International Student: NW IMC vs Duke MPP

[ZoeyD]

Hi all,

I'm an international student applying for grad study in the U.S. this fall. As of right now, I got admissions to IMC (Integrated Marketing & Communications) of Northwestern University and Duke MPP and I'm in a difficult situation of deciding which program to pursue.

As a undergrad student majoring in Journalism and Communication who also studied Computer Science in freshman year, I will get my B.A. in June. Actually I didn't have any formal work experience but just a few internships in media industry and public relation agencies.

Well, I haven't figured out yet what kind of job I wanna do in the future and I guess that's also one of the reasons why I'm having a hard time making a decision. But economics and finance are part of my interests. I've checked the curriculums of these two programs and both of them seem quite interesting and appealing to me.

I think Duke MPP is pretty awesome because of its reputation and high ranking, close connections with classmates, staffs and profs, Geneva summer internships, but I'm very concerned about its location comparing with NWU which is pretty close to Chicago (college towns VS big cities). Besides, although I've heard that the job placement of Sanford grads are pretty good because of Sanford's strong connection in DC, international students can hardly work in US governments or find great jobs in big consulting firms like BCG and McKinsey and most of international grads work in NGO or go back to their country. I hope I can find a job in the US after graduate, so it's really a concern for me.

As for IMC in NWU, can anyone tell me about its reputation in the US? I know NWU Marketing is quite famous, but IMC is under Medill School. :/ Besides, I'm also not sure about the employment situation of international grads there. Finally, the duration of this program is just 15 months..

Looking forward to your advice! Thanks in advance!!