On a more serious note....

I think you need to decide here what it is you're trying to decide.

Are you trying to decide on what you want to do as a career? In this case you need to think about the MA/policy shop route, versus the PhD/academic/policy influence route. We've discussed this before in other threads on SWC, and both approaches have strengths and weaknesses.

Are you trying to decide what to put on a graduate application? This is a rather different issue. Having looked at many, many hundreds of MA applications over the years, my advice would be to use the essay/career goals/research interests of the application as an opportunity to show off your ability to clearly frame and communicate relevant social science or public policy research questions, and to showcase particular strengths that might otherwise not show on the application form. Try to avoid these common mistakes:

1) The stream-of-consciousness application. "I remember clearly that day when, at 6 years old, I first saw David Dilegge on television talking about MOUT. In a flash, my life changed. Kermit meant less to me than he once did, although his plush replica always would have a place of honour beside my pillow. Now it was thoughts of three block wars that transfixed me, and a different sort of green that called to me."

2) The everything application. "I want to study irregular warfare, especially as it pertains to the military, the economy, society, politics, and the Great Answer to Life, the Universe, and Everything."

3) The excessively boastful application. "I am not your ordinary applicant. Rather, I am perhaps the finest young scholar you have ever met, and I have decided to allow your institution a chance to recruit me."

4) Anything postmodern. "In the works of Gaula, a predominant concept is the concept of precultural language in the post-sexist, neomaterialist conceptualization of population-centric counter-insurgency. The premise of the capitalist paradigm of reality holds that the insurgent is capable of intentionality. Thus, the subject is interpolated into a cultural libertarianism that includes consciousness as a paradox."

5) Overt name dropping of people who can't be bothered to write you a reference. "In my most recent conversation with David Petraeus, he metioned that your school would good place to further my studies."

5) Lots off speling mistokes.

Typically what works best is discussion of a well-focused set of research interests that are then clearly linked to both your choice of institution and your future career goals. Ask others to read it with fresh eyes before you finalize it. Most important of all, read the application instructions, and don't simply recycle the same statement for every application regardless of how well is answers the questions on the application form. Remember that tier one research institutions, especially departments of political science, may be far more interested in the social science than the public policy angle, so tilt your application accordingly.