<p>Hi all,</p>
<p>I was wondering if anyone could give me some advice as I try to narrow down my list of schools. I would like to apply to several masters programs for fall 2009. My desired field is international relations with a focus on China and broader East Asia security issues. </p>
<p>A little bit of background. I am an American (half Korean), currently living in China. I did my undergraduate studies at an Ivy League university (non-HYP), 3.9 GPA, majored in political science (honors program), completed a senior thesis -- unfortunately I did not take any econ/stat courses though. As an undergrad I focused a lot on Japanese politics but right before graduation, I got a sudden desire to learn more about China so I moved to rural China out of college to teach English. Since then, I've moved to Beijing and am currently working at an American think tank doing research on Chinese security issues. Apart from the teaching and thinktank job I also worked in media my senior year of university. In terms of languages, I'm fluent in Japanese, and would consider myself an advanced student of Korean and Chinese. </p>
<p>I've been reading a lot of the posts in these forums and researching schools. and I have to say I'm still a bit lost. When I first considered grad school I drew up a pretty big list that included SAIS, Georgetown, Fletcher, Harvard KSG and Harvard RSEA (masters in regional studies - east asia). I know those are completely different programs...basically I couldn't decide if I wanted to go into the academic side of IR or more hands-on policy planning. I considered phd programs in political science too, but now that the field is becoming increasingly quants-oriented I decided that I'd be pretty unhappy doing that for 5 years. </p>
<p>I was wondering if anyone knows anything about the China programs at each school (I know SAIS' is pretty strong and obviously the Harvard RSEA program too, except I'm afraid it wouldn't really train me as an IR professional per se). Although I'm not clear on my future plans, I would ideally like to work in an international organization, focusing on issues that impact China and US-East Asian relations. Also, do you think I have a shot at getting into these schools? My GRE scores were 760 Quant, 700 verbal (don't know AWA score yet).</p>
<p>Thank you for reading.</p>