Anybody attended UMD Open House? Please comment here...

[dang]

The UMD Open House was held today. Did anybody visit MSPP@UMD? Please tell us what you have to say about the program. Thanks a lot!

[skz]

I just got back from UMD's Open House about 30 minutes ago. Here are my general feelings (but remember, these are only my feelings and others who visited may feel otherwise):

PROS:

* They have excellent career services and what appears to be a pretty good alumni network

* They're pretty responsive to students' desires for classes (if there's enough demand for a class, they'll try to get one going)

* They have faculty who have been at in the upper echelons of their fields

* Their faculty is generally full time, and you can have any number of them as advisors

* You can take classes at other schools in at the university

* You can take classes at other DC schools (American, Georgetown, and GWU) because they're part of the DC consortium

CONS:

* There isn't a strong focus on applying skills you've learned (it seems more like a voluntary thing - you take a class which has you do a project, rather than a class like that being part of your core curriculum)

* They recommend NOT doing 20 hours of work per week (in other words, not a full assistantship), which makes it substantially less affordable

OTHERS:

* Their class size is about 300 (I think that's the number...)

* They do NOT have a faculty member that specializes in education policy (I could be wrong, but it really doesn't seem so - looking at the class list, it's unknown whether they'll have one on education policy

Also, having visited JHU today, I didn't feel like the current students were as accessible as JHU's students (which is probably due to JHU's smaller class size). I also didn't get the impression that their faculty was as accessible or as invested in the students as JHU's faculty are...but then again not much was asked about this. I will say there is a lot more freedom in developing your specialization, as far as I can tell.

That's just a quick set of thoughts I have immediately after it. Remember, this is what I feel and not what others do!

[mew248]

Pros:

Also impressed with career services

flexibility of curriculum

D.C. consortium

full-time faculty

mission to train policy thinkers regardless of specialization

Cons (some of these are most likely positives for others):

perceived lack of interest of faculty (not many attended the event that I could tell)

D.C. area opportunities very stressed (I don't want to end up in D.C. long-term)

no mention of race/gender/sexuality policy (might have been just an attendance issue)

largest sector of alumni in federal government (again not a goal of mine)

unrelated to the school itself...but cost of living in the area...

p.s. Skz---Gail Sunderman, a lecturer at the school, lists Education Policy as her primary interest

[skz]

p.s. Skz---Gail Sunderman, a lecturer at the school, lists Education Policy as her primary interest

That's what I thought, but I can't find her on the faculty page anymore. They have William Galston, but he's gone off to Brookings, and they have Mark Lopez who is a visiting professor listed, but sitting in the social policy "break-out" group I was quite sure there was something that struck me that made me perceive a lack of faculty in education.

Oh, I have to mention, as a current undergrad at Maryland...I am NOT impressed by the bureaucracy at the university (not specifically the School of Public Policy). You'll probably find out why if you have to deal with administrative issues. Taryn Faulkner was extremely helpful though when it came to dealing with these issues.

EDIT: Never mind, just found her on the social policy page. Either way, I still have a perception that they lack faculty who are in education policy for some reason...

[dang]

How about the development concentration? Any info?

[skz]

That's a very good point, plate or platter.

Dang, I don't know specifically about the development concentration, but I will tell you there is a lot of freedom to take whatever courses you want. You can also take courses across concentrations and make up your own if you wish. That's not much help, so hopefully someone else can come along with more information for you!

[mew248]

I'd also like to add that I would've liked a little more formal structure to the "mingling" especially with the current students. I was hoping to gain a little bit more insight into the non-academic intangibles like living in the area (the social scene....just another form of networking, right?) and their honest assessment of the program. Was I the only one who found it a bit difficult to pick out current students vs. prospectives?

[traveler06]

I'd also like to add that I would've liked a little more formal structure to the "mingling" especially with the current students. I was hoping to gain a little bit more insight into the non-academic intangibles like living in the area (the social scene....just another form of networking, right?) and their honest assessment of the program. Was I the only one who found it a bit difficult to pick out current students vs. prospectives?

No, you are not. I found the entire event to be very unstructured. The social policy break out session was informative, but I did not get much out of the Open House as a whole. I think I may go back on Monday and try to explore on my own.

[mew248]

No, you are not. I found the entire event to be very unstructured. The social policy break out session was informative, but I did not get much out of the Open House as a whole. I think I may go back on Monday and try to explore on my own.

Interesting that all of us commenting seem to be "social policy" people. I, on the other hand, found the career services presentation to be the most worthwhile. I mean I grew up with a very successful salesman for a father and that guy was good.

[skz]

I guess that's because we're more "social" people! Hahaha... ba dun dush.

Yeah, I was very impressed with the career services.

[A Snappy Dresser]

I went but missed the whole thing except for the break out session, since my car died halfway there.

[mothernorth]

I found the whole event to be quite good! I do agree that there should have an "easier" way to judge the current students from prospective students to mingle more, but other than that I found the International Security and Economic Policy session very helpful and information. The career service presentation was the highlight, the guy seems to work hard and really care! He is fully committed to just the policy students and seperate from MD's other Career Services, I thought that was excellent.

At the ISEP session, Susan Schwab, a professor and former U.S. Trade Representative under Bush II was at the session and she was very helpeful and insightful with some of her answers. It was excellent to be in presence of such a high level person that has held a cabinet post and a professor at the University!

As a side note on estethics, I was really impressed by the building! New and well kept. I know that's not a "determing" factor, but hey, when you are spending $60,000 for a degree, you want a good and professional looking environment. Can't say the same about the squallid policy building at UCLA!