SOAS vs. New School

[Guest Nina25]

I'm really stressing out regarding my decision for graduate school, and the clock is ticking....

I've been accepted for an MA in Social Anthropology of Development at the School of Oriental and African Studies in London, UK. This is the 4th ranked school in the UK, but it's very expensive and I won't hear back about any funding decisions for another month. I'm scared out of my mind to quit my job and move to the UK and accumulate a bunch of debt, especially since I want to go into a PhD program right after. I've also been accepted for the MA in International Affairs at The New School. The program is only a few years old, but has great opportunities and study abroad programs. And, they've offered me a nice scholarship. I'm equally attracted to each program- both meet my wishlist for areas of study, have great incentives and seem pretty even on the 'pros vs. cons' scale. I've applied for outside scholarships as well, but I won't hear back until next month.

Unfortunately, my inner voice has been silenced by the screaming fears in my head. My deadlines for enrollment and loan applications are in a few days. Any advice?

[rising_star]

Ummm... yea, I'd go to SOAS but that's because I love studying Africa and they are one of the best in the world for that. SOAS is expensive and London is more expensive than NYC. If you know you're gonna do a PhD afterwards, maybe go to New School and see if you can do a semester over at SOAS???

GOOD LUCK!!

[Guest Nina25]

Thanks for the advice.... I'm really wringing my hands over this decision.

Is the name recognition of SOAS really worth the debt? Naturally, I want to go to a top school for my PhD, and it'll be in the area of International Affairs or Development Studies. I want to keep my future options as open as possible, and a few people have told me that turning down the degree in IA would be a bad idea. I wish I could do both.

Another option, which makes me nervous: Since I won't hear back about my financial options for another month, I could enroll in both programs and move forward with applying for my loans. When I receive my decisions for scholarships & such, I could make my choice & then back out of enrollment & the loans for the other school.

Of course, I have no idea what would be involved with backing out of the loan process & enrollment for the school I didn't choose. How difficult would this be?

[Guest bruno]

in New School's defense, the location of New York City presents a myriad of opportunities. New School has an on-going program with interns at the U.N., which is a major attraction, and alot of the NY-based international NGOs.

also New School is known for being very tight with aid; so if you got alot of $, they must think very highly of you and have you at the top of their list.

[beaverish]

....

Edited April 27, 2011 by beaverish

[beaverish]

you have to define what your ultimate goals are. you ought to stop fudging the decision.

go to SOAS if you want a phD. academically, if you're interested in development studies, the resources are probably superior over there. SOAS, the university of london, and the british approach to education in general is geared toward creating professors, not training "practitioners" (evidence: i'm an american at the london school of economics) from the point of view of attaining a future phD / your attractiveness to phD programs, i think you'd have an advantage at SOAS vs new school.

on the other hand, new school would probably be superior for non-academic, more policymaking-focused routes. it's an MA in international affairs, so it's meant to be an interdisciplinary "practical" training rather than straightforward academic training. the intention is to prepare you for diplomacy, NGO, governmental work rather than being a professor - breadth rather than depth, big ideas rather than meticulous investigation. so if that's what you want to do, go to new school, do the UN intern thing, take advantage of your time in NYC.