QMSS at Columbia University

[Mikeden]

Hi everyone,

I know there are other threads about this program but they seemed to be pretty old and none of them really answered my specific questions.

Talking to other people in my field (market research), I decided that I wanted a broad research based MA or MS degree. I also wanted to "try out" a subject in graduate school and to become more competitive for PhD programs, should I elect to go for one later on. I first considered going for a MA in psychology but as I majored in psychology as an undergraduate, I decided that I didn't want to go for the psychology MA. I applied for two social research programs and QMSS (I applied to QMSS just to see if I would get in and to give me more options, should I not get into the other programs).

I ended up getting into all three programs that I applied. I really wanted to try out social research but it looks like QMSS is broad and flexible enough to allow me to take sociology classes as electives. The two other programs that I got into are in public schools, so they are significantly less expensive than QMSS. The social research programs are at respected schools and the programs are respected but I would imagine that Columbia would look better on a resume or job application. From my understanding, it seems like the difference between the social research programs and QMSS is that the required core classes at QMSS are just pure research courses while the social research courses, while research-based, are grounded in sociology. I have a strong undergraduate GPA and fairly decent GRE scores other than my quant, because I ran out of time at the end (75% verbal, 49% quant, 85% AW), so with a MA, I shouldn't have a problem getting into PhD programs.

My question is, am I completely crazy to turn down an offer to go to Columbia? Putting aside the cost differences, would having the CU name on my resume or job application help me that much? Would it help me to get into a PhD program, as opposed to a public school? Better yet, can anyone share their experiences with QMSS or anything they have heard about the program?

Thanks in advance!

[Mikeden]

Hi everyone,

I know there are other threads about this program but they seemed to be pretty old and none of them really answered my specific questions.

Talking to other people in my field (market research), I decided that I wanted a broad research based MA or MS degree. I also wanted to "try out" a subject in graduate school and to become more competitive for PhD programs, should I elect to go for one later on. I first considered going for a MA in psychology but as I majored in psychology as an undergraduate, I decided that I didn't want to go for the psychology MA. I applied for two social research programs and QMSS (I applied to QMSS just to see if I would get in and to give me more options, should I not get into the other programs).

I ended up getting into all three programs that I applied. I really wanted to try out social research but it looks like QMSS is broad and flexible enough to allow me to take sociology classes as electives. The two other programs that I got into are in public schools, so they are significantly less expensive than QMSS. The social research programs are at respected schools and the programs are respected but I would imagine that Columbia would look better on a resume or job application. From my understanding, it seems like the difference between the social research programs and QMSS is that the required core classes at QMSS are just pure research courses while the social research courses, while research-based, are grounded in sociology. I have a strong undergraduate GPA and fairly decent GRE scores other than my quant, because I ran out of time at the end (75% verbal, 49% quant, 85% AW), so with a MA, I shouldn't have a problem getting into PhD programs.

My question is, am I completely crazy to turn down an offer to go to Columbia? Putting aside the cost differences, would having the CU name on my resume or job application help me that much? Would it help me to get into a PhD program, as opposed to a public school? Better yet, can anyone share their experiences with QMSS or anything they have heard about the program?

Thanks in advance!

Just wanted to make sure this thread wasn't missed....

[Quant_Liz_Lemon]

Might have helped if you listed the other programs explicitly.

[Max Power]

QMSS was excellent for me. The combination of the research methodology core substantive electives is a really strong prep for applying to phd programs. Recently, it has done an excellent job placing though people in PhD programs once you control for the fact that most people in QMSS do not plan to apply to PhD programs. This has also been heavily skewed to political science the last couple of years. No idea if this is systematic or coincidence, but if its the former, I expect the trend to continue given that the new director is from the poli sci department.

It is also really expensive. As far as reputation, its not widely known. There aren't a lot of similar programs so most people won't have any frame of reference when they hear what you have done. Ultimately, you'd be trading more on the Columbia brand than the QMSS brand. This will matter far more in the private sector than applying to PhDs. For applying to PhDs, I suspect that which classes you take will be far more important than the the brand name.