So I need some advice about whether MAPSS is worth the investment.
I've been turned down from all my Ph.D. programs (GWU is supposed to tell me tonight, and I anticipate a rejection), but UChicago threw my application into the MAPSS chute, and from there I was offered admission for the fall and 1/3rd the tuition.
So my choices are:
MAPSS at Chicago
$35,000 in loans
a Masters degree
another year of back-breaking work
taking a year to give my resume a boost and stop feeling burned-out
can live at home and thus afford to volunteer or take an unpaid internship
bad economy at home (Raleigh, NC)
job-searching here I come
My stepmom has expressed concern over the economy and the possibility of me failing to return to school after graduating. I don't feel like I'm in a good place to continue doing academic work (this post is a way of procrastinating a three-page paper I'm sick of working on), and I don't think that the best school for me is necessarily the best school in my field (politics), so a UChicago degree might not be the most necessary boost to my resume....
Basically, I'm lost. I'll be traveling to Chicago in April to visit the school (and the city--never been). In the meantime, I'm going to start looking for real jobs and internships available in my area.
Is $30k ever worth it for a Masters degree? So many little voices inside me are screaming NO.