Going to apply for my PhD in the same Institution I might complete my Masters?

[Mr. X]

 was recently rejected from two Phd programs, and I now want to pursue my MA in Criminal Justice to strengthen my application. However, one of the things that keeps holding me back to make this decision is if I should stay within the same institution I graduated from my undergraduate career, and most likely will pursue for my PhD at the institution (the City University of New York). The type of research being done there is exactly what I want and something I really don't see anywhere else.

Career wise and financially it also makes sense to stay in NYC. In other words, every arrow points to staying in CUNY. But I feel like I am not allowing myself to diversify my experience and live somewhere else besides NYC—although I have been lucky to study abroad multiple times. Nevertheless, the tuition for a MA is significantly less when comparing the CUNY program to that of UPENN or Rutgers University. Although all these programs are still ranked 10 ten in the nation. Great programs I would love to go to, but seems also pointless to go anywhere just to go in a 30-50k in debt.

I was just wondering if anyone has had similar experiences towards their path to academia.

[coffeentv]

1 hour ago, Mr. X said:

 was recently rejected from two Phd programs, and I now want to pursue my MA in Criminal Justice to strengthen my application. However, one of the things that keeps holding me back to make this decision is if I should stay within the same institution I graduated from my undergraduate career, and most likely will pursue for my PhD at the institution (the City University of New York). The type of research being done there is exactly what I want and something I really don't see anywhere else.

Career wise and financially it also makes sense to stay in NYC. In other words, every arrow points to staying in CUNY. But I feel like I am not allowing myself to diversify my experience and live somewhere else besides NYC—although I have been lucky to study abroad multiple times. Nevertheless, the tuition for a MA is significantly less when comparing the CUNY program to that of UPENN or Rutgers University. Although all these programs are still ranked 10 ten in the nation. Great programs I would love to go to, but seems also pointless to go anywhere just to go in a 30-50k in debt.

I was just wondering if anyone has had similar experiences towards their path to academia.

Don’t go into debt if you want to pursue a PhD at CUNY in the future. Also, be aware the sociology department only fully funds 8 students/year. I know a few people who got their master’s degree at a CUNY college or the GC and went onto pursue a PhD in sociology or ciriminal justice at John Jay/the GC. Two of them didn’t get funding and work part-time. PM me if you have questions.