I'm starting the tedious planning process for weeding out grad schools. I plan to attend within three years (I love my job and I don't want to leave just yet plus you can never start too early).

WHAT IS IMPORTANT TO YOU/IN YOUR OPINION when looking at schools?

Cost (not being in a lot of debt vs. the best quality education)?

Prestige? (assuming the program is good at each institution, overall university prestige a big factor?)

Location (urban vs. suburban; cost of living)?

I have a few in mind and all are great for different reasons. (If you would like to take a stab at ranking my schools I've narrowed down to --with real reasons-- I'm not opposed to posting them)

2/10/2006 6:38:55 PM

cost depends on the program.

Sciences -- if you do a MS or pretty much all PhD's you really should be getting paid for it either through a TA or RA position.

I think the biggest thing is program fit (which would include getting an RA/TA position), then looking at prestige, then location.

2/10/2006 6:42:51 PM

right, should mention its for a master, not phd -- so i'll be paying for this one (or a fellowship/grant will be)


[Edited on February 10, 2006 at 6:47 PM. Reason : *]

2/10/2006 6:44:04 PM

MS -- master of science.

2/10/2006 6:45:06 PM

Actually she wouldbe getting a professional degree. Not Master of Science.

^^^agree. ^^what field?

NOt that rankings mean everything but it's a good start.

FYI: From US NEWS & wolrd report.
Public Affairs Specialties: Public Policy Analysis
Ranked in 2004*

1. University of California–Berkeley
2. Harvard University (MA)
3. University of Michigan–Ann Arbor
4. Carnegie Mellon University (PA)
5. Duke University (NC)
6. Syracuse University (NY)
7. University of Chicago
8. Princeton University (NJ)
9. University of Texas–Austin
10. Georgetown University (DC)
11. University of Wisconsin–Madison
12. University of California–Los Angeles
13. University of Maryland–College Park
14. University of North Carolina–Chapel Hill
15. Indiana University–Bloomington
16. George Washington University (DC)
17. New York University
18. University of Georgia
University of Southern California
20. University of Minnesota–Twin Cities
21. Georgia State University
Johns Hopkins University (MD)
23. American University (DC)
University of Washington
25. Arizona State University
SUNY–Albany
University of Pittsburgh
28. Columbia University (NY)
Cornell University (NY)
30. George Mason University (VA)
Georgia Institute of Technology
Ohio State University
33. University of Pennsylvania


[Edited on February 10, 2006 at 6:48 PM. Reason : .]

[Edited on February 10, 2006 at 6:49 PM. Reason : .]

[Edited on February 10, 2006 at 6:50 PM. Reason : .]

2/10/2006 6:45:09 PM

^^ i know

MPA/MPP (prof. degree)

2/10/2006 6:47:56 PM

you should find a way to get grad school paid for you

i think presitge means more to grad school than undergraduate
so whatever amount prestige mattered to you - double it
see my first answer for relation to cost of living - and really that should be the least of your concerns, since grad school is shorter (2-3 years)

shouldn't you worry more about how good the program itself is?
how much its going to prepare you for the next phase of your career

for me
uconn is now the only program i've applied to

app state had a lot going for it, but it lacked a level of prestige, and i thought the program might not have been exactly what i want
florida, while it has the best location and really really good university prestige, the program isn't what i want
uconn has basically the best program for my person needs, will be free, and will have great assistanships
but its gonna be <50 degrees 9 months out of the year....fucking location, plus its new england so cost of living is gonna be higher

of course, i'm gonna be hella depressed if i don't get into uconn

2/10/2006 6:49:54 PM

Cost (not being in a lot of debt vs. the best quality education)?
Better education with debt is better than a worse education without debt.

Prestige? (assuming the program is good at each institution, overall university prestige a big factor?)
Prestige will be important in getting the kind of job you want.

Location (urban vs. suburban; cost of living)?
I prefer cities, but I'd only let this be a factor if everything else was tied. This is the least important of the 3 things you mentioned.

All that said the stress factor might come into play. I'd rather get a quality education that I can enjoy, rather than a great education that had me burned out for several years.

I'm still waiting on info back on all the grad schools I applied to, so I still have alot of these factors to weigh.

2/10/2006 6:50:12 PM

^good luck

i go to uconn for my interviews next month

i'll be up against at least 60 people for one of sixteen slots

i want to get in so bad

2/10/2006 6:54:08 PM

Maybe for your degree being located inside the Capital Beltway might offer some advantage.
I would check out Georgetown and U.Maryland.

UMD is a public school so the tution is not too bad. The cost of living is pretty high here and there are no graduate dorms. That being said, you can find good housing that's not too expensive and safe.

oh yea, also American, George Washington. John Hopkins is only 30min away.

[Edited on February 10, 2006 at 7:00 PM. Reason : .]

2/10/2006 6:57:13 PM

here's my current thought process if you care to read:

George Washington --because it's super close, but kinda expensive, as you can see good program
Georgetown --because it's prestigious, expensive, close
Duke --good school, expensive but i have to move and live in Durham, hardest to get into
William and Mary --in-state tuition, respectable school, live in williamsburg, low cost of living
American --good school, more of a backup school
George Mason --in-state tuition, decent program, not as close as could be
UVA --program isnt' really what i'm looking f0r, good school, in-state tuition
Carolina and State: naturally in the running but i wouldnt get in-state tuition so why move? I think I'm tainted into more prestige-- though i hate carolina and chapel hill. I'd rather be in Charlottesville. NCSU is in the running because I love the PS/PA dept at state.

Overall for what I need to do location, program and cost is factor. I'm not going to be making bank when I get out.


[Edited on February 10, 2006 at 7:02 PM. Reason : ^ I don't live in MD so it's not in the running. I'd rather go to NCSU for out of state school]]

2/10/2006 6:59:36 PM

i picked which grad schools to apply to based on location (not so much urban v. suburban, but climate -- i chose warm weather options because cold weather depresses me)

i applied to 3 schools and chose the most prestigious one through a combination of prestige and the advisor i would be working for (i wouldn't have selected it on prestige alone, my advisor really sealed the deal and after meeting her it would have been tough to turn down the opportunity to get a degree from this institution)

i'm in a phd program in the sciences though, so i'm not sure how applicable my situation is to yours -- money wasn't a factor (i was on a national fellowship and am currently on an internal one, and i always have teaching and research assistantships as an option)

2/10/2006 7:07:52 PM

I went for 4 grad schools (thats the number you can get your gre scores sent to for free, and its a fairly common number I've heard).

Applied to one really top level school for philosophy-princeton, one good out of state school-uva, one good instate school-unc chapel hill, and a back up school-osu.

2/10/2006 7:20:56 PM

Location is a big factor if you're going to be in grad school for a long time (like a Phd). I should have applied to schools out in the West when I began instead of following the path I did.

The general prestige of the school doesn't matter so much as the particular department you want a degree from. Find a school with smart grad students and interesting professors that are respected by their peers at other universities. This is the best combination.

2/10/2006 8:00:19 PM

bttt

2/13/2006 9:58:40 PM

Get all promises of funding in writing.

2/13/2006 10:12:11 PM

Quote :

"Get all promises of funding in writing."

BEST ADVICE GIVEN TODAY

I was promised funding verbally and then got shit on.

Luckily, after all that bullshit, the University of Miami accepted me and I was funded 100% with a fulltime livable salary. They were also the most prestigious in my field.

Prestige is VERY important. However, you can't do jack without funding.

2/14/2006 12:04:57 AM

Quote :

"The general prestige of the school doesn't matter so much as the particular department you want a degree from. Find a school with smart grad students and interesting professors that are respected by their peers at other universities. This is the best combination."

Additionally, it is best if you know what you plan to research in gradschool. Optimally you'd like to find a professor who is approachable and working on that research are actively (check online for papers pay close attention to the dates). There are research schools that look very attractive on paper, but often those rankings are based on impressions of professors in part. A school can coast on it's historical image for a good decade before it becomes widely known that they're not so good anymore. For a pHd your advisor is key, that's why I'm here at NCSU, I know I couldn't do better anywhere else.

All of the above is really advice for a research pHd in math or science of some sort. For a masters degree I'd worry more about $$ and location since, no offense, it's just a masters degree.

2/14/2006 12:17:21 AM

I made my decision under some extra circumstances - I didn't decide to go to Business School for my MBA until December of the year my Navy commitment was up. That put me taking the GMAT in Feb and getting in late round applications. I applied to close to a dozen schools - only rejection was from LBS b/c they had filled their overseas slots by that time. Waitlisted at Duke and UNC as both had taken almost all of their candidates early due to low numbers of applications. The choice eventually came down to Emory, Maryland, Wake, and Notre Dame. Notre Dame offered me a fellowship right off my GMAT scores. So how did I make my decision?

Cost - I got 50% tuition from Emory, which I then leveraged to a similar offer from Wake. Notre Dame was full tuition, but no stipend. Maryland offerend me a small scholarship on top of in state tuition rates, but at the cost of having to be in a work/study program for about 16 hrs a week. I realized that in order to make money, you have to spend money, so I didn't let the cash cloud my decision too mcuh.

Prestige - All were good schools, but all were also somewhat local schools (i.e. most people from Maryland stayed around the mid-Atlantic). Emory had moved up from unranked to #22 in Business Week over the last 3 rankings (6 years). Wake was stagnant in the rankings, as was UMD. Emory has a bit of prestige for B-School...really strong in the SE and growing in places like NYC, Boston, and Chicago - they place about a third of grads in the big cities.

Location - Atlanta has by far the best location as far as being in a big business city. Living in San Diego, I really didn't care for any of the locations.

I decided on Emory for a lot of reasons. Decent money, good business connections, rising in the ranks (we're now a Top 20 school, which makes a lot more companies come to us to recruit), and small class size (~150 people per full-time 2-year class). I couldn't be happier with my decision. The people here are great, the professors are awesome on the whole. I got a good internship and now have people like IBM coming after me instead of me going to them for full time jobs. The small class size is really a selling point for the school in my mind. It makes group projects and class discussion so much better when everyone knows everyone by their first name. They really push leadership, which coming from the Navy isn't a big deal for me, but is great for others - we're #1 in the country for leadership programs.

2/14/2006 12:34:38 AM

make sure you talk to students currently in the program to see how satisfied they are with it and to make sure that people make it out! make sure there are professors that you will have interests in common with and will be able to work with (meaning make sure you click with them).

2/14/2006 9:18:49 AM

I would also suggest going to a place where someone you admire/like/want to work with, teaches. I decided on OSU for law school and we have three amazing Criminal Law professors. The law school is strong in some areas but not in others. I would definitely focus on the specific thing that you want to do and go to the place that will have great professors. They are the ones who will be writing on your behalf to employers.

2/14/2006 11:33:15 AM

I just got into the Univ. of Tennessee. The prestige wasn't a huge factor, and neither was cost (since they gave me an assistantship). I just felt like I wanted to be there. I loved the faculty, the city, and the way their program was arranged.

I think once you visit a school, you'll be able to tell if you're going to fit in there, like your faculty, ect.

So I guess they all factored in equally, it just came down to what felt right.

2/14/2006 11:58:35 AM

for me its actually the faculty. in my field, you need good faculty reccomendations coming out of grad school to get a job.

2/14/2006 11:59:57 AM

Faculty, cost, prestige. If it's any kind of science you should be getting at least a tuition waiver.

It was all about ROI for me. It rediculous to drop crazy money on a general master's program. It's getting to the point that masters degrees are a dime a dozen. I really doubt that it matters where you go as long as you go to at least a mid-tier program. The faculty, and the advisor, are the most important things to consider, IMO.

Network like a mofo from day one. That's the biggest single determinant of getting a job that I know of.

2/14/2006 1:27:05 PM