Consider Institution’s Mission When Deciding Where to Attend Graduate School

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Written by guest contributor, Ethan Flack, MA-IR Student at the Maxwell School. Ethan can be reached at eaflack@syr.edu

 

            With admissions season in full swing, schools from around the country are in the process of admitting applicants to their different graduate programs. Some prospective students will experience joy upon gaining entry to their dream school, while others will feel an utter sense of disappointment after learning that their academic and professional profile was deemed inadequate by individuals who they’d never even met.

            During this emotional time, prospective students must decide where to spend the next year(s) of their life. Each individual will evaluate financial aid packages and program structure, course offerings and faculty members’ reputations. The winning calculus that convinces someone to study at a certain school is unique for every person.

            Too often, though, a premium is placed on a program’s arbitrary ranking. Rather than seeking to understand if a school fits the individual, prospective students trust the conclusions made by industry professionals whose ranking methodology is frequently criticized. As an outsider looking in, its hard to understand that all schools, even those that are highly ranked, have their own cultures and problems.

            One must look beyond the glossy pamphlets and sleek websites that market a school and its program to identify the fundamental mission each institution attempts to accomplish. Recognizing this mission is often the first step in understanding if a school offers the student a good fit.

            A school’s mission and values frame the entirety of the education that it provides. If the school stresses public service, this ideal will play a prominent role in each course the student takes. It will course through the faculty members that mentor and guide their pupils. For these reasons, a school’s mission will also impact the culture that it engenders. Certain missions attract certain kinds of people. Individuals that align with and believe in the mission of a school will easily assimilate into the student body. Those that possess other values, however, may have a more difficult time finding individuals who share their views. While uncomfortable situations and experiences offer some learning benefits, constant discomfort will likely do a student more harm than good.

            How, though, do you understand the true mission of a school? The easiest way is to ask a diverse set of current students a variety of questions. If prompted, these students will likely give an honest evaluation of their program, highlighting both its positive and negative aspects. Through these interactions, it will become clear if the program and its culture will fit your personality, interests, and goals.

            As decision deadlines approach, don’t rely on rankings and hearsay to determine the program you will attend. Instead, do the extra work to gain an understanding of the school and place where you will spend your time and hard earned money. Contrary to what your parents, friends, and boss might say, there are no wrong decisions. Rather, there are only different ones.

When in Rome…Learn How to Solve World Hunger!

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Written by current MPA/MAIR scholar Camila Urbina Escobar 

Maxwell New MPA Student Headshots 2015-16

This past week Maxwell offered 24 of my classmates and me the unique opportunity to attend a class on Food Security in Rome. Our classroom was the heart of the UN operations to eradicate hunger: the World Food Program (WFP), the (FAO) and (IFAD) and leading our class was the woman that transformed humanitarian work on food security as we know it, Professor Catherine Bertini.

In what was truly a learning marathon, for three days we visited the headquarters of the WFP, arguably the most effective humanitarian organization in the UN system. We learned the ins-outs of their operations, hearing from experienced passionate practitioners that frankly conveyed the challenges and opportunities of a career in humanitarian aid and international management, intertwined with stories from their years of experience in the field in difficult places like Sudan, North Korea and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

It was a master class on the management of international organizations, we learned about logistics, communication, monitoring, and budgeting as well as the innovations in the WFP nutrition program and their biggest challenge yet, to eradicate hunger around the world by 2030. In the words of the current WFP director who kindly received us in her office in our last afternoon “Our goal is that in a generation we can close our eyes at night and sleep soundly knowing that no child in the world is going to bed hungry. ”

We also visited the headquarters of the FAO where we learned about the more theoretical and political side of the food security equation, in stark contrast with the WFP hands on approach. It was fascinating to hear how statistics and the creation of Indexes are helping the UN target the most food insecurity population and the places in the world most at risk of famines and droughts. We learned about the international food safety codex that creates coherent food standards around the world and the organizations take on the controversial GMOs. We were received at IFAD as well, a little-know international financial organization in the UN system, that provides micro financing and support to government to aid the development of smallholder farmers and vulnerable communities around the world so they can grow their own food and participate in markets to break the cycle of poverty. We learned first hand the global efforts to eradicate world hunger and attain a sustainable global food production that with allow us to feed the currently one billion people that go hungry everyday.

Rome provide a dreamy backdrop for our class, centuries of history surrounded us in the eternal city. Even though our free time was limited, we went sightseeing, visiting the coliseum, the pantheon, making wishes at the Trevi fountain and receiving a blessing from Pope Francis. We drank many espressos, ate creamy gelato, and heaps of fresh delicious pasta and celebrated dancing away our last night in Rome!

This was a once in a lifetime opportunity not only to prepare those of us wishing to initiate careers in international relations but to give us a chance to understand that solving the worlds most daunting problems is in the hands of passionate, innovative professionals and Maxwell will give the opportunities to cultivate our talents to prepare for this challenges.

Negotiating with the Chancellor

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This blog is written by guest blogger and MPA student Philip Lloyd Paige. Pataki (3)

 

I recently asked friends at other universities if they had ever personally met, and/or spent time with their university president/chancellor; the answer was a resounding “no.”

Last month students in my Public Organization and Management course had an incredibly unique opportunity to spend an entire day with Syracuse University Chancellor Kent Syverud. Chancellor Syverud was kind enough to condense his negotiation class into an eight-hour intensive session, which afforded 68 students immeasurably valuable and applicable skills.

Four students were nominated by their professors to serve as “facilitators” (Professor Mergel kindly nominated me), which entailed assisting Chancellor Syverud with administrative tasks throughout the day. On top of serving as a facilitator, I was randomly selected to publicly negotiate during the final exercise – lucky me, eh?

The suggestions and nuances of negotiation the chancellor provided and exposed are too numerous to list, but by the end of the day (at which point I was in the hot seat negotiating in front of my insanely accomplished peers, professors, and the chancellor himself) my teammate (Eric Horvath) and I were employing them, and apparently with great efficacy. My negotiation team walked away with a deal far better than we expected (though we didn’t let on our perceived weak hand), and the class gave us feedback that we had outperformed the other groups in the simulation.

The tools I found most effective were the “tell me more” questions, which help you overcome the information deficit inherent in a negotiation (the other side does not necessarily want you to know everything). By asking “tell me more” questions we were able to draw out information that gave us a more informed impression of what type of offer would be expected.

Another tool I learned was the importance of repeating back to the other teams what it is I thought I was hearing, for example I would say something to the effect of “my understanding is you want ____, is that correct?” Every response is an opportunity to examine body language, tone, inflection, and other tricks that might give you an indication of where those on the other side of the table are headed and what they really think.

I am very grateful to PAIA Department Chair David Van Slyke for organizing this event. I can speak for the 68 students there and say that Chancellor Syverud did us a great service and honor by spending the day with us, and teaching us some of the skills that have helped him throughout his distinguished career.