JAubrey

LSE will treat you well (ie it is well know in the US and Europe). The alumni networks of UK universities Oxbridge, LSE, St Andrews, and Edinburgh (the top unis with strong US representation in the student bodies) are growing swiftly in the US especially on the East Coast in NYC, Boston, and Washington DC, feel free to PM if you have any questions. Second, you may be hard pressed to get a work visa on the continent but in London you will most likely need a firm to sponsor you if you wish to stay for any lengthy amount of time. The industries that tend to do this are: banks, management consultancies, and corporate law firms.

So because you know someone who has done what someone else has, you know better? Wow immaculate logic. As for Prep school if you were privately educated, it preceeds secondary school in the UK not to mention everyone alters their linguistics to a certain extent when speaking to different audiences, it is simply sensible. Regarding no one saying chav...where on Earth do you live? Because it certainly isn't the London I know or anywhere in the home counties. Unless it is up North / Scotland then do feel free to use NED. Finally, with the term British versus English you betray your own issues there, but that is something you can deal with on your own. Have I spent over half my life in the UK? Yep. Am I American? Absolutely. The two are not mutually exclusive at all. There are Americans and many other foreigners at every major public school from Eton to Rugby to Shrewsbury to St Paul's and have been for quite sometime and the same goes for Oxbridge, Imperial, etc. It seems you are merely galled that an American citizen is contradicting you and *gasp* has a better background in the UK system. I'd imagine you are also the sort who complains about Londonistan and England for the English as well. It is always amusing to hear people sniff and say "I could have gone to Oxbridge, I just didn't apply." Sure you could have you and so could every other student at Durham, St Andrews, Bristol, Exeter, etc. The only unis you could even make an argument for selecting over-Oxbridge in the UK are Imperial for sciences or maybe LSE at a push. And everyone I know at the latter two unis, still applied to Oxbridge (and generally did not get a place). As for not knowing anything about your life, I do know your work experience in retail and "events", and one must be honest with one's self and admit it is hardly first-rate and I believe your acceptances reflect that. This isn't an insult, just a statement of fact. Clearly you are fairly defensive regarding USC which is quite expected and indeed understandable, but if you insist upon something like this that is patently untrue and your only defense are attacks on nationality your argument is already weak, you can only expect this manner of response. For my part, I won't continue this any longer on the boards as it is of no use or interest to the OP or anyone else for that matter. If you wish to continue insisting upon your argument, you may PM me, otherwise why don't we allow people to return to their regularly scheduled programing.

Just to second this, if you are already in your job military or federal government and need it for grade rise or promotion, then this works. For anything else or career shift it isn't worth the paper it's printed on.

First: "Not really since I am actually from England and have not only done all of those things but have spent my life surrounded by people doing those things considering, as mentioned, I am from England." I grew up in the UK, went to uni in the UK, and worked most of my adult life in two of the hardest sectors to get jobs in so I'd say I have a bit better perspective on both the public sector and private sector British view of US unis, but to each their own. Looking at your work experience and admits / rejects you haven't actually "done all of those things." To say simply because you are "from" the UK and thus know better is asinine. There are plenty of chavs who I'm sure have heard of USC simply due to its location and do not know Penn. The same for those who went to second or third tier unis. Now you ask Oxbridge educated fast-streamers, management consultants, top NGO / non-profit types, or those in academia they would laugh at a comparison between Penn and USC. To everyone else: USC is a fine school, I am not knocking its quality at all, simply stating the same thing numerous other posters here and elsewhere say, Penn is superior school. There is a very natural tendancy to defend the school you are / have attended but one must be realistic about these things. One final note, I wouldn't bring up the Public Affairs rankings, this is the same system that ranks Syracuse ahead of WWS, HKS, etc.

Fairly self-explanatory. Having gone to a well known school, top British uni, and worked both in the Civil Service and the City, I can safely state that in no way shape or form in any of these environments is USC looked at as a peer of Penn let alone a superior school. Need me to continue?

This is patently untrue.

Comparing USC's to Penn's network on the East Coast is naive. Is USC a bad school? Not at all. But the alumni network outside of the West Coast simply isn't on the same level that Penn is, especially in major East Coast cities: DC / NYC / Boston / Philly. Particularly in NYC and DC where Penn is extremely strong and well entrenched, it is just not a fair comparison, especially in blue chip firms and prestigious government bodies.

CMU Heinz reputation-wise is head and shoulders above Maryland and Price. Also there is the better alumni network and access to DC via the DC track that Heinz has. Maryland degrees are distinctly average and USC a bit better (Marshall, their b-school places quite well on the West Coast), however I would say Price is the right choice only if you want to end up on the West Coast. Go with Heinz.

Fels by a country mile, especially as you want to stay in the Northeast. UPenn's alumni network is far better, it has more established links in local and federal government, and is simply a better school academically. This is really no contest.

Need to know a bit more, like what are your goals post-MBA, where do you want to work location-wise, where'd you do your undergraduate work, any prior work experience?

Who has confirmed for SSP this fall?

Perhaps you want to look up the definition of anecdotal evidence.

UCSD has a strong asian focus and reputation...in California. GWU while not quite on par with MSFS or SAIS, is a strong university with a massive alumni network in DC. Academically, especially in IR and policy circles there is no contest, GWU by a country mile.

It depends where in government you want to work but if it is in defense / security, foreign policy, economics / treasury, IMF, WB, etc. SAIS is by far the better bet. But you have to decide how much the cost is worth to you. My 2 cents are, especially now, SAIS is worth the investment.

If you want to work in DC or internationally, go to GW and don't look back. You are comparing a near-elite program with TTT. If you want to stay in Florida? Stay at FSU. You want to leave or go anywhere on the East Coast (DC but also Boston or New York), go to GW hands down. Additionally, the quality of student and the network of GW vs FSU is not even a contest. Also given the night classes offered by GW, you can pursue an internship or other job and gain invaluable experience and access to DC.

If you are American, Georgetown by far. Many of LSE's, master's programmes are notorious cash cows. Plus if you plan on staying in the 'States / working in DC, GTown's network is second to none.

From a UK perspective LSE > Durham > SOAS. For your itnerests SOAS may trump Durham. I would say categorically go to LSE. Durham and SOAS are unknown outside of the UK largely. Also Durham is not the same in terms of the college system. The only even slightly independent colleges at Durham are John's and Chad's and still not to even remotely the extent of Oxbridge colleges. Durham's reputation is for Oxbridge rejects, rightly or wrongly (rightly imo). Go to LSE and don't look back. However, if you get in to Cantab, go there instead. Less cost + better reputation and network.

I think the first question is, what are your post-master's goals? Is MSFS $30k better than Fletcher? If you are going private sector, I would say yes. If you plan on going into government than I would say it depends... Does your boyfriend have work in DC already? Where do you want to end up workwise?

Also if you need help selecting a college choice at Cambridge feel free to PM me.

Never said that at all, but take it whatever way you like.

First I will say that I agree with taquinas on point #2 and your final paragraph. Overall a very cogent argument for LBJ. With that said, while people may not get hired on to mid-level posts at the WH due to their prior education (though education very much matters for interns and PMFs), they get in the positions that get them hired via their degrees. While having a SIPA, SAIS, SFS, HKS, WWS, etc. degree will not get you a position in the WH, it does get you into the jobs that the WH may draw from, more so than LBJ. This I don't think is arguable. The one point I will expound upon which taquinas mentioned was cost. Personally I think it is utter bunk what schools like HKS and SIPA in particular do. Are these schools successful in placing graduates in the private sector and public? Absolutely. But they need to come off claiming they intend to develop people for service jobs / the public sector when people have $120k in loans coming out. Of the top / near-top programs only WWS, Elliott, and to a certain extent Fletcher, actually seem to provide significant merit based aid that enables their graduates to confidently take those 52k GG/GS 09 jobs straight out of graduate school. In the end if you are serious about: 1) working internationally 2) getting into security and defense 3) getting into the more high profile / prestigious government departments You will be better served by going to one of the elite (WWS, HKS, SFS, etc.) or near-elite (Fletcher, Elliott, Fels, etc.) than LBJ. These schools have far more name recognition, established pipelines, and stronger alumni networks than LBJ. Can you get in to some government jobs or have a good career coming out of LBJ? Without a doubt. And as taquinas mentioned, where you went to school matters less as time goes by say 5-7 years down the road (though I would posit from my experience it still does matter and for networking can still be quite important), however positioning yourself in that first role or two is crucial and it can be a much more difficult to do so coming out of LBJ versus the others I mentioned. In regard to the aforementioned fiancial issues. I would say if you are a competitive candidate or have an aim to go into certain fields in government / policy, you should be able to get into an elite school or two and even if you don't have the money to attend or don't wish to take on the debt, then you should be able to get aid from a near-elite.

Go to Cambridge and don't look back. Is LSE ranked higher than Cantab in IR? Yes. All things being otherwise equal will a 'Tab lose out to an LSE graduate? No. Save the money, go to the better institution, and have a lot better experience not to mention network.

I'm glad you were able to find a job. Again your evidence is anecdotal much the same as mine. Working in DC for a number of years, I have yet to run into a single LBJ or even UT grad in the security and defense sector. Loads of SFS, Elliott (GW), SAIS, SIPA, HKS, and WWS. Outside of these usual suspects, I have come across a fair few with UG degrees from Yale, Princeton, Duke, Brown, Dartmouth, Cornell, UVA, Stanford, Notre Dame, Cal, W&M, UCSD, Chicago, and UCLA (as well as from West Point and Annapolis), and even the odd American, UNC, Vandy, W&L, and Maryland grad, but again no LBJ or UT. Just my experience and 2 cents.

In the US security community, especially in DC, the name on your degree, as you phrased it, is actually quite important.

Godlessgael I would say do SAIS or GW (is this for security studies I assume?), if you are interested in security...though of course if you can get off the SSP waitlist that would be even better.