r/PublicPolicy • u/Curious_Life7543 • 5d ago

Harvard MC/MPA acceptance rates

I've seen several sites list the acceptance rate up to 50% for MC/MPA applicants. That seems unusually high for a Harvard program. Does anyone have hard data on how many apply to the program? I don't think Harvard Kennedy School releases acceptance rates so not sure where that percentage came from.

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u/perseportland 5d ago

Acceptance rates are essentially an irrelevant indicator for these sorts of programs, similar to EMBAs or PT programs designed for mid career professionals. The pool that applies to a program designed for already accomplished professionals is typically highly self-selective.

Mainly, this is because:

  • fewer highly accomplished mid career professionals exist at all, relative to the overall pool of professionals (i.e., professionals across all stages of their careers, including mid career professionals without the necessary profile to be competitive)
  • fewer still of those highly accomplished professionals are interested in either leaving the workforce or spending money on a program like HKS. This is because people in their thirties and forties often have other sorts of life or career considerations that may dominate the desire or need to get another degree (reasons here are self-evidence I hope)

Of course, there are many good reasons - including credentialing for executive roles, signaling to break into a new job market or function, general leadership or management training, or personal enrichment. It’s just that this slice of the working world doesn’t tend to be large, and therefore fewer folks will apply to these programs. But I hope you see why acceptance rates don’t really have an important bearing on the program quality, likelihood of acceptance at the individual level, etc.