What are the best MPP programs?

[inforitnow]

I've browsed this forum a good bit and I see a lot of discussion about international affairs programs and MPA programs. Sometimes abbreviations are used that I'm not familiar with because I'm applying relatively last-minute and have not researched adequately.

What are the best MPP programs?

[MPPgal]

MPA and MPP are the exact same thing, or not depending on the program. In general reputation I would say the best one is Princeton's MPA followed by Harvard's MPP and then things get a bit murky depending on your specialization etc etc. Sadly you need to do your research because it depends on what you like (some MPPs and MPAs are more quant, some are more management based, some are freer some are less, I recommend researching, Chicago's Harris, Georgetown's GPPI, Berkeley's Goldman, Michigan's Ford, Indiana SPEA, Duke, UT's LBJ, George Washington University, Syracuse's, Columbia's SIPA, NYU. Also worth checking out are Cornell's, University of Washington, University of Wisconsin, American University, University of Maryland.

[Brunell047]

Rankings are good start in your research...but...Where do you want end up working after grad school? 

 

For example, USC Price is ranked top 5 in US News, great school for California....but you'd have to research how strong the Trojan network is if you'd want positions in DC or NYC.

[Swedishcoffee]

From everything I've read, this is the ranking that's regarded as the ranking for public policy programs (published in Foreign Policy) among those in the international affairs sector and the schools themselves:

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inside_the_Ivory_Tower

 

International relations faculty at every four-year university in the United States were surveyed and asked what they regarded as the top five schools. The percentage figure next to the names of the schools indicates what percentage of the professors said that the school was in the top five.

 

Top five for 2012 were: Georgetown SFS, Johns Hopkins SAIS, Princeton WWS, Harvard KSG and Tufts Fletcher. Closely following were Columbia SIPA, George Washington Elliot, and American SIS.

[Azrou]

The Ivory Tower rankings are certainly an improvement over the USNWR ones, but since they are rankings of IR programs some don't offer MPA/MPP degrees (SAIS, Tufts) and in many cases have different schools in the same university that actually do (SFS - GPPI/McCourt, Elliott - Trachtenberg, American SIS - SPA).

 

The answer to the OP is that it depends on your functional and/or geographic focus.  Most programs have their strengths and you need to look at their faculty's specializations and course listings to get a sense of where their priorities lie.  A lot of the state schools (think Goldman, Luskin, Evans, La Follette, Ford, etc) are good to outstanding regionally and offer much cheaper tuition if you are a resident, but some would argue don't have as strong of a national/international reputation and alumni network.  For people to give you any kind of meaningful recommendations you will need to provide more info on your background and career goals.

[inforitnow]

Here is my general application, goals, and schools I'm prepared to apply to already (essays done and everything). I don't have a specific career goal, in terms of a place I want to work or a concrete achievement. I think I probably want to end up in DC.

Funding/cost matters quite a bit to me. I'm not sure I could get funding from a school like Georgtown-GPPI or GWU-Trachtenberg and their tuition costs concern me. 

Thank you for suggesting UCLA. I'm considering applying to their program, though I have some reservations. Do you know of any specific schools you think I should consider based on the following information?

 

Programs: MPP/MPA (I want to focus on national socioeconomic policy, and possibly regional economic integration)
Potential Schools: UW Evans School, UC Berkeley Goldman School, UT Austin LBJ School, American University

 

Undergraduate institution: University of Washington, Seattle
Undergraduate Major: Political Science; Economics

Undergraduate GPA:  3.67 last 90 credits; 3.43 UW cumulative; 3.48 cumulative if including transfer credits (went to UNL my freshman year); 3.72 political science; 3.49 economics

 

GRE: 164 V / 160 Q / 5 AW

Years Out of grad school (if applicable): 2+ years

Years of Work Experience: 1.5 years experience (nearly irrelevant in nature)

Describe Relevant Work Experience: 

• 1.5 years as a "customer advocate" - worked with public officials and government agencies to help people save their homes from foreclosure, essentially glorified customer service
• 4 months intern for U.S. Senator
• 2 months intern for internet startup - project/database administration
• 6 months intern for improvisational comedy theater - theater management
• 5 months a community organizer

 

Other Experience (mentioned in resume or SOP): 

• Graduated from 1-year improvisational comedy program - this is kind of unique and is actually very useful (I hope schools agree ha ha)
• About to do a 3-month improvised backpacking trip in Central and South America
• President of my residence hall and senator of association of residence halls during my freshman year of college

Languages: 

English: Fluent

Spanish: Beginner/intermediate (hopefully conversationally fluent by the time I finish my aforementioned trip)

SOP: Very well-written (a huge strength of mine)...possibly less impressive than those of people with wow-stories, but pretty good overall (I hope)

 

LOR:

• 1 from current employer (strong, but experience is not directly related to public policy)
• 1 from former professor (strong)
• 1 from US Senator (not sure how strong, but will be decent at least)

Edited November 2, 2013 by inforitnow

[NPRjunkie]

My two cents: the Ivory Tower rankings are pretty accurate, but it really depends where you want to live and work. For example, I really struggled to find a job in the sector I wanted in the city I wanted with a degree from SAIS. Sad to say but if you want to pursue a non-linear path with a public policy degree outside DC, brand name matters a lot more. Based on that the rankings would obviously be a lot different. Hope that helps!

Edited November 8, 2013 by NPRjunkie

[NPRjunkie]

LOR:

• 1 from current employer (strong, but experience is not directly related to public policy)
• 1 from former professor (strong)
• 1 from US Senator (not sure how strong, but will be decent at least)

 

 

Do not use a letter from your senator. No one will care and they'll know it's just a form letter. If you have to even use an internship as one of your letters, use your supervisor.