Mr_Drop

Thank you both for sharing your perspective! UNC is a MA/PHD program, and they do offer funding but due to being a state school it might at times get tricky (so I've heard) - and I would absolutely not call the program middling, they are a top 20 (if not 10, according to some rankings) program with excellent scholars in their body of faculty, but then again this what I've gathered and obviously not everybody might agree. I've been hearing this cash cow issue with the IFA for a while now, although I have to say that it confuses me how it is any different from any other masters program out there without a funding (as it is rare to find funding for masters). So I feel like this debate somewhat unfairly steals away from how good of a program the MA at the IFA is. That being said, I definitely understand and acknowledge the reasons of your argument for not going into debt for a Phd track - and I appreciate you taking the time to write a thoughtful response. A very long 3 weeks await me as I try to decide my next move..

Hi everyone - long time follower of the thread here! I seem to have reached a fork in the road and wanted to ask for your opinions. I have two acceptances that I'm thrilled with, UNC Chapel Hill and NYU IFA, both for MA but UNC with the possibility of a PHD track without re-applying. Doctoral studies is what I ultimately hope to do, and UNC is a great school with an excellent professor that I would love to work with, but there is one unfortunate caveat that honestly is the only thing stopping me from jumping the gun - a precarious funding situation. Hence why I'm still considering doing the MA in IFA (on top of it having a good reputation, network and education obviously). IFA is definitely not cheap either but it's going into 2 years of debt versus *maybe* several years in this case. Both schools come with their pros and cons so it would make me really happy to hear what you guys think of each school, separately and/or in comparison. Thanks!