<p>everyone still waiting on SAIS? I got an email from admissions last night and got excited, but alas it was only a survey :( hopefully it will be coming soon.</p>
<p>Hey -</p>
<p>Yeah, I got that survey, too. Do they have to send that kind of stuff to us NOW, for god's sake? Damn.....</p>
<p>I haven't heard anything from them, although I did get accepted to Elliott's Intl. Dev. program and waitlisted by SIPA for the MIA. The SIPA waitlist hurt a lot, so I'm now anxiously awaiting SAIS's response.</p>
<p>I'm hoping that they look favorably on me visiting with the head of I-Dev and Latin America Studies and e-mailing the professor whom I'd most like to study with last year. I had a few follow-up phone conversations with the head of Latin America Studies in the run-up to the application deadline, too, so I hope they at least remembered me :-)</p>
<p>Yeah the thing is that they actually do have to send us the survey now, because if they wait until after they send out the accepts/rejects then the survey results would be distorted. I mean how many people would answer the survey honestly right after received a rejection letter?</p>
<p>Congrats on Elliot - it is a great program it is really nice to know that you are going somewhere. I actually got in to Fletcher ED so I am not real worried about SAIS, though I am really looking forward to being done with the whole application process. Good luck with the Columbia wait list - I was wait listed there for undergrad - it really is really frustrating to keep waiting.</p>
<p>Thanks, anton!</p>
<p>I guess that's true about the survey. But they could equally have sent it out closer to the beginning of the process, rather than waiting until it would make our hearts jump out to see an e-mail from the SAIS admissions office, heh.</p>
<p>I swear, half the people I know have come out with their own Columbia waitlist stories this week. What is it with Columbia and their waitlists?? It seems to just be how the school operates. I kind of wonder whether they just couldn't get through all the applications, so they just admitted the ones they saw as stellar and decided to worry about the rest of us later. Oh well.</p>
<p>ParaguayIsCool,</p>
<p>Is that info from another forum? Where?</p>
<p>On *********.com, there are some threads talking about Columbia (a fair # of people seem to be waitlisted this year, and judging by the threads on that site from last year, EVERYONE was then.) But also, just from talking to friends of mine, I've found people who say they were waitlisted at Columbia for other programs, too.</p>
<p>Got an email today @ 5:01pm - Accepted to SAIS! No word on funding until they send out the letters.</p>
<p>Now the thread will really come in handy for me. Fletcher or SAIS?
I'll have to wait to hear about funding from both schools before making a decision.</p>
<p>Oy, guys...please don't make extra work for the mods. Much appreciated.</p>
<p>So, Anton: CONGRATS!</p>
<p>I've given you the lowdown on a few things about SAIS. I had thought Fletcher was your solid first choice, so I am a bit surprised that SAIS is still in the running. I'll warn you now, unless things have changed dramatically, SAIS will give out very little aid. However, you may be a better candidate than the average one and they do put more towards the better ones.</p>
<p>But to turn the tables on you about SAIS vs. Fletcher: </p>
<p>What are your chief preferences? considerations? personal reasons? etc.</p>
<p>What has led you, so far at least, to say Fletcher over SAIS and other schools?</p>
<p>Answer these, and I'll do my best to help you, if I can beyond what I've already posted.</p>
<p>Hi Incredulous,</p>
<p>Can I piggyback on this conversation, too? I got into SAIS (no info on funding yet) and also got what turned out to be insanely good fellowship offers from both Elliott and American. Assuming I don't get much $$ from SAIS, would you say the benefits of SAIS (tangible and intangible, particularly with regard to job possibilities afterward) are worth the extra cost?</p>
<p>Thanks for any insight!</p>
<p>Absolutely. Congratulations!</p>
<p>I can never figure out admissions to the top IR programs in terms of predicting who will get into which ones. I had a great friend who was extremely good on paper, Stanford undergrad, good in Chinese, and he didn't get in at SAIS -- I was shocked -- but did at Columbia. And a roommate of mine didn't get into Columbia, but did SAIS. So, I wonder what rhyme or reason there is, if any. Anyway, good for you for getting in at SAIS. Hopefully Columbia wasn't your hands-down first choice. I don't know so much about the Elliot School and AU, but I can tell you about SAIS, though my info. is dated at this point. It's a tough question to know what would be more worthwhile. What do you want to do, if you've thought it through?</p>
<p>Rhyme? Reason?</p>
<p>This is grad school admissions, not a scientific article. :p</p>
<p>Hey Incredulous,</p>
<p>I want to get into NGO work (or perhaps think tanks) dealing with poverty reduction in Latin America. One of the major research interests I have is to see how the policies that brought Chile out of the third world can be applied in other countries.</p>
<p>Obviously SAIS would be a great place to do that work - the professors are amazing, the internship $$ they have to throw at you is kind of embarrassing (hehe), and the networking connections are first-rate. But I've got some major cash offers from GW and AU, and I don't know whether the value of the SAIS degree will be worth foregoing the cash from the lesser schools.</p>
<p>Of course, I have no idea what my final SAIS offer looks like, so this might all be moot. But what do you think?</p>
<p>(Or by "absolutely," did you mean that the SAIS degree will absolutely be worth foregoing the cash?)</p>
<p><a href="Or%20by%20%22absolutely,%22%20did%20you%20mean%20that%20the%20SAIS%20degree%20will%20absolutely%20be%20worth%20foregoing%20the%20cash?">quote</a>
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Absolutely not. I am all about tailoring each decision about schools to each objective and moving beyond conventional wisdom that is based on prestige considerations to the exclusion of others.</p>
<p>However, what I would say is that SAIS is more prestigious generally than the other two programs. You sound like you have a clear focus, so it's easier for you to evaluate programs in terms of your objectives. Check out professors you might work with, check out course offerings. Have you identified the kinds of jobs you want afterwards -- or are you thinking about academia?</p>
<p>If you are going the academic route, I think I would put stronger preference on going to SAIS, unless your undergrad was so stellar that it wouldn't matter. I think SAIS does well moving people on to good PhD programs: Berkeley, Chicago, Harvard, Princeton, Yale were multiply represented in terms of continuing studies in Econ., Poli Sci, Public Policy, etc. I can't say whether the other programs do as well. Perhaps they do, so I could be overemphasizing that.</p>
<p>Programs like SAIS are, relative to the rest of the country, well known in DC. I say other programs are somewhat as well known in policy/wonkish/bureaucrat kind of circles -- Columbia, Princeton MPA, Harvard MPA, Fletcher, maybe UCSD IR/PS, etc. -- but SAIS has the home team advantage in a certain sense (though Harvard and Princeton trump all I think for strictly MPA kinds of jobs and, throughout the nation, because of sheer brand-nameism).</p>
<p>The question is whether it would be worth giving full fare, so to speak, to get that imprimatur you would presumably get by going to SAIS. My thought is if you really know what you want to do and where generally you want to be, you can drive toward it without needing the greater prestige affiliation. If you want to do "poverty reduction," look at development jobs and the industry extensively as quickly as you can. I might be able to hook you up with a couple of people (one SAIS, one IRPS) who could give you some perspective about development. And I worked in the field for a few years.</p>
<p>Do not assume SAIS or any program will give you a crystal clear idea of what you should do to engage in poverty reduction in Latin America. Poverty reduction is an on-going experiment, program with success, perhaps to an extent holy grail all at once. And the development "industry" is made up of NGO's, World Bank, USAID, etc. It is very, very rare to get into the World Bank (for a long-term meaningful role and permanent job, as opposed to mid-level functionary roles which only sometimes work out) or the IADB with just a Master's Degree as an American. Above, when I advised Ephraim about SAIS not being a fit for doing economic development work in China, this is what I was talking about. The World Bank is tough, and the US Govt. doesn't do that kind of work in China. What SAIS IS good for is giving you access and an overview of the kinds of jobs actually available in DC (and elsewhere) in the general area you are interested in. I don't know how much of an advantage it would have over GW or AU in this sense. Certainly some jobs will be listed at SAIS that wouldn't probably be listed at the other two, but I don't know how much this would be a factor of importance.</p>
<p>Think tanks? The more prestigious place you study the better off you will be in think tanks, but to be really credible in a role in a think tank, you either need a PhD or some amazing track record in government that gives you street cred. Otherwise you are effectively support staff. Maybe there are exceptions to this, but they would have to very few and far between.</p>
<p>My bottom line: the closer you are to a focus on what you want to do that is evidently doable with a Master's, the less I think where you go matters. But if you have only a general plan or don't really know what you want to do in practical terms, the more doors SAIS would probably open for you in places that you might not have even thought you would want to be when you started school. There was a guy I know, for instance, who was very focused and started out wanting to do human rights work and ended up in an investment bank.</p>
<p>So then the questions you should ask yourself are: is my focus well thought out? Can I make it better thought out in the time I need to before committing to a school? And whether or not I could, can I face ending up SAIS in (probably) significantly more debt than I would graduating from the other places in hopes of this ineffable prestige factor and help that SAIS might provide. (And read one of my first posts to Anton above, 'cause there are some people that end up temping even out of the most prestigious programs.)</p>
<p>Does that make sense?</p>
<p>Hi Incredulous,</p>
<p>I have been accepted to SAIS for their China Program. I have worked in China helping to merge inefficient state owned enterprises with foreign companies, worked on large trade dispute cases and assisted foreign investors with their market entry strategies. However, I'm not sure if the SAIS China program can offer me more knowledge than what I've gained from my professional work experience already. What advice would you give to someone like me? </p>
<p>Also, I think you are completely right about focus. i hope to work to improve autonomous civil society participation in Asian policy making because as you are probably aware, state resources are overextended in that part of the world especially with the rapid migration of rural populations to urban areas. this causes availability of resources and services to be scarce and unpredicatible thereby demanding a response from civil society to fill that gap (in addition to organizations like the world bank, undp, etc). thanks so much! your thoughtful answers have been very welcome.</p>
<p>twirlingwind,</p>
<p>I'm not necessarily as well-versed on this as Incredulous (who has many more years of experience than I do), but I can offer some insight as someone with an Asian-focused degree and career plan. </p>
<p>While the education you get at SAIS or any other IR program may not seem practical at first glance, the economic (econometric in particular) and area specialization you will receive will help you to make more effective decisions and plans than before. If you have done a year of econometrics and econ, then you might be able to get by without SAIS. Otherwise, it's a perfectly good investment provided you can afford it. I'm really quite impressed now at how often I can look at papers written by so-called "experts" and pick out inconsistencies with their arguments, thanks to my econometric training! It's kind of sad, actually, how many PhDs in political economy will completely miss a high p-value on a variable in a regression, arguing that their theory is sound despite a 95% confidence interval that tells you otherwise. This is what a top IR degree will teach you. </p>
<p>You will be learning from some of the best at SAIS-- this will give you weight to throw around, both in your ability to assess the situation and plan for the future, and to put those two nifty letters on your resume and business card. I think it's a good investment for most.</p>
<p>But then again, I'm working in a VERY different area of specialization, so I'm basing this on the experiences of my colleagues and what I've read in the literature. Good luck!</p>
<p>Hi UCLAri,</p>
<p>I've noted that you're at UCSD IR/PS program. Do you like it? I was also looking into UCSD's Pacific Studies program but decided to stay on the east coast. What is your regional focus? I actually had some training in econometrics in college but i guess more can't hurt me. However, i'm not sure if the China program can offer me that much apart from the prestige.</p>
<p>twirlingwind,</p>
<p>Yes, I do like IR/PS. The instruction so far has been quite good, and I'll be starting a rather good internship this summer, in part thanks to this program. As an in-stater, you just can't beat the price and potential for a wage increase afterward for such a low marginal and opportunity cost.</p>
<p>My regional focus is Japan, but I'm thinking of starting Korean next year to become "better rounded." Japan's just not exciting anymore.</p>
<p>UCLAri, if you don't mind, I have a question for you as well. While grad school is very far off for me, I still wonder whether it's worth it to attend IR/PS as an out-of-state student. I'm interested in the China and Southeast Asia specializations, but right now I'm very interested in human rights and development as well, so it would probably make better sense to apply to SIPA or Denver. I used to live in California for most of my life, though, which is what makes UCSD sound so appealing. Anyway, is UCSD worth the extra cost?</p>
<p>ohcomely,</p>
<p>I think that IR/PS actually has good programs in development. Check out some of the work done by McCubbins, Hanson, Malesky McIntosh, and Samphantharak. There are a lot of people interested in development here, and many of them are well-known in their field. </p>
<p>As far as OOS goes, IR/PS seems to make a big commitment to making IR/PS as affordable as private programs, if not cheaper. Plus, you get in-state the second year!</p>