Hi everyone.
I have been reading many helpful postings during the application period from collegeconfidential.
Now I am in a situation to decide whether to accept the offer or not from schools and writing this post to get some advice.
- Brief introduction of myself I studied in political science and international relations at my undergraduate university in South Korea. I was an exchange student in Europe for one semester. After having some internship experiences in the United States as well as in my country (think-tanks,NGOs, Congress, and a law firm), I decided to study further for the master's degree.
My research interests are multidisciplinary issues of international relations and other fields such as history, international law and human rights. To be specific, conflict resolutions especially in Northeast Asia, human securities,and memories and apologies are quite appealing to me.
About my career goals, I’m still hesitating between two paths; one is to work at think-tanks or international organizations such as OHCHR, DPA or other United Nations organizations. The other one is to pursue my PhD degree.
- Current situation Luckily, I got admissions from many schools: Fletcher MALD, UCSD MIA, University of Toronto, LSE-Peking University joint degree of international affairs, Sciences Po PSIA International Security and Uppsala University.
All of these schools are quite fascinating but it’s really difficult to make a decision.Here’st I thought why these schools are appealing and what points are a bit questionable to me.
- Fletcher school MALD (+) multidisciplinary courses, balancing between theory and practice, high reputation in America, strong networks, affiliation with Harvard and MIT, many interesting courses and field of studies (human securities, international securities, Asia pacific and conflict resolution) (-) high tuition fee (?)
- How strong it is to apply for PhD programs and get a job at international organizations and think-tanks (Referring to the statistics about alumni on the homepage, the percentage of these three paths is about 5% each)
- How famous this school is outside of America
- UCSD MIA (+) multidisciplinary courses, emphasis on Asia-pacific, California (nice weather?haha) (-) (?) location (most of think-tanks and IO are in East coast), too much emphasis on economics, a bit high tuition fee, alumni careers (many of them are working at private companies according to the homepage)
- University of Toronto, Master of Political Science (International relations track) (+) one-year program, a bit cheaper tuition fee compared to American schools, high reputations in academia (many professors told me), many courses on human rights and international law, strong research design and methods courses, personal interests in Canadian welfare system and immigration policy (-) not many chances to get scholarships (?)
- this program requires me to write not a traditional thesis paper but a Major Research Paper(MRP), which is typically around 50-60 pages.
- LSE-PKU Joint Degree of International Affairs (+) China and European perspectives, both schools are famous in Europe and China, emphasis on history and traditional security at PKU and on international law and human rights as well as traditional security at LSE, two thesis papers(high demand of efforts but it seems worthwhile) (-) high tuition fee of LSE, expensive cost of living in London, extreme air pollution in Beijing (I’ve been there before)
- Sciences Po PSIA International Security (+)multidisciplinary program, emphasis on human rights and conflict resolutions,many interesting concentration programs, a bit cheap tuition fee (-) low qualities of courses(according to some postings here), poor student service and career center (?) professional master(there's research master of international relations at doctoral school of Sciences Po)-> disadvantage when I consider going up to PhD?
6.Uppsala University Peace and Conflict Studies
(+) focusing on conflict studies(famous school in this field), many courses on traditional and human securities, close relationship with SIPRI, cheaper tuition fee, personal interests in Swedish welfare system and political system.
(-) away from major world cities to get a job
(?)
- wondering how famous this school is in other countries outside of Sweden
- low chances of working at international organizations?
Please let me know if there’s any my misunderstanding regarding these schools. It would be awesome if I can solve my questions in the (?) section, too. Always welcome to get advice for my decision-making.
Thank you for reading!