Ford School Alumni and Current Students

Look out for falling ice from the roof.  Or maybe they fixed that.

There ends my Ford School related advice.

Given that there is a small little public policy, um, event, that just went down in D.C., I wonder if most of the Ford School MGoBloggers are somewhere other than here right now.

I graduated from the undergrad program two years ago, so I don't really know what to tell a big bad MPP like yourself.  Just enjoy the beautiful building, the fantastic speakers that they host, and never forget about the gate in the stairwell (you will know what I mean soon enough).  

I'll be starting the undergrad program in the fall, so any advice for me would also be appreciated!

Class of '93, though. I don't know how much the curriculum has changed since then, and I'd imagine that most of the profs I had are retired. I found a lot of the classes very useful, especially benefit-cost analysis and program evaluation. It sounds like you're in the right program given your interests.

I'm an MPP alum from many years ago. I loved it, but I can give you a little advice from being in the policy world.

1. They put far too much emphasis on the importance of quantitative methods compared to their use in the policy world. Especially if you are going no further than an MPP, it is far more important to learn to network and to reason and write well. 

2.  You'll be well served to try to write in a policy, versus an academic style. This means stating your conclusion at the very beginning of a piece and getting your point across clearly using an economy of words. This contrasts with saving the payoff for the end and using a lot of George F. Will words, as academic journals often do.

3. ???

4. Profit!

I have heard their career services are absolutely amazing, they really invest in that.  They will hook you up if you stay active with them, especially for the MPPs.

I have several friends with MPP's from that program and all of them have good jobs, some of them have very good jobs in DC. Great choice.

Study in the reading room! You'll get a great view of state street, and it's rather quiet compared to other study spots on Central (e.g., the Ugli).

I'm an MPP and loved my time at Weill Hall. My best advice is to get engaged early in the FSPP community. Connect with career services and really get to know the staff there--the strength of those relationships is a huge determinant of the quality of service that you can expect from them. Don't worry if you're not the first person to line up a summer internship because Michigan's summer break starts crazy early so many students wait up until finals week to learn which one(s) of their internship prospects will make an offer. Learn to book study areas using the online scheduling system to be sure that you'll have a quality place for your study groups to meet. I started and finished the Ford School with very different policy interests, so don't be surprised if your tastes evolve over the next two years. If you're interested in sustainable development, look into the Real Estate Development grad certificate--I was able to complete this in addition to the MPP over the standard two-year time period. You might also consider a dual-degree with SNRE--it seems like everybody at the Ford School is going for dual degrees these days. It's very easy to get accepted into another UofM grad program for a dual degree after you start at the Ford School.

Don't be scared off by the quant nature of the courses. I'm currently a budget manager at a large research university, largely as a result of the strength of the economic analysis curriculum at the Ford School. I've since completed a second grad degree in Finance while working and will start a PhD program in Finance in September at a Pac 12 school. I wouldn't have had any of these opportunities without my time at the Ford School.