<p>I believe SAIS wants a response to their offer of admission to M.A. applicants by May 9th if you have not been offered funding and April 21 if you have been offered funding.</p>
<p>From the email I received from SAIS:
"you can reply online at http:/... to our office no later than April 21, 2008 if you are the recipient of award funding, or May 9, 2008 if you are not. Confirmation of your acceptance of admission must be accompanied by a required, non-refundable $500 matriculation fee, which must be received at the Admissions Office by the appropriate deadline."</p>
<p>To answer my own question from earlier, in case anyone else is wondering the same thing, apparently admissions offers at SAIS are campus-specific, and therefore it's impossible to change. I am thinking of switching from European Studies (which I indicated on my application) to African Studies, for which you are only allowed to study one semester at Bologna, so perhaps that's a partial way into the full two years in DC...? I guess I'll have to ask them directly.</p>
<p>AS08, I've heard that many places will offer you an extension if you give a valid reason (which yours is). E-mail/call and ask...I'm sure you can get one.</p>
<p>Hey decided, yeah, African Studies! That seems like a big change from European Studies- why the change? My understanding is that AS is a new and growing department, so they might be quite amenable to getting another student in the concentration. </p>
<p>Though, actually, I'm not even sure I've been accepted to African Studies; the e-mail just said accepted and didn't specify which area, right? I live up the road from SAIS and haven't yet received the official admissions materials.</p>
<p>I focused on European Studies for the most part as an undergrad (polisci/IR double major). I also did some research on the AU and African governments, and how they tried to model themselves after European systems despite the disparateness between the two continents. So I'm very much interested in how an international organization like the African Union could be utilized for development (in African-specific terms, of course), much in the way that the progress of integration in Europe leading up to the EU aided in strengthening the European economy as well as lifting up lesser developed nations within the Union.</p>
<p>So, aside from that bit of research I did as an undergrad and my interest in it, I don't have much knowledge of the field. I played up European Studies in my application because that's what my background is in, but I don't know if I want to continue with it. I'm also really interested in International Development, and African Studies at SAIS seemed to be a way to study it without having to apply to the uber-competitive IDEV program, which I probably wouldn't have gotten into.</p>
<p>But yeah, I haven't received my official admissions materials, either, so I'm not even exactly sure which program I've been accepted to. However, I did get an offer at SAIS - Bologna, so I'm assuming that means European Studies...</p>
<p>What do you think of the African Studies program at Columbia? It doesn't seem to be quite as strong, at least from looking at the course listings. Do you think the African Studies program at SAIS is strong and well-regarded if it's new and growing? Any insight would be appreciated!</p>
<p>decided, I didn't apply to SIPA at Columbia at all because I didn't get the sense that there was a lot of Africa work happening there, and it seems like all the attention is on Sachs as far as Africa and development go. But I'm really not a good person to ask, because I approached the grad school process soooooo haphazardly. I think I was looking for reasons not to apply places because I just didn't want to spend the money.</p>
<p>The AU is a great thing to be researching; that's a really cool topic, and I think AS would be a good way to lean into IDEV (I wouldn't have gotten in, either). My interests are in civil society in areas with resource-based violence. For instance, I'm interested in what I perceive as a transition in the Niger Delta (Nigeria's oil-producing region) from ethnic conflict to a pan-ethnic movement couched in human- and environmental rights terms. (I worked in Nigeria for a little while, but it was in health policy.) I saw Peter Lewis, who heads the department at SAIS, speak on the Nigerian elections about a year ago, and I was just so impressed by his clear reasoning and depth of knowledge that I applied to SAIS. I haven't had a chance to do anything more than e-mail him since, and I've only briefly spoken with a current student in the program, so I don't have a lot of good information. </p>
<p>AS at SAIS is one of the more "left"-leaning departments, I hear. I'm cool with that, but I clearly need to learn more. There aren't that many AS classes, really, so I think you'd inevitably be rounding it out-- and there you could go to ES or IDEV.</p>
<p>Anyway, I'm between SAIS and African Studies at Stanford or Yale. I've got to decide whether to head more in the policy/development direction (SAIS) or the political science/culture direction (Stanford/Yale). oof.</p>
<p>I hope to apply to SAIS in the future. I am currently pursuing an undergraduate degree.</p>
<p>I have a question for those who applied and were accepted: up to what level math class did you take during while completing your undergraduate degree?</p>
<p>I plan to take the highest possible levels of courses in Political Science and International Studies, and some foundational and assorted Economics courses (Macroeconomics, Microeconomics, International Economics, Economic Systems of the World, etc.), but I am not the greatest at math and hope to avoid it at the higher levels (Calculus and beyond) if I can. Would I still stand a chance of acceptance at SAIS assuming I had a high GPA (3.8 - 4.0 - in Honors College) and GRE score (top 10 percentile)? What about my chances at other highly-ranked International Studies programs (Georgetown, Princeton, Chicago, etc.)?</p>
<p>Thank you for your help! Congratulations on your achievements and best of luck!</p>
<p>I wouldn't worry too much about the math. I was accepted to SAIS, and I didn't take any math classes as an undergraduate. Like you, I took several economics courses. One thing that I think makes a big difference at SAIS is work experience. No matter what your grades and GREs, very few people seem to get in right out of undergrad. I hear that Chicago accepts a number of such applicants though.</p>
<p>I had no math whatsoever in college. I took Calculus AP in high school, but that wasn't reflected anywhere in my application. I had three econ courses, though.</p>
<p>But yeah, to get in out of undergrad, I'd say you'd need a 3.8+, a 1400/5.5+, at least a year abroad, fluency in two or three languages, and at least 2 or 3 substantial internship experiences.</p>
<p>I waited a couple of years (I'll be 24 when I enter)...and though my work experience isn't necessarily that strong, I still have a few years of it, which I helps. I think they want work experience not only because of its relevance to your studies and the background it provides, but, as someone mentioned elsewhere, admissions also sees it as a sign of maturity.</p>
<p>And really, I think its invaluable. It really gave me a point of comparison and clearer perspective about why I wanted to go to grad school. I highly recommend working at LEAST a year before you decide to go back, if not two.</p>
<p>Another not-mathy person here. I took Calculus one summer during college and barely eked out a B. That, of course, was part of my application to SAIS, as was my unspectacular GRE Quant score. SAIS is more concerned with your Econ background than with your math background (not that those are mutually exclusive); I took macro and micro last summer and made sure I got As. But I do know that math/econ was my greatest weakness and had me worried. Amdathlon, it sounds like you do have a great foundation in economics. If you can do it without Calculus, you might try to take intermediate or advanced macro and micro as an undergraduate and then possibly place out of those at SAIS (thus freeing up your time for language study and electives). But don't worry about math. Take a year or two off for sure. You can do a lot of awesome stuff abroad just out of college if you don't have too many family or financial responsibilities.</p>
<p>Hey, decided and genericbill: my calculus is pretty terrible. I saw that we can rent precalc and calc DVDs prior to preterm. I'm thinking about doing that this summer, if I go to SAIS. How about you?</p>
<p>AfricanStudies, those DVDs sound like something I could definitely use. I haven't actually read about those yet. If I go to SAIS, I will definitely take advantage of that. </p>
<p>I know it is not required, but preterm seems like it is very popular. I am currently contracted with my employer until early August, so I probably would not be able to make it. Hopefully that wouldn't be too much of a disadvantage.</p>
<p>Sorry Gopher, I don't know why you have not heard yet. As far as I know, no one has gotten anything in the mail yet (including me), just e-mail notification.</p>
<p>"Sorry Gopher, I don't know why you have not heard yet. As far as I know, no one has gotten anything in the mail yet (including me), just e-mail notification."</p>
<p>Aw, crap.</p>
<p>Something tells me they saw my "Stop Toying with Me" thread and decided they would toy with me extra. Why they have to victimize an innocent kid like lapit, though, is beyond me.</p>
<p>I'm sorry GG, that sucks you're still waiting. I'm in the same boat with Georgetown. I haven't heard anything yet. I haven't received anything in the mail from SAIS, either, so perhaps you'll be getting your notification via snail mail.</p>
<p>AfricanStudies08: Can you pass along the information on those dvds?? I'm definitely worried about calc. I'm another non-math person who hasn't taken a single math class since I graduated high school...</p>
<p>I live in DC and one of my neighbors is current at SAIS. She said pre-term is definitely helpful, partly just for meeting new people, but also to get some of the econ off your back. I'm quite rusty so I'll probably try to get through as much as possible this summer when I believe its all P/F.</p>
<p>oh also, I spoke with someone at SAIS who said the bulk of mailings went out last Friday, so I'm guessing people will start seeing things tomorrow and Wednesday?</p>
<p>I'm a little worried about economics if I choose SAIS, actually. My understanding is that few students get first-year funding and second-year funding is based on academic performance in the first semester. Seems like a great opportunity for competition in those required classes. But I guess it must be doable; it seems like quite a few people are coming in with very little math background. I took my econ at USDA over the summer, and that apparently is considered preparation enough. I hope so.</p>