Strengths/Weaknesses at DUKE MPP

[mags]

Did anyone attend Duke

[happycamper]

I attended the Duke MPP Open House and came away quite impressed (though they could have done something about the rain, haha). Here are a few things I took away from the trip:

-Smaller program size is more of an asset than liability. I felt the personal attention from staff and profs and camaraderie between fellow students will outweigh any potential issues of a small alumni network. It was also stressed that the alumni network, although relatively small, is very active - which leads to my next point...

-Career services appears outstanding (along with the friendly admissions office). The CS staff seems very competent and interested in each student. The alumni panel assembled for the career panel was very impressive.

-Curriculum stresses practicality over theory. The spring consulting project (first year) aligns you with an actual organization and seems to provide great experience for the two other major projects: summer internship (Geneva Program is popular) and master's project (who most current MPPers rated positively).

-There were on-going questions about the quantitative nature of the program (especially compared to Ford or Harris) which they seem to remedy by providing two options for your Econ and Stats courses: standard courses (not too calc heavy) or advanced options (more calc heavy). However, I don't think they were overly concerned with a renowned Quant reputation and more concerned with focused skills in your area of interest. Take it how you like.

-I am interested in the Global Policy concentration and Environmental Policy option (dual degree at Nicholas School) and came away excited about both possibilities. And Durham seems like a pretty nice place to spend a few grad years while living on the cheap. Just thought I'd add that.

-Many students were deciding between Sanford, Ford, Harris and GPPI - with the other policy schools sprinkled in there. I think the smaller program size is really something to consider...for better or worse. I'm not going to the Ford Open House next weekend, but I would love to hear from those who are going to both Durham and Ann Arbor.

-I might have drank too much of the Kool-Aid but I hope this helps.

[RyeGuy5555]

Did anyone attend Duke

[blondie33]

As a program alumni, perhaps I can add my two cents for those thinking about doing the Duke MPP program...either next academic year or in the future. The pros are that it is a small program, which makes it academically rigorous and students can really engage professors on their policy projects/interests. I would say education and environmental policy are the biggies. I had the impression professors won't be interested if you have other policy issues. The MPP/MEM dual degree is very popular. Although a classmate once told me that Nick school students were not as good as MPPs, I personally think you will be well served by having a policy-specific degree. So, think about the MEM. Environmental/energy related jobs will continue to be aplenty in the future.

The cons are that the curricula is somewhat limited. So if you wanted to EXPLORE what you might be interested in BEFORE coming to Duke, tough luck. You want to go to Duke if you know you want to do social policy. Period. The quant training for that is very limited though. Most incoming MPPs have liberal arts degrees, so the math/econometrics is not in high demand...or supply. If you're interested in int'l development policy, Duke is not the place for you either. The PIDP program is not that "meaty" and lacks solid connections with the DC organizations. There is also a Geneva program where people to go UN-type agencies. I spoke with several people and most told me their supervisors there gave them little work, cared little about their interests and very, very few return for jobs in Geneva. The few who do (return to Geneva) get bored fast (that's what a PIDP professor told me anyway). So that program really adds little to starting a career in that industry. My recommendation is to go to Harvard and leverage their many alumni connections in the int'l development field.

If you want to work in the private sector, I'm also sorry to say Duke is not the place for you simply because Duke has very few connections with the private sector. They do, however, have good relationships with federal, state and non-profit type agencies. I've met some alumni that now work in the private sector and most went on to get an MBA or other degree and really didn't have much to say about how Duke helped when they decided to pursue private sector careers. So avoid Duke if you're interested in the private sector. Finally, my roommate was one of the few foreigners in the program and I have to say that Duke offers little support to those folks coming from abroad. I would suggest you pursue an MPP in a bigger, more internationally-oriented program (e.g., Chicago, Georgetown) than at Duke.

In sum, Duke is a solid niche program for those who have a clear idea of what they want to do. But, again, I wouldn't recommend it to everyone. Good luck to all and hope you make a good decision...

[Yukon Ho]

As a current first-year Duke MPP student, and someone who used this site extensively in the past, maybe I can help shed light on the pros and cons of the program.

Each Public Policy program will claim to have a niche. When deciding among schools, it is really your job to decide if a given school's niche is real, and if it fits you. Then look at the environmental concerns, i.e. weather, extracurriculars, etc.

I applied to four schools, and looked at dozens. Coming from DC, I did not apply to any of the District programs, and going to Georgetown and GW require you to make a deliberate choice in how you want to study, as classes are at night and you intern during most days. Comparing these programs in any way other than prestige doesn't make sense in my opinion.

As for Duke. I believe it does an exemplary job of preparing you for the work you will actually do in the policy realm. Classes are tailored toward analyzing case studies and acquiring skills that will be applied in real world situations. This is reflected in the first year spring consulting project, the summer internship requirement, many time-constrained group exercises, and the required master's project. The spring consulting project requires a team of MPP classmates to do actual data analysis and design a policy recommendation deliverable for a real-life client (with real-life expectations). It's a semester-long project, and given my past-life as a governmental contractor, I can attest to the fact that it is realistic. The summer internship requirement is an opportunity to get policy experience on one's resume before entering the real world. Students intern all over the world, with a concentration of folks in DC. Duke has strong ties at most governmental agencies (and decently strong ties at them all), so the process is not overly daunting. Finally, the timed exercises, like the 48-hour exercise, offer good practice at working effectively in groups under extreme deadlines. I have thus far found the experience quite helpful.

One thing I would stress to all prospective MPP students is not too put too much emphasis on location. MPP schools know the location of their job markets, and as such they put a lot of effort into minimizing the transaction costs of getting students there. I have been to DC 4 times this semester, and the four hour drive has not been a huge inconvenience when it comes to interviewing for potential internships this summer. Perhaps if you want to work in NYC or Boston solely and lack existing contacts, then going to school there is beneficial, but for DC in particular I'd say attending school in NC is not disadvantageous.

Regarding alumni, reputedly Duke's base is one of the more avid around. Even though I did my undergrad at an athletic rival institution, I must say so far I agree.

Anyway, ask more questions if you wish. I'd be happy to answer more questions.

I'm an international student from India, applying to the MPP program in 2010. I needed some help with clarifying more about the program at Duke, and other policy schools if you can, apart from what is mentioned on the websites.

I graduated in Sociology from University of Delhi, and then did my post-graduation in Rural Management from one of India's top 10 b-schools. I've had a good academic record throughout my education; though in terms of GPA (since the Indian education system follows a percentage and division system), I wont know what the scores are. I've worked for a little more than a year in social research, in sectors ranging from goverance, to HIV/AIDS, health and sanitation, etc. I've interned for some time with a non-profit, and worked on live rural development projects as part of my PG programme. My GRE scores are 630-V and 770-Q; 5.0-AWA.

Since I want to pursue a career in policy research in the field of international development, the MPP programme is the best choice, according to me. What do you have to say about Duke's programme in this particular area of concentration?

Which schools, according to you, will provide me the best exposure/curriculum/opportunities during and after the program?

Or to ask specifically, how would you rate (qualitatively) Duke's program vis-a-vis the following:

University of Michigan, Ann Arbor

University of Minnesota, Minneapolis

American University

Rutgers University

Georgetown University

University of Maryland, College Park

Also, given my profie, what chances do i stand to get admitted into Duke and/or one of these policy schools?

[compost&recycle]

Hi there,

First of all, thanks to all these great contributions. This thread is very informative and reminded me that I should apply to Sanford's program. But when I checked their website once again, I remembered why I didn't have Sanford's MPP on my list...due to the average age of 22-27 (posted on their website). Without intention to offend the younger individuals, I would prefer to be in a program composed of more experienced students.

Does anyone have first-hand experience how representative this statistic is? Am I being unfair and narrow-minded about the age thing? This is a great forum and feedback is much appreciated.

Thanks!

Edited December 21, 2010 by compost&recycle

[yeahgradschool!]

I would also love some more info about the class profile and how current students feel about it. I was more worried about the small class size than the age (though I, too, would rather join a more experienced class). I don't know what it is, but I'm just a little wary of Duke. It doesn't seem to be too highly praised around here.

compost, did you end up applying?

[mppfreakout]

I'm not a current student, but I considered the program very strongly last year. I can tell you that they didn't accept anyone straight out of undergrad last year (that's what they said at the accepted student's visitation day). They said they had a large enough application pool that they were able to do this, so my guess is that Sanford will try to keep the number of admits direct from undergrad to a minimum as long as possible. So I wouldn't worry about the Sanford students being too young - everyone I met last year seemed to have had at least a full year of work/volunteer experience under their belt by the time they applied in the fall.

[bgreenster]

The cons are that the curricula is somewhat limited. So if you wanted to EXPLORE what you might be interested in BEFORE coming to Duke, tough luck. You want to go to Duke if you know you want to do social policy. Period. The quant training for that is very limited though. Most incoming MPPs have liberal arts degrees, so the math/econometrics is not in high demand...or supply. If you're interested in int'l development policy, Duke is not the place for you either. The PIDP program is not that "meaty" and lacks solid connections with the DC organizations. There is also a Geneva program where people to go UN-type agencies. I spoke with several people and most told me their supervisors there gave them little work, cared little about their interests and very, very few return for jobs in Geneva. The few who do (return to Geneva) get bored fast (that's what a PIDP professor told me anyway). So that program really adds little to starting a career in that industry. My recommendation is to go to Harvard and leverage their many alumni connections in the int'l development field.

If you want to work in the private sector, I'm also sorry to say Duke is not the place for you simply because Duke has very few connections with the private sector. They do, however, have good relationships with federal, state and non-profit type agencies.

...

In sum, Duke is a solid niche program for those who have a clear idea of what they want to do. But, again, I wouldn't recommend it to everyone. Good luck to all and hope you make a good decision...

I was a little bit surprised to read some of this. One of the things I like about Duke is that they have a concentration with Human Rights and Democracy as well as the standard Non-Profit coursework. Is this merely offered, without actually being very strong? I had the impression that it was fairly internationally-minded but you wrote that they're not big on international development. I'm not looking for straight-up development, but I am hoping to work for international NGOs that focus on developing countries, so this would be a rather important factor for me.

You say it's for people that have a clear idea of what they want... well, I do actually know exactly what I want to do, but I'm not sure if that fits with the Duke program. Who do you recommend Duke for? Why did you choose to do it, and do you like the program? Personally, I don't want a policy/quant based program, which was another plus with Duke- I felt like it provided good practical hands-on training, not just analysis. I understand that you say social policy is their main thing, but is there anything else the program does well?