Where should I go? What should I do?

[carlstreator]

Howdy all--

I've finally gotten my acceptance from NYU's News and Documentary program. That now puts me in a conundrum.

My end goal is to be a foreign correspondent; with that in mind, I've gotten into Missouri, NYU and Northwestern and was waitlisted at Columbia. I've already turned down Mizzou, since their program lasts 2 years. Medill's program is 4 quarters, 12 months, and NYU's program is 3 semesters, or about 18 months. As it stands right now, I'll be receiving $10,000 in aid from Medill, and nothing from NYU.

My question is: weighing reputation, cost of living, and potential internships/contacts, would I be better served going to Northwestern or NYU? Personally, I think I'd prefer to live in New York for school, based on the my visits to both and knowing that Northwestern isn't exactly in Chicago, but it probably isn't a great idea to be over $100,000 in debt when I graduate. I'm not sure what to do. In addition, there's the outside chance I could get off the waitlist at Columbia--but I will not be holding my breath over that one. Reaaaallllly not gonna hold my breath over that.

Anyone who wants to weigh in on things would be greatly appreciated. I'm trying to figure things out. Thanks so much.

[GorillaGirl]

I understand wanting to live in New York for grad school - I looked at a couple of schools based on location myself. Perhaps the best (albeit most obvious) advice I received was to go to the school with the better reputation/funding/program rather than the school with the better name. That being said Mizzou has an awesome J program - too bad you already turned them down