<p>1) After graduating from a college, with good GPA/GRE score/recommendation, am I able to get into places like SIPA/Fletcher/SAIS without job experiences?
My first school is SAIS, but I heard that they want students who have plenty of work experiences. </p>
<p>2) Among three schools, which one has the best program for someone who is interested in working in the international orgranization rather than the domestic one?</p>
<p>3) List an average GPA/GRE scores for those three schools.</p>
<p>In any given year, about 10% of the class at top IR schools comes directly from undergrad, so yes it can be done. Most of these people, however, have extraordinary resumes and have usually acquired serious IR experience through internships, fellowships, etc...Go to the Woodrow Wilson School website and look at the student bios of students coming directly from undergrad...almost all of them are Truman or Pickering scholars. Also, without work experience, you will NOT be in the same league as your peers when it comes to finding jobs and internships. This makes things difficult because all the on-campus recruiting is geared towards people with substantive experience. All things equal, you are much better off waiting for a couple years. </p>
<p>I can't answer your second question. Each IR school has a reputation for placing people in different types of places, but you have to be more specific than just 'international organizations.' For example, SIPA tends to do well placing people in the private sector and the UN. Fletcher sends more people than average into academia. </p>
<p>The average GPA is like 3.6, GREs are mid to high 600s, but this is with work experience. If you want to get in without it, plan on scoring significantly higher.</p>
<p>Thanks samonite16,
I major in management.
what if I work for companies (ex. Coca-cola, Samsung, etc.) for 2 or 3 yrs?
Does my job have to be related to international relations?</p>
<p>The work doesn't specifically have to be related to IR, but it helps if it is. What really matters is that you can make a compelling case through your application that IR school is the next logical career step for you. For example, if you were in business for a couple years you could make probably the case that you wanted international economics training to further your career and thus want to come to SAIS (or wherever) to study international financial systems. </p>
<p>An MA in IR is a professional degree; you need to go into it with a clear idea of what you are trying to achieve and how the degree will help you get it. This is probably more important with a top IR degree than with a JD or MBA, because an IR degree is a somewhat less well known commodity and doesn't confer as many 'hard' skills. Its very possible to float through the degree with no clear idea of what you're doing and end up 50k in debt and temping somewhere in DC.</p>
<p>KSG and WWS award MPPs and MPAs, which is a bit different than the MA in IR. The main thing is that domestic focused people do the MPA in addition to international types. This is somewhat of a disadvantage, as you can't get as narrow an IR specialization at KSG/WWS as you could at one of the pure IR schools. As far as coursework is concerned, the MPA is more focused toward actually implementing policy, as opposed to the MA which can be more theoretical and academic. For example, at KSG (at least according to a friend who went there) almost nobody ever writes papers longer than 2-3 pages, whereas students at Fletcher write a full fledged Masters Thesis. There is a lot of overlap between the degrees though, and many/most people apply to both.</p>
<p>I'm from Italy, majoring in business and economics, and would like to ask you whether all these International Relations graduate programs you're mentioning here (SAIS, SIPA, Fletcher, georgetown, etc.) are actually also appropriate for non-USA students. e.g. Georgetown "Foreign Services"... but "foreign" from the USA point of view, right?</p>
<p>Secondly, what do you think of the double degrees in MBA and International Affairs such as that offered by Columbia?
Would it be more appropriate for someone who wants to work in an international organization/company rather than a governmental/public institution?</p>
<p>A significant percentage of people in the IR programs you mention are non USA citizens, 30% and more. So yes, these programs would be appropriate.</p>
<p>The joint MBA/IR degree would be oriented towards business (private sector) rather than government/public work.</p>
<p>Here's my advice for all of you: The more quantitative, the better. Most of you will not come out doing what you went in planning on doing. The more "hard" skills you have to show at interview time, the better.</p>
<p>If you cannot get yourself into a quant-heavy program like SAIS, SIPA, IR/PS, etc., then seriously reconsider the degree. Nobody cares about a person with an MA in "area studies."</p>
<p>so basically an IR degree is pointless unless you get into a top grad school for it? and to do that, you would have to have unbelievably strong credentials?</p>
<p>I wouldn't say "unbelievably strong," really. Top 10 IR programs are usually 650-700 GRE and 3.5+, but that's nothing compared to top PhD programs.</p>
<p>Q; what do you mean by "hard skills"?
Q: If Princeton focuses more on implementing policy while SAIS on studying the political theory, then Princeton would be better fit for someone who want to work for gov't. right?</p>
<p>I mean skills like economics, finance, statistics, econometrics, etc. Those are the skills that will ultimately make you desirable across a range of employers.</p>
<p>As for implementation of policy, I would worry more about things like success with Presidential Management Fellowships, access to alumni networks, and internship opportunities. Oh, and quantitative work always always helps.</p>
<p>well, i guess by "unbelievably strong credentials" i really meant like notable internships, "extracurriculars," peace corps, etc. which are competitive to begin w/. if i dont get accepted into anything like that, would my hope of grad school for IR be nothing?</p>
<p>Goodness, no. Most of my classmates here and friends at other top programs have a wide variety of experiences. You'll be more than fine as long as you keep your scores up.</p>
<p>My major is Management.
I don't have many internships, job experiences, spectacular recommendations from my profs, etc. </p>
<p>I got Q:700, V:650, and my gpa would be 3.6-3.7 (hopefully). However, since all my friends have kept telling me that if I don't have job experiences, it would be hard for me to get into top IR schools. Therefore, I am thinking about working for firms for 2~3 yrs. </p>
<p>Q: Is it a good idea or should I just apply?</p>
<p>I am interested in studying China.
When I looked up the SAIS website, I found out that not only the school requires studying one area, but also it reuiqres students to specialize in other things, such as International Economics, Security, etc.
Besides China, I am interested in studying International Finance or Business.
I want to work for World Bank, or be an economic or security advisor.</p>
<p>Also look at SIPA and IR/PS. IR/PS seems to be willing to take straight-from-undergrad apps, but I recommend against it. Working for a few years will give you much better perspective and reasons for applying.</p>