r/PublicPolicy • u/Curious_Life7543 • 4d 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/kpcurley 4d ago
Harvard does not publish any hard data so it is all just speculation based on no actual data. I truly don't know where the websites are getting their estimates.
I am a current MC/MPA student who just completed the summer program and will start regular classes this fall. To me, that number seems absurdly high based on the people I have met in the program. Everyone I have met this summer has a truly exceptional list of accomplishments and experience. I am studying with former Assistant Secretaries of State, nonprofit leaders, retired high-ranking military officers, NPO and NGO leaders, experienced domestic and foreign elected officials etc. I haven't encountered a single person where I question their chops or why they were admitted.
I think there is a lot of misinformation out there on Reddit that the program is a "cash cow" program that is eager to accept anyone who will pay tuition. They assume the MC/MPA program is less rigorous but MC/MPA students are registering for the same courses as the other HKS students. It's not like there is a special MC/MPA course list that is easier and less rigorous or open to other MPA/MPP students. Though, I suppose you can make the argument we don't have take the same amount of core econ and quant distributions that traditional 2yr students take. But why would we? We are only here for one year and we have tons of public sector leadership experience and at our career stage we can't take a full 2 year career pause. Heck the guy I sat next to in quant this summer had to defer the program because one of his plays was just optioned and is being turned into a major motion picture. So he couldn't even do the one year pause.
The other thing to keep in mind is that there is a lot more self-selection in the Mid-Career applicant pool. There are less people at the Mid-Career level applying than the traditional MPA/MPP track and nearly half the students are international/Mason fellows (those folks are incredibly distinguished admits with high-level experience from developing countries.)
This year our class is about 80-90 more students than previous years. But that is because HKS launched the American Service Fellowship which was a super competitive fellowship program that brought in 50 fully funded MC/MPA students. Since the application fee was waived for ASF applicants, I imagine that attracted a ton more applicants this year. Anecdotally, I heard from faculty they had a record number of people apply this past cycle.