Need Advice for IR grad school!!!!

[shogun]

So I was just notified I got accepted into my 2nd Choice at LSE MSc International Relations, I was told I will need to wait until March to hear back from my top choice the double MSc in International Affairs LSE-Peking University. The whole thing is I really want to focus on Chinese foreign policy and East Asian Affairs. I am pretty sure I will be accepted into the dual major considering my application is being supported by professors at the PKU aspect of the masters also I was told usually if a student was accepted into the 2nd choice program they are nearly guaranteed to get into the first choice if they are already out of college. But the problem is that I want to work in a think tank or political consulting (Detica etc etc) after i graduate and am curious if I am making the right choice since I want to be an expert on Chinese Foreign Affairs/East Asian Politics. I applied to Peking University's solo 2 year MIR the English taught program because I was way too lazy to take the HSK even though I am at the Chinese level to take grad level courses in Chinese. The MIR program would allow me to study Japanese at Peking University instead of Chinese because I placed out so I can continue my second IR language while taking a course completely focused on China IR. But at the same time the program is really new with no true alumni networking. I was also considering applying to the School of Oriental and African Studies for the MSc in Asian Politics. I don't know that much about the UK course system but the LSE masters has 3 modules and it appears that even though LSE has amazing resources for East Asian politics and Eastern IR in general they only have one Asian Politics module for the IR MSc. I also am thinking of applying to Hong Kong University's Masters in International and Public Affairs since it is also heavily focused on China as well as the fact I want to regain my Cantonese. I didn't apply to US schools because my brother is a freshman and even though my parents want to help with tuition I'd rather not go to the states cause grad school is way too expensive for two years. So is it worth the time to apply to these schools since from what I hear the HKU MIPA isn't that great even though it has agreements with both SAIS and GWU's Elliot School and SOAS is considered to be not all that academically strong even though its the only school in the UK specifically designed to study the Eastern world?? So my question is if I do get accepted to the LSE-PKU program is it the right choice considering my goals? Or should I seriously consider the two year MIR at PKU or just take the damn HSK and do the Chinese taught IR course? Or should I apply to SOAS and HKU? I am just worried about since the MIR at PKU is a brand new program that it would not get the same respect as two masters. I am just torn because honestly I never thought I would get into the LSE MSc IR. My application was nearly completely specialized in East Asian affairs and this totally shook up my plans.

Edited January 14, 2011 by shogun