1) London School of Economics 2) University of Chicago 3) University of Michigan 4) Sciences Po 5) Hertie School of Governance 6) CMU?

I have admits from them

[state_school'12]

Hey Utkarsh,

I suggest that you pose your question in a new topic, so you don't hijack kn2010's thread. Also, include some information about your background, interests, career objectives, and geographic preferences, etc. Makes it easier for us to comment.

If you want to contrast/ask questions about CMU Heinz, fire away.

[state_school'12]

Re Harris vs Heinz, Heinz distiguishes itself by having a management approach, and tech component, of the degree. Heinz is also nice because its PhD classes (including Econ/Quant) are listed in the Heinz school, unlike virtually every other program. So, I think it's probabily a lot easier to take as an masters student.

Heinz has the DC track, with <20 folks a year, and in general has decently strong connections to DC. I think you'd likely get more out career services at Heinz than Harris in every city besides the Chicago area.

Name recognition-wise, Harris wins, for sure. Both are fairly large programs, with cohorts in the 100-150 student range. Harris is on quarters, so you take 6-8 more classes at Harris than semester schools. Heinz might be the same.

Heinz might have the edge for those with an international bent... I'm a domestic policy type myself, so I can't speak much there. I think Heinz has more exchange programs (including a campus in southern Australia!).

That's all for now. Good luck!

[avocado9]

I don't know much about Harris, but I attended the Heinz visit day this past weekend - it was different from other public policy programs in that it was very application-based, like fishpoo said. The director of the MSPPM described it as a "soft MBA" basically ... lots of technical courses such as database management, process analysis, management science, etc. My advice would be to identify what kind of skills you want from a grad program, and really review the curriculum and courses offerred I almost feel like you can't compare Heinz's MSPPM program with other MPP programs, because the curriculum is so different. As someone who is interested in social policy, I don't think the MSPPM is right for me, but it would be a great program for someone who is looking to gain technical skills in analysis and management.