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Go wherever's cheapest. Those are all good programs, but in my experience AU SIS is the most plugged in to international development circles. UMD would also be a good option and offers a lot of good skills-based courses that would serve you well.

Leave it on, especially for a grad school application in *public* affairs (smh). That's a significant marker in the U.S. and an elite distinguisher. You'll see candidates for Congress touting it years later. Would be ideal if you could also show a pattern of community service and leadership in the years since e.g. undergrad student body president or local volunteer.

It's up there with Princeton, certainly better than any of the programs you mentioned. As a side note - and speaking as someone who got the quintessential job nearly everybody wants out of these degrees - I would suggest you temper your expectations of what any graduate program of international affairs can do in terms of "launching" your career. None of them are all that useful and they are all way overpriced relative to career outcomes, perceived prestige, and expected earnings. Veteran's preference or a 2nd tier MBA will do far more for your career than any MA in international relations.

So many red flags in this post. Listen to the above poster, OP. Getting a policy degree would be a very bad decision for you at this point. Also, don't go unless it's free. So not worth it (and if you're not able to swing a full/near-full tuition offer, that's a sign you haven't done your homework or prepped enough to be successful coming out of the degree). Finally, a second-tier MBA will do far more for a trade-oriented career (or any other career really) than a first-tier IR degree (except *maybe* Princeton), so just go to NYU or Cornell if you're that desperate to leave your current job.

Thoughtful analysis, but none of what you wrote matters very much. This is an easy decision for Pitt. Have a great time in school, work the internship/Fellowship/PMF/ clearance route aggressively the entire 2 years, and take the best offer you can get upon graduation. (Sidenote - if you want to do USAID Foreign Service, strongly suggest you get 2+ years work abroad exeprience. Peace Corps is always good for that + noncompetitive hiring status they give is key for getting into the federal government)

Prestige, ranking, perceived intellectual caliber, differentiation coming from outside DC

Definitely Chicago, especially as you want to compete for a PMF, though you'll want plenty of backup options. My advice: apply again in a year or two - to the same schools - as well as a few others, including at least a couple public unis. Hopefully you'll have a better resume (+ some savings) and be able to leverage that into at least one full tuition offer.

Hmm, UCLA is offering you a full ride AND you want to focus on California policy? I don't see how this is even a question. Enjoy LA!

IMHO, you've made the right analysis - similar/same career outcomes, nowhere near worth the extra cost + living in DC is $$$.

You have no clue what you're talking about and I do not appreciate the personal attack.

IMHO, no other region can hold a candle to the quality, drive, and sheer resources of a U.S. professional graduate school. +other countries, including/especially Europe, don't have the tradition of letting people reinvent themselves like we do in the U.S. +trying to get a work permit or build a career in the EU is a fool's errand, IMHO.

Lol, no and it's not even close, purely because of money. In addition, UCSD can give you just as good of career options as Georgetown and if anything would be a competitive advantage for Asia and Pacific-focused jobs.

Sounds like SSP is the perfect fit for you, provided you don't have to pay for it. It is THE program for security studies (don't worry about the flagship issue). It won't solve a weak resume, but yours sounds pretty strong so you should have plenty of options, especially if you want to be a fed/FSO/DoD civilian (as you probably know you'll want to check out OSD Policy, DSCA, and any of the Service HQs, like SAF/IA, G3/5/7, NIPO).

I have a very different take from the above, but wish the poster all the best in their choice.

My 2 cents: don't go to any of them. Stay at your high-paid tech career, get involved with your community, do volunteer work, write for a blog or online magazine, go to conferences, learn the lay of the land. Then in a few more years, you might consider doing a part time or executive degree. Your prospects coming out of an expensive grad school may not be any better than working a couple more years and you'll have a lot less money. Or delay going by a couple years and get yourself better established beforehand to enhance your exit opps (employers will care most about your pre-grad school experience). If you absolutely must go, go wherever is cheapest, but don't go to a European school or plan to work in the EU.

It doesn't really matter unless you have a burning desire to be in one of those cities. They're both great programs, 2nd tier (below Yale/Princeton), and very, very overpriced relative to career prospects and average starting salaries. Go to whichever is cheaper and don't go unless you get minimim 1/3 tuition scholarship. I went to Fletcher (loved it) and now have one of those US gov jobs in DC that IR students strive for. Personally, I'd far rather spend 2 years in Medford and Boston than DC but that's just me. Regardless of where you go, you'll make 1/3 what tech and MBA people do and be barely making it financially (unless you're coming out of a good private sector, technically-focused job you want to go back to in which case I'm not sure why you'd want to do this degree). In general, I recommend prospective students consider joining the military, or going to a good state school(e.g. UMD MPP/UVA) over an expensive private MA. These degrees usually result in short term contracts, defense consulting, super low paid think tank/NGO gigs, or - best case - entry-level government. It's not all that glamorous.

It's a DoD Fellowship that is reserved exclusively for Princeton students and hires them into high-profile policy positions. It's based on a personal, elite connection one of their faculty had with the Department.

This is a really odd post. You've listed a lot of general points that don't display much knowledge of Fletcher specifically and that could apply to about any international affairs school, so I'm a little confused why you chose to create a post specifically about a school with which you don't seem to have much personal knowledge or experience and list a lot of generic negatives about IR in general, framed as a critique of Fletcher in particular. For example, the cross-registration with Harvard is a tiny part of the school's offerings and has very little to do with the overall educational experience or its interdisciplinary core competency (Fletcher's curriculum and faculty are entirely built around an interdisciplinary education; it's generally *not* about drawing in profs from other schools or doing partnerships). I am as much of a critic of these schools and degrees as anyone - see my post history about the mismatch between degree price and perceived prestige vs actual career outcomes and earning potential - but not seeing how this conversation has anything to do with Fletcher in particular. For example, the renewed entry of Yale to this market is a challenge for all higher-end schools, not just for Fletcher. If you've heard anecdotes or are in touch with a large number of recent grads and are picking up this buzz from them, I'd be curious to hear about that, but didn't see anything about that in your posts above. Also, you say that MSFS has managed to pivot to getting its grads into other government programs apart from the Foreign Service. I haven't seen any evidence of that and don't even know how that would work given that the path into government service is pretty set for everybody (except Princeton grads who benefit from a legally shady arrangement to get in), but am open to hearing evidence of it. Finally, you seem to be under the impression that Fletcher is primarily a training school for the nonprofit sector. This would be a far more relevant critique for a place like SIT in Vermont. If anything, the primary career destinations are government service, multateral institutions, international security, defense consulting, and finally international development.

Princeton is a higher-quality program with a more competitive cohort and better career outcomes. If you're job is offering you a full-ride to Harvard that covers more than the Princeton scholarship then probably should take that offer depending on how many strings are attached.

Yep, think tanks are (1) holding tanks for those waiting for a political appointment with the next presidential administration, (2) sinecures for illustrious folks with a past senior government job or appointment under their belt, (3) sweat shop factories for exploited masters level labor (who do the work for cats 1 and 2), and (4), occassionally you'll also see a position come open for a renowned scholar practitioner type to bring together other like minded folks and produce policy relevant research. None of the good categories above will apply to OP.

Check out Fletcher's GMAP program. They've had a few candidates much like yourself, including the current chief public health officer for Snohomish county, WA who is an MD; and would probably be the best option for a higher level professional such as yourself. Just google the program. Definitely would recommend waiting till in-person classes can resume. Georgetown's security studies MA program is another strong option, but your classmates won't so much be your peers as they would be with GMAP (more mid-20s types) though Gtown's Sec Studies degree has better/more flexible curriculum options that go with a longer program. On a broader note you need to decide if you want to stay in the medical field - it sounds like you need to put a lot more thought into your plan. I would strongly suggest you consider how you can combine both IR and medicine and not throw away your current lucrative career you've worked so hard for in exchange for a $38k research assistant position at CSIS. There are a lot of very cool things you could do combining the two. Think public health security and national and global institutions. You may also find some mid-career opps at State and DoD.

I concur with this analysis. I would look to make a more subtle career shift, utilizing your education and experience. Your credentials are outstanding and IMHO an MBA from HEC Paris is every bit as useful if not more so as an MPA from the Kennedy School. Maybe consider mid-to-senior-level operations and finance positions at orgs that interest you. Alternatively, look at getting on a public sector contract with Deloitte or another top-tier consulting firm. I don't think this will be that difficult for you.

I don't think it matters all that much. For you, I might give the edge to SIPA as you already have a bit of a career in NYC and are familiar with how the job market there works (though to move up in security consulting you probably need some elite government intel, military, or law enforcement experience). For overall job prospects amidst COVID I might give the edge to SAIS and DC (think DoD contracting). Honestly though neither one will do all that much for you - if you want to do the "FSO" track or similar (State/USAID/DoD civil service), what you really need is to be part of a preferential group (veteran, disabled veteran, military spouse). The MA degree is just a nice to have addition. There are many, many people in those so-called dream jobs with for-profit online degrees and spotty work histories, but who check the right box.

This is not a difficult decision. You should stay at your job, make it very clear to your boss you are not going to grad school, and hope like crazy they still give you the promotion (and please stop telling emoloyers you will be quitting before you are sure of it). This is NOT the time to be leaving good, steady employment for a policy degree, online or not.

They're somewhat comparable but I would definitely give the edge to Wilson for career prospects and overall strength. If you *really* personally like Jackson, though I would go for it as they seem to be doing a great job, moving up fast, more internationally focused (if that's your thing) and well-resourced - as evidenced by your full funding. *Though with COVID all bets are off on academic satisfaction and jobs.