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1. Is a dual degree with SIPA and Urban Planning worth another year's tuition?

(09/23/05) As to the utility of a dual degree, I'm mixed. I used to say "without question", but now I'm not so sure. I enjoyed the whole trip, but you can certainly get the skills and knowledge you ned to do the job. SIPA does have better career services, but I don't know how much that helps in the long run either. I would probably say that if you really just want to get a degree and get out there, you'll do just fine without it.

That said, the other core requirements over there provide a slightly broader, foreign affairs focus, but again this isn't necessary for work in development, especially at the urban level. Another thing SIPA can offer is a wider network. While you can build this through your classes, you don't really develop it without immersing yourself in the culture of the other program. If you've already started, this may be less likely to occur. Plus, planners are cooler.

2. I can't solidify a thesis question! What should I do?

(11/17/05) First thing to do, in my opinion, is to formulate a hypothesis. The scientist in me refuses to accept the idea some very respectable scholars support that just asking a question is good enough. Asking an open-ended question is vague by nature. Forming a hypothesis, on the other hand, forces you to identify the factors involved and their relationships. Chuck Tilly says we have to form formalisms in order to formulate testable hypotheses. These formalisms are formal representations of the world (I always imagine them as flow charts, but they don't have to be). Once we draw out how we think things are related, it's much easier to develop questions/hypotheses. After all, they're embedded in each connecting line we draw. Then we can move forward to see if our understanding of the world is correct. And the most beautiful thing about this approach is that it's just as good to be wrong as it is to be right.