New School or Seton Hall

[wzhenlan]

Hello, everyone!

I am applying for the master's program in psychology and I've received offers from

1. NSSR the 2 years' program in general psychology with 25% tuition waive

2. Seton Hall's MS in Experimental psychology with a 50 tuition waive

Someone may know that if you get a master in new school, you need only 3 years to gain a PHD, which is my final aim. However according to the website, the outcomes of students graduating from Seton Hall also not bad for purchasing a PHD.

Another problem is that, I do share a lot of research interest with faculty in NSSR (social, developmental and cultural areas) and one of them has agreed to put me in her lab even in the first year of MA. While from Seton Hall only one faculty shared interest with me and she doesn't do research in such area now. Although, there's no continuing PHD program in Seton Hall.

However, it seems that the New School's reputation is more critical with various of ideas from different people and it's not a mainstream university. While Seton Hall somehow seems more traditional and formal.

It's difficult for me to make a dicision. Is there anyone from these universities? Any suggestions for me?

[juilletmercredi]

I don't go to either of them but I am in psychology.  The New School has an excellent reputation in psychology, but it is very expensive.  I would imagine that a 25% tuition waiver will still leave you with around $55K (including living expenses) to pay.  Seton Hall is a good school as well, and likely to be much cheaper with a 50% discount.

 

From a purely academic standpoint, The New School sounds better - you share interests with more professors, there's a PhD program you could potentially continue on with should you choose, and you already have contact with a professor who will put you in a lab.  The New School's reputation in the field is also better (no, it's not traditional, but that's not necessarily a bad thing.  They're generally known for good, if progressive, research).

 

However, you don't need to go to a top-ranked MA program in psych to get into a good PhD program in psych, and I would be thinking about costs.  Assuming that you take about 18-24 credits a year (9-12 a semester) that's $20-$26K in tuition, which is already pretty cheap.  Cut that in half and that's about $10-13K.  So over two years you'd go in debt about $20-26K + ~$40K in living expenses, so about $60K.

 

Compare that to - I think NSSR's tuition is about $40K, so that's $60K over two years + $50K in living expenses (because NYC is more expensive) = $110K in debt.  I definitely don't think NSSR is work more than $50K in debt over two years.