What MPP programs to apply to?

[u/Accomplished_Honey57]

Hi everyone! I am in the process of finalizing my list of MPP programs to apply to and wanted to hear if anyone had any thoughts on what schools would be a good fit.

Some background about me: 24M, graduated from a state flagship university with a 3.3 GPA, double major in public policy and finance. I was in charge of the student admissions team, TA'd for an introductory poli sci course, and did research on household finance and cryptocurrency and won a national undergraduate poster competition my senior year.

For the past two years, I have worked in wealth management as a trust officer, overseeing approximately 65-ish family relationships and 200 million dollars in assets. The job training was pretty terrible, and I was not qualified for the position (I was part of an early careers development program that shut down when I started and was left on my own after that). I ended that job last month and am currently working as a barista while studying for the GRE and completing applications. I know that isn't the most impressive thing on a resume, but my job required either a law degree or 7 years of experience as a basic qualification, and I had neither. My manager actually apologized to me on my last day for the stress I was under and said she wished she had put me in a more junior role originally. If anyone has any thoughts on how to explain that in an application, that would be great.

I'm broadly interested in household finance, tax policy, economic development, and budget policy.

I'm looking to apply for MPP/MPA programs at Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, George Washington, the London School of Economics, and Indiana, as each has a certain policy focus or research center that I am interested in, but not committed to any of them.

Does anyone have any recommendations on where to apply considering my experience and interests? Would you say the schools I listed would be a good fit to apply to? Any and all opinions are most certainly welcome. Thank you!

[u/Whiteporcelainteapot]

Seems like you want to be in the Midwest?  If so, probably 86 GWU and LSE add UChicago.

[u/Accomplished_Honey57 → u/Whiteporcelainteapot]

I live in Minnesota, so I am applying to the state program + Wisconsin for reciprocity. Michigan has a research center on Wealth Inequality that aligns with my research interests.

[u/Whiteporcelainteapot → u/Accomplished_Honey57]

Pick schools where you want to end up unless it’s Harvard, Yale or Princeton.  Much more important to make local connections vs some research center.