JHU SAIS MA vs. Georgetown McCourt MPP for International Development

[SenNoodles]

I'm surprised this comparison doesn't exist yet given the popularity of international development and these programs on GradCafe, but searches yielded nothing, so here goes...

I've finalized my choices to the SAIS MA and the McCourt MPP and am having trouble deciding between the two. I'm interested in international development and have been working in global health policy for the last 3 years in DC and in India. I also have another year of experience doing policy work, but it's unrelated to international development. I'm not 100% clear on what I want to do after grad school, but I know it'll be something related to technical analysis and international development. Ideally it'd be based in DC with significant travel to developing regions (and I know such jobs exist, but those doing them seem to have a mix of IR and MPP degrees).

Both schools are obviously great for this, so I'm having a hard time deciding between the two. Both programs are quite quantitative, offer excellent opportunities in DC and through the programs, and have good placement into the types of organizations I'm interested in. Funding could be a determinant or even the deciding factor (got significant $$ at SAIS, TBD at McCourt, but I'm thinking I may be able to leverage the SAIS aid at McCourt if I don't get much funding), but I wanted to get your thoughts aside from funding.

Two things to note that may be relevant are 1) I'm not in the IDEV concentration at SAIS and am instead in a regional concentration (South Asia Studies, since I'm primarily interested in India, though I'd consider switching to another policy area as well) and 2) my undergrad major was Public Policy Studies, though I don't know if that's relevant given how different the undergrad courses and MPP courses/experience are.

Thanks so much in advance!

Edited March 14, 2016 by SenNoodles

[abnd]

Still in the decision phase myself, but am also very interested in reading more about the comparison of the two. My specifics are MIPP at SAIS and MPM at McCourt.