[Hani121]

I am an international student, and I have been admitted from five universities, but I have finalized them to only two universities. The first one is King’s College London, MA in International Management, while the second choice is George Mason University, MA in English, Linguistics. However, since I received the acceptance letters, I have encountered a difficult dilemma because choosing the university and major is a tough decision and it will determine my entire career; therefore, I am writing this letter so as to help me decide which university I should accept its offer.


I know they are two different majors, and many friends have criticized me that I do not have a clear plan for my future, nor can I decide my educational goals. Nevertheless, I disagree with them because I feel I have strong interests in these majors, and they will because I believe I have multi-talents and skills.


I am going to provide quick analysis which hopefully will be helpful to you. Both of them have nearly the same tuition, so money does not have big impacts in this case.


King’s College London: MA in International Management.
The Positive factors:

1. It is considered a prestigious university, which has been ranked 21th globally based on QS, whereas 36th according to TIMES. In the U.K. on the other hand, it has been classified 6th, behind Oxford, Cambridge, Imperial, LSE, and UCL.

2. Its courses comprehends most sides of management, such as finance, marketing, and accounting, with several optional modules related to economy and human resource management.

3. I have earned my bachelor’s degree is in business administration, so I have already previous knowledge and background about most these subjects and topics.

4. Living and studying in London is considered great and new experience.

The negative sides:

1. I have never lived in England, so I will face new challenges, such as adapting to new culture, people, and of course accent.

2. Sometimes, I feel that I need to learn and study something different in what I was being taught during my undergraduate years.



George Mason University: MA in English, Linguistics. It is located in Fairfax, VA, the U.S.A.

The positive sides:

1. Since I started studying English as a second language in 2014 in the U.S. I have been fascinated by English grammar, structure, and words. Thus, I am excited to extend and enrich my background more deeply and academically, such as syntax, semantics, and morphology, especially I was good in these topics in my native language(Arabic) while studying in schools.

2. I have been living in Washington/Northern Virginia for two years and a half in which I studied English and prepared for IELTS and GRE tests, so the city is very familiar to me. Moreover, I studied English at George Mason University in summer 2014, so I know the university, too.


The negative sides:

1. Because my English is my second language, I am thinking I would not probably have good job prospects if I decided to work as an editor, English teacher, or lexicographer because universities and companies prefer native English speakers.

2. Compared to King’s College London, GMU does not have either a well-known reputation or a high rank in the world, and even in the U.S, there are my many Americans who do not recognize it. It has been ranked 254th based on Times, while 652nd on QS. In addition, there are many students from my country studying in this university, generally international students owing to flexible entry requirements, so graduating from it may not give me excellent credits.


I hope this information was useful to you in order to assistant me I have to respond to them by April 29th, so I have less than a month.

Respectfully,
Hani

[Fr_Chuck]

English major, esp as a second language often goes to be a teacher back in their home nation.

I will say this, I would care less on the status of the university, if it is what I want.
So yes, you need a goal to follow a major, the "what you want to be when you grow up? LOL, question.

Management is great, if you want to be a manager,

Most never actually work their major, they go to university and later decide a job, and may have to go back to education

[teacherjenn4]

Choose the university with the degree you want to earn. They are completely different. What you want to do after you're done with school will help you make the choice. Do you want to be a manager? Do you want to teach? If you aren't sure about either, maybe you're not ready to move forward with an advanced degree.

[talaniman]

Take the one that fits your 5 year plan the best. You do have a plan don't you? The way you laid out your options and pros and cons so well suggest you do.

[smoothy]

I think the Management program will offer you the best job opportunities... I know nothing about Kings College, but do know George Mason is a highly respected school.