Hello everyone,
I have been reading this board for quite some time now, and thanks everyone for writing such helpful things!
I have a rather specific question(s), but maybe someone else has been in a similar situation, or just has some good advice to give me. I was recently admitted to two different programs. Neither of the two were my top choices (let’s just say I did awful on the GREs). The one is a full PhD program, while the other is a masters (no PhD program available at the school). Both are respectable schools, the one with the masters may be slightly more of a well known name than the other. They both offered me a similar financial aid package. If I chose the PhD program, I would probably retake the GREs and attempt to apply somewhere after the first two years. Neither of the schools are well known for their Poli Sci program. It has been made quite clear to me that if I want to be competitive in the job market, I need to go to a school that is better known for their Poli Sci program. How hard is it to leave a program after two years, it seems as if at some schools that is pretty common. Have any of you done that before, or thought about it? How did the professors take it at the school that you left?
But my main question is: what school should I pick?