<p>SAIS is only graduate</p>
<p>*Cross-posted from a different thread! Apologies. </p>
<p>This thread is amazing! I read through nearly all 45 pages! Now, I have some questions of my own, and thanks in advance for your input. </p>
<p>I am currently a graduating senior from St. Louis U. joining the Peace Corps, departing in June for a francophone W. Africa country in the small business development sector. I would like to begin an IR/policy-related grad program immediately after the two years of service. This means I will have to endure the application process from Africa. I am attempting to gather as much info. as possible prior to my departure. </p>
<p>Just took the GRE last week: 510 verbal 700 quant. I worry about my verbal score. My undergrad degree is BS in finance, economics and minor in Int'l Business (overall GPA 3.6). I grew up in Taiwan until my teens so am fluent in Mandarin and Taiwanese, will hopefully gain complete fluency in French after the Peace Corps. I've held many private sector internships (mostly investment related), lived/worked abroad in the UK (interned at the US Embassy-Commerce, not State Dept).</p>
<p>I would like to apply for the NSEP Boren fellowship to learn Russian in whichever grad program I end up, preferably the opportunity to spend at least a semester if not a year in Russia. My studies of focus will be intl development. Here is a list Ive compiled, in no particular order: </p>
<p>Columbia SIPA
Georgetown SFS
George Washington Elliot
John Hopkins SAIS
Syracuse Maxwell
Upenn Fels (MGA)
American
Fordham IPED
Yale MacMillan </p>
<p>I havent heard the programs at Yale, Fordham or Upenn being discussed. Financing will be an issue for me since Ill have more than 30k of debt from undergrad and two years of making no money. </p>
<p>With all that being said, my questions are: 1.) Are the schools on the list realistic? 2.) Any other schools you suggest? 3.) Input on the Fordham program (I can attend for free if accepted). 4.) Any one school over another you would suggest given the information Ive provided? </p>
<p>Sorry for the lengthy post! Looking forward to your responses!</p>
<p>trendycafe, you'd be highly competitive for all the programs you apply for, especially in development after doing Peace Corps and with the other qualifications you listed. You might want to add Harvard MPA/ID and Fletcher. Don't be afraid to try!</p>
<p>I had a friend who got into Fordham and MSFS and went to Fordham because she was from another country and couldn't get loans for MSFS.</p>
<p>I can't really add much in response to your other questions.</p>
<p>(I am a first-year MSFS student.)</p>
<p>Hi everyone-- Does anybody know about the SAIS applicant information session this Friday (February 22)? I received an invite for this via e-mail last week. I don't understand the logic of hosting a session after applications are submitted but before decisions are made. I've already visited the school, but I work in DC, anyway, so I will likely attend. Anyone else?</p>
<p>(I'm new here, BTW, and not really a typical IR applicant, as I've applied exclusively to African Studies programs.)</p>
<p>trendycafe, Good thinking getting a leg up on apps before you head out for PC. I'm so grateful I took my GRE right after graduation and before heading overseas. I have heard of folks successfully applying from Africa, but being organized is a must. Have a great experience!</p>
<p>Hello to all, just stumbled across this place today. Also a current Peace Corps guy applying to grad schools for fall 08. Just wondering what people thought about the schools for Eastern European studies and Russian language specializations. I applied to JHU, GW, Syracuse, Denver, and Monterey Institute. JHU and GW are at the top of my wish list but not really expecting much. Already been accepted to Monterey and Syracuse. Not overly concerned with acceptance, I'll get in or I won't but would like to hear people's thoughts on the programs.</p>
<p>Thanks</p>
<p>gwilikins-</p>
<p>I'm also looking at concentrating on Eastern European/Russian studies. I'm applying to GW and SAIS along with Columbia, which seems to have the strongest program in this field through the Harriman Insitute. From what I can tell, both SAIS and GW have pretty strong Russian language programs, though language proficiency gets more of an emphasis at SAIS. I went to an open house there and met some of the Russia/Eurasian studies people there last year. I got the impression that it's a pretty small program and perhaps doesn't get the resources some of the other programs there receive, but it's still quite strong. </p>
<p>Don't really know much about the other schools you listed. Good luck!</p>
<p>AS08-</p>
<p>I did. I don't understand it, really. I'm not going. I actually would have considered going, because on the off chance I get accepted to JHU and a school in another city I probably won't be able to visit both on account of work. That might be the reasoning behind offering the visit; to give working applicants the opportunity to spread out official feeling visits. That was my reason for scheduling a visit to SIPA right before I got the SAIS e-mail.</p>
<p>I assume you also got the e-mail from the African Diaspora Committee, which inspired my "Stop Toying with me, Johns Hopkins" thread. </p>
<p>Mikko-</p>
<p>Oletko suomalainen?</p>
<p>Thanks for the info Mikko. Does anyone on here know much about the Monterey Institute? Kind of low on my list, but hard to beat that location...</p>
<p>Anyone know the academic reputation of the SSEES school at UCL?</p>
<p>Everyone, </p>
<p>There's a great survey that is done by Sarah Lawrence College of international relations professors every year. Sarah Lawrence asks them an array of questions, among which is "what are the five best terminal masters programs in international relations for a student who wants to pursue a policy career?"</p>
<p>(the survey can be found on the 27th page of this document: <a href="http://www.wm.edu/irtheoryandpractice/trip/surveyreport06-07.pdf%5B/url%5D">http://www.wm.edu/irtheoryandpractice/trip/surveyreport06-07.pdf</a></p>
<p>)</p>
<p>The answer to the above question is:</p>
<p>1.Georgetown</p>
<p>2.Johns Hopkins</p>
<p>3.Harvard</p>
<p>4.Tufts</p>
<p>5.Columbia</p>
<p>6.Princeton</p>
<p>7.George Washington University</p>
<p>8.American University</p>
<p>9.University of Denver</p>
<p>10.Syracuse University</p>
<p>11.University of California San Diego</p>
<p>12.University of Chicago</p>
<p>13.Yale</p>
<p>14.Stanford</p>
<p>15.Pittsburgh</p>
<p>16.University of MD</p>
<p>17.MIT</p>
<p>18.Monterey Institute</p>
<p>Gopher - Olen Amerikkalainen (sp?). I spent some time in the Scandinavian/Nordic countries and somehow came to prefer the Suomen version of my name to 'Mike'. </p>
<p>I also received the JHU emails. If I can sneak out of work a bit early, I'm probably going to the SAIS info session today.</p>
<p>Mikko-</p>
<p>Dead on. Hyv</p>
<p>This is a really great, informative thread you have going on here.
Thank you guys for everything.</p>
<p>I'm looking for some advice pertaining to my complex issue.</p>
<p>I attend a relatively unknown public university in Pennsylvania (West Chester University) and I am a sophomore International Relations BA major with a minor in French (which I might possibly augment to a double major). I am receiving decently high marks (I have a 3.83 GPA).</p>
<p>I will be studying abroad through Rutgers University in Tours, France for a year looking to become fluent in French. I am already fluent in Spanish. </p>
<p>I have to two important questions. </p>
<ol>
<li><p>I have the option of transferring to Rutgers University for my junior year, travel abroad through their program for a year and then come back, finish the rest of my undergrad there (possibly do an extra semester due to loss of transfer credits). The sole reason I would transfer would be for the sake of Rutgers' name recognition. Do you guys think my chances of getting into a top 20 IR school would drastically improve if I transferred to a school with more of a name recognition? </p></li>
<li><p>My other option is staying at West Chester. Hopefully graduating with the same marks that I am receiving now, with studying abroad for a year on my r</p></li>
</ol>
<p>Can I have some insight on Yale MacMillan? How hard is it to get into right after a first master's degree from France (probably an M.P.A from Sciences-Po ) with relatively no full-time work experience (but some related internships at the Foreign Ministry and at an exchange student organization). I'm currently an econ. major with two strong concentrations on French History and Foreign Languages (English, Spanish, Russian.) My GPA is quite low (around 3.3) but my history and language GPA is near perfect, and I have a good explanation for that.</p>
<p>I'm studying next year at Warwick, through the Erasmus program btw and I already studied a year in the U.S.</p>
<p>The thing is I want to study both IR and Public Affairs and get a master's in each country to keep my options open (which is more useful than it sounds, in France at least) and I'm not particularly looking for a great education but more for a brand (which is why I'm considering ivies more particularly,) given that in France you truly are where you went. </p>
<p>So if you have any suggestions, please do share :). Thanks a bunch.</p>
<p>I'm in the Bay Area, and would like to stay local, but saw this ranks down at number 18 or so? I thought it was a good school? I have an MA in Chinese Studies from Stanford but would like to get involved in international human rights work focusing on the Middle East. I'm not so interested in a deeply academic program, but rather want something that's career oriented.</p>
<p>Pardon me for asking, but where do some of you guys get your money? One of you has a terminal MA from Stanford and now wants to attend the Monterrey Institute. Another is doing an MPA at Sciences Po and wants to get another masters degree at Yale. Who is financing all this? Am I the only one who is too broke to afford ONE masters degree, let alone several!?</p>
<p>jmleadpipe,</p>
<p>Don't feel too bad. I'm just starting to figure out my post-MA finances.</p>
<p>jinli,</p>
<p>Monterey is fine, but I wouldn't go too much into debt for it.</p>
<p>For anyone who might be considering applying to masters programs in IR, I just want to chime in to say that I have chosen the MSFS program at Georgetown over SAIS, Tufts Fletcher and SIPA. Certainly each school has special strong points, but I am convinced that for my set of goals, Georgetown will provide me with the best academic experience and job training. </p>
<p>There has been some speculation on these forums that Georgetown MSFS, despite its top slot in the latest Foreign Policy rankings, is overrated and is actually a second tier school. I admit that this troubled me when I first read these opinions, and they made me think hard before making a decision. Upon looking into the facts and thoroughly researching each program however, I discovered that this speculation was entirely unwarranted. I would say that there was no basis for these claims other than some erroneous gut feelings and possibly some badly outdated information. In my opinion the MSFS program is certainly among the best IR masters programs in the world today.<br>
I would also like to add a note about rankings. True, there are some people who rely too heavily on the rankings as a one-shot guide to picking the best school. This is a mistake. The rankings are not going to be able to tell you if SAIS is better than MSFS or if Tufts Fletcher is better than SIPA. On the other end of the spectrum however, there is also a vocal group that completely denounces rankings as being worthless and/or counterproductive. This is also a mistake. For someone that may not be at all familiar with Tufts Fletcher, the rankings could tell someone that it is actually a program to consider looking into further. Since each potential student has a different set of goals, it makes it impossible to definitively label one as the best. However, rankings can provide a rough sketch of where schools stand in any given field. There are thousands of schools in the US alone, and it can be difficult to discern which schools are truly top-notch. Sometimes schools with the best PR are not the ones with the best academics. Word of mouth and advice from professors are certainly a couple of good ways to garner information, however these methods alone may not be all-encompassing. If the rankings are taken for what they are - a broad outline of where the schools stand - then they can be very useful. There is always a danger of taking the rankings too far, however I would argue that rankings are much more empirical than simply relying on historical reputation and/or word of mouth alone. In the end there is no replacement for researching the academic programs that each school has to offer, however rankings can provide some guidance.</p>
<p>Well I'm not actually attending Sciences Po yet but I'm very confident as I was said to "fit the profile perfectly". And you should know that never in my entire life have I spent a dime for my education. High school? Free. Sorbonne? Free. Grad school? Free. I even got a scholarship for my exchange student year in Missouri. </p>
<p>I will, however, have to pay for Yale, that is if I'm given the privilege to attend. It will be a pain but that investment will most definitely pay off... and not to forget that the dollar is very cheap.</p>
<p>Hi. So I'm applying to International PR and Global Communications MA programs. I am looking at ones that are top 20 US and/or international programs so that I can be abroad for at least one year. Can anyone recommend some? I got a decent GPA at UCDavis and I want to do NGO international PR/Comm/Mediation work for a career so I need something that will help me get experience without being super competitive. Any suggestions would be great!</p>