MYRNIST

I don't think it's crazy to factor in prestige into your decision-making process, as long as you have a sound reason for doing it. If it's vital to your career path, then by all means do it. But just to throw some cold water on this, consider that:

- for many of the schools people are referencing, the difference in prestige is so minute as to be meaningless. Which is more prestigious, Fletcher or Elliott? SAIS or Georgetown? Depends on who you ask, and what field you're in, and even then you won't get a consensus. Prestige is a major factor only if the difference is very large (ex: TAMU Bush vs. Georgetown). If you're comparing two top programs, it's not worth worrying about.

- Piquant already touched on this, but prestige in the average Joe's eyes =/= prestige in your field. For example, take security studies (my field), and compare Yale to Georgetown. For people who don't actually work in the field, they are going to be majorly impressed by the Ivy League name. Your mom will be way happier bragging to her friends about her child at Yale. But for actual security policy professionals, it's not even a comparison - Georgetown is clearly superior, more prestigious, whatever. So if you are going to make prestige a selection heuristic, make sure you have a good handle on a program's "actual" prestige in your desired community.

- if you plan on working for the US government, prestige does not seem to matter much in hiring decisions (compared to the private sector).

- think about what would make you feel better, landing a dream job or having a dream school name on your sweatshirt? Because for a lot of us, our dream jobs are just not that high-paying. How much would it suck to have to turn down an opportunity because you have to find a higher paying job to service student debt? Now, you could argue that going to a super prestigious school gives you a higher chance of even landing a job, and that's probably true. But how big is the difference, especially if we're talking about essentially peer schools? Is a 2% (just making that up) increase in degree marketability worth 60k to you?

MYRNIST, why would you disrupt our mindless outerwear apparel chatter with logic and reason?

Kidding. Your points are sound and appreciated. I see from your signature you made an admissions decision, which is terrific. I wish I had a school that financially made this decision a lot easier. Congratulations!!

I don't think it's crazy to factor in prestige into your decision-making process, as long as you have a sound reason for doing it. If it's vital to your career path, then by all means do it. But just to throw some cold water on this, consider that:

- for many of the schools people are referencing, the difference in prestige is so minute as to be meaningless. Which is more prestigious, Fletcher or Elliott? SAIS or Georgetown? Depends on who you ask, and what field you're in, and even then you won't get a consensus. Prestige is a major factor only if the difference is very large (ex: TAMU Bush vs. Georgetown). If you're comparing two top programs, it's not worth worrying about.

- Piquant already touched on this, but prestige in the average Joe's eyes =/= prestige in your field. For example, take security studies (my field), and compare Yale to Georgetown. For people who don't actually work in the field, they are going to be majorly impressed by the Ivy League name. Your mom will be way happier bragging to her friends about her child at Yale. But for actual security policy professionals, it's not even a comparison - Georgetown is clearly superior, more prestigious, whatever. So if you are going to make prestige a selection heuristic, make sure you have a good handle on a program's "actual" prestige in your desired community.

- if you plan on working for the US government, prestige does not seem to matter much in hiring decisions (compared to the private sector).

- think about what would make you feel better, landing a dream job or having a dream school name on your sweatshirt? Because for a lot of us, our dream jobs are just not that high-paying. How much would it suck to have to turn down an opportunity because you have to find a higher paying job to service student debt? Now, you could argue that going to a super prestigious school gives you a higher chance of even landing a job, and that's probably true. But how big is the difference, especially if we're talking about essentially peer schools? Is a 2% (just making that up) increase in degree marketability worth 60k to you?

I don't think it's crazy to factor in prestige into your decision-making process, as long as you have a sound reason for doing it. If it's vital to your career path, then by all means do it. But just to throw some cold water on this, consider that:

- for many of the schools people are referencing, the difference in prestige is so minute as to be meaningless. Which is more prestigious, Fletcher or Elliott? SAIS or Georgetown? Depends on who you ask, and what field you're in, and even then you won't get a consensus. Prestige is a major factor only if the difference is very large (ex: TAMU Bush vs. Georgetown). If you're comparing two top programs, it's not worth worrying about.

- Piquant already touched on this, but prestige in the average Joe's eyes =/= prestige in your field. For example, take security studies (my field), and compare Yale to Georgetown. For people who don't actually work in the field, they are going to be majorly impressed by the Ivy League name. Your mom will be way happier bragging to her friends about her child at Yale. But for actual security policy professionals, it's not even a comparison - Georgetown is clearly superior, more prestigious, whatever. So if you are going to make prestige a selection heuristic, make sure you have a good handle on a program's "actual" prestige in your desired community.

- if you plan on working for the US government, prestige does not seem to matter much in hiring decisions (compared to the private sector).

- think about what would make you feel better, landing a dream job or having a dream school name on your sweatshirt? Because for a lot of us, our dream jobs are just not that high-paying. How much would it suck to have to turn down an opportunity because you have to find a higher paying job to service student debt? Now, you could argue that going to a super prestigious school gives you a higher chance of even landing a job, and that's probably true. But how big is the difference, especially if we're talking about essentially peer schools? Is a 2% (just making that up) increase in degree marketability worth 60k to you?

1. Why didn't you admit and no I will not leave on my own volition.

Both of you are wrong, it's a British school so clearly they send wizarding owls.

People underestimate the degree to which they can avoid debt if they are willing to put in the work to improve their admission profile.

I would argue that many critical admission/fin-aid metrics, including GPA, GRE, obtaining internships/jobs (not necessarily your performance in them), and foreign language boil down to who cares more. Not inherent intelligence, not your financial resources, not where you were born. Effort, pure and simple. Put in the work, and you get paid for it (literally).

If you spend 4 hours a night studying in college, you're going to have a great GPA. If you spend 500+ hours studying for the GRE, you're going to have a sick score. If you are willing to troll online for hours to find relevant internships/jobs and send out 20+ applications, you're going to get one. If you take time every single day to study a foreign language, you will become proficient in it. Polishing your SOP, researching your schools to detail exactly how you are a fit for them - so much of apps (and life?) comes down to desire. There are trade-offs involved: time you spend doing those things means time not spent with friends, lovers, a good book, a sunny meadow on a spring day. It might not make you happier, or well-rounded. But if you put in the work, I guarantee someone will give you admission + serious funding.

I'll be attending one of my top schools on a full ride. It didn't just happen - I did all the things mentioned above, and more. Sometimes it sucked, GRE prep particularly so, as I ended up at about 750 hours prep time. But the thought that kept me going was that not being able to attend grad school, which I wouldn't be able to sans major funding, would suck infinitely more. So I put in the work, and now I get to go to school for free. Not because I'm smarter (guarantee that's not the case), not because I'm richer (my bank account laughs at this): because I cared more, and did the work other people weren't willing to do.

You can write this off as self-aggrandizement. Or get upset because you didn't get the financial aid you wanted and think I'm insinuating you're lazy. But fundamentally, grad school admissions and fin-aid are not mysteries. Everyone knows the things they look at to make decisions. It's your choice whether you invest the time and out-work competitors.

People underestimate the degree to which they can avoid debt if they are willing to put in the work to improve their admission profile.

I would argue that many critical admission/fin-aid metrics, including GPA, GRE, obtaining internships/jobs (not necessarily your performance in them), and foreign language boil down to who cares more. Not inherent intelligence, not your financial resources, not where you were born. Effort, pure and simple. Put in the work, and you get paid for it (literally).

If you spend 4 hours a night studying in college, you're going to have a great GPA. If you spend 500+ hours studying for the GRE, you're going to have a sick score. If you are willing to troll online for hours to find relevant internships/jobs and send out 20+ applications, you're going to get one. If you take time every single day to study a foreign language, you will become proficient in it. Polishing your SOP, researching your schools to detail exactly how you are a fit for them - so much of apps (and life?) comes down to desire. There are trade-offs involved: time you spend doing those things means time not spent with friends, lovers, a good book, a sunny meadow on a spring day. It might not make you happier, or well-rounded. But if you put in the work, I guarantee someone will give you admission + serious funding.

I'll be attending one of my top schools on a full ride. It didn't just happen - I did all the things mentioned above, and more. Sometimes it sucked, GRE prep particularly so, as I ended up at about 750 hours prep time. But the thought that kept me going was that not being able to attend grad school, which I wouldn't be able to sans major funding, would suck infinitely more. So I put in the work, and now I get to go to school for free. Not because I'm smarter (guarantee that's not the case), not because I'm richer (my bank account laughs at this): because I cared more, and did the work other people weren't willing to do.

You can write this off as self-aggrandizement. Or get upset because you didn't get the financial aid you wanted and think I'm insinuating you're lazy. But fundamentally, grad school admissions and fin-aid are not mysteries. Everyone knows the things they look at to make decisions. It's your choice whether you invest the time and out-work competitors.

People underestimate the degree to which they can avoid debt if they are willing to put in the work to improve their admission profile.

I would argue that many critical admission/fin-aid metrics, including GPA, GRE, obtaining internships/jobs (not necessarily your performance in them), and foreign language boil down to who cares more. Not inherent intelligence, not your financial resources, not where you were born. Effort, pure and simple. Put in the work, and you get paid for it (literally).

If you spend 4 hours a night studying in college, you're going to have a great GPA. If you spend 500+ hours studying for the GRE, you're going to have a sick score. If you are willing to troll online for hours to find relevant internships/jobs and send out 20+ applications, you're going to get one. If you take time every single day to study a foreign language, you will become proficient in it. Polishing your SOP, researching your schools to detail exactly how you are a fit for them - so much of apps (and life?) comes down to desire. There are trade-offs involved: time you spend doing those things means time not spent with friends, lovers, a good book, a sunny meadow on a spring day. It might not make you happier, or well-rounded. But if you put in the work, I guarantee someone will give you admission + serious funding.

I'll be attending one of my top schools on a full ride. It didn't just happen - I did all the things mentioned above, and more. Sometimes it sucked, GRE prep particularly so, as I ended up at about 750 hours prep time. But the thought that kept me going was that not being able to attend grad school, which I wouldn't be able to sans major funding, would suck infinitely more. So I put in the work, and now I get to go to school for free. Not because I'm smarter (guarantee that's not the case), not because I'm richer (my bank account laughs at this): because I cared more, and did the work other people weren't willing to do.

You can write this off as self-aggrandizement. Or get upset because you didn't get the financial aid you wanted and think I'm insinuating you're lazy. But fundamentally, grad school admissions and fin-aid are not mysteries. Everyone knows the things they look at to make decisions. It's your choice whether you invest the time and out-work competitors.

Good luck. I understand Georgetown arent generous with their aid but with a relatively small entering class, I didnt expect them to be SIPA either! The GPPI admits have been getting good funding.

People underestimate the degree to which they can avoid debt if they are willing to put in the work to improve their admission profile.

I would argue that many critical admission/fin-aid metrics, including GPA, GRE, obtaining internships/jobs (not necessarily your performance in them), and foreign language boil down to who cares more. Not inherent intelligence, not your financial resources, not where you were born. Effort, pure and simple. Put in the work, and you get paid for it (literally).

If you spend 4 hours a night studying in college, you're going to have a great GPA. If you spend 500+ hours studying for the GRE, you're going to have a sick score. If you are willing to troll online for hours to find relevant internships/jobs and send out 20+ applications, you're going to get one. If you take time every single day to study a foreign language, you will become proficient in it. Polishing your SOP, researching your schools to detail exactly how you are a fit for them - so much of apps (and life?) comes down to desire. There are trade-offs involved: time you spend doing those things means time not spent with friends, lovers, a good book, a sunny meadow on a spring day. It might not make you happier, or well-rounded. But if you put in the work, I guarantee someone will give you admission + serious funding.

I'll be attending one of my top schools on a full ride. It didn't just happen - I did all the things mentioned above, and more. Sometimes it sucked, GRE prep particularly so, as I ended up at about 750 hours prep time. But the thought that kept me going was that not being able to attend grad school, which I wouldn't be able to sans major funding, would suck infinitely more. So I put in the work, and now I get to go to school for free. Not because I'm smarter (guarantee that's not the case), not because I'm richer (my bank account laughs at this): because I cared more, and did the work other people weren't willing to do.

You can write this off as self-aggrandizement. Or get upset because you didn't get the financial aid you wanted and think I'm insinuating you're lazy. But fundamentally, grad school admissions and fin-aid are not mysteries. Everyone knows the things they look at to make decisions. It's your choice whether you invest the time and out-work competitors.

People underestimate the degree to which they can avoid debt if they are willing to put in the work to improve their admission profile.

I would argue that many critical admission/fin-aid metrics, including GPA, GRE, obtaining internships/jobs (not necessarily your performance in them), and foreign language boil down to who cares more. Not inherent intelligence, not your financial resources, not where you were born. Effort, pure and simple. Put in the work, and you get paid for it (literally).

If you spend 4 hours a night studying in college, you're going to have a great GPA. If you spend 500+ hours studying for the GRE, you're going to have a sick score. If you are willing to troll online for hours to find relevant internships/jobs and send out 20+ applications, you're going to get one. If you take time every single day to study a foreign language, you will become proficient in it. Polishing your SOP, researching your schools to detail exactly how you are a fit for them - so much of apps (and life?) comes down to desire. There are trade-offs involved: time you spend doing those things means time not spent with friends, lovers, a good book, a sunny meadow on a spring day. It might not make you happier, or well-rounded. But if you put in the work, I guarantee someone will give you admission + serious funding.

I'll be attending one of my top schools on a full ride. It didn't just happen - I did all the things mentioned above, and more. Sometimes it sucked, GRE prep particularly so, as I ended up at about 750 hours prep time. But the thought that kept me going was that not being able to attend grad school, which I wouldn't be able to sans major funding, would suck infinitely more. So I put in the work, and now I get to go to school for free. Not because I'm smarter (guarantee that's not the case), not because I'm richer (my bank account laughs at this): because I cared more, and did the work other people weren't willing to do.

You can write this off as self-aggrandizement. Or get upset because you didn't get the financial aid you wanted and think I'm insinuating you're lazy. But fundamentally, grad school admissions and fin-aid are not mysteries. Everyone knows the things they look at to make decisions. It's your choice whether you invest the time and out-work competitors.

People underestimate the degree to which they can avoid debt if they are willing to put in the work to improve their admission profile.

I would argue that many critical admission/fin-aid metrics, including GPA, GRE, obtaining internships/jobs (not necessarily your performance in them), and foreign language boil down to who cares more. Not inherent intelligence, not your financial resources, not where you were born. Effort, pure and simple. Put in the work, and you get paid for it (literally).

If you spend 4 hours a night studying in college, you're going to have a great GPA. If you spend 500+ hours studying for the GRE, you're going to have a sick score. If you are willing to troll online for hours to find relevant internships/jobs and send out 20+ applications, you're going to get one. If you take time every single day to study a foreign language, you will become proficient in it. Polishing your SOP, researching your schools to detail exactly how you are a fit for them - so much of apps (and life?) comes down to desire. There are trade-offs involved: time you spend doing those things means time not spent with friends, lovers, a good book, a sunny meadow on a spring day. It might not make you happier, or well-rounded. But if you put in the work, I guarantee someone will give you admission + serious funding.

I'll be attending one of my top schools on a full ride. It didn't just happen - I did all the things mentioned above, and more. Sometimes it sucked, GRE prep particularly so, as I ended up at about 750 hours prep time. But the thought that kept me going was that not being able to attend grad school, which I wouldn't be able to sans major funding, would suck infinitely more. So I put in the work, and now I get to go to school for free. Not because I'm smarter (guarantee that's not the case), not because I'm richer (my bank account laughs at this): because I cared more, and did the work other people weren't willing to do.

You can write this off as self-aggrandizement. Or get upset because you didn't get the financial aid you wanted and think I'm insinuating you're lazy. But fundamentally, grad school admissions and fin-aid are not mysteries. Everyone knows the things they look at to make decisions. It's your choice whether you invest the time and out-work competitors.

People underestimate the degree to which they can avoid debt if they are willing to put in the work to improve their admission profile.

I would argue that many critical admission/fin-aid metrics, including GPA, GRE, obtaining internships/jobs (not necessarily your performance in them), and foreign language boil down to who cares more. Not inherent intelligence, not your financial resources, not where you were born. Effort, pure and simple. Put in the work, and you get paid for it (literally).

If you spend 4 hours a night studying in college, you're going to have a great GPA. If you spend 500+ hours studying for the GRE, you're going to have a sick score. If you are willing to troll online for hours to find relevant internships/jobs and send out 20+ applications, you're going to get one. If you take time every single day to study a foreign language, you will become proficient in it. Polishing your SOP, researching your schools to detail exactly how you are a fit for them - so much of apps (and life?) comes down to desire. There are trade-offs involved: time you spend doing those things means time not spent with friends, lovers, a good book, a sunny meadow on a spring day. It might not make you happier, or well-rounded. But if you put in the work, I guarantee someone will give you admission + serious funding.

I'll be attending one of my top schools on a full ride. It didn't just happen - I did all the things mentioned above, and more. Sometimes it sucked, GRE prep particularly so, as I ended up at about 750 hours prep time. But the thought that kept me going was that not being able to attend grad school, which I wouldn't be able to sans major funding, would suck infinitely more. So I put in the work, and now I get to go to school for free. Not because I'm smarter (guarantee that's not the case), not because I'm richer (my bank account laughs at this): because I cared more, and did the work other people weren't willing to do.

You can write this off as self-aggrandizement. Or get upset because you didn't get the financial aid you wanted and think I'm insinuating you're lazy. But fundamentally, grad school admissions and fin-aid are not mysteries. Everyone knows the things they look at to make decisions. It's your choice whether you invest the time and out-work competitors.

People underestimate the degree to which they can avoid debt if they are willing to put in the work to improve their admission profile.

I would argue that many critical admission/fin-aid metrics, including GPA, GRE, obtaining internships/jobs (not necessarily your performance in them), and foreign language boil down to who cares more. Not inherent intelligence, not your financial resources, not where you were born. Effort, pure and simple. Put in the work, and you get paid for it (literally).

If you spend 4 hours a night studying in college, you're going to have a great GPA. If you spend 500+ hours studying for the GRE, you're going to have a sick score. If you are willing to troll online for hours to find relevant internships/jobs and send out 20+ applications, you're going to get one. If you take time every single day to study a foreign language, you will become proficient in it. Polishing your SOP, researching your schools to detail exactly how you are a fit for them - so much of apps (and life?) comes down to desire. There are trade-offs involved: time you spend doing those things means time not spent with friends, lovers, a good book, a sunny meadow on a spring day. It might not make you happier, or well-rounded. But if you put in the work, I guarantee someone will give you admission + serious funding.

I'll be attending one of my top schools on a full ride. It didn't just happen - I did all the things mentioned above, and more. Sometimes it sucked, GRE prep particularly so, as I ended up at about 750 hours prep time. But the thought that kept me going was that not being able to attend grad school, which I wouldn't be able to sans major funding, would suck infinitely more. So I put in the work, and now I get to go to school for free. Not because I'm smarter (guarantee that's not the case), not because I'm richer (my bank account laughs at this): because I cared more, and did the work other people weren't willing to do.

You can write this off as self-aggrandizement. Or get upset because you didn't get the financial aid you wanted and think I'm insinuating you're lazy. But fundamentally, grad school admissions and fin-aid are not mysteries. Everyone knows the things they look at to make decisions. It's your choice whether you invest the time and out-work competitors.

People underestimate the degree to which they can avoid debt if they are willing to put in the work to improve their admission profile.

I would argue that many critical admission/fin-aid metrics, including GPA, GRE, obtaining internships/jobs (not necessarily your performance in them), and foreign language boil down to who cares more. Not inherent intelligence, not your financial resources, not where you were born. Effort, pure and simple. Put in the work, and you get paid for it (literally).

If you spend 4 hours a night studying in college, you're going to have a great GPA. If you spend 500+ hours studying for the GRE, you're going to have a sick score. If you are willing to troll online for hours to find relevant internships/jobs and send out 20+ applications, you're going to get one. If you take time every single day to study a foreign language, you will become proficient in it. Polishing your SOP, researching your schools to detail exactly how you are a fit for them - so much of apps (and life?) comes down to desire. There are trade-offs involved: time you spend doing those things means time not spent with friends, lovers, a good book, a sunny meadow on a spring day. It might not make you happier, or well-rounded. But if you put in the work, I guarantee someone will give you admission + serious funding.

I'll be attending one of my top schools on a full ride. It didn't just happen - I did all the things mentioned above, and more. Sometimes it sucked, GRE prep particularly so, as I ended up at about 750 hours prep time. But the thought that kept me going was that not being able to attend grad school, which I wouldn't be able to sans major funding, would suck infinitely more. So I put in the work, and now I get to go to school for free. Not because I'm smarter (guarantee that's not the case), not because I'm richer (my bank account laughs at this): because I cared more, and did the work other people weren't willing to do.

You can write this off as self-aggrandizement. Or get upset because you didn't get the financial aid you wanted and think I'm insinuating you're lazy. But fundamentally, grad school admissions and fin-aid are not mysteries. Everyone knows the things they look at to make decisions. It's your choice whether you invest the time and out-work competitors.

People underestimate the degree to which they can avoid debt if they are willing to put in the work to improve their admission profile.

I would argue that many critical admission/fin-aid metrics, including GPA, GRE, obtaining internships/jobs (not necessarily your performance in them), and foreign language boil down to who cares more. Not inherent intelligence, not your financial resources, not where you were born. Effort, pure and simple. Put in the work, and you get paid for it (literally).

If you spend 4 hours a night studying in college, you're going to have a great GPA. If you spend 500+ hours studying for the GRE, you're going to have a sick score. If you are willing to troll online for hours to find relevant internships/jobs and send out 20+ applications, you're going to get one. If you take time every single day to study a foreign language, you will become proficient in it. Polishing your SOP, researching your schools to detail exactly how you are a fit for them - so much of apps (and life?) comes down to desire. There are trade-offs involved: time you spend doing those things means time not spent with friends, lovers, a good book, a sunny meadow on a spring day. It might not make you happier, or well-rounded. But if you put in the work, I guarantee someone will give you admission + serious funding.

I'll be attending one of my top schools on a full ride. It didn't just happen - I did all the things mentioned above, and more. Sometimes it sucked, GRE prep particularly so, as I ended up at about 750 hours prep time. But the thought that kept me going was that not being able to attend grad school, which I wouldn't be able to sans major funding, would suck infinitely more. So I put in the work, and now I get to go to school for free. Not because I'm smarter (guarantee that's not the case), not because I'm richer (my bank account laughs at this): because I cared more, and did the work other people weren't willing to do.

You can write this off as self-aggrandizement. Or get upset because you didn't get the financial aid you wanted and think I'm insinuating you're lazy. But fundamentally, grad school admissions and fin-aid are not mysteries. Everyone knows the things they look at to make decisions. It's your choice whether you invest the time and out-work competitors.

Their admissions website says they only use snail-mail. I live in a Chinese factory town, where getting international packages delivered requires 3 months and an act of God, so I contacted them to see if this was true. They assured me that they use email notifications, same as any other school. So I guess no worries?

No way phone-calls are official, seems like just a nice little gesture.

Just got an e-mail from Georgetown...I can't believe I got in! Congrats to everyone else!

Well, it looks like this might become a moot point for me, because Elliott just offered a ridiculous financial aid package Georgetown is highly unlikely to match. Balls in your court, Georgetown.

Congratulations!

Well, it looks like this might become a moot point for me, because Elliott just offered a ridiculous financial aid package Georgetown is highly unlikely to match. Balls in your court, Georgetown.

Woot woot! Congrats man, that is awesome! Free money is my favorite kind!

I feel like a lone soul in this forum, but I'll actually disagree. I think many people's perceptions of SIPA as a program are tinged by its poor financial aid (which I agree SIPA could do a much better job on). A big and expensive program can be impersonal, but that's not the impression I have of SIPA.

I went to Columbia for undergrad, walked into a SIPA class that I was interested in, asked the professor if I could take the class as an undergrad, and she let me in on the spot. As for the whole thing about applying for classes, those are maybe 10 or so specialist classes where the professor decides can't hold more than 15 or so people. Bear in mind that this is out of the 100+ classes offered every semester, and it's because the program's so big, that SIPA's able to offer such a wide array of classes on really specific areas of policy.

On the topic of the drawbacks of large programs, yes, it's hard to be recognized/remembered by the administration. That being said, aside from the core lectures, the vast majority of classes are capped at 25-35 people, so it's not hard to forge connections with professors. No, you won't have weekly pre-scheduled check-ins with deans, but the resources are there if you know what you need and seek those opportunities out.

As for the "cash-cow" perception that they admit "rich kids" for "economic considerations", I really think you're putting the carriage before the horse here---a high proportion of students with external sources of funding (whether scholarship or family) end up accepting their SIPA offers because of the school's admittedly poor financial aid, not because SIPA courts those students in particular.

Now, getting back on topic (Fletcher vs. SAIS vs. SIPA)---

I'd say the main differences between the programs are:
Pragmatic vs. academic: Setting up a bit of a false dichotomy there, but I'd say that out of the three, SAIS and SIPA are more similar since they're "MPPish" IR schools that are more professional programs designed to equip graduates with the skills necessary to succeed in the international arena, whereas Tufts tends to be more academic, as can be seen by its thesis requirement and lack of "professional skills" requirements like accounting or management.
Analytical rigor: SAIS definitely has the reputation for being the most quantitative out of the bunch, and, indeed, based on the fact that all SAIS graduates need to have intermediate macro/micro + international micro/macro (i.e. trade and finance respectively) SAIS is, on the whole, more quantitative. That said, you can definitely take the corresponding classes at Fletcher and SIPA if you wanted to, and since SAIS doesn't have other JHU departments at its disposal (more on this below), you can't beef up your quant much beyond that by taking graduate-level econ classes in the economics department or taking real analysis in the math department, like you can at the other two. (In short, the average curriculum at SAIS is more analytically rigorous than at Fletcher or SIPA, but if you were to look at the most quantitative curriculum you could possibly put together at each of the schools, I think SIPA and Fletcher would be ahead of SAIS, in that order.)
Course selection: All 3 programs have great course offerings, but bear in mind that they differ in terms of how many classes you can take outside of their respective schools. SAIS is in a different city from JHU, so that's a definite no. Fletcher lets you take classes both within Tufts, as well as at Harvard, but places an upper limit of a quarter of your classes (i.e. 4 in total). Columbia doesn't have any limits on what classes you can take in the university, but between its core, concentration, and specialization requirements, there might be an effective limit that's similar to that at Tufts.
Disciplinary strengths: Finally, one other thing to bear in mind is that they each have their strong policy fields. If international development is your calling, I would steer clear of SAIS if you didn't get into IDEV, despite their great connections with the World Bank. Tufts and Columbia both have strong development concentrations, though I get the distinct impression that Columbia's allows you to get a bit more quantitative, if that's your thing.

At the end of the day, you got into some of the top programs in the country, so first of all, congratulate yourself. Whatever you end up choosing, these are all great programs; you can't really go wrong here. If you're not really sure where you want to end up, I would just take the 12K at Fletcher and run with it. (Another way of looking at is, "Is the marginal allure that SAIS and/or SIPA have over Fletcher worth 12K?").

Now to face my own dilemma instead of procrastinating by trying to help others with theirs...

Both of you are wrong, it's a British school so clearly they send wizarding owls.