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<p>This is not really what graduate school, particularly any of the three programs you are considering, is intended to do. The best way to explore career options and understand what type of path you want to follow is to actually work in one or more of them for a few years, discover what you like and don’t like, and use your spare time to read career guides and do informational interviews with people who are working in positions you think you want. </p>
<p>Consider this as well. GWU’s program is $1515 per credit hour; the MPP is 40 hours. That means the total cost is $61,000. That’s not including fees and living expenses. Unless you already live in DC, you’ll have to borrow for those; living expenses for a 2-year program will probably be about $40,000 if you live VERY frugally. MPP programs are rarely funded so you are likely to have to borrow all of this money yourself. That’s $100,000 for an MPP. Although GWU’s program is well-reputed, what kind of public service job do you anticipate getting that will allow you to repay $100K+ in debt? American’s program is very similar in cost ($56,000 for tuition + housing/living in DC).</p>
<p>The TAM program appears to be far cheaper, at $20,000 ($25,000 for the dual-degree option) + living expenses. Total cost of the program is likely to be around $60,000, which is far more manageable. All three of these programs admit that most students finance the majority of the costs through loans.</p>
<p>However, you also say that you want to go to law school. Law school is going to cost you at least $150,000, also financed primarily through loans. But if you add on $100K of debt from the GWU or American programs, that’s $250,000+ of debt that you’ll have. That is life-crushing amounts of debt.</p>
<p>But, with that said, here are some answers to your questions. Caveat is that public policy is not my field.</p>
<p>I don’t know if my lack of work experience will be a hindrance to me in public policy school and after graduation or will this not be a big problem?</p>
<p>If they admitted you, then they probably don’t think it’ll be a huge problem in school. I think that students with work experience do have an advantage in bringing in that outside knowledge, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that your grades or opportunities in school will suffer. Basically there’s no way to know this up front. As for jobs, well, you will be at a disadvantage when compared to your peers who have work experience. MPPs tend to get managerial or administrative positions, but employers like to hire people in those positions who have some work experience.</p>
<p>I feel like UNC academic wise would be better and studying abroad in Germany would be a once in a lifetime opportunity but would these out weigh the benefits in terms of networking and interning from going to school in D.C?</p>
<p>Studying abroad in Germany through this program is not a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. You could do a Fulbright. You could become a foreign service officer. You could work in consular affairs. You could learn German and become a consultant there. One of the fallacies that every college student thinks (me included, so don’t feel bad) is that the only way to do certain things is to do them through college. Not so. You can travel and work internationally outside of the confines of a graduate program, and without paying someone else $60,000 for the pleasure.</p>
<p>With that said, I don’t know - it really depends on a lot of things. UNC’s website has more information about what their graduates do after graduating than American or GWU, and they are impressive things. You may be so stoked by being in Germany that you take more advantage of the opportunity. Maybe you learn to speak German conversationally. Maybe UNC has better intern placement and career services than American or GWU. Or the other way around, really.</p>
<p>One thing to note, though, is that the American and GWU programs are focused more broadly on public policy while the UNC degree is in political science with a focus on European governance. Those are different fields.</p>
<p>Would a M.P.P from a German university be viewed the same as a U.S M.P.P here in the states?</p>
<p>No.</p>
<p>If I were you and I was choosing and absolutely wanted to do one of these schools next year, I’d go for the UNC program. Honestly it looks a whole lot cooler, and you said that you wanted to do the program to explore areas and decide what you want to do. The UNC program looks more academic in nature - you have a lot more choice and flexibility about what you can take and study - and seems to be geared more towards that. I’d much rather want to spend one year in Chapel Hill and one year in Germany if that were my goal. Moreover, it’s far cheaper than the other two programs, and you are eligible for more external scholarships - like the FLAS, Fulbright, and Boren (and perhaps the Pickering) - that could potentially fund your second year.</p>