GSPP Admitted Students day

[koyunbaba81]

Did anyone visit GSPP for the official admitted students day this week? If so, would you mind posting your reaction for those of us who couldn't attend?

Thanks!

[pepper12]

if you are a strong econ major in college, you won't find the courses such as "the economics of public policy" intellectually stimulating or challenging...

if you don't know anything about econometrics or statistical analysis involving regressions (including use of statistical packages such as Stata), then MPP in GSPP will be great in teaching you those skills...but if you are a strong econ major you should know these already and again, nothing will be intellectually stimulating or new...

[chellie99]

I was at the GSPP day yesterday and came away with a positive impression of the program. Two class visits (Econ and Quant) were incorporated into the day - which was a nice touch. I didn't have the opportunity to attend courses at other schools, so it is hard to compare but, regarding what pepper12 said, I would bet that the core econ and quant classes at all the top schools are pretty similar and, like most other places, if you have a strong econ background you can place out of the core courses and take more advanced ones. GSPP tried to sell that they were incredibly strong in quant.

GSPP's program seems to be a very practical/applied one - there are lots of great opportunities to apply your policy skills to real world situations, including a group consulting project in 1st year spring (IPA) and a thesis type individual consulting project in 2nd year spring (APA). The core classes also offer opportunities to apply the theory to the policy issues you're interested in through papers group projects.

GSPP is a small program, which has it's pros in that the community is very close-knit. However, because the program is small, they don't have a large amount of faculty - or electives - within the school. Classes at all of the Berkeley schools - Law, Business, Education, Social Welfare, Econ & PoliSci depts, etc - are open and easily accessible to GSPP students, and most students take their electives outside of the school. Students who are interested in international issues noted that it can be hard to find appropriate electives because the faculty's interests tend toward domestic policy.

The GSPP campus (a house with the "Living Room" that students can hang out and study in and a newer building) was nice and intimate. The career services people seemed top notch, and all the current students I talked to agreed. I didn't get an opportunity to talk with or hear from any alumni, which is too bad because I found the alumni panels at other schools to be a really helpful part of the day.

I also noted that the group of admitted students was a lot more diverse than some of the other open houses I've been to - both ethnically and life experience/age-wise.

[pepper12]

regarding this comment: "if you have a strong econ background you can place out of the core courses and take more advanced ones"

there are no advanced versions of the core courses inside GSPP, the only "advanced ones" are the econ classes in the Econ department.

and you can only opt out of one core course in one semester...