Penn GSE 2016

[GlobNomad]

6 minutes ago, Heather1011 said:

 Most IEPers at HGSE had several internships going on, often with UNESCO and the same organizations that Penn promises to pair you with.  They're just doing it concurrently with their classes, and can then go and get a job in June.

Interesting. How do they have internships concurrent with heir classes? Are they local internships? How many hours? (just trying to make sense of it all!)

[Vulpix]

2 minutes ago, GlobNomad said:

Wow. I'm not sure I'd be brave enough to do that @Heather1011! What were some of the things you DID like about Penn? (you've written a lot about Harvard but I'm really curious about Penn's program).

I added to my previous post if you didn't see

Penn definitely has the more nurturing environment.  It's a smaller program and it seems like students/faculty go out of their way to create a sense of community and support.  Classes are much smaller (15-20) and it's a given that you will make relationships with professors.  Also, you can hypothetically extend the program for 2 years.  Cost of living is also very cheap in Philly.  I also like that you can get a Global Human Rights certificate.

Penn had this sort of weird inferiority complex going on.  They kept insisting that they are an ivy league school (probably because they get confused with Penn State so much) and the majority of their general presentation was just talking about how you'd be surprised how great Philadelphia is and trying to convince us that Philly is good.  While this is important, I thought there could be much more valuable things they could be telling me.  

[Vulpix]

9 minutes ago, GlobNomad said:

Interesting. How do they have internships concurrent with heir classes? Are they local internships? How many hours? (just trying to make sense of it all!)

They said internships were typically 8-15 hours a week at HGSE, more or less depending on what your availability is. (And if you have work-study, you can get that stipend through your internship) Also, if you are taking 4 classes instead of 5, you have more time to dedicate to the internships.  It seems like a lot of students had one local and one remote internships (such as working online for UNICEF in Bangkok/Mali/wherever, I heard a bunch).  When I said concurrent I didn't mean literally at the same time, I just meant in the same semester they are taking classes, instead of a separate block of time like Penn's in the summer.  Classes at HGSE vary in the times they meet, but many of them meet once a week for 3-4 hours, so you schedule your internship around classes, I assume.  

 

Also, with the remote internships, they added that often students tell the organizations what skills they want to be developing in the role, and build the work around that.

Edited April 3, 2016 by Heather1011

[Vulpix]

Another great component (that students mentioned both at Penn and HGSE, but was emphasized more at HGSE) was the idea of class projects being tied into real organizations.  For example, in both schools, a professor will receive a request from an organization (like at Penn, a UN agency asked them to "make a peace curriculum for Sub-Saharan Africa"... not broad at all), and the students in the class create it and then submit it to the org.  Same thing at HGSE, students got to create policy recommendations for Gaza and actually have those submitted and implemented.  Some HGSE students were getting travel grants to go visit the countries where their classwork was being applied.

[GlobNomad]

Okay. Thanks. I think that's pretty different from what Penn considers an internship. This sounds more like a remote consultancy, not really an internship. But useful info anyway!

[Vulpix]

2 minutes ago, GlobNomad said:

Okay. Thanks. I think that's pretty different from what Penn considers an internship. This sounds more like a remote consultancy, not really an internship. But useful info anyway!

Yes, I'd agree on that front.  That's why I think students also have local "real" internships .  Just for IEP, I think that remote consultancy is important to a lot of students.

OH one more thing about Penn, they said that a lot of them were hoping their internships would turn into extended consultancies after and then perhaps jobs.  I had previously thought this would be uncommon, but they made it seem like they were all hoping for it.  Many students were choosing to do the program in 1 year just so they would have the chance to extend their internship longer.  The professor said there is almost always the opportunity to extend your internship time-wise, just that Penn's funding support for you will run out, and you won't be getting paid, so it's a personal choice.  They had an alum there who had turned in internship into a job.