jw495

Hi there! I had this exact same choice a year ago (AU international media vs. SU public diplomacy). I chose the SUPD program, and haven't regretted it even for a second. Here is what convinced me: -cost: even if their financial aid offers are the same, the cost of living in Syracuse is significantly less; also, there are dozens of on-campus opportunities to get money once you arrive in Syracuse in the form of teaching/research assistant positions -internships: you get two at SU for the one at AU, and SU's are built into the semester whereas AU has you do a "practicum" in the summer on your own time. So with SU, you won't have to chose whether to do a DC internship or one abroad, because you can just do both. Plus, the DC internship is the final semester, which sets you up perfectly to find a job there after graduation. -the size of the program: emails at SU get a response within a day, whereas it took me weeks to get responses from American, and even those weren't necessarily helpful. You will get to know the staff at SU (all 10 of them or so) within the first weeks you are here, and they'll do backflips to help you if you have a question. There's no way that AU, with over 300 students, can compete with SU on this. Public diplomacy specifically has even more of an advantage here, because there are usually fewer than 15 students total... you really stand out on campus. And to address your concern, Syracuse's 58 credits are very manageable, so think of it more like you're getting better value for your money -- you will get to take more classes at SU. And you will not have a problem as an international student with English! There's a ton of international students, and they all do just fine. Basically, the only real PLUS I saw for AU was the DC location. And you'll get that in SU's public diplomacy program anyway. But I suppose I'm a little biased. Good luck with your decision, and most importantly, congratulations! You won't go wrong with either choice.