Making a choice - Methods & Criteria

[awphenomenally]

It seems others are in the same boat as me. April 15 will soon be on us... meaning a final decision on grad school.

 

I still feel completely lost in making a choice. I have it narrowed down to 3 schools.

 

How did you decide? What criteria are you including in the decision? Have any advice for making a choice?

[nickel]

Curriculum (fit and focus), faculty (not just prestige but also the breadth of experience and diversity of backgrounds), career services/alumni network, class and school size, funding, and location. Not necessarily in order, but I tried to be as honest with myself as possible based on those criteria. I think everyone gives each a different weight so it's difficult to say which are more important.

I also think many applicants overlook one important factor and that is the school's enthusiasm in them. There has been one school for me that has reached out and I appreciate the personal touch (not just having current and former students send emails and it also wasn't the school that gave me the most funding either).

It's a tough decision but you'll do well no matter what. When you have it down to 2 choices just flip a coin. You'll know which is your first choice before it lands. Good luck!

[harrista]

For what it's worth, these are the things I thought about when choosing schools to apply to and when making a final decision: 

 

1.  Which school will best help you achieve your dream and realistic career goals? 

 

Curriculum - how closely does the school match your interests?  Is the curriculum broad / focused / flexible / international / quantitative enough for your needs?  

Faculty - are there professors whose classes you're dying to take?  How is faculty accessibility and how important is this to you? 

Prestige - how important is a brand name university or school to your intended field of work or in the countries where you would like to work? 

Networking - what kinds of opportunities will there be to create a strong network?  eg careers office, alumni, student body, recruiting trips, internship opportunities. proximity to networking opportunities  

 

For me, my dream job would be something like the OECD but there are also a ton of great policy jobs in Australia so it was really important for me to have a curriculum that would give me transferrable skills that complement my undergrad degree and work experience, rather than specialising in one area.  University name recognition was also a factor and I didn't apply to some otherwise great programs because the university names just aren't well known here and no one pays attention to the US News rankings for policy schools.  

 

2.  Practicalities 

 

Funding - what is the dollar difference (incl cost of living, TA/RA positions, potential second year funding, instate tuition waivers) between your choices? 

Location - will you (and partner, children, pet capybaras) be happy there for two years? 

Vibe - what's your gut feeling from all your interactions with the school, current students, faculty, alumni? 

 

In the end my choice was between Goldman ($) and Harris ($$$$).  All the wonderful things about Berkeley weren't three dollar signs more wonderful than Chicago which also has a very strong reputation and program which would definitely make me develop econ skills which opens up a huge amount of possibility even if I just came back to my current position.  I also got a really great impression of Harris from the admissions office, current student reach out, Team Harris and Professor Professorson who lectures in my area of interest.  Like @nickel said above, it's nice to feel wanted.  

 

Best of luck with your decision!  

[Sneaky]

I was about ready to pull my hair out on my way to a decision!  Ultimately, I had to think very carefully about my most important factors and how I would weigh them.  I also happened to like every single school I applied to, meaning that I couldn't really make a bad choice but I also found it tough to narrow my options.

 

Personally, my biggest considerations were the quality of the program (curriculum, professors, etc.), post-grad prospects (employment figures, networking opportunities, strength of school's 'brand'), and cost (total tuition, funding offers, or future chances for scholarships).  The schools I got into were all well-respected programs with strong career services programs and connections in the places I want to work, so in the end funding became the tiebreaker.

[are we there yet?]

Agree with everything above and I'll just add one more note.

 

For me I am big on community interaction between faculty and students (going to a small school made me feel special lol)

 

Some schools have been very interactive since I was admitted, others very quiet.  I know this is a busy time for the staff but to just take time to answer questions, email, call, etc meant a lot to me as I was weighing the decision.  If they can do that now I can only imagine how open they will be once I'm there.

 

Sounds silly I know but if that is something important to you think about it.  Just go with your gut and you will be fine.

[flyingjellyfish]

Some schools have been very interactive since I was admitted, others very quiet.  I know this is a busy time for the staff but to just take time to answer questions, email, call, etc meant a lot to me as I was weighing the decision.  If they can do that now I can only imagine how open they will be once I'm there.

 

Sounds silly I know but if that is something important to you think about it.  Just go with your gut and you will be fine.

 

I totally agree on this.  I didn't realize how much this would influence my thinking, but it really did.  

[Hilldog2016]

  The schools I got into were all well-respected programs with strong career services programs and connections in the places I want to work, so in the end funding became the tiebreaker.

Does this mean you're going to GW?

[Sneaky]

Does this mean you're going to GW?

 

Yep, you guessed it!  For what it's worth, as others have pointed out, interaction with the school was a big factor I failed to mention.  Receiving attention in the form of direct, personal emails from professors and admissions personnel made a strong impression and was definitely reassuring about how they would work with students.

 

Have you made your final decision?

[Hilldog2016]

I think I've decided to go with Georgetown. It's where I've wanted to go all along based on fit.

 

The thing that was holding me back was knowing about the possibility of working at GW and getting tuition remission, not to mention having income. But then I realized if I went that route it would mean losing out on about a year of post-master's salary, which I hadn't factored in before. Between that and the fact that I got some money from GPPI and none from GW, I've officially decided it's a fiscally responsible path.

 

I've had more interactions with the GPPI people than other schools so that definitely influenced my decision as well.

 

Like everyone says, there's no wrong call when you have a bunch of great options. Cheers to all of us and good luck next year!!!

[awphenomenally]

I made my decision a day or so ago.

Deciding factors:

-Caliber of peers

-Quality of professors, relevance in my desired field, and accessibility. Plus, it helps when a few are clearly strongly pulling for you to go to their school.

-Funding

Ultimate Deciding Factor: Post-grad job

Where do the students get jobs? What sector? What area? Will I get the job that I want? Do alumni have connections? What are the alumni relations like between mpa/mpp alums and the program?