Any questions for a current USC Price MPP student?

[publicpolicystudent]

This board was a big help to me when I was going through the application process, so I figured I'd volunteer to be a resource for anyone currently thinking about attending Price in the fall. Plus, I am avoiding studying for my cost-benefit analysis midterm. I am a first year MPP here at Price, hope I can answer any questions for everyone.

[kkkl]

5 hours ago, winndixiebeefboi said:

This board was a big help to me when I was going through the application process, so I figured I'd volunteer to be a resource for anyone currently thinking about attending Price in the fall. Plus, I am avoiding studying for my cost-benefit analysis midterm. I am a first year MPP here at Price, hope I can answer any questions for everyone.

Hi winndixiebeefboi, It's great to see previous candidates coming back to offer advice to confused current applicants:P thanks!

so I received admission to Price and a half tuition scholarship. And my question is how much in total do you evaluate the rest of the cost (the other half tuition, living, etc) would be?

And are there any other funding opportunities at Price or USC to apply so as to cover the rest of the cost of attending? 

Thank you! 

[publicpolicystudent]

57 minutes ago, kkkl said:

Hi winndixiebeefboi, It's great to see previous candidates coming back to offer advice to confused current applicants:P thanks!

so I received admission to Price and a half tuition scholarship. And my question is how much in total do you evaluate the rest of the cost (the other half tuition, living, etc) would be?

And are there any other funding opportunities at Price or USC to apply so as to cover the rest of the cost of attending? 

Thank you! 

hey kkl, congrats on your acceptance! I think Price will send you a more detailed breakdown on what your tuition and other school related expenses will be. If they have not yet, I would reach out and ask for it, I know they have something like that.

As for living expenses, I have been pleasantly surprised by how affordable LA is. The rent here is cheaper than in Boston, New York, San Francisco, etc., I've heard of classmates paying as little as $500 for a room in a two or three bedroom apartment. Utilities and other costs are cheap (no need for heat! rarely a need for air conditioning!), food is very affordable (seriously, the farmers markets are incredible, the one on campus every week has great vegetable prices) and there are tons of great and affordable prepared foods around the city (like all the tacos). 

There are a lot of funding opportunities, depending on what you're looking for. There are many scholarship programs at Price if you fit into a certain demographic or interest area. I would look around on the website to check out those. When it comes to assistantships, there are many. Lots of professors are routinely looking for research assistants, we see regular email blasts with professors looking for assistants. There are also a lot of research centers on campus who recruit heavily from Price, the program does really well with both affiliated centers and the broader USC centers. I have heard of people also working as research assistants at UCLA and other campuses, too. It is all about responding to the postings or just reaching out to different centers and seeing if they have openings. For teaching assistantships, there are also a lot of them. Most courses have at least one TA, core courses usually have two. These are also recruited from within Price, but I don't know a lot about that process. 

I don't know about anything covering the rest of attendance, but hopefully these options can cover a chunk of it. Hope this helps, and good luck making your decision!

[kkkl]

39 minutes ago, winndixiebeefboi said:

hey kkl, congrats on your acceptance! I think Price will send you a more detailed breakdown on what your tuition and other school related expenses will be. If they have not yet, I would reach out and ask for it, I know they have something like that.

As for living expenses, I have been pleasantly surprised by how affordable LA is. The rent here is cheaper than in Boston, New York, San Francisco, etc., I've heard of classmates paying as little as $500 for a room in a two or three bedroom apartment. Utilities and other costs are cheap (no need for heat! rarely a need for air conditioning!), food is very affordable (seriously, the farmers markets are incredible, the one on campus every week has great vegetable prices) and there are tons of great and affordable prepared foods around the city (like all the tacos). 

There are a lot of funding opportunities, depending on what you're looking for. There are many scholarship programs at Price if you fit into a certain demographic or interest area. I would look around on the website to check out those. When it comes to assistantships, there are many. Lots of professors are routinely looking for research assistants, we see regular email blasts with professors looking for assistants. There are also a lot of research centers on campus who recruit heavily from Price, the program does really well with both affiliated centers and the broader USC centers. I have heard of people also working as research assistants at UCLA and other campuses, too. It is all about responding to the postings or just reaching out to different centers and seeing if they have openings. For teaching assistantships, there are also a lot of them. Most courses have at least one TA, core courses usually have two. These are also recruited from within Price, but I don't know a lot about that process. 

I don't know about anything covering the rest of attendance, but hopefully these options can cover a chunk of it. Hope this helps, and good luck making your decision!

Thanks a lot! That was very helpful information. Yeah, I agree I might have to reach out to get more information on this. I am still waiting for decisions from several other schools and hopefully I will be able to sift through information and make my decision pretty quickly. 

Again thanks for offering information as a current Price student. Now I am curious to see what questions other Price hopefuls might have for you in the next coming days if they ask in this thread

 

[wearingsocks]

Hi @publicpolicystudent -- do you have a concentration? Could you also talk a bit about 1) variety/availability of elective coursework in/outside of Price, and 2) academic & career advising support?

[beefmaster]

Do you have any idea about the feasibility of negotiating a funding offer? I got 50% but can only really attend if I get 75% - 100%. 

Also, do you have any information on the careers services for international students?

[wearingsocks]

10 hours ago, beefmaster said:

Do you have any idea about the feasibility of negotiating a funding offer?

Butting in here -- I can't remember where, but at some point I saw a number on the Price website indicating the percentage of admitted Price master's students that receive at least a partial award. I would hazard a guess that a not-insignificant number of students would choose not to attend if they were given 25%-50% tuition scholarships, and that there would therefore be some leftover funds available for reallocation as April 15th approaches. In general, the advice that I've been given is to try for more money if I'm really serious about a particular program. I don't think it could hurt to reach out and inquire about this, especially if you can point to higher awards from other programs AND reinforce specific academic reasons for wanting to choose Price over other programs.

[publicpolicystudent]

On 3/8/2016 at 2:51 PM, wearingsocks said:

Hi @publicpolicystudent -- do you have a concentration? Could you also talk a bit about 1) variety/availability of elective coursework in/outside of Price, and 2) academic & career advising support?

Hi @wearingsocks, sorry for my delay here, I had a busy week. To answer your questions, first, no, I don't have a concentration. I thought that having a stated concentration wasn't worth limiting my course options. I'm sure other folks love it and have gotten some benefits from it, but I liked having some flexibility in the courses I had available to me.

Which leads me to your second question, there are a lot of electives options outside of Price and the program encourages you to take full advantage of them. I'm currently taking a course in GIS outside of Price, I know people taking courses in finance at the business school, some people taking a course in drafting legislation and the legislative process at the law school and even some people taking classes in filmmaking at the cinema school (I forget their reasoning, but it was pretty sound). Education policy oriented MPPs have taken qualitative and quantitative classes in that school as well. One of the things that attracted me to Price was how modifiable the degree program was. Price does not exist in a vacuum at USC and they know it, which allows us grad students to take full advantage of the other options. I intend to take a qualitative research course in the Fall (social work or sociology schools), as well as another GIS course in another department. I think that one of the best things you can do at Price is get outside of the program and take advantage of the experts in other schools. Within Price, I think there are a lot of options. I have focused mostly on methods courses (and honestly, would encourage everyone getting an MPP to do the same), but lots of people take coursework in education, environmental policy, economic development, etc. 

For your second question, I'll take it in two parts. Regarding academic advising and support, I think you have to leverage your resources. Everyone wants you to succeed and everyone will help you, but you're going to have to make your needs known. For example, I am currently doing some independent research with a professor. It is probably the best learning experience I have had so far at Price, and has pushed me to develop a variety of skills in a short period of time. But I got this opportunity by asking for it. No one working for the program told me I could do my own research for academic credit, I found out it was an option from another student. I developed my own proposal and asked a professor to work with me on it. That leads me to my second point, your best academic resource will be your fellow students. People want to share their experiences, so I would encourage you to ask them. If you end up attending Price, let me know, I have some recommendations! 

For career services, it is one of the things the program really focuses on. They have a very active and ambitious career services directed who has instituted a program focusing on preparing people for the professional world in a variety of ways. One example, he has put in place a program of professional "boot camps" that focus on building up people's resume, their interview skills, cleaning up their online presence, etc. Another example, career services has developed a mentorship program where Price alumni are paired with a current student during their time at Price, with the hope of having both a professional contact and an extra guide in entering the professional world. I do not participate in that program, but some people have found a lot of value in it. I should add, I generally hear mixed reviews about career services. I have not used them at all, but that is because I have an existing professional network and I know what it is I want to do.

I hope this helps!

[publicpolicystudent]

On 3/9/2016 at 11:23 PM, beefmaster said:

Do you have any idea about the feasibility of negotiating a funding offer? I got 50% but can only really attend if I get 75% - 100%. 

Also, do you have any information on the careers services for international students?

@beefmaster I would try to negotiate an offer, but I have no advice on how to do it well. Can't hurt to ask.

For international career services, there are a fairly large number of international students at Price. I do not know specifically their career service experiences, but I would try to track some down and ask for their experience. The program may be willing to connect to you to a current or former international student who can give you some information about that specific experience.