American vs. Syracuse

[beth4789]

Hi everyone, first post!

 

So I was accepted into the 1-year MA strategic communication program at American and the 2-year Public Diplomacy joint-degree program (MA in International Relations and MS in Public Relations) at Syracuse. 

 

The decision has basically come down to location vs. curriculum for me. I completed my undergrad at UMD so I have many friends in the DC region and was very impressed with AU's visiting day in terms of the connections they have in the area. Their placement rate is very high, and I would like to live in DC permanently when I exit grad school. My concern is that, because I am already somewhat lacking in job and internship experience, I won't be able to rack up enough experience in the one year of the program to successfully enter the competitive DC job market.

 

On the other hand, Syracuse would give me a full two years time to rack up as much experience as I need, but the internship options in Syracuse are obviously much more limited than they are in DC. The last semester of this program takes place in DC, so that last semester may negate the location issues, but that's not for a year and a half. The overall reputation of Newhouse and Maxwell seem to be better than AU SOC, but I was not as personally impressed upon visiting the school and talking with students and faculty.

 

Both schools offered me pretty nice assistantships, but American would be cheaper in the end because of the shorter length of the program.

 

Does anyone have any advice for me? I'm completely torn 50/50!

[hesadork]

A few thoughts:

 

- Congratulations!

- There's a terrific thread somewhere on here about "what surprised you most about the process" that you should check out.  Most of the respondents talk about the importance of the visit, and I completely agree.  Based on your experience, that's a + in the American column.  Your gut counts for a lot!

- You want to end up in DC, and you have a network there.  Another + for American.

- American would be cheaper given the length of the program even though DC is far more expensive than upstate NY.  Minimizing debt is almost always the right answer.  Another + for American.

- Syracuse would give you IR training.  If that's of interest, that's definitely a + for Syracuse.

- I think the internship thing may be a wash.  You get more time to do them through Syracuse but your options are probably much more limited given the location.  And maximizing your time in DC would be invaluable for networking since that's where you want to end up.

 

The major decision point seems to be whether you want a comms degree that is IR focused (Syracuse) or one that's broader (American), and only you can answer that.  Aside from that question I think the scales are tipped in American's favor based on the above.

 

Best of luck with your choice!