Hey there,
I know it's been a while since this thread, but I was wondering what school you ended up choosing? I'm between Penn's IEDP and Stanford's ICE right now. My concerns are similar to yours with the dilemma resting on Stanford's MA paper and Penn's internship requirement. I much rather prefer the internship, but don't want to negate Stanford as a choice! I would love to hear where you ended up and how you're liking it!