Georgetown McCourt (GPPI) - now better?

[Whiterose]

Hi guys,

I was admitted last year to GPPI (it.was the only US university to which I.applied last year) but I defered my offer and during this time GPPI received a huge donation ($100 million) and was transformed to independent school. They said also that they will employ additional top-notch professors, create new scholarship opportunities and focus on big data (which sounds very appealing to me).

Now I am applying to other schools but I am thinking whether Georgetown will be even more prestigious thanks to it so maybe I should stick.to the offer that I already have.

What do.you think?

[MPPgal]

On eof my reasons for not going to GPPI last year was the fact that I got the impression while visiting that the fact that it was not a school was significantly limiting the department, its resources etc. so yeah why not!

[tribesdude]

I believe that over time the reputation and the quality of the program will further increase. The $100M that the school got will be used to hire more professors, provide more scholarships, and over time implement a Phd program and maybe even have something for the undergrads. I would say that the program is already great. The professors are very friendly, accessible, and from the ones that I have had so far, are very good at teaching the subject. The program is, as you may know, is fairly quant heavy. So have to take 3 stats courses and 2 micro courses. The program is fairly small as well (around 150 people per year).

 

One thing I will say though, is forget about the whole prestige thing, especially when it comes to Public Policy programs. The prestige factor is important for MBA and Law, but not as important for policy programs. I would still encourage you to apply for more programs and see where else you can get in, and more importantly where you can end up getting money. You could also try and use future offers (if you for example do decide to attend GU) as leverage in order to get more funding from GU. But, you cant go wrong with GU. Being in DC will allow you to have a part-time internship while you are attending school (granted as International students we are not allowed to work for most companies other than places such as the World Bank until the summer, thats due to US laws). 

 

Good luck!