<p>I'm an international student with no work experience who was accepted to these three MPP programs. As for funding, I was offered 17K (half tuition) at Harris, 20K + 4.5K research assistantship at GPPI, and nothing at Berkeley (but I'm told there are a lot of TAships that will be available that will cut tuition in half for out-of-staters, plus offer stipend.)</p>
<p>I'm leaning toward one of these schools for personal reasons. I want to study immigration, labor, employment and welfare policy. Given the funding scenario, what would you choose? Which option would be most likely to get me a think tank or public sector consulting job that would allow me to stay in the US?</p>
<p>Even though I'm partial to UofC (I went there and my D graduates from there in June :) ), I think you will have better networking opportunities at Georgetown, due to its DC location. But you should have a frank discussion with the Harris folks first.</p>
<p>UofC has a better overall academic reputation, but that may not apply to Harris. I don't know.</p>
<p>Hmmm. I'm getting mixed opinions. It's really hard for me to know, being international, how these programs are regarded, aside from rankings, which everyone tells me are crap (Berkeley ranked #1, Chicago ranked #7 and GTown ranked #10 for policy analysis in USNews). Most people in social policy seem to recognize Harris and GSPP as very rigorous, and Georgetown less so, but for federal government Georgetown seems to be tops... but as an international I can't work for the feds. </p>
<p>Any other opinions? Thanks!</p>
<p>you can't work for the feds initially, but there are tons of NGOs, as well as contractors to the feds, involved in this space in the DC area. You don't need to be a citizen to work for them, and some might sponsor you in getting a green card if they like you?</p>
<p>That is true, and something to consider. Being in DC is a huge plus... Such a difficult decision :-/</p>