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I hear that at SAIS you can study two languages at the same time. Would that be an unreasonable undertaking?
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<p>Bad idea. What you can study is a zero sum game, essentially. Balance language with econ. and such things, and politically or development focused classes. Chinese is not Spanish. You won't waltz through it. I did only 'cause I lived in Asia 3 years before SAIS and had stayed committed to learning the entire time I was there.</p>
<p>I've got a few questions about IR grad school admissions and figured this would be a good place to ask, since you all seem to know quite a bit about the subject. I'd appreciate any feedback that people who've gone through the admissions process could give me.</p>
<p>For the past couple months, I've been looking at schools for Fall 2008 or 2009admission and have been trying to gauge my chances of getting into some of the top schools, namely Fletcher, SAIS, Georgetown SFS, and Harvard KSG.</p>
<p>I just graduated from a relatively unknown liberal arts college in the Midwest (I think it's rated somewhere in the upper 60s for liberal arts colleges by US News). My GPA was 3.73, with an individualized major in International Affairs, a minor in French, and recognition for completing the honors program. I'm somewhat concerned that good grades won't be enough to offset the fact that I went to a lesser-known school.</p>
<p>I have a lot of international experience, particularly since I spent three semesters abroad with three different programs in college. I got terrible grades during one of those semesters, Semester at Sea, where I got something like a 2.9 (it didn't factor into my overall GPA since it was through a school other than my own). I'm a little concerned about how my grades during that semester will affect my application, and whether or not IR schools will look at three semesters abroad as being positive, or a little excessive.</p>
<p>I was happy with my GRE quantitative score (790), and not quite as happy with my Verbal (590) or Analytical Writing (4.5) scores. Since I'd be seeking a concentration in International Trade, I'd generally think that quantitative scores are more important.</p>
<p>As far as international work experience goes, I received a fellowship to work with an NGO in Thailand for 12 weeks this summer, and will be teaching English in France for seven months beginning in October 2007. If I decided to shoot for 2008 enrollment, this would put me in a time crunch when I return from France in early May. I would need to visit any schools I've been accepted to and decide on a program relatively quickly.</p>
<p>So that's my situation in a nutshell. I'd appreciate any general feedback or advice that you could give me about ... well, just about anything that I've mentioned--particularly recommendations to boost my admission chances. Thanks!</p>
<p>Hi,</p>
<p>I'm actually a first year grad at Elliott, but I feel dissatisfied here at the program. I know it just started but I believe I'd rather go to a top rate school and feel like reapplying to Gtown with my job experience and applying to SAIS. The only thing impeding me is of course money, and of course is it worth it.
I am not really interested in economics, but more policy. Specifically migration as a result of development. I don't see any migration courses at SAIS, yet it has an abundance of resources. Gtown has the ISIM (institute of int'l migration) but I feel it's more a school for those wanting to do foreign pollicy work for the state.</p>
<p>Does anyone have advice on these two programs? I thought this thread would be good because lots of good discussion going on here.
Also is it worth it to reapply, or should I just take much chances here at Elliott and save some money?</p>
<p>thanks!</p>
<p>Bogie,</p>
<p>The short answer I can give to your question (which is not at all authoritative) is the following:</p>
<p>-Don't worry about where you did your unfergrad. Graduate schools care, but not that much.
-Don't worry about the semester abroad you bombed. It's a semester abroad. Students don't actually get any work done on those, do they?
-Speaking of semesters abroad, they are gnerally seen as good "foreign experience" but not at all work experience, obviously, so they only really count in showing your interest in international studies.
-Your upcoming fellowship in Thailand and work experience in France should prove to be pretty solid in the work experience categories. Good job in getting those lined up.
-Your GRE is fine, as far as I can tell.</p>
<p>All this said, your chances at Georgetown, SAIS, and Fletcher should be fairly good. KSG is big on work experience so I don't know if half a year will cut it. That said, going to KSG isn't going to necessarily open doors for you that SAIS, Fletcher, and georgetown will not, so don't hold out for them if you don't have to. All four are great schools. Just be money conscious, because at least two of them are mad expensive.</p>
<p>Advice please. I will keep this short for your sake and mine.</p>
<p>Admitted:</p>
<p>KSG- MPA (Not ID--didn't have the econ and my interest is broader than development) and they have offered a hefty sum (2/3 of tuition)
SAIS- Bologna (no idea yet on money)
Fletcher (1/2 tuition)
Gtown (No idea on money)
SIPA (no money so far..but we'll see)</p>
<p>Qs re: SAIS
1. How is the Bologna program perceived?
2. How rigid is the program -- it seems that the curriculum is strongly set? I am unsure what my focus would be, but I do know that I am interested in the human security realm -- I want to work in conflict-resolution/human rights/humanitarian issues in post-conflict nations (already have JD with an int'l law focus from a top 10 law school), but I want to return to work in nat'l security/foreign policy realms. I fear that at SAIS, unless you're in the security studies, you can't really take the security courses. </p>
<p>General Qs:
Which alumni network is the strongest for the high-level int'l organizations/NGOs (UN/ICRC/US Inst. Peace/HRW etc)? Strongest for Foreign Policy? </p>
<p>Any other advice?</p>
<p>Re: SAIS. For godsakes, man/woman, go to Bologna. Who cares how it's perceived? One comes back for the second year and gets one's degree from SAIS Washington. The quality of students in Bologna is augmented by having really great European students. There is always some talk about how Bologna is less intense and more of a "party" situation than Washington. Bollocks. Or perhaps better to say: the "Bolognese" as they are called have much better parties and make very strong bonds. And there are a helluva a lot of smart people there too; the quality of students from Bologna was every bit as good as that from DC overall, IMO.</p>
<p>You can absolutely take security classes as a non-major, but the majority are offered in Washington. So do all your general classes in Bologna. Try to take economics courses over the summer if you want to get some of the econ. study out of the way.</p>
<p>For high-level int'l organizations, I would say my impression is SAIS has the stronger network because it's an international focused school and therefore the network is larger and high quality. But I went to SAIS (non-Bologna, Bologna wannabee) so get other opinions.</p>
<p>Have fun. You've got some great choices. Go to Bologna for a year, have fun, learn a lot, then come back year 2 and hunker down with great internships, etc. Go to the Washington campus before you go and find out what you need to know to really hit the ground running 2nd year in DC. Don't give up on the Bologna opportunity, though. Trumps other opps. Great quality; the only reason it gets dissed sometimes is 1) it's not in a town where one can do anything else but study or have fun with fellow students (impression) 2) other people are jealous.</p>
<p>Hello, i'm new here but after reading some great points about Masters in International Relations from people in this thread decided to ask some questions. </p>
<p>First, my background:
I'm a non-U.S. citizen. Grew up in Latin America. This year i'll be finishing my BA in International Affairs and Social Sciences from non top undergrad american univ, with a mediocre gpa (3.67) Attended their International program in Panama. Currently doing an internship with the IFRC in one of their regional offices. Fluent in Spanish and English, and fighting everyday with Portuguese and French. I don't have any major work experience which i know it's probably my biggest problem if i want to enter in a good IR program soon.
I want to focus on international development (maybe more inclined into sustainable development) with a regional focus on Latin America. I'd like to work with IOs, NGOs (not academia) not in the U.S. but preferably in Latin America. I'm still trying to narrow down my focus even more and get some more work exp. and save before applying.</p>
<p>I'm not looking for a top name univ. but i do want to get into a great M.A. program. My top choice right now is the Int. Dev. at LSE, and now i just found out about SAIS Bologna and HEI. I didn't even consider Fletcher before.</p>
<p>Questions:
- How hard is to get into SAIS bologna?
- What else could i do to improve my chances? (Besides working on my field of interest)
- Any good thoughts on IR programs outside the U.S.? </p>
<p>I think this should be in another thread but I wanted to know the opinion of Incredulous, Paraguayiscool and the others</p>
<p>please bump....</p>
<p>Haha, I know this is old, but do any of you have friends in Carnegie</p>
<p>think tank</p>