American SIS vs DC Competition

[Cali2015]

Would love the opinion of both prospectives students and especially current/past grad students in DC on this one. I've been accepted into SIS and Elliott, waitlisted at SAIS and SIPA. I know I want to be in DC so that narrows it down one. The big catch is that SIS offered me an extremely generous aid package that covers a substantial amount of my education, while Elliott gave me nothing.

 

Clearly, SAIS and SFS are the two biggest fish in DC. In searching these forums, there seems to be a feeling that Elliott is better than American, but I haven't seen any real discussion on the topic and that's what I'm hoping to generate here.

 

I really like American's campus and how personal they've been with me so far. I've received an email from a professor I expressed interest in working with and a call from the director of the Global Governance/Security Program to help with any questions or thoughts I have about the school. This is a really encouraging thing to see and definitely has piqued my interest in the school.

 

My biggest concern is being viewed as a second-rate Graduate student because I go to American. I don't want to lose out on jobs or internships simply because I'm going up against competition that outranks me. The FP poll had GW and American neck and neck, with GW one slot above it, but oftentimes I feel like people on this forum think it's bigger than that.

 

So, GradCafe, let's hear what you think.

[2012latam]

I'd say go with the school that give you less debt between sis and elliott.  At the end of the day, if you network really well from both schools, you'll find something. Plus, American University is a huge school that's been around for quite some time, meaning lots of alumni are coming out of there and many of them are in DC and otehr areas. I'd prefer Elliott, but if SIS was considerably cheaper, your salary after graduation can go more towards you rather than loans, considering that you'll be recieving relatively the same pay after graduation from both schools and I don't see the trend that Elliott grads get paid substantially more than SIS grads.

Edited March 16, 2015 by 2012latam

[DCB]

In a somewhat similar boat. Money isn't as big a difference as it is for you, but I like a lot of what I see from American so far.

I just never hear of people straight up choosing American over GW so I'm hesitant to do it myself.

Edited March 17, 2015 by GreenGator

[ReinventOneself]

My two cents: Elliott has a little more reputation and prestige than SIS. Elliott is closer to downtown, whereas American is a little far from the action. American is more politically liberal.

 

If there's a big difference in total cost, I'd say go for American. Network like crazy, distinguish yourself with good grades and get to know your professors and others who can 'hook you up' in the future, and you'll be just as fine as anyone out of Elliott.

 

Graduating with no debt means you can apply for jobs that require being debt free, you could buy a house sooner, etc, if that's important to you.

[WinterSolstice]

My two cents: Elliott has a little more reputation and prestige than SIS. Elliott is closer to downtown, whereas American is a little far from the action. American is more politically liberal.

 

If there's a big difference in total cost, I'd say go for American. Network like crazy, distinguish yourself with good grades and get to know your professors and others who can 'hook you up' in the future, and you'll be just as fine as anyone out of Elliott.

 

Graduating with no debt means you can apply for jobs that require being debt free, you could buy a house sooner, etc, if that's important to you.

 

I would agree with this assessment. Elliot probably is seen as being more prestigious than SIS, and it is better located. BUT, I do not think it is a significantly better school or program. I have heard mixed reviews about Elliot and I don't think it's reputation is so amazing that it trumps money. Elliot and SIS are similar enough where it is not worth going into significant debt for (especially when you say that they gave you no funding). When looking at similarly ranked schools, I think it's worth it to go where the money is and to focus on distinguishing yourself. Not to mention, American clearly wants you and is willing to invest in you. To me, that definitely counts for something. 

[Filmore22]

For what it's worth, in deciding between the two, I decided to apply to American over Elliot because of the little things. While American did not necessarily do anything to distinguish itself, I found my first impression of Elliot and all of my following interactions to be really lacking.

I attended a graduate fair in DC and the differences between the Elliot and the SIS booths were, imho, pretty stark. While I wasn't necessarily blown away, the SIS booth had knowledgeable, friendly, and professional people on hand. Perhaps I caught them at a bad moment, but the Elliot booth seemed pretty uninterested and not nearly as knowledgeable especially on specific questions about courses and programs.

I also attended an info session for both, pretty much back to back. Again it is probably a case of bad things leaving more of an impression than good things, but the documents produced by Elliot were amateurish. They had a document outlining employment prospects with charts and graphs that were sloppily done and poorly formatted—off-kilter axises, typos, etc. It might be pedantic but if I’m considering dropping significant sums of money into your school, I would hope for a higher degree of professionalism.

And finally, when I reached out to the schools with questions about funding, the response I got back from American was far more comprehensive and prompt. That’s not to say Elliot told me to go screw myself, but it was a noticeable difference.
 

I only wanted to apply to one of the two schools because to me they seemed pretty equal in terms of prestige and on actual program merits. In the end, I just felt like American had their stuff together more so than Elliot.

 

[Cali2015]

Filmore, that's a great response, thanks so much for sharing that information. Definitely encouraging to hear.

I kind of feel the same way. American has been in contact with me multiple times and have really gone the extra mile to make themselves available. Any question I've asked has been answered very quickly and professionally. GW, on the other hand, seem somewhat disinterested and content to let their apparent reputation do the talking.

 

The more I hear from people like yourself and Winter Solstice, it seems that the perceived idea of GW may not match up with the reality that I'm seeing. American seems like they're really gunning hard to improve their program and steal students away from other area schools.

[KenBesonders]

Not to turn this into a GWU versus American contest, but I fail to see the prestige appeal in GWU over American. They both rank close to each other and both have strong curriculum. I think GWU gets that prestige vibe because of their location and being a stone's throw from the Department of State and the White House.

[DCB]

Yeah, GW definitely seems big on pushing their location and proximity to big institutions. Which, by all means, is great and really convenient. But all other things considered, it's not a dealbreaker either way.

[kaseyleigh]

I've definitely been debating the two myself, so I was very interested to read this discussion. I received basically the same amount of funding from the two, so it comes down for me to location, reputation, job prospects, etc. The curriculum at Elliott seems a little more flexible also.

 

I visited a class at American and really enjoyed myself- the professor, who is unfortunately retiring, was very nice and very knowledgable, as were the students. One student even took me around the school after and gave me so much great advice. I definitely did not get the impression that people at Elliott are super friendly or helpful, though we did have a tour guide of the campus who goes to Elliott and she was very friendly herself. I will likely be going to GW because I need to work full-time and the location cannot be beat, but I think American seems fantastic! They make it hard to turn it down and I think it would be a fine choice, especially if they gave you a lot of funding.

Edited March 18, 2015 by kaseyleigh

[Guest]

I personally prefer Elliot's Internatiional Security/Security Policy Program over American's. But, American has many opportunities as well nonetheless.

[Cali2015]

I visited a class at American and really enjoyed myself- the professor, who is unfortunately retiring, was very nice and very knowledgable, as were the students. One student even took me around the school after and gave me so much great advice. I definitely did not get the impression that people at Elliott are super friendly or helpful, though we did have a tour guide of the campus who goes to Elliott and she was very friendly herself. I will likely be going to GW because I need to work full-time and the location cannot be beat, but I think American seems fantastic! They make it hard to turn it down and I think it would be a fine choice, especially if they gave you a lot of funding.

You touched on two things that I kinda keep noticing:

1. Everybody at American is really nice, from the faculty to the students. Especially the students. Maybe thats because its not as "wealthy" as a school or because its more of a "service" reputation, but consistently I hear praises about the people. Conversely, I rarely hear anything positive about the people of GW/Elliott. Not necesarily negative, just not positive.

2. In spite of this, and other factors, people still choose/will choose Elliott. I don't think I've seen anybody on this forum explicitly say "I picked American over another DC school because reasons X, Y, and Z." And that kinda worries me. Almost like I'm missing something or I'm gonna get there and then realize why people go to other schools.

[Atlas445]

You touched on two things that I kinda keep noticing:

1. Everybody at American is really nice, from the faculty to the students. Especially the students. Maybe thats because its not as "wealthy" as a school or because its more of a "service" reputation, but consistently I hear praises about the people. Conversely, I rarely hear anything positive about the people of GW/Elliott. Not necesarily negative, just not positive.

2. In spite of this, and other factors, people still choose/will choose Elliott. I don't think I've seen anybody on this forum explicitly say "I picked American over another DC school because reasons X, Y, and Z." And that kinda worries me. Almost like I'm missing something or I'm gonna get there and then realize why people go to other schools.

 

I think you should focus on the faculty and classes in the curriculum, and think about what you want to be doing career-wise post-graduation.  One of the biggest factors for me is evaluating the faculty, their current and previous research/published work, and their previous work experience.  This will give you insight as to what their networking value is, the instructional direction/content you'll receive in their classes, and ultimately - whether this person either through instruction, networking or both will be able to provide you with information and resources that will help further develop your career.  While having a "friendlier" atmosphere in terms of your fellow classmates and faculty is a good thing, the most important thing is whether or not this experience is going to significantly contribute to bringing you closer to the job you want to have, or further develop your career enough to justify the time and expenditure that you're going to be putting into one of these programs.  Even with significant financial assistance it's still going to represent some cost to you, not just in money, but in time and energy.

[kaseyleigh]

You touched on two things that I kinda keep noticing:

1. Everybody at American is really nice, from the faculty to the students. Especially the students. Maybe thats because its not as "wealthy" as a school or because its more of a "service" reputation, but consistently I hear praises about the people. Conversely, I rarely hear anything positive about the people of GW/Elliott. Not necesarily negative, just not positive.

2. In spite of this, and other factors, people still choose/will choose Elliott. I don't think I've seen anybody on this forum explicitly say "I picked American over another DC school because reasons X, Y, and Z." And that kinda worries me. Almost like I'm missing something or I'm gonna get there and then realize why people go to other schools.

 

I've noticed the same thing, so I know where you are coming from. For me, I can tell you why I am leaning toward GW over American. I don't know a ton about the job prospects at one versus the other since I'm not currently working in DC, but I'm not really looking for a full-time student experience. If I were just going to be a full-time student, I would probably want to go somewhere where I could make a bunch of nice friends to hang out with, where I can get involved in a bunch of student organizations, etc. Though this would still be nice, I already did this in law school, so I'm now looking for somewhere I can take some classes from great professors, that allows me to work full time, and is easy to get to from work (and will allow me to get a great job also after I graduate, or even during school). Because American is a bit further out, it seems like it would be harder for me to get to quickly from work, so that is a major reason I am picking GW (and the flexible curriculum is also a big plus for me). 

 

I have heard that GW is more of a school where people just come to take class and to get the degree, and it looks like I'm also falling into that stereotype. I think if you are looking for a nice all-around student experience, American seemed to me like a really nice place to be.

Edited March 18, 2015 by kaseyleigh

[Atlas445]

I've noticed the same thing, so I know where you are coming from. For me, I can tell you why I am leaning toward GW over American. I don't know a ton about the job prospects at one versus the other since I'm not currently working in DC, but I'm not really looking for a full-time student experience. If I were just going to be a full-time student, I would probably want to go somewhere where I could make a bunch of nice friends to hang out with, where I can get involved in a bunch of student organizations, etc. Though this would still be nice, I already did this in law school, so I'm now looking for somewhere I can take some classes from great professors, that allows me to work full time, and is easy to get to from work (and will allow me to get a great job also after I graduate, or even during school). Because American is a bit further out, it seems like it would be harder for me to get to quickly from work, so that is a major reason I am picking GW (and the flexible curriculum is also a big plus for me). 

 

I have heard that GW is more of a school where people just come to take class and to get the degree, and it looks like I'm also falling into that stereotype. I think if you are looking for a nice all-around student experience, American seemed to me like a really nice place to be.

 

Kasey also offers good advice here!  And you're completely right about the commute.  Many not currently living/working in the beltway think that the location differential is not that big of a deal, but if you're going to be working full-time like I will be it's considerably more manageable when you're not having to commute a long distance.  This especially saves you money on things like metro cost, which is expensive as a heads up for those of you from out of town .  Also, a major concept that is absolutely crucial to finding jobs, getting hired, and developing your career is networking.  While it's entirely possible to network successfully at either school, being in really close proximity to State Department, USAID, Federal Reserve, etc. can help in the sense that networking doesn't just take place at events, but in everyday life; at a coffee shop, restaurant, bar, or wherever.  Being in proximity to these places increases the odds that you'll run into people currently working at these places that you can network with, and could potentially lead to a job.

[DCB]

Also, a major concept that is absolutely crucial to finding jobs, getting hired, and developing your career is networking.  While it's entirely possible to network successfully at either school, being in really close proximity to State Department, USAID, Federal Reserve, etc. can help in the sense that networking doesn't just take place at events, but in everyday life; at a coffee shop, restaurant, bar, or wherever.  Being in proximity to these places increases the odds that you'll run into people currently working at these places that you can network with, and could potentially lead to a job.

 

That's a really good point, I hadn't thought of that aspect of networking but that's definitely true. Nothing is really out where American is, as far as I understand.

 

Starting to feel like I'm gonna have to go up for the Admitted Students day and compare the two. Pros and Cons for each one, although I feel like people generally seem to think GW has the edge because of a lot of the reasons mentioned, in spite of its flaws.

[reema_Verma12]

I would personally like to thank you for starting this discussion. I am extremely confused on which one to choose and am getting around the same sum of money from both GW and American. While personally, I would like a friendly atmosphere, I want to go to the school that will propel my career. So this post is just to say thanks for asking the question straight up

[KenBesonders]

That's a really good point, I hadn't thought of that aspect of networking but that's definitely true. Nothing is really out where American is, as far as I understand.

 

Starting to feel like I'm gonna have to go up for the Admitted Students day and compare the two. Pros and Cons for each one, although I feel like people generally seem to think GW has the edge because of a lot of the reasons mentioned, in spite of its flaws.

 

I know that of the general rules of value is "location, location, location" but to me it seems we are really splitting hairs on the location of AU and GWU. Yes GWU perhaps has the best location in all of the country for public policy and international affairs. However, American is STILL IN DC and I feel people seem to forget that having your university next to the White House does not guarantee anything regarding applying to work. The only advantage it provides is having a relative location where you can network with more ease. Other then that, the real networking, AKA internships and going to events, is what matters and as long as your location is in DC I think they are not going to care where you are geographically located within the city.

Edited March 18, 2015 by KenBesonders

[laurbee]

A lot of people on here always say the "no debt" or "go where the money is" mantra, and I cannot knock any of them for prioritizing that. The fact of the matter is, everyone's priorities will be different, and finances will play a role in what you can act on. Personally, if I were able to make it work financially, I would choose the school whose program I liked the best and whose curriculum seemed most intriguing. In my opinion there's no point in wasting my time at a school in classes with material that just aren't as interesting to me. But those are my own priorities.

 

So if there isn't a huge difference in funding between the two, I say go with the one you think you will be happiest in while you are there studying. You could go to the most prestigious school in the world but if you aren't passionate about what you are learning and enthusiastic about the overall climate while you are there, your confidence in everything else is going to get knocked down a peg. I firmly believe that your options post-grad are what you make of them, regardless of your school's prestige. My undergrad is practically unheard of (except now with the recent news of its attempt at closing...) but that hasn't stopped me in being successful, and I thoroughly enjoyed my time there. If I had to do it all over again, I'd choose it in a heartbeat against other more "prestigious" schools, no contest. 

 

Anyway, my point being, I think you should go where you think will be the best fit for you and where you will be happiest, especially if the financial situations are comparable! If that is American, then fantastic, more power to you, and get going! 

[DCB]

I'm in a position of no aid from either GW or American and I'm honestly starting to lean towards American. I applied with the mindset of going to GW, but after looking over professors and the program a lot (Security Studies), I'm starting to like SIS more and more for a few reasons.

 

1. The people have been awesome so far. From the Director of the GGPS personally contacting me and the staff who have answered every question I've had in great detail, it's just been very impressive. They're clearly ambitious and motivated to improve their name and their program. They have a lot of people who did their undergrad at GW and so they can give a great perspective on the differences between the two schools. They never badmouth GW, which I appreciate a lot, but merely point out things that they've noticed in comparing the two programs. 

 

2. Clarity. SIS has been really great at laying out everything on their website, making the curriculum easy to understand and plan. They even have the Fall 2015 courses up with professors and faculty links, which was great for me researching potential professors to work with. GW does have some of this same information, but it's extremely difficult to find and a hassle. This isn't a dealbreaker either way, but it factors in for right now.

 

3. SIS just gives me a vibe that I could be extremely successful there. Again, it's not like I think I could not succeed at Elliott, but the support and vibe I've received from SIS in only two weeks speaks volumes. I know their currently going out of their way and wanting to make good first impressions, but if this type of support lasts two years, it'd be very hard for me to turn their offer down.

[blooscorn]

I applied to American and not GW because of the opportunities in my region of focus. They offer not one but two dual degree programs in the country I'm focusing on.

[DCB]

Any feedback from people that attended the Admitted Students Day today?