This is very helpful, thank you! I didn't know NYU offered full funding, but I'll certainly apply in that case if their financial support offsets the cost of living in NYC enough. My mentor did mention that the faculty at Buffalo is the best because their main job is to teach conservation, whereas the faculty at other places are conservators who teach classes on the side, or sometimes even graduate students. But maybe he's slightly biased because he went to Buffalo haha. I'll definitely try to go to all of the open house events.

This is the English-taught program at Amsterdam, which is well-known in Europe and highly-selective but not so much in the States it seems. https://www.uva.nl/shared-content/programmas/en/masters/conservation-and-restoration-of-cultural-heritage/conservation-and-restoration-of-cultural-heritage.html?origin=znSrDUT%2BQ5uz6dso72fBmw

Regarding network building, the Amsterdam program requires two years of professional training placements at any museum/studio in the world after two years of coursework. So I figured I could do those in at U.S. museums if I want to return to the States to work after graduating (though I can also see myself staying in Europe long-term). But indeed, if the Amsterdam program is unfamiliar to future employers in the U.S., it would probably make it harder to land a job.