Help me decide between Heinz and Sanford

[MidByMidwest]

I am stuck right in the middle between these two. I got into the Heinz DC Track with 75% tuition fellowship and into Sanford with 50% tuition fellowship. I cannot for the life of me decide between these two programs. I attended both of the open houses and I will say that I prefer Duke (think intangibles). I also think I would enjoy living in Durham more than Pittsburgh (even if it's only the first year in Pittsburgh). However I would be paying about twice as much for my education at Duke as compared to Carnegie-Mellon. Whether or not this is accurate, I have it in my head that Duke is the "better" program. Can any shed some light on this? My career aspirations are working in the Foreign Service or with offices such as OMB or GAO. Like everyone else I would also be open to consulting. Is Duke worth twice as much? Am I judging Heinz too negatively? Any insight would be appreciated. 

[RCtheSS]

Speaking as someone who is prepared to turn down a fully covered tuition package for less-funded program, only you can decide for yourself whether a program will be worth it to you in sum. 

Both CMU and Duke are great universities that should provide you the skills and resources to reach your career goals. You've done your diligence by attending both open houses, speaking with students, faculty and staff, and exploring the campus/city areas. At this point, I would go with your gut decision. I attended 4 open houses within one week, and each one was very helpful in learning more about the programs than I had known from researching their websites. Some schools had moved from my bottom choices up to the top because of how impressed I was by the curricula, campus resources and faculty. However, I kept hearing a little voice in my head during each open house session that would refer back to my top choice... and that's the decision I'll be going with!

Don't discount your internal notions. If Duke (and Durham) has a better overall fit for you, then it is worth it to you.

[chocolatecheesecake]

5 hours ago, MidByMidwest said:

I am stuck right in the middle between these two. I got into the Heinz DC Track with 75% tuition fellowship and into Sanford with 50% tuition fellowship. I cannot for the life of me decide between these two programs. I attended both of the open houses and I will say that I prefer Duke (think intangibles). I also think I would enjoy living in Durham more than Pittsburgh (even if it's only the first year in Pittsburgh). However I would be paying about twice as much for my education at Duke as compared to Carnegie-Mellon. Whether or not this is accurate, I have it in my head that Duke is the "better" program. Can any shed some light on this? My career aspirations are working in the Foreign Service or with offices such as OMB or GAO. Like everyone else I would also be open to consulting. Is Duke worth twice as much? Am I judging Heinz too negatively? Any insight would be appreciated. 

I think Heinz is probably a great program, but I don't know much about it. I can tell you that you would probably be paying a little less in terms of cost of living in Durham, and I can assure you you'll probably be able to get the OMB/GAO sort of position you're looking for if you come to Duke.

Every year, we have two to four interns at GAO, who generally also are extended full-time offers in their second year too. We have a really good DC alumni network, and I know three or four friends who are now at GAO and one who is heading to OMB. We also have two alums that I met this past year in OMB, and got interviews there for summer internships through that connection. I will say of the people I meet who intern or work at GAO or OMB, not all of them decide they want to return for the summer. =) Oh, and we send about 20% of our class to federal consulting firms (Booz Allen, Deloitte, etc.) Whether this is good or bad I cannot tell you, but I can assure you the possibility is very strong. This is mainly due to a huge alum presence at the federal consulting firms, and they do several recruiting events at Sanford over the year, hire 4-5 summer interns, and extend them full-time offers as well as offers to some other folk. Hope that helps. 

[aet7s]

I would suggest doing the DC track if you go with CMU.

Of my cohort of about 20 people, around half accepted jobs with the federal government: GAO, DOJ, Peace Corps, CFPB, HUD, CNCS and one got PMF. In prior years people have accepted offers at OMB, FDA, LMI, and State as well. Other places people went to work in my cohort: IBM Watson, the Arnold Foundation, Maximus, on the Hill, Booz Allen and Deloitte (both on the consulting side). Consulting is definitely an option; Deloitte recruits very heavily from CMU, and there are at least two apprenticeship spots reserved for DC students every year. In short - the alumni network in DC is incredibly strong for what you want to do.  

Pittsburgh is actually pretty fun, minus the winter - it got really, really cold. I took some time for me to warm up to Pittsburgh (literally and figuratively), but I found that I enjoyed going to Phipps Conservatory, museums, kayaking, walking in some of the numerous parks and exploring many of the old Polish and German neighborhoods - there's some mean kielbasa and pierogies to be had at places like S&D Deli in the Strip District. My classmates were awesome too, which helped - especially in terms of the moral support needed for those late nights  of getting through Management Science (aka operations research) homework. In general, the people were surprisingly friendly compared to anywhere else I have lived.

A few downsides:  
- the main grocery chain is Giant Eagle...not exactly the greatest
- avoid yellow cab at all costs (see yelp as to why)

In terms of cost, Pittsburgh is definitely the cheapest place I have lived - you can get away with sub $500 monthly rent. DC on the hand is more expensive, but you can generally find something cheaper, if you are willing to live in an older building or not in the trendiest part of town. 

If I had the choice, I would definitely do my program again.