JHU SAIS vs Chicago CIR vs Tufts Fletcher

[LiftOff01]

PEOPLE OF QUARANTINE,

Which graduate school should I go to? I've been watching a lot of America's Got Talent lately and I am actually a pretty big fan of social media because I'm not wearing adult diapers yet. Also, it is actually a pretty good way to crowdsource information to make a decent decision on something. Oh yeah and this stupid virus means I can't visit the schools. Most people seem to think that SAIS is the obvious/smart choice, but I'm not exactly sold yet.

THE CHOICES:
1. Johns Hopkins SAIS, Washington D.C., M.A. in Strategic Studies and International Economics. The best choice for me if I want to pursue a career in public service or the private sector. Also, the hardest. Econ will curb stomp my balls. SAIS = policy/practitioner.

2. University of Chicago, Committee on International Relations/Harris School of Public Policy, Dual Degree: M.A. in International Relations and M.A. in Public Policy. The best choice if I want to research and write more or pursue a Ph.D. I really enjoyed writing my undergraduate thesis on the South China Sea. Chicago = theory/scholar. Also, <3 IR theory.

3. Tufts University, The Fletcher School, M.A. in Law and Diplomacy in International Security Studies. I visited here in February. I visited here in February and I think this environment will be the most chill (not academically) but in terms of the flexibility/amount of course offerings and student body. This is sort of the compromise option (but also not really because I think it too is a more policy-based curriculum, but perhaps less than SAIS.)

SHOW ME WHAT YOU GOT.  Thanks :)

David

[Yass]

17 hours ago, LiftOff01 said:

PEOPLE OF QUARANTINE,

Which graduate school should I go to? I've been watching a lot of America's Got Talent lately and I am actually a pretty big fan of social media because I'm not wearing adult diapers yet. Also, it is actually a pretty good way to crowdsource information to make a decent decision on something. Oh yeah and this stupid virus means I can't visit the schools. Most people seem to think that SAIS is the obvious/smart choice, but I'm not exactly sold yet.

THE CHOICES:
1. Johns Hopkins SAIS, Washington D.C., M.A. in Strategic Studies and International Economics. The best choice for me if I want to pursue a career in public service or the private sector. Also, the hardest. Econ will curb stomp my balls. SAIS = policy/practitioner.

2. University of Chicago, Committee on International Relations/Harris School of Public Policy, Dual Degree: M.A. in International Relations and M.A. in Public Policy. The best choice if I want to research and write more or pursue a Ph.D. I really enjoyed writing my undergraduate thesis on the South China Sea. Chicago = theory/scholar. Also, ❤️ IR theory.

3. Tufts University, The Fletcher School, M.A. in Law and Diplomacy in International Security Studies. I visited here in February. I visited here in February and I think this environment will be the most chill (not academically) but in terms of the flexibility/amount of course offerings and student body. This is sort of the compromise option (but also not really because I think it too is a more policy-based curriculum, but perhaps less than SAIS.)

SHOW ME WHAT YOU GOT.  Thanks

David

First of all, these are all great options to choose from! What's your financial aid/funding situation? Would that be one of the deciding factors for you or is that not relevant? As you already said, one is more policy/practitioner based and the other is the theory/scholar type. Do you wanna pursue a Ph.D or do you rather wanna be someone making the policies? 

How about location? You mentioned that you already visited Tufts, do you think you'd prefer DC or Chicago more in terms of living and networking opportunities? Will the program at Chicago take longer since it's a double degree? 

Maybe you've already thought about these questions, but these are some thoughts I had.

[GradSchoolGrad]

On 3/29/2020 at 2:30 PM, LiftOff01 said:

PEOPLE OF QUARANTINE,

Which graduate school should I go to? I've been watching a lot of America's Got Talent lately and I am actually a pretty big fan of social media because I'm not wearing adult diapers yet. Also, it is actually a pretty good way to crowdsource information to make a decent decision on something. Oh yeah and this stupid virus means I can't visit the schools. Most people seem to think that SAIS is the obvious/smart choice, but I'm not exactly sold yet.

THE CHOICES:
1. Johns Hopkins SAIS, Washington D.C., M.A. in Strategic Studies and International Economics. The best choice for me if I want to pursue a career in public service or the private sector. Also, the hardest. Econ will curb stomp my balls. SAIS = policy/practitioner.

2. University of Chicago, Committee on International Relations/Harris School of Public Policy, Dual Degree: M.A. in International Relations and M.A. in Public Policy. The best choice if I want to research and write more or pursue a Ph.D. I really enjoyed writing my undergraduate thesis on the South China Sea. Chicago = theory/scholar. Also, ❤️ IR theory.

3. Tufts University, The Fletcher School, M.A. in Law and Diplomacy in International Security Studies. I visited here in February. I visited here in February and I think this environment will be the most chill (not academically) but in terms of the flexibility/amount of course offerings and student body. This is sort of the compromise option (but also not really because I think it too is a more policy-based curriculum, but perhaps less than SAIS.)

SHOW ME WHAT YOU GOT.  Thanks

David

Sooo... assuming that funding and time is not an issue...

1. I would pick U. Chicago dual degree for you.

You have the broadest range of empowerment among public sector, private sector, and academia. I say this because i don't think you know what you want to right now with graduate school. With time to try different things and the diverse range of career outcomes at Harris + CIR opportunities to do IR glory (I'm not sure if it has a language requirement), I think it would be helpful to you.

2. SAIS is a great program and it really helps with DC oriented jobs. Also keep in mind, it is more than just econ that will stomp your balls. It is the language requirement as well. I will say at SAIS, you have the opportunity to uniquely do live projects + career empowering part time work with organization in DC.

3. Of all the grad programs I visited, Fletcher was last for me... by a country mile. I spent 4 days at Fletcher shadowing one of my friends. I went to class with her, met her friends (including their parties), and explored the facilities.

First of all... I acknowledge that Fletcher has amazing academics, awesome professors, and a terrific reputation within the IR community. However, my problems with Fletcher based upon my visit and discussing it with my friends are:

1. Low brand equity outside of the traditional IR community. My friends from Fletcher constantly have to explain their graduate education to pretty much everyone outside of the IR community, including to people in the DC or Boston area. The reason why this matters because as we are going into a recession, it is helpful to have a brand that gives you a boost to flexibly hunt for a wider range of job, beyond just a narrow band of focus. 

2. Echo Chamber... In the two classes I went to, I saw a one to two people vs. everyone else in the class situation. Granted I may have agreed more with the majority, it was uncomfortable in this echo-chamber Jurassic park

3. Academic isolation... The reality is that Tufts doesn't have an MBA school, Law School, Policy school, and its Medical and Public health schools are in downtown Boston. I personally like to approach things in a multi-disciplinary collaborative manner, and it is simply a bit difficult to do that at Fletcher. Yes, there is a consortium relationship with Harvard and MIT, but going there is logistically painful, at a minimum 45 min each way (can be 1 hour, 30 min depending on where you live and which school). Also, granted there is a great degree of Harvard access afforded to Fletcher students, there are still trips, programming, and credentials that are closed off to Fletcher students. Basically, you are still a Fletcher student, not someone with all the real access of Harvard's resources. 

4. Passive aggressive environment... Never have I encountered such a one upping passive aggressive social situation as Fletcher. Yes, superficially everyone is super chill and friendly. However, after socializing with my host's friends and partying with them, I quickly realized there was a crazy amount of passive aggressive flexing going on. I would hear conversations such as, "oh I met a high ranking so and so today and told him/her how so and so thing done was f-ed up and I got kudos... go me!... how was your day?" or "my parents are taking me to this awesome vacation... where will you go?". 

Also as an aside, Fletcher is historically better known for producing people for non-profit sector - granted their grads do go everywhere. 
 

Edited March 31, 2020 by GradSchoolGrad