<p>really sorry for the haphazard mail…
kept getting errors and the reply didn’t get posted .
i am so glad it finally did !
Thanks in advance !</p>
<p>Just wanted to get feedback on my profile. I’m applying right now.</p>
<p>Graduated 2000 Brown univ. B.A. Biology, B.A. philosophy G.P.A 3.9
Medical school —finished 3 yrs but did not complete.</p>
<p>GRE V740 Q800 A 5.0
I have tons of quant. research experience as expected from a science background.</p>
<p>Worked 3 yrs as health care admin
Started small business 2 yrs present
Lived in india 4 months --hospital needle exchange program
Understand Hindi but can’t read or write
basic french, reading and writing
Have taken lots of math, a little econ, and a couple of american policy course in undergrad but apart from that I don’t really have much background in the area. obviously i’m a mid career changer but i’m wondering if that is enough?</p>
<p>I’m a senior at a UMass Boston (a mid/low tier state university), getting ready to apply for grad school Fall, 2011. I’m a bit of a non-traditional student: messed around too much in college my first go around, atrocious GPA, took some summer classes at another school, community college for a year, then up and joined the Marines in 2004. I’ve been back for just over a year now, and my GPA for these final two years of my undergrad at this school so far is pretty strong (3.93, for the year that I’ve been here). I’m also writing an undergrad thesis on Sino-Iranian relations, enrolled in a graduate course here (Globalization and Development), and my GREs are pretty decent (620v, 760q, still waiting for writing score). </p>
<p>I’ve also done some research and shortlisted my schools and programs to five, in order of descending preference: GTown, Security Studies/SFS; GWU, Security Policy/Elliot; American, Comparative Regional Studies/SIS; Tufts, MALD; BU, IR. I was in DC about a month ago and met with admissions officers from GTown and AU-- my average GREs are on par with the scores from the latest admitted cohort. But I have some anxieties.</p>
<p>First, is how my abysmal performance the first time I was an undergrad will affect my application. Second, my work experience, though valuable and enriching in many ways, did not have much to do with IR. I would imagine graduate admissions are looking for work related experience, and use that as a metric to see how an applicant has applied his/her undergraduate knowledge. Since my work experience came before I finished my bachelors, I wonder if that will have an adverse impact on my application. Another caveat to this is that for the schools that require letters of recommendations from past supervisors from a professional setting, I have fallen out of touch with most of mine, and the ones who knew me best are about 2-3 years removed from the last time we worked together. Some aren’t even around (deployed, retired, etc). Consequently, I feel awkward in asking for these letters since so much time has elapsed. I did intern briefly at a foreign policy think tank this summer though, but a recommendation from there would be much less informed about my work and me as a candidate.</p>
<p>Finally, my top two choices are for Security Studies programs… I originally reasoned that this is kind of the fast track to employment in the US Intelligence Community, which is where I want to be. Lately, I have been concerned over the potential limitations of such a specific terminal degree, and wonder, if I might be better served with a more generalist IR degree. Should I consider applying for GTown’s MSFS over its SSP?</p>
<p>I welcome any advice or guidance on my situation!</p>
<p>Hi All,</p>
<p>Currently I’m a Peace Corps volunteer in Armenia, and I’ve been accepted via early notification through Tufts, I also expect to be accepted by Georgetown, and before joining the Peace Corps I was accepted at SAIS.</p>
<p>I decided to join the peace corps because even though I was accepted at SAIS, I didn’t get any money and was rejected by Tufts and GT because of lack of work experience, so I thought some real world intl experience would help me out, and it already seems like it has:)</p>
<p>SAIS used to be my top choice, but because their language requirement is so strict (my highly proficient Armenian wouldn’t be accepted for the proficiency requirement, and I’d definitely need to take coursework to improve my Russian), I’ve narrowed it down to Tufts and GT which have no problem with less widely spoken languages.</p>
<p>Assuming financially they are equal (even though from the forums it seems Tufts is more generous with scholarships and financial aid, which I won’t hear about for a few months), which should I choose? I know DC is probably the better location, but having visited both schools a couple years ago, it seems like Tufts’ students are much closer and the school has a more personal touch. </p>
<p>What do people think? Thanks</p>
<p>dmurph–I wouldn’t go with Tufts unless they give you some money. Their tuition plus the cost of living in the area is pretty high when you will seemingly have other good options.</p>
<p>IRinBenelux: I am a Sciences-Po (Paris) alumni and it is an absolutely fantastic institution, and everyone in the French speaking world knows it, not to mention most others involved in international affairs. Outside of Sciences-Po (No the other Sciences-Po’s outside of Paris does not count) and HEI, the only other really worthwhile universities are in London. Oxford (I’m biased), LSE, Cambridge, St Andrews, and Edinburgh are brilliant and UCl is always solid, King’s outside of War Studies (and even then I don’t rate the quality of their students much) is not worth it. </p>
<p>hayatangmk: Do not bother with SIS / American. It is the refuge generally of those who couldn’t get into Elliott (GW) or Georgetown (SFS). I have two friends who went to GW and GTown, both quite bright and the programmes are fairly similar in quality, though if your goal is ever to work as Foreign Service Officer, GTown wins out. </p>
<p>Rahvin: You can’t go wrong with Oxbridge, LSE, or UCl. My girlfriend chose UCl over LSE and I studied (undergraduate) at Oxford, but none of these options will set you off poorly. I would nominally say Oxford due to personal bias and name recognition outside of the UK. </p>
<p>chapeloffrock: I won’t lie to you, your undergraduate institution will hurt you, especially because you don’t have the work experience to separate yourself from it. You should forget SIPA, GTown, Fletcher, and GWU due to your lack of experience and undergraduate institution. You may have a chance at UCSD or American but I would advise you to get some work experience and try applying in 2-3 years, as neither degree is overly worth it.</p>
<p>hcss11: Coming from an unranked university to a third tier university, you will have to massively crush your GPA (3.7+) and your GRE. Your experience, while varied is fairly typical in DC and even in that market you will be going up against people with the same or better experience / internships but from significantly superior programmes (Georgetown and GW). Regarding the schools you mentioned SAIS, Harvard, or GTown you will need a few years of work experience to have a chance at the tier below and unless you ace your GREs and GPA you will have no chance at Harvard or the other two most likely. </p>
<p>neha87: Your scores are good albeit you could do with raising your AWA. Your languages will be of immense help, though another year or two of work experience if the right kind of place / org could put you in with a shout at top programmes. </p>
<p>counterhit121: The more specific your master’s the better, at least in terms of the IC. Your grades from your first go around will be a negative, however can be mitigated by a lack of maturity and your new grades plus experience in the Marines will be great and should be more than enough to overcome it. I would also focus on studying a high demand language for your career goals.</p>
<p>Do any of the top policy school <em>NOT</em> have a language requirement? It looks like SAIS doesn’t, but people here say it does? I am a senior at Swarthmore double major in math and poli sci, I have a 3.85, GRE is 710V 800Q, summer internship at intelligence agency. I am taking a year off to try to get some work experience and I would like to apply for Fall 2012. The biggest missing chunk I think is language. Any help?</p>
<p>PallMall: “though if your goal is ever to work as Foreign Service Officer, GTown wins out.” I have a really hard time understanding how you can substantiate this. Name brand means little in the government, especially a field like the Foreign Service where you also need to take a very difficult test as part of the process.</p>
<p>Andrassy, not only does SAIS have a language requirement, but they only accept major world langauges, which is my problem with them and is why I’m only torn between GT and Fletcher. I would recommend taking a year or two off to study or work in another country to get your language skills up. That’s one reason I did Peace Corps, and it’s paying off now.</p>
<p>Thanks flyers29 on your thoughts to my earlier post. Any other thoughts by anyone on Fletcher vs. Georgetown?</p>
<p>flyers29: You are very mistaken indeed. First, the Foreign Service exam is hardly difficult in my opinion. I passed it my first attempt and was done with it well before the time limit. Second, if you had actually worked at all in the Foreign Service Georgetown is without a doubt the most represented university around for FSO’s. And yes name brand does mean quite a bit in government. Ranging from the IC community (NSA heavily targets MIT and Caltech, CIA targets HYP and the service academies to a lesser extent, and DIA heavily focuses on APSIA schools for their entry level programme) to State (which aside from Gtown has a fair number of GW, Tufts, etc grads). </p>
<p>The people who downplay these connections are generally those on the outside looking in and trying to convince themselves that State U or other middle tier university graduates can compete on a consistent basis with top grads. From banking to law to government, this is simply not true. There are exceptions, but they just prove the rule.</p>
<p>dmurph: It depends what your goals are. Both are great schools, but if you are looking to work abroad Gtown has better name recognition and a bit better connections in the DC area for obvious reasons. But Fletcher is still a solid school without a doubt.</p>
<p>How do Dartmouth grads do? They have a pretty intense language classes from what I hear. Just curious. They have a pretty high percentage that study abroad in language based programs.</p>
<p>I’d say go where your heart is. Wherever you go, however, solid GRE scores are a MUST. I almost got rejected by Josef Korbel School at the University of Denver, but appealed their decision and won. You have to fight doggedly like you’re one mean mother****er, but you’d best have something to back it up with. In my case, my lackluster UGPA notwithstanding, I had GOOD GRE scores–650 on the V Section, 580 on the Q and a 5.5 on the AWA!–and eight years of teaching experience with which to fight. (Did I tell you that I embarked upon course upgrades at my alma mater just to prove that I was motivated and determined to succeed?)</p>
<p>And no, given my lackluster UGPA, Korbel did not offer me a scholarship.</p>
<p>Hey guys,</p>
<p>I’m interested in applying & (hopefully getting accepted) to a top grad program in international relations or with an international relations focus. I’d like to apply to Princeton, Harvard, and Hopkins among others and I was hoping I could get some feedback on my chances based on my credentials. </p>
<p>I graduated in 2009 from a small state university, I have a BS in finance with a GPA of 3.9</p>
<p>I have several yrs working experience as a beach lifeguard, have had over a 100 rescues, several emergency situations, etc…</p>
<p>I am a public school teacher in an urban school system (very difficult setting), and by the time I apply to grad schools I will have about 2-3 yrs experience in the position. To do this I got accepted into a very competitive region specific program through which I am taking educational courses and will receive my professional teacher certification, but will not have a Masters out of it or anything.</p>
<p>I have not yet taken the GRE yet, but I plan to study hard and hopefully receive a strong score, I also plan to have about 9-12cr of Spanish by the time I apply and will have decent recommendations.</p>
<p>Any feedback is greatly appreciated, would very much like to get accepted into a prestigious program.</p>
<p>Thank you in advance!</p>
<p>Regucating,</p>
<p>A lot will depend on the GRE, but I think that the one challenge besides that you’ll have is that I don’t get a lot of sense of international experience. Can you go into that a bit more?</p>
<p>Thank you for the response! </p>
<p>Yes, I have little international experience, aside from a couple months living in Puerto Rico (which is U.S. territory I know). I was considering teaching abroad in Europe or elsewhere for a year before applying to programs, but it would complicate my personal time-line as to being able to matriculate right when I come back.</p>
<p>Or I would like to study abroad while enrolled in such Master’s programs, but again feedback is appreciated. </p>
<p>Thanks.</p>
<p>Hello all,</p>
<p>So I’ve gotten a response back from all of my schools, and I’m 7 for 7. SAIS, SIPA, GW, Fletcher, GTown, American, and Sciences Po PSIA. Now comes the hard part… decisions.
After looking around the internet, I’ve pretty much seen where all of these schools stand, except for Sciences Po. My interest is in the Economic and Political Development program, with a concentration on the Middle East. Yet my question is how does Sciences Po rank against the big name US IR universities when it comes time to get a job with an NGO or State Department?
Also, I have been accepted for an MA at SIPA’s EPD program, GTown MSFS, GW’s Middle East Studies (good scholarship, can’t remember how much), and Fletcher MALD (13,000 a year). My eventual goal is to work with the UN/USAID on development or maybe another NGO. What do you think?</p>
<p>egyptos,</p>
<p>At this point, I would consider cost. Any idea how much debt with which you’ll finish each program?</p>
<p>HI Folks! Decisions are due this Friday, and it’s down to the Columbia SIPA or Fletcher MALD for me. I would appreciate your insights. Here’s what I’ve gathere so far:</p>
<p>Fletcher:
*Small, strong community of students & faculty known as the ‘Fletcher Mafia’ when they attend recruitment/networking events
*Very strong alum presence in the State Dept. and the UN
*Very flexible course-curriculum
*Can cross-register at Harvard / KSG / HBS
*Very well respected in circles who know
*Tufts not a strong brand name
*Boston location makes networking & internships tougher
–> was given a small $9k scholarship to attend</p>
<p>Columbia:
*Stronger institutional brand name
*Very reputable faculty in the South Asia dept.
*More friendly with the private sector employers
*Gets bigger speakers to attend
*Better location for networking, jobs
–> no scholarship</p>
<p>Any other insights? Thoughts on which program to attend?</p>
<p>Many thanks!</p>