MPP, University of Maryland-college park VS. William&Mary

[dang]

I was admitted by these 2 MPP programs, both with fundings that can approximately cover the tuitions.

I would like to know more about these 2 programs. specifically, location, job placement, professors, connections and so on.

I'm an international student and cannot visit the schools myself.

Any information about these two programs will be much appreciated!

Thanks a lot!

[s800x]

viewtopic.php?f=15&t=15643 a little bit of info here

[dang]

http://forum.thegradcafe.com/viewtopic.php?f=15&t=15643 a little bit of info here

thanks a lot!

Are you going to WM this year?

[East_of_Eden]

Dang, congratulations on the acceptances and the great funding! While I ultimately did not complete my application to either school, I did visit William and Mary. To me, it was my wild card. I absolutely loved the faculty, students and, most of all, the campus. Hands down, the campus is among the most beautiful I've seen. But, the "city" of Williamsburg seems a little sleepy; it's very much tucked away from any bustling area.

The University of Maryland seems to have a more broad recognition/reputation within the policy field itself, but I would bet this is b/c it's a bigger program. The W&M program only has about 18-22 students/year.

I would argue that W&M is a better university overall and never seems to garner the respect it deserves from the rankings. Both schools seem to have a strong core faculty and I don't know anything about their job placement stats. I would also assume that connections can be made easily at both schools (W&M has frequent policy seminar-things in D.C. and UM-CP has easy access to D.C., Baltimore and Annapolis).

If I had to choose, I'd go for William and Mary b/c of its heavier quantitative focus and the beauty of the campus. If the rankings worry you most, I'd go UM. Unless W&M ups the size of its program, I can't see it ever truly being recognized among the best. But, that doesn't mean it isn't a great program!

[dang]

Dang, congratulations on the acceptances and the great funding! While I ultimately did not complete my application to either school, I did visit William and Mary. To me, it was my wild card. I absolutely loved the faculty, students and, most of all, the campus. Hands down, the campus is among the most beautiful I've seen. But, the "city" of Williamsburg seems a little sleepy; it's very much tucked away from any bustling area.

The University of Maryland seems to have a more broad recognition/reputation within the policy field itself, but I would bet this is b/c it's a bigger program. The W&M program only has about 18-22 students/year.

I would argue that W&M is a better university overall and never seems to garner the respect it deserves from the rankings. Both schools seem to have a strong core faculty and I don't know anything about their job placement stats. I would also assume that connections can be made easily at both schools (W&M has frequent policy seminar-things in D.C. and UM-CP has easy access to D.C., Baltimore and Annapolis).

If I had to choose, I'd go for William and Mary b/c of its heavier quantitative focus and the beauty of the campus. If the rankings worry you most, I'd go UM. Unless W&M ups the size of its program, I can't see it ever truly being recognized among the best. But, that doesn't mean it isn't a great program!

Thanks a lot East_of_Eden! This is very helpful!

I'm still torn between the two. Guess I need to do more homework before I make a decision.

[mothernorth]

Deng -

Being an International student myself and former Maryland alumni (and entering the Maryland Policy School in 2009), I don't think Williamsburg is necessarily the dream place for someone coming from abroad ! It is a nice town, don't get me wrong, but it's in the middle of nowhere (around three hours from D.C.!). I don't know if you would enjoy that for two years! You can go visit, but live there?

Maryland is well liked and established with international students, ranking in the top #20 for international students, the closeness to D.C. and Baltimore is priceless when studying policy. What could be more exciting than studying policy in the D.C. area? It is a completely different vibe. While W&M is a very good college, Maryland is one of the top policy programs in the US, a strong research university with a faculty that is equal, if not more established than W&M's. The proximity to D.C. allows it to have the opportunities, students, and faculty that most universities cannot compete with in the area of policy, Also note that W&M is MUCH smaller than Maryland, around 7,000 students overall (1,500 grad students) vs. Maryland's 35,000 (10,000 of which are Masters students). So depending on what you like, take that in consideration too.

I would also strongly argue against W&M being a better university "overall". If we just look at Maryland's faculty now (which includes 3 Nobel Prize Winners (one of which is at the School of Public Policy), a Fields Medal Winner, 40+ members of the Academy of Science etc) and notable alumni (including Sergey Brin, co-founder of Google, 2 Nobel Prize winners, and a Fields Medal Winner), I don't see why W&M would be a better school or prepare you better to be successful. It truly depends on the program and situation you are looking for. W&M also has a great faculty and alumni base, but as I said, certainly not better than Maryland.

hope it helps!

p.s. Wikipedia has a decent review of the Universities, check them out:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Colleg ... m_and_Mary

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University ... llege_Park