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What I take issue with are students who want apply to IR programs because they want to "see the world" as well as students who apply to Columbia or Harvard not because they have any need or desire for an IR degree or plan on using it to actually do anything related to IR, but because they want a degree from Harvard or Columbia.
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<p>Well, one problem with people earning SAIS/SIPA/Fletcher type degrees is that they set themselves up for a lot of different things potentially - academics, business, non-profit -- if the folks have the right basic credentials anyway at least. And so there is a quotient of people which doesn't really know what he or she wants to do and they are the ones who can lack focus or enough drive or experience to get into something good after the programs at least straight out. I don't think that has a lot to do with the teaching or potential for usefulness of the program, though one could argue that the program should have ferreted out unfocused people. With respect to SAIS at least, most if not all of those admitted by definition have already seen the world. Having lacked some focus, though not drive, I believe that is not always a bad thing. One friend who went to SIPA (after failing to get into SAIS because he didn't have a sufficient post-undergrad record of accomplishment is my guess) has gone on to become an acclaimed overseas correspondent. Eventually he found his focus. Oh, and I have run into plenty top MBA grads who either completed changed their foci or faked their way into the program even though they never really had a focus and they've continued without one. If these people can afford to go to these programs, who am I to judge? I would advise people to wait another year or try out another track and narrow down their options and develop a focus ideally prior to going to graduate school. Did I do this? No, I turned down the top MBA and went to SAIS instead...and have lived a life lacking focus. But at least I continued to see the world....which by the way is a pretty cool thing to do. What you probably object to really is that daddy is paying for a lot of people with those kinds of goals and they aren't figuring out the hard stuff and they're kind of dilettantish. I am one who hesitates to call these schools professional schools. I prefer quasi-professional school as a moniker.</p>