American University - SIS MA Program for an Academic Career?

[ugurcanevci]

Hello everyone!

 

I am an international Fulbright scholar for master's degree, and IIE applied to American University SIS - Comparative and Regional Studies MA program in behalf of me, and my advisor stated that I have a good chance of getting an acceptance from there. However, I would like to pursue an academic career, and I actually saw that American University's program is much more towards professional work life, rather than academic path. As an international student, I wanted to hear comments of you people What do you think? would studying at American University SIS deflect my academic career aims, meaning I should withdraw this application, or shall I just still keep it as an option? I heard that it is one of the best international relations programs there, but still I have my doubts about the career path.

 

Please note that the scholarship is only for MA programs, and therefore I am not looking for PhD programs for now. I will be pursuing a PhD degree after my master's, that is for sure though.

 

Cheers!

 

Edit:

 

Here are my other applications:

 

1- NYU Political Science

2- U Washington Henry M. Jackson - International Affairs Middle Eastern Studies

3- American SIS

4- New School - Politics

5- UIUC - Middle Eastern Studies

Edited February 17, 2015 by ugurcanevci

[esotericish]

Will you be paying anything to get the degree at American? Also keep in mind DC is a very expensive place.

[ugurcanevci]

Thanks for the answer, all costs of the programs and the living expenses will be fully covered by the scholarship.

Edited February 17, 2015 by ugurcanevci

[cooperstreet]

do it

[raptureonfire]

A full ride to SIS is a great way to get a master's degree for use in policy and professional applications, but if you're interested in academia, then you're far better off by attending NYU, which is a top-15 school in terms of academic preparation.

 

That's not to impugn SIS at all - again, it's a great professional program - it's simply to point out that academic training is different than policy-oriented training.

 

You certainly shouldn't withdraw your application ... why on earth would you do that? If they've given you an offer, then they understand that you are likely waiting for other schools. See where else you get in. If NYU takes you, then you should pick NYU for academic training. Only when you've seen all your offers should you withdraw.

[ugurcanevci]

Thank you for the answers.

Nyu is definitely my top choice, I really hope that they would offer me an admission. But why I said withdraw is that in accordance with the scholarship rules, I won't have the chance to accept the offers coming from the New School and UIUC if American University SIS offers an admission to me and NYU rejects me. Or for example if NYU offers an admission, they will directly withdraw all other applications. So, they really narrow down our selection process after the application process. Therefore I thought like withdrawing might be a good option if American SIS would not be a good fit for me.

[Penelope Higgins]

A full ride to SIS is a great way to get a master's degree for use in policy and professional applications, but if you're interested in academia, then you're far better off by attending NYU, which is a top-15 school in terms of academic preparation.

 

That's not to impugn SIS at all - again, it's a great professional program - it's simply to point out that academic training is different than policy-oriented training.

 

You certainly shouldn't withdraw your application ... why on earth would you do that? If they've given you an offer, then they understand that you are likely waiting for other schools. See where else you get in. If NYU takes you, then you should pick NYU for academic training. Only when you've seen all your offers should you withdraw.

The MA in Political Science at NYU is not a good place to get academic training. I can't compare it to the other options, which I don't know as well, but at NYU (as discussed on here before) the MA is a separate program from the PhD. Students do not normally take classes with the main political science faculty or with PhD students, and it does not prepare you well for PhD programs. Again, I can't offer advice as to how to choose among these options, but the NYU program is not as good a pre-PhD option as the name of the school would suggest.

 

Here is a post from last year that discusses the NYU MA program in some detail:

Edited February 18, 2015 by Penelope Higgins

[ugurcanevci]

Thanks for the answer.

Ugh that is getting more and more complicated. Any other ideas?

[dsg8099]

The MA in Political Science at NYU is not a good place to get academic training. I can't compare it to the other options, which I don't know as well, but at NYU (as discussed on here before) the MA is a separate program from the PhD. Students do not normally take classes with the main political science faculty or with PhD students, and it does not prepare you well for PhD programs. Again, I can't offer advice as to how to choose among these options, but the NYU program is not as good a pre-PhD option as the name of the school would suggest.

 

Here is a post from last year that discusses the NYU MA program in some detail:

 

This post is obviously very biased and nowhere near the truth. It can easily be ignored. The MA in Pol Sci at NYU is an excellent place to get academic training. It has excellent substantive courses in all of the areas of political science as well as courses in quantitative analysis, game theory, and formal modeling. Just this semester alone an MA student can choose to enroll in any of 7 courses that are both MA/PhD level classes, just check out http://politics.as.nyu.edu/object/ma.scheduleSpring2015

 

What this means is that you can get somewhat of a PhD level education at the MA level if you choose to enroll in the right classes. The NYU MA thus does an excellent job at preparing you for PhD study. It is likely the best option from your list. 

[Penelope Higgins]

This post is obviously very biased and nowhere near the truth. It can easily be ignored. The MA in Pol Sci at NYU is an excellent place to get academic training. It has excellent substantive courses in all of the areas of political science as well as courses in quantitative analysis, game theory, and formal modeling. Just this semester alone an MA student can choose to enroll in any of 7 courses that are both MA/PhD level classes, just check out http://politics.as.nyu.edu/object/ma.scheduleSpring2015

 

What this means is that you can get somewhat of a PhD level education at the MA level if you choose to enroll in the right classes. The NYU MA thus does an excellent job at preparing you for PhD study. It is likely the best option from your list. 

Look, I've got no dog in this fight. NYU may indeed be the best option on the list. I don't know. But the earlier post saying that because NYU is a top-15 department it is the best option was, I believe, misleading because of the separation between the MA and the PhD program. I've found that when I see applications to my PhD program from students coming out of the NYU MA program, they don't in general seem to have letters from people I would like to see or the training I would expect from the NYU political science department, and I want to make sure that the person making this decision has that information up front, since I know people who have gone there for that purpose and have been disappointed. The list of classes you posted suggested that some of this may have changed in the last couple of years. That's great. On the other hand, here is the list of PhD courses for the same semester: http://politics.as.nyu.edu/object/phd.scheduleSpring2015and so the person who started this thread and anyone else interested can see the full picture for themselves.

[ugurcanevci]

Thank you for all information, I will keep these in mind definitely and search on NYU's MA program more elaborately.

 

But I still have to think about alternatives of NYU in any case as it is not certain they will offer me an admission so in this case, I am still not sure if American SIS would be a good choice or not. On their website they stated that 2% of the MA graduates seeked for further education, but there is no information on where these people went, or what did they do. I would normally contact the university for some information but contacting is also forbidden. Therefore, I would really appreciate any idea from here

[2012latam]

I think that SIS American is good for academic preparation if you gear your research and internship experience towards skills that give you preparation to get into the best PhD programs.  I think SIS has many research assistantship and teaching positions you can do, as well as the various amounts of think tanks in DC you can intern or work in while going to school at SIS.

 

My goal is also to get a PhD after my master's and that is what I would plan on doing. And yes, I applied to American and waiting to hear back.

[2012latam]

Thank you for all information, I will keep these in mind definitely and search on NYU's MA program more elaborately.

 

But I still have to think about alternatives of NYU in any case as it is not certain they will offer me an admission so in this case, I am still not sure if American SIS would be a good choice or not. On their website they stated that 2% of the MA graduates seeked for further education, but there is no information on where these people went, or what did they do. I would normally contact the university for some information but contacting is also forbidden. Therefore, I would really appreciate any idea from here

I think that SIS American is good for academic preparation if you gear your research and internship experience towards skills that give you preparation to get into the best PhD programs.  I think SIS has many research assistantship and teaching positions you can do, as well as the various amounts of think tanks in DC you can intern or work in while going to school at SIS.

 

My goal is also to get a PhD after my master's and that is what I would plan on doing. And yes, I applied to American and waiting to hear back.