CFBrown

I visited USC last year. LOVE the campus, staff and student atmosphere. I was accepted, but they offer little to no funding. I can't speak to NYU because I never really considered them. Meanwhile, Columbia's program wasn't terribly interesting to me because of the strict curriculum.

You really are in a tough spot...but an enviable one. Ordinarily, I'd say honesty is the best policy, but in your case that may work to your disadvantage. If you really want and need to work at this job until you go off to graduate school I would provide the two weeks notice. However, instead of saying you're going to graduate school, tell them you've accepted another offer of employment (this is where your storytelling skills would come into play). Telling them you were already set on going to graduate school will likely make them upset with you since they probably would've never hired you in the first place had they known your plans. Take this from someone who tried to get full-time professional work, but foolishly mentioned the potential departure for graduate school in his interviews....

The cons you have listed for School A are the typical cons that come with uprooting your life to move somewhere new - not unusual for grad students. However, the way you have things listed, it does seem like you'd be happier there. Perhaps you should check with your parents or relatives if they can assist you with making the move. Overall, the main question you have to answer for yourself is whether you want prestige (School A) or convenience (School , and which matters more in your field.

Your situation is not uncommon as international students are typically responsible for their own funding. Usually this funding is obtained through offers or services from your homeland in the form of scholarships or loans. You might want to check into what your country offers for funding graduate studies abroad. Also, check out the "The Bank" forum http://forum.thegradcafe.com/forum/17-the-bank/

These seem like questions that would be better answered by visiting these schools. Also, you maybe should be concerned if you're not finding many details regarding a school's courses.

Guess you know to catch it next year!

Point well taken guys... This was embarrassing to ask from the start. Any chance we could lock this thread?

I'm not trying to be offensive or anything, but I'm curious to know what's been your experience with international students as roommates? I could potentially be sharing a place with a student from China and I've heard mixed messages regarding their...residential upkeep tendencies... Should I be concerned?

If you get accepted into school C and that's where your heart is, then it won't matter what the other schools think of you if/when you withdraw your acceptance offer. There are questions you should probably ask yourself though: 1) How much funding are you being offered at school A? 2) Does it make you feel a negative way that you aren't school C's first choice? I think if you could answer these questions for yourself, you'll clear your conscience about committing to school A or withdrawing your offer to them.

Not really enough information here to provide you with a good answer...

Going to Newhouse! P.S.: Am I the only guy who's posted on here so far...???

You're doing just fine. Just make sure your GREs are solid and you'll be a no brainer to get into Columbia.

Update everyone: I picked School A, which is Syracuse! I liked my visit there enough to feel that it'll meet my needs. There is some room in the curriculum and internships for me to pursue my special interests - which is cause-related and social change communications. School C would've been my choice had Syracuse offered me a less significant scholarship. Overall, School C would've been a big gamble for me having to relocate, stay with a family member I hardly know in one of the most expensive cities in the U.S.: Washington D.C. And as nice as School B would've been, I just couldn't bring myself to go that much further into debt. Thank you all for your advice and thoughts!

I'm not familiar with the program, but I'm familiar with the city! Your best bet is to take a visit to Wayne State if you can to get a feel for the program yourself.

Actually, I'm going to commit to Syracuse!

No problem! Us communications-related master's students have it tough on here being that their aren't many people who share our interests. Unfortunately, I don't know much about NYU's program since they did not offer something in the public relations realm (and I knew I couldn't afford to go to New York City for grad school). However, I do know that NYU overall has very high academic standards and it takes a special student to get accepted there. Don't take my word for it, but my guess would be that it's not as prestigious journalism-wise as USC and Northwestern...but that's just a guess since I don't know anyone who ever went to school there.

As someone who also applied to Northwestern and USC for another communications-related program, I could at least share some insight on those schools as a whole. Both schools are widely known for educating some of the world's greatest journalists across all fields. To accurately compare the two would be tough because they're both the dominant journalism programs in their respective regions and highly-regarded nationally. I don't think NYC's project-based curriculum would make it tougher for your to find a job after graduation. You could parlay that experience into useful skills that publishers look for in journalists - such as project/time management, meeting deadlines, etc. Overall, I think what I'd do in your situation is create a list of questions and speak to or email someone in each school's admissions department. Depending on how each school answers will provide you with a clearer head on how to make your decision. If you have a mentor in your industry, I'd consult with them to get their thoughts. You really are in a good situation, and no matter where you decide to go you can't go wrong.

Yea, I know what you mean. It's tough to measure both programs' placement/recognition against each other, but I don't think you would go wrong either way. I too received a grant from Medill, but it's not nearly enough to change my mind from my preferred choice (Syracuse). Either way you decide, feel free to keep in touch if you want. It'd be interesting to hear how life would've been like at either school I passed up!

I was accepted into both of those schools too! I'm not likely to attend either due to the lack of funding, but I would've gone to Annenberg for Strategic PR had the money been there. I attended the Prospective Student Visit Day at Annenberg back in November and sat in on the MCM session. Overall, what I felt I learned was that while MCM has their different specializations defined, their program is more "academic" and broad compared to the MSPR program which is more practical. Meanwhile, the big letdown I have about Medill at Northwestern is that the IMC doesn't teach you anything with design and branding software. Don't get me wrong, their course selection is nice, but how can you teach me about "branded content" if you don't even cover the skills to create brands from scratch? Not to mention, it's more expensive than USC Annenberg although the program doesn't last as long (15 months compared to 2 years at USC). If these were really my only two options, I would attend the MCM program at USC - mostly because of the opportunity for specialization, lower cost, and nicer weather.

I'd go with Northwestern at Medill. As a fellow Michigan native who was also considering a school in California, I can agree with you that getting away from our winters would be clutch. However, just looking at the info you've provided, you question the kind of fit you have with Stanford and Palo Alto. Evanston/North Side Chicago isn't THAT much more than Detroit cost of living wise. You also seem more enthusiastic about Medill as you have fewer cons listed. So really, Medill is meeting your needs the best out of all your options. On a side note, I was accepted into their integrated marketing communications program. However, I know I'm not going since it's the most expensive school I applied to and also doesn't completely meet my needs. I don't know what my financial aid will be like since I still haven't received my welcome packet (because I moved), but I'm almost to a point where I don't really care since it likely wouldn't be enough to sway me from my other choices.

It really all depends on how much debt you're willing to take on and how quickly you feel that you'll be able to pay it off with what you learn from your program. You didn't share a bunch of info, but I'd be more inclined to attend Korbel. Fewer opportunities usually translates to there being less competition, so you could be fine in that regard.

Sorry I'm just now seeing this. I agree with you that Syracuse is very personable. They've done the best job communicating with it's applicants throughout the process every step of the way. They've been honest about funding, or lack thereof, to provide realistic expectations. The sneaky bastards even created a cost comparison chart featuring three other schools I applied to at the top of the document! All in all, they've either got a genius marketing department or they're just good at doing all the little things people like us appreciate. But, I see it's too late for me or anyone else to talk you out of Boston. Still, congratulations!

I've been accepted into Northwestern's IMC program this fall too! However, they're more of a long shot for me now as I'm more interested in other programs related to PR. Not to mention, it was the most expensive program I applied to and I'm not confident that funding will be there once I complete the financial aid form.

Where is School D located? If it's in or near another major city you might be okay as far as opportunities in your field. Also, something else for you to consider is how much debt you're willing to take on. If debt is a big deal for you, then School D is probably your best choice.

Thanks everyone, you've been pretty helpful. Speaking with some of my mentors last night, one of them suggested to pretty much rule out B because of the costs, while the other thought that it wasn't so easy because of having that international experience. I should also clarify that with School B the summer abroad trip is funded by my department. Still, School B would really exceed my debt threshold and would likely require private financing. In terms of School C costs, the ten courses I need to graduate would cost a total of around $30K. Even if I never got to land a job in that area, that $30K would be financed through federal loans (which are okay), and I'd still stay underneath the maximum debt I'd want to accrue ($100K). As for my cousin, I don't know her terribly well, but judging her only from her Facebook posts she is a bit on the "wild" side. Perhaps it'd help if I could pay her a visit to see how she really lives. School A would require fed loan financing for my two summer sessions - which are the start and final "semesters" of my 13-month program, as well as my fall and spring semesters. So really it'd require more borrowing than School C, but I'd still remain under my $100K threshold and I finish the program sooner as well. I take a visit to School A this Friday. Perhaps if I'm impressed enough with my experience, I'll just go ahead and commit there!