<p>Aww. Thanks. Though frankly, the absurdity of the application progress is ripe with material.</p>
<p>New User,</p>
<p>Damn youuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu!!! Walked into that one.</p>
<p>AS08,</p>
<p>I haven't visited any schools yet, so take this with a spoonful of salt. I am looking to focus on security and when I looked through the programs and their curricula I came to the conclusion that JHU and Georgetown were more for fin. policy and security. The "top shelf" schools with a development focus were more Columbia and Harvard. As you mention, it's sort of a squishy, not-fully-accurate thing.</p>
<p>Of course you'll get a stellar education for development at JHU. But I suppose you'll want to: 1) further investigate this issue of you are accepted; and, 2) decide if attending a school slightly off focus is good or bad. I applied to SIPA despite my impression that I will be one of few students really focused on security.</p>
<p>I think I heard the word "opportunity" about 500 times. Meanwhile the students on the panel weren't quite so sure about their job prospects. </p>
<p>I guess they'll have to "utilize" the "resources" of the career office some more.</p>
<p>Lame, really lame. Turned me off to the school actually. And why the hell do people in the audience ask questions about language exams, final exams, and other NONSENSE if they already applied? Privileged rich kids and affirmative action minorities who can afford to declare themselves idealistic while other people actually have to make a living.</p>
<p>^^ Eurefugee - that's actually a very interesting observation, thanks for sharing. I feel kind of vindicated because I didn't apply to SAIS due in part to that certain "vibe" and despite outside suggestions that I really should. Would you mind elaborating a bit on your impressions?</p>
<p>The worst part of those panels is that students and applicants love to ask questions that only pertain to their particular situations, wasting everyone else's time. Get used to it. Orientation will be the same way.</p>
<p>Human rights...well, go look at the faculty, see if the profs line up with what you're interested in. I'm not sure looking at the current student body would help you form a good impression.</p>
<p>I heard the rumors about SAIS folks having problems getting jobs. It might be because SAIS is churning out a lot of finance-types into a shocked finance sector. It might also just be wild, unsubstantiated rumor, too.</p>
<p>Gopher/Volscio: Thanks for the insights on human rights. I admire and respect the chair of African Studies at SAIS; in fact, he's largely the reason I applied. But if I'm accepted and attend, I want it to at least be a pretty good fit. I definitely believe that one can learn a lot by being outside one's comfort zone, and I'm sure I would appreciate the insights of others with very different interests. I was hoping that the information session would take some of the information contained in applications to personalize the experience-- if they had done a break-out session by concentration with a current student or faculty member, that would have been awesome. </p>
<p>I actually felt pretty awful about the people who traveled considerable distances, only to hear what already appears on the website and application materials. There wasn't even a tour, though I guess people who are really on the ball might have arranged class visits. Someone stood up during the information panel and basically asked, "So, I've applied. Are you using this to evaluate us? Are you going to tell us we're accepted?" That clearly wasn't the case, but there was a lot of nervous laughter-- I think that a good number of applicants in the room had arrived thinking the same thing. It's hard to act logically when you're hoping for something so important, and I get the impression that people spent a lot of money to get to DC only to find out all applicants had been invited. It really could have been handled better.</p>
<p>EU: I consider myself idealistic, but I also have to make a living and I recognize that. Taking out huge loans for an MA and trying to go from there into NGO/think tank work/PhD is a scary prospect.</p>
<p>I went to the session as well. I was also a bit disappointed; it was more or less just like the session I went to earlier. Not a whole lot of new information. A breakout session by field of study would have been really nice, as most things seem geared towards the Development program (probably since the head of the department was there). </p>
<p>AfricanStudies - You might want to ask the department for the email addresses of some current or former students. I'm sure they'd have more insight into the student body composition. </p>
<p>For what it's worth, I've known two people who've gone to SAIS, both of whom found pretty good jobs afterwards. I think the key to succeeding post-graduation is to come in with a strong sense of what you want out of the degree.</p>
<p>Thanks for the insight, guys. It is pretty disappointing to hear that, as well as to confront the spectre of "life-after-school". I've already got law school debt, so I'm hoping to avoid huge amounts of debt. I wish I didn't love subjects that offer so little funding.</p>
<p>I'm going to visit SIPA this weekend. It doesn't sound as though the prospective student tour will be that awesome. Despite the assurance of several people here that some effort would be expended to make visit of even a prospective student useful, I don't get the impression that I will learn much or have good access to people that can answer my questions.</p>
<p>Please post your impressions after your visit to SIPA, GG - I'd love to hear your perspective. I wish I'd had the opportunity to visit my schools of choice, but it just didn't pan out.</p>
<p>If you get nothing else from your visit, make sure you find out whether or not the nearest pub has Guinness AND Harp on tap - that will ensure whether or not it's a quality institution. ;)</p>
<p>Yeah, I'll be really interested to hear what you think of SIPA, GG. I'm planning on heading there sometime in March to check it out as well. While it's probably my top choice, academically speaking, the fact that it's more expensive and would entail moving make me a little less enthusiastic. I get the impression that they're stingy with financial aid as well (surprise!).</p>
<p>More teasing from Johns Hopkins...anyone else get the e-mail about the extended Philip Merrill fellowship deadline? Did anyone apply to this already? Seems like a pretty sweet deal...</p>
<p>I saw it today and immediately thought of all my fellow passengers from CC on this Ship of Applicant Fools. I will apply next week, but I'm in NY for my Columbia visit (tomorrow). As requested, I'll provide as full a report as possible.</p>
<p>yeah, got that one too...bastards. I have also gotten one that says "Between now and early April, you are unlikely to receive further correspondence from the admissions office. However, please rest assured that your application is now complete and under full consideration." Yeah, right.</p>
<p>Is it tough to get into SIPA without fulltime work experience? In case I don't get into SAIS I'm considering a move to NYC. What other nice schools are there in the NYC area? Any really, even business or finance. Hmm. Anyone who's willing to share some info.. please contact me privately. I have this fear that the SAIS people are reading this board ;)</p>
<p>I know, it's hilarious, isn't it? It makes me wonder if the applicant list was just dumped onto that listserve accidentally.</p>
<p>eu,</p>
<p>At my meeting with Columbia yesterday, they mentioned that they are skeptical of taking people right out of undergrad, but metioned that certain obvious factors (study and travel abroad, internship and other 'real world' leadership experience) could convince the panel that the younger applicant is "mature" enough to attend. It looked from their stats like maybe 20-25% of the students have less than one year work experience.</p>
<p>As for the rest of my impression:</p>
<p>I think my experience was a bit skewed by the fact only one other applicant came to my session. I mentioned before that my requests to speak with professors or the CSO had all been denied under more or less reasonable logic. There was no tour, but we were free to roam about the school. The presenter was actually the chair of admission (gulp!) and tailored the presentation to the two of us. My questions were answered (not always with the detail I would have liked, but one guy can't know everything) and the presentation itself was relatively complete and informative. </p>
<p>Three major things jumped out at me:</p>
<p>1) Georgetown's SFS has already started sending out letters; the girl who attended the SIPA session with me had been admitted. The presenter said that SIPA will release a large batch (~50%) of decisions on Tuesday.</p>
<p>2) The person who set up the presentation commented that there were so few of us at this meeting and mentioned that a group of Chinese potentials showed up on Thursday and asked to join our group. SIPA declined, apparently, because the group would have required a translator and they wanted us two to have distraction-free opportunity to hear the presentation and ask questions. That was either really stupid from a business perspective or showed good integrity to us. Or both.</p>
<p>3) SIPA gets a bad rap for being stingy with money. Indeed, only a handful of students get first year fellowships (averaging 10K in value). However 70% of second year students get fellowships averaging 20K. I don't know how that compares to other schools, but if a student can swing the 25K in fellowships, a few in outside scholarships, the loan load won't be too bad (particularly if you get a work-study or can work part-time). Columbia estimates that the 21 month term will cost between 100-120K, I would guess more like 90K for the frugal student.</p>
<p>Post any questions and I will gladly respond.</p>
<p>GG: Great review! It was very enlightening, especially your notes about the work experience statistics of accepted students. If it holds true for most other institutions, then I still have some hope! </p>
<p>By the way, your note that Georgetown has started sending out letters sent me into hyperventilation. Thanks for that.</p>
<p>After an interview weekend an e-mail from the grad coordinator with the name of the school as the subject. First line in gmail pops up as "The Graduate Recruiting Committee of the Department of Biological Sciences"</p>
<p>Open the e-mail and continue:</p>
<p>"would like to thank you for attending our recent recruiting visit....Please take a few moments to complete our survey"</p>
<p>Best kicker, one of the questions in the survey asks where we will be matriculating. All before they have sent out results of the weekend.</p>
<p>Sorry for the bit off topic, but thought this group could relate.</p>
<p>Thanks for the update GG. Columbia seemed to release the bulk of their decisions last year on March 6th, which corresponds to March 4th this year (first Tuesday in March), so hopefully we'll be in for some good news tomorrow!</p>