USC MSF vs. Johns Hopkins MSF 2020

Hello all,

I have been accepted to both USC MSF and JHU MSF programs, and I am having a hard time deciding which program to attend.

My main dilemma is that I was selected as a scholarship recipient at Johns Hopkins, so I will only have to pay half of the tuition.

I understand that USC has a better b-school (bigger alumni network, more history, etc), but is USC that much better than Johns Hopkins where I wouldn't regret giving up $35,000 of scholarship money?

Please tune in and offer me some advice!

Thank you all!

5 Comments
 

Current USC MSF student here. Personally, I wouldn't pay the full $67,000 tuition to go here. Career services isn't helpful at all, so you're pretty much on your own as far as the job search goes. It also doesn't help that most recruiters don't seem to be aware that USC even has an MSF program.

Trojan network is solid, but you'll still have to network your ass off to land a competitive offer.

Can't speak to the strength of JHU, but with your scholarship money, it would likely be the better choice in terms of ROI.

 

Thank you for chiming in.

It's good to hear from a current student at USC.

Trojan Network was what grabbed my attention with USC, but I am surprised to hear that the career services isn't too helpful.

Are the alumni easy to contact and do they offer good help with career if you establish good relations with them?

Do you know if the placement has been improving over these years? How is it looking for your MSF class?

 

Alumni are usually pretty eager to help, particularly if you've met them or have a mutual friend. Cold-calling response rate still isn't great though.

There are a lot of Marshall networking events in general, though a lot of them are targeted towards MBA or Undergrad students, and MSF-specific career events are practically non-existent.

Placement: It's hard to tell if it's been improving, since they still haven't posted the 2018 employment report. Could definitely be a red flag.

I'd rather not get too specific regarding placement for this year's class, but it's not looking great so far. International students in particular are having a lot of trouble finding employers who will sponsor.

 
Most Helpful

This is really just an aspect of any U.S. MSF degree. You're going to have network, cold e-mail, cold call, etc no matter what program you choose. Sure, some programs might have some OCR, but if you depend on OCR you're chances of landing an ideal job are going to be slim. The MSF is a non-traditional degree in the U.S. still. No debate around that. As a result, there is very little to no recruting structured around MSF students. Expect to be networking hard at any MSF program.

 

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