What was the most important factor in deciding which schools to apply to?

[wheretonext]

I know we've all been answering admissions surveys asking the same question, but I'm interested in hearing the answer as well, so I'll do admissions offices everywhere a solid and start a discussion on the topic.

Deciding which graduate programs to apply to obviously takes into account multiple factors (and, according to some posters, multiple spreadsheets). Which factor was the most influential for you in deciding to apply to a graduate program? Why?

For me, I've applied a few times over the course of 5 years and as I've drifted towards being more mid-careerish, the most influential factor has become the quality of my fellow classmates. Most of the schools I applied to publish bios for either some or all of their enrolled students, and I read through those profiles to get an idea of what my fellow classmates would be like.

This was the most important factor for me both because I want a program where I can learn from my fellow students, not just the professors, and also because I feel that class composition probably affects the teaching style of the professor. I imagine it would be tough to teach a truly practitioner-focused approach to a class of students that has very limited field experience.

[monocle]

I definitely read through the bios of current students. There was one school I decided not to apply after reading through them.

My main factors were clear employment data (to a lesser extent salary), debt burden, and location.

One thing I see often that I didn't really put much thought into was school "culture." I don't really understand how Fletcher's culture is any different from SAIS culture. Or what the different cultures would mean for my academic and professional experience.. "warm, tight-knit" versus "large, diverse" type comparisons didn't really factor into my applications.

[beefmaster]

Funding.

[shrimps]

This thread is an awesome idea! 

Like @monocleI also spent a lot of time looking at employment data - specifically salary distributions, amount of time until grads found a job, and what kind of jobs they ended up at. For example, I think I'll probably end up in the non-profit or private sector, so schools with strong public sector placement or that were very DC-focused didn't have much pull for me. 

For curriculum, I picked programs that had strong quant and data analysis skills either build into their core courses, or had a lot of electives in those fields and were flexible enough in their core requirements to allow me to take them. 

Location was also somewhat of a factor - because of my partner's job, it was attractive to stick to mid-to-large cities in the northeast. However, there are so many awesome programs in that area that it didn't really feel like a limitation (especially since again, I'm not looking to head to DC after). And I still applied to USC since LA fit a lot of the same requirements as the NE did for both of us.

Most of all, funding is HUGE for me. USC and CMU are both independently great programs that I'm very into, but the fact that they have a good track record for providing funding was a big part of why I applied to those places. I'm still waiting to hear back from more than half the programs I applied to, but since I only applied to places I could actually imagine myself going, I think funding offers will play a major role in my decision making process, more than prestige or the idea of a "dream" program. Not that there's anything wrong with doing so! But at 28 (), I'm on the upper side of the age range of applicants, and after years of working only in nonprofits, I just don't have the same kind of savings to put towards tuition that someone coming from the private sector might. The idea of being able to graduate and enter the job market with very little student debt on the other side is incredibly attractive. I remember how limited I felt in employment choices when I was carrying around undergrad student debt, and I'd love to chose my post-grad job without huge monthly loan payments being a big factor in that decision.

[wheretonext]

1 hour ago, monocle said:

I definitely read through the bios of current students. There was one school I decided not to apply after reading through them.

My main factors were clear employment data (to a lesser extent salary), debt burden, and location.

One thing I see often that I didn't really put much thought into was school "culture." I don't really understand how Fletcher's culture is any different from SAIS culture. Or what the different cultures would mean for my academic and professional experience.. "warm, tight-knit" versus "large, diverse" type comparisons didn't really factor into my applications.

I agree about school culture, I think in any school/city you will find the niche that fits what you want from a "culture". On the other hand, I definitely tried to adapt my applications and essays to align with the culture that the school is looking to foster.

[RCtheSS]

I am one of those folks who kept a large Excel workbook to make these decisions! I waffled so, so much with my deciding which programs to apply to. I made my first master list of 18 schools during my junior year in undergrad once I had been accepted as a PPIA fellow and knew I would receive funding by attending one of their consortium schools.

Then I started organizing the schools by concentrations/specializations that fit my research interests, concurrent degree options, tuition and fees, financial aid, cost of living in the city/state of the schools, post-graduate salary information, and tax information in the city/states.

Location definitely factored into it. I moved to D.C. for my policy job, and it took me about 5 months to know that I do not really like this area enough to want to stay an additional 2 years for a master degree, so I culled those schools off my list. 

Then it went back to program curricula and course offerings. At this point I was switching out programs on my "Top 8" schools to apply to every couple days based on how I felt at the time. But what really helped me pin my ultimate list down was my dead-set decision to pursue a dual degree. If a school didn't offer this option, I took it off the list for good. 

At the end of it all, I say it was a balance of holistic financial information and curricula options that finalized my program list.

Edited March 4, 2016 by RCtheSS

[aslabchu]

1. Funding

Public affairs is not pay to play (except maybe for a small subset of Ivy students). I have more undergrad debt than I'm happy about, so I wanted to make sure my program of choice wouldn't make that situation too much worse. Hats off to the Columbia/Harvard/etc folks, though; they must have stronger stomachs.

2. Location

I think incredibly ambitious students give the exact order of rankings too much attention. What's most important is a school's ability to affect your chances in your location of choice. In a sense, I think it's similar to how it works for JDs: there are some overridingly good schools that will carry you wherever you go, but most areas have a real soft spot for their state/region's "big school." Berkeley might be higher ranked than, say, Chicago, but try telling that to Chicago employers. And so on.

3. Reputation/institutional "reach"/alumni networks.

This part is so subjective and elusive, which makes it not very useful (for MPA, at least). I get the impression that, ultimately, this is not as huge a factor as some people make of it. Every school claims they have an extensive and incredibly helpful support system for their new grads, but nobody's really calling them on it. It's probably enough that you go to one of the well-reputed top 15-ish schools. My guess is the one closest to the place you want to work will be able to help you the most. (Special exceptions for Harvard and Princeton, I imagine. But you're also paying a premium for it!)

4. Specialty

I'm keeping my mind open on this one, but I'm a little skeptical that any given school within the top 15-ish has the secret sauce in a particular area. I do pay attention to schools that have better/more intensive programs for interaction and placement/intern work in their industry of specialty, though. For example, something like SPEA Service Corps (it's basically an assistantship, but you go work for an employer instead) could help to justify why they're #1 in Nonprofit. (As long as you get to work with a nonprofit, anyway.)

Edited March 4, 2016 by aslabchu

[monocle]

6 minutes ago, aslabchu said:

4. Specialty

I'm keeping my mind open on this one, but I'm a little skeptical that any given school within the top 15-ish has the secret sauce in a particular area.

^^This.

[wearingsocks]

On 3/4/2016 at 11:49 AM, shrimps said:

Location was also somewhat of a factor - because of my partner's job, it was attractive to stick to mid-to-large cities in the northeast. However, there are so many awesome programs in that area that it didn't really feel like a limitation (especially since again, I'm not looking to head to DC after). And I still applied to USC since LA fit a lot of the same requirements as the NE did for both of us.

Most of all, funding is HUGE for me. USC and CMU are both independently great programs that I'm very into, but the fact that they have a good track record for providing funding was a big part of why I applied to those places. I'm still waiting to hear back from more than half the programs I applied to, but since I only applied to places I could actually imagine myself going, I think funding offers will play a major role in my decision making process, more than prestige or the idea of a "dream" program. Not that there's anything wrong with doing so! But at 28 (), I'm on the upper side of the age range of applicants, and after years of working only in nonprofits, I just don't have the same kind of savings to put towards tuition that someone coming from the private sector might. The idea of being able to graduate and enter the job market with very little student debt on the other side is incredibly attractive. I remember how limited I felt in employment choices when I was carrying around undergrad student debt, and I'd love to chose my post-grad job without huge monthly loan payments being a big factor in that decision.

Yes to all the shrimps. I applied to a few schools in places that overlap with good job prospects for my partner (there aren't too many that fit that particular bill), and a few "compromise" options where one of us could get good $$ but the other couldn't. Good public sector placement was a must. And funding is probably going to be pretty much THE deciding factor for me. I mean, I want to go to an excellent school, but AmeriCorps + public sector positions = very limited savings. I'm 27, I feel strongly about public sector work, and I don't want to still be paying off student loans when I'm approaching 40. I'm really glad that I didn't jump into grad school after undergrad, but I also feel a lot of pressure for this to be THE thing that gives me the x,y,z I need to have a more focused, rewarding career.

[mapiau]

One thing that I didn't consider, and should have, when deciding where to apply is courses offered. Sure, I researched different programs' strengths and weaknesses, but in the stress of deciding where to apply and beginning my essays I didn't research deeply into schools' course lists or build potential schedules of classes I would take.

Now that I'm researching more deeply there are a few schools I applied to who offer exactly the classes that want, and others that while are in my area of interest aren't as tailored to what I want to study. Lesson learned.

[aslabchu]

39 minutes ago, mapiau said:

One thing that I didn't consider, and should have, when deciding where to apply is courses offered. Sure, I researched different programs' strengths and weaknesses, but in the stress of deciding where to apply and beginning my essays I didn't research deeply into schools' course lists or build potential schedules of classes I would take.

Now that I'm researching more deeply there are a few schools I applied to who offer exactly the classes that want, and others that while are in my area of interest aren't as tailored to what I want to study. Lesson learned.

Another thing to consider: number of classes. There are programs with lots of classes, but also some with fewer. For example, Washington Evans has 18 classes, and, say, American University has 13. If you're the type of person who wants your program to really train you (like, say, you're a liberal arts major trying to transition), the 18 classes will be better for you. But if you're just in it for the credential/pay bump, the fewer classes might just be less work.

Addendum: I'm sure this will be music to some people's ears, but beware: some of these programs are really easy. If you look at the syllabi, you'll see 20 or even 30% of the grade as "participation" and that kind of thing. Lots of softball assignments like "take a paragraph of notes on each reading assignment and turn them all in at the end of the semester" and that counts as your final project. That's probably not the kind of program you want, as you won't learn much of anything. And you'd better believe employers will catch on after a while, which could potentially devalue your MPA. I'm not naming names here, but I've seen this from at least 2 schools in the top 15-ish. They're big name schools that people love to mention on here.

So: be proactive. Check out syllabi. Make sure you're getting your money's worth, and not just a training wheels guided tour of the public affairs world. Networking is important, but so is actually being competent in your field.

Edited March 8, 2016 by aslabchu

[CakeTea]

Fit: Does programme have relevant concentrations, research clusters and profs in my specific areas of interests?

Placement: Quality of careers office. Key recruiters, functions and salary. Employment rates of graduating class

Funding: Public sector jobs don't pay much and I cannot borrow much, minimize debt burden

Accessibility of profs

Class profile: I prefer class mates with some seasoning and public sector goals

Location: Determines cost of living and housing options.

[wheretonext]

1 hour ago, mapiau said:

One thing that I didn't consider, and should have, when deciding where to apply is courses offered. Sure, I researched different programs' strengths and weaknesses, but in the stress of deciding where to apply and beginning my essays I didn't research deeply into schools' course lists or build potential schedules of classes I would take.

Now that I'm researching more deeply there are a few schools I applied to who offer exactly the classes that want, and others that while are in my area of interest aren't as tailored to what I want to study. Lesson learned.

I felt like there was a really wide range in just being able to find/access course listings. IMHO the best set up was a pdf file with the courses and brief course descriptions, while the worst set ups were the schools (and there were a lot of them) that just had a link to the registrar's website (with some incredibly unfriendly user interface). Some schools didn't even provide the link.

[jcass]

On 3/4/2016 at 0:30 PM, sp108 said:

Age of incoming students (I am 26 turning 27 in the summer and want to be surrounded by more classmates around my age for both social and networking purposes.  So I didn't apply to Georgetown, for example, as their average age was ~24 but I did apply to GW as theirs is older).

Georgetown's website says that the average age is more than 26.

https://msfs.georgetown.edu/admissions/incoming

[sp108]

3 minutes ago, jcass said:

Georgetown's website says that the average age is more than 26.

https://msfs.georgetown.edu/admissions/incoming

Ah well I meant the MPP program there through McCourt

[Mr123]

Funding, faculty/education, prestige

[Guest SIPA_MPA18]

Not in any particular order: Location, prestige, concentrations/curriculum, ability to cross-register at other schools, job placement/alumni network, real-world practical projects. 

My wife also played a huge role and helped me talk through pros and cons bc she will be alongside me making the most money during school, so her potential job market was very important - kinda going along with location. 

[happygomucky]

For me...funding as I'm dedicated to a career in public service and can't afford to take on much debt; duration as I wanted to do a 1 year course; class size/friendliness - I know I flourish in smaller more intimate environments; international focus. I'm after a flexible program so made sure there were enough interesting/useful courses on offer but didn't get too hung up on the curriculum.

International name recognition was a secondary factor, as was avoiding schools with very young, straight out of undergrad cohorts.