I have just received all responses from my applications: admitted by Sciences-Po PSIA/Columbia SIPA dual degree in MIA, Sciences-Po PSIA MIA IDev, LSE MPA IDev and Geneva Graduate Institute IHEID's MDEV.
IHEID is the only one that has offered scholarship. It asked me to answer before April 15. So, I really have to decide asap.
I will list shortly what I have heard of those schools, their advantages and disadvantages.
IHEID.
Two year in Geneva;
Size: tiny school (less than 1000) and big program (100 for Mdev);
Student profile: recently graduated young people;
Networking: Internship at IOs, faculty and similar-background colleagues;
Expense (fee+living): 0 due to the scholarship for the first year, and around $20.000 for the second year;
Internship opportunity: plenty and easy;
Advantages: 2 year of IO oriented study; location, location; guaranteed first year FREE;
Disadvantages: not well-known, seems a little bit harder to get good job immediately; has not a functioning alumni network.
PSIA-SIPA.
First year in Paris and second year in New York;
Size: 15-20 persons program inserted into huge schools and huge communities (500 to 1000);
Student profile: young people for the program, young people in Paris then mostly experienced policy-makers at SIPA;
Networking: similar-background young people at the program and at PSIA//Experienced old people at SIPA;
Expenses (fee+living): around $25.000 for the first year and $80.000 for the second;
Internship opportunities: very competitive at NYC;
Advantages: bilingual; location; big name; easy to get job; better than Sciences-Po PSIA's single degree;
Disadvantages: networking may actually be limited within the program; affordable but hard-life; someone told me that dual degree is not as solid as a single degree; unknown market reception; SIPA is too big;
LSE
Two years in London;
Size: big school and big program (100-200);
Student profile: similar to SIPA, experienced policy-makers with some young people.
Networking: within colleagues, similar to SIPA;
Expenses (fee+living): around $53.000 per year;
Internship opportunities: unknown;
Advantages: carrier-oriented MPA; big name; easy to find job;
Disadvantages: affordable but hard-life;
Previously I have ranked PSIA-SIPA>LSE>IHEID, but then IHEID's scholarship made it attractive, and rumors of dual degree being ineffective shook PSIA-SIPA's first place. I am unable to decide....
any help?