LSE or Columbia for a US Citizen/Finding Employment After Overseas Masters

[FuddyDudder]

Hi all,

I've been admitted to Columbia Teachers College's 2-year MA in Organizational Psychology with a half tuition scholarship and London School of Economics Dept. of Management's 1-year MSc in Organisational Behaviour (unconditional). I won't know if LSE is offering me any money until later in the summer, but even without any scholarships it would be cheaper overall to go to LSE. I plan on working around 20 hours/week during either program.

For context, I'm a US citizen and I went to Columbia for undergrad (BA in Economic History, 3.7 GPA). I've worked in the investment banking and tech industries in New York for the past ~3 years. I’m getting a Masters because I’m looking to transition from the quant analyst side to change management consulting or HR strategy and eventually get a PhD in Org Behavior or Org Psych after getting some more work experience. I'm particularly interested in cross-cultural communication and global expansion.

While I would love to live in London for a year, I think LSE's global focus is well aligned with my goals, and I could use a break from NYC after spending nearly 7 years here, I worry about postgraduate employment after attending school in the UK. While Columbia is tapped into NYC's career network I imagine most LSE recruiting is for London and Europe-based firms. I'm not dead-set on moving back to NYC afterwards and would be open to staying in the UK or another EU country after I graduate but I worry with Brexit and Visa issues it'll be virtually impossible to find overseas employment, and I fear it'll be a lot harder to find a job back in the States coming from LSE vs. Columbia.

Does anyone have any input or experience in either of these programs? I'd also be interested in hearing from Americans or non-EU citizens who went to grad school in the UK and what your postgraduate career outcomes were.

 

Thanks!

Edited May 16, 2019 by FuddyDudder

[neversure2]

Have you received any response on this among friends? I'm curious to have a dialogue as I'm in a similiar situation in a different field...

Deciding between Columbia MA or UCL MA (in London)...and I'm an American living in NYC for 13 years now with a Bachelors from NYU...