I was accepted to all for their master’s in public administration. They all offered funding but none of them offered me a full ride. But in order of unmet need it’s Penn ($48k), Syracuse ($33k), then University of Colorado - Denver ($24k). On U.S. News and World Report’s public affairs rankings, Syracuse is the #1 school, CU Denver is #25 and Penn (despite being an Ivy) is #50. Penn’s Fels Institute has been going through some challenges in the past few years. I’m a Pennsylvania native and went to Temple for undergrad.
I honestly wasn’t expecting to get into Penn and wasn’t sure if I’d get into Syracuse. CU Denver was actually my 1st choice. The program is really good. I think Denver seems like an amazing place to live/study/work. I’ve always been a big city girl. I’m interested in working in local government and would hate to work in a super small city like Harrisburg year round. I loved that Denver is both Colorado’s biggest city and state capital, so it’s a great hub for local and state government jobs.
Still, I’ve never actually lived in Denver before. A lot of people are telling me I’m overestimating how great it is. If I don’t like Denver as much as I anticipated and want to move back to the East Coast, I’m afraid that CU Denver degree’s value would be less understood. Even though CU Denver’s program has a higher ranking than Penn, I feel like the average person doesn’t know. When I was telling people, everyone’s response was, “Why would you want to go to Colorado? What is out there?” But I’m trying to think about what will be the most valuable for me long term over the course of my career. Choosing CU Denver means choosing another state school and I feel like I’d be an idiot to choose it over the #1 program or an Ivy League school.
I am interested in Syracuse above Penn because I already went to school on an urban campus in Philly. I would like to experience a traditional campus and living in Syracuse would be cheaper than staying in Philly or Denver. But again, I’ve faced with the dilemma. Syracuse’s program is ranked above Penn for public affairs. But outside of program rankings, Penn is ranked far above Syracuse in national rankings. How much do these rankings even matter in the real world?
I feel that in government and politics, school name matters more than other fields but over time, it may be less important.