Difficult Choice

<p>I don’t want to seem like a ■■■■■ but I was wondering if any SIS students (current or former) had also gotten into the MSFS program at Georgetown and passed it up. The reason I’m asking is that I was accepted into both but AU is offering me a lot more aid. A lot.</p>

<p>My main concern is of course the job market. I really like what I’m seeing at both universities but I don’t want to regret not going to Georgetown later when i’m getting passed up for jobs.</p>

<p>It boils to a few points:

  1. Are there any SIS students who passed on the MSFS at Georgetown?
  2. If so, do you see or foresee any different treatment from possible employers?
  3. Would there be any other reason to regret it?</p>

<p>Thanks all in advance.</p>

<p>Just an opinion: </p>

<p>You could very well not be an incoming grad student and ask the very same question.</p>

<p>I would think that it would depend on what you want to do. I have many grad student friends here at AU and anyone who isn’t living under a rock knows that SIS lacks in research. Although, hopefully, this becomes less of a problem in the future as more professors gain tenure and so forth. I think you’d have to ask yourself what you want to do and where you want to be rather than be thinking about how employers will look at you based on your school or GPA or otherwise things that honestly have little relevance in the long run. Plus, it seems like you received a lot of merit based aid from AU. To me, the money as a grad student would probably be a major game changer. But if you’re wondering if SIS is not a good school that will “get you passed up for jobs” then I don’t honestly think so.</p>

<p>Thanks for the help. I’ll keep that in mind.</p>

<p>The government hires plenty of candidates from schools outside DC, with not as well-known reputations as AU and Georgetown. I wouldn’t worry about those two being compared by people doing the hiring.</p>

<p>Hey, you got into G-town, that’s a great opportunity! It may just turn out to be worth the extra money, so I say you should go to G-town. Its okay to spend some money on grad school, but if you choose to go to AU instead, it is a good school also. I think that getting a job is going to fall more on you, rather than which school you go to.</p>

<p>Thanks all. I’m aware that it’s, overall, a good problem to have (too many good choices).</p>

<p>What about the career center/alumni association at AU? What is everyone’s feeling on these? Effective, distant, etc.?</p>

<p>Excellent career advising. (At least, that’s my impression so far, but my daughter was admitted last spring and then took a gap year, so she doesn’t have first-hand experience yet.)</p>

<p>AU seems to recognize that the typical AU undergraduate doesn’t start college with quite the same qualifications as the typical Georgetown undergraduate, and therefore to put a lot of effort into helping its students plot a path through college that will show them off to best advantage. AU’s seniors do very well, for example, winning prestigious fellowships. One thing that attracted us (the parents, not the daughter) to AU was the fact that it has a staff of full-time advisors whose only job is advising, rather than faculty who are advising on the side.</p>