MBA/MPP-IR - Help, which program is the best?

[anthonyleb1943]

If all goes well over the next two weeks, I will have the incredibly fortunate opportunity of choosing from the following fantastic schools: Harvard Business School, Wharton, MIT-Sloan (all interviewed, still waiting for response - very good feeling about HBS and Wharton), Harvard Kennedy School (still waiting), SAIS (admitted yesterday to Int'l Development program). I'm hoping a ding or two might make my choice a little easier to make, but hypothetically, I'd just like your take on which of these established joint MBA/MPP-IR programs you think would be the best (in no particular order):

HBS/HKS, Wharton/HKS, MIT-Sloan/HKS or Wharton/SAIS

Coming from a BA in political science, I am really looking for a background that is going to give me solid quant, give real relevance to the study of business and government, and allow for fantastic networking. I'm also more partial to a program that would allow me to shift between two universities (which steers me away from HBS/HKS only for that reason), but this is just one preference of many.

Many thanks, and only serious takers please :-)

[dino88]

In my opinion, you can't really beat HBS for an MBA. But, wait until you get offers. Don't take the interviews for granted. IHBS/HKS is a very strong combo. You can take courses at MIT for free with their network anyway. You need to sit in the classes - trust me. Harvard is night and day compared to MIT for the MBA. It depends what you prefer. A visit should settle it. Now, you want quantitative. I have an MPP and HKS is not the most quantitative MPP out there. You'll be getting more quant from the MBA. So, if you wanted to combine that with MIT/Wharton MBA, that might be good. But, seriously visit. A policy degree and MBA degree will be a strong combo. Lots of people I know who did that were hired by McKinsey or other. But, I must warn you - having worked in the policy and business communities, that there are many in policy community that say business is an opposite interest, and many in business community that say policy is an opposite interest. I don't believe that is true (businesses fund policy programs, and policy allows business to profit), but you can see this in microeconomics from a profit maximizing objective versus a social planner's perspective.

Congrats on the wonderful opportunities - you are truly fortunate. If you want networking, Harvard MBA, period. They do "the wave" in their classroom and invite the protagonist in the case studies into the actual classroom.

[hks]

One comment would be - why are you so interested in switching campuses? I'm a Wharton mba thinking about both dual degree programs and am most hesitant because of the campus switch. Business schools have a very tight community compared to other graduate schools and its easy to get very immersed and involved. The idea of missing a semester from my 2nd year (which is usually much more relaxed) is somewhat hard to swallow.