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JerryK
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devpolicy reacted to a post in a topic: international development= bad career move right now
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The Fletcher School MALD, Chicago MPP, LSE, Denver
JerryK replied to Postgrad's topic in Government Affairs Forum
ExponentialDecay answered the question far better than I could. Just read his response. -
The Fletcher School MALD, Chicago MPP, LSE, Denver
JerryK replied to Postgrad's topic in Government Affairs Forum
I strongly agree with went_away turkeyduck regarding Fletcher and SAIS being very poor investments if you are going to accumulate a lot of debt. They are certainly not worth it and will not have the impact on your future jobs that you expect, especially Fletcher. Since Fletcher is in a suburb of Boston and removed from IR centers (a disadvantage compared to SIPA in NYC or all the schools in DC), they compensate with a lot of heavy promotion. So I was glad to see the response on here from turkeyduck81. I slightly disagree on Korbel being far behind Fletcher. Many people, myself included, would say Korbel is a fantastic school and not far behind Fletcher. I have spoken with many grads from both institutions. But as always, consider how much debt you will accumulate. Good luck. -
Assuming to want to stick with intelligence/national security type work, I have to agree with went_away. Texas A&M is very well known for national security studies. And while SIS is in DC, it is more known for humanitarian assistance, international development, non-profits, aid agency work.
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A friend who applied for a Boren fellowship this year asked me to post this question that he hadn't seen: What happens if you cannot find a federal job for your required year of service after the language training? Do you have to pay back the cost of your language training? This question is more relevant these days because of the federal hiring freeze. Is there a point where they write off your federal service requirement if you can show you are unable to find anything? Federal positions might be more difficult to find in the future.
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American SIS or Syracuse Maxwell
JerryK replied to irapplicant17's topic in Government Affairs Forum
The answer is obvious: go to Maxwell. You would be nuts to turn down that offer to attend American. What will be the difference in your future career based on which school you attend? Almost nothing, especially since you'll get your last semester in DC. I would advise differently if you were not talking about two schools that are very similar. American may be a better fit in terms of coursework and research interests, but will it be worth a huge amount of debt? Probably not in my opinion. You're talking about $80,000 in debt to head to a school that is similarly ranked simply because the program sounds like a slightly better fit. If Maxwell did not have a Peace, Security, and Conflict focus, I might hesitate to provide this advice but it sounds like it won't be too different. Also, do not think that American is much more highly ranked than Maxwell. They're both very close in terms of their ranking.- 18 replies
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Merantau reacted to a post in a topic: international development= bad career move right now
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international development= bad career move right now
JerryK replied to PaulRR's topic in Government Affairs Forum
Trump's budget proposal will come out on Thursday according to the Washington Post. https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/through-his-budget-a-bottom-line-look-at-trumps-new-washington/2017/03/12/29739206-05be-11e7-b9fa-ed727b644a0b_story.html?utm_term=.ef5347e1e650 As mentioned earlier, this will be a long process and some members of Congress will push back on the the cuts. But I still expect some reduction in the federal workforce and especially the budget for foreign development assistance will take place. Will it be to the level that Trump is requesting? No, but it is still something those interested in international development or government service should monitor. Source: I have not been working in U.S. foreign aid appropriations within and outside of Congress but can see the writing on the wall. -
international development= bad career move right now
JerryK replied to PaulRR's topic in Government Affairs Forum
Nasty Woman, from your last sentence it's seems like you now believe there is the possibility of some cuts. I also do not think it will be 37% or whatever Trump will ask for. That's a tactic straight out of Trump's business background. Start with a large number and bargain down. I still predict Republicans will go along with a reduction and hopefully I will be wrong. Mitch McConnell said the Senate would "probably" not go along with such dramatic cuts to the State and USAID budget. But will they support some form of budget cut? One that shifts funding to the military? We'll have to wait and see. Dogs, good points on other opportunities at the UN and elsewhere. -
international development= bad career move right now
JerryK replied to PaulRR's topic in Government Affairs Forum
He actually says he doesn't support a budget "this lean" which keeps the door open for supporting some cuts. If you ever see a quote from him where he says he won't support any cuts to aid, please post it. That would be great news, although I'm guessing Trump will attack him for refusing to support an increase in military spending. It will be interesting to see how this plays out over the next few months. -
international development= bad career move right now
JerryK replied to PaulRR's topic in Government Affairs Forum
Of all Trump's policies, this one may have the least chance of strong resistance in Congress simply because the cuts will fund an expansion of the military and it is not a domestic issue. It is hard to imagine Graham and Rogers turning down an opportunity to expand the U.S. military while reducing foreign assistance. Do a news search for Hal Rogers and Black Hawk oil pan. These are politicians and of course they may say what a shame this is that foreign aid may be cut, but Rogers and Graham would likely love to divert funding from aid to military spending. That's like saying John McCain would be against expanding the military. It is strange to see them referred to as "not pushovers" when they have not even commented on this and may support it. Have they actually come out and said they oppose Trump on this or is this just based on previous comments over the years on foreign aid? The above post seems to indicate that they are going to oppose it and I haven't read anything about that- and have to wonder if down the line when the budget is being set how much they'll oppose a military expansion. I agree, however, that this is a fluid situation and we should keep an eye on this debate. Thanks for the great comments, Nasty Woman. -
Lycaon pictus reacted to a post in a topic: Should I leave program?
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Good point by SenNoodles on the hiring freeze. It is almost certainly going to happen and Trump said he will do this in his first 100 days. This is something he can easily accomplish through an executive order. It doesn't have to go through Congress. There are plenty of news articles on this upcoming hiring freeze within the government. The aim is to shrink the government by 10% so the only positions that will become available after the freeze is enacted will come after 10% has left. And of course, departures from government for reasons other than retirement will certainly slow because of increased competition in the private sector. So yes, it is a bad time to aim for a government job. This is also another area where I think Fletcher is worse off than other schools. While the term "Fletcher mafia" is part of their well known marketing campaign, it does reflect that Fletcher grads often head into US government positions and not private sector.
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I have a good friend who was accepted to Fletcher and ended up turning it down. In his case, it made sense to attend a state public university and receive a similar education without as much debt. He's very happy that he chose not to attend Fletcher. Fletcher is an okay school but it excels at one thing more than any other IR school: marketing. Likely due to the fact that they are in Boston and have far less name recognition than SAIS, Georgetown, GWU, SIPA and others, they do an excellent job of promoting themselves but my friend was advised that those other schools are worth the debt and Fletcher is not. I realize some who attended Fletcher may say it's great and to go there, but if you want to enter State or somewhere else in IR it won't be worth $50k more to attend Fletcher if you have another option that won't put you into debt. It would be different if there was a certain professor you wanted to work with at Fletcher or the program was special in some way. And you might want to apply to GWU or Georgetown and see if they may offer you a similar deal. The other nice thing about GWU and Georgetown is that you can often work part-time during your studies or do an internship because the classes are in the evening. Or you could do an internship in DC while studying. Good luck with your decision.
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kb6 reacted to a post in a topic: In case you were hoping to have your loans forgiven...
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In case you were hoping to have your loans forgiven...
JerryK replied to kb6's topic in Government Affairs Forum
I certainly have never gotten the impression that federal employment has become comparatively more attractive. This forum always mentions the opposite and I personally have never heard this from anyone working in the federal government. In fact, almost always the private sector is more attractive compared to low-paying govt jobs except for the tenure aspect. However, many people are interested in government jobs despite the fact that it is not as attractive as the private sector (in terms of the pay). They're interested because it's what they want to do. And many times people who want to go into federal work end up in the private sector because the benefits are better- which becomes more important if you have to pay off student loans. As mentioned before, the changes could come quickly. Here's the last line from the Washington Post article: "Trump can freeze hiring without Congress’s approval, with an executive order or less formal instructions to federal agencies." -
In case you were hoping to have your loans forgiven...
JerryK replied to kb6's topic in Government Affairs Forum
There is more information out on the plans to freeze government hiring, reduce pensions, and make it easier to remove government employees. This will all make it so much more difficult to obtain a government job in the future and the benefits of working for the government will likely be diminished from what is available now. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/powerpost/wp/2016/11/21/trump-republicans-plan-to-target-government-workers-benefits-and-job-security/ -
In case you were hoping to have your loans forgiven...
JerryK replied to kb6's topic in Government Affairs Forum
The hiring freeze is actually going to be one of the first things he does, part of his plan for the first hundred days. If you were thinking of getting a job in the government in the near future, it's going to be much more difficult. Trump plans to shrink the government by 10% by freezing all hiring so new employees will have to wait until 10% of employees retire according to the plan. Yes, there will be some issues with this but it won't be difficult for him to push this through soon after taking office through an executive order. President-elect Trump promises to order federal hiring freeze in first 100 days By Richard Reeve/ABC7 Thursday, November 10th 2016 WASHINGTON (ABC7) — Two-and-a-half weeks ago, Donald Trump laid out his plans for his first 100 days in office. L’Enfant Plaza is a second home to thousands of federal government workers. On this meet-and-greet day for the new President-elect, some are learning about a new Trump plan that includes a federal hiring freeze. “I'm hugely concerned,” says Gioia Albi, a twenty-year federal employee. “Just to get hired in the federal government is difficult. Now you're talking about stopping that? It hugely concerns me.” Trump first pitched the idea in October, during a speech in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. “A hiring freeze on all federal employees to reduce the federal workforce through attrition,” he said. The president-elect called the plan a top priority. It would reduce the federal workforce by not replacing people who leave government service. -
I am in a completely different field but saw this post and thought my advice might be of help. In my case, I entered a program in the Midwest but was unable to visit beforehand because I was overseas. Everything looked good from the website, email exchanges, etc. Within a few weeks, I realized that the university was not the place for me because the department was such a letdown and was a bad fit for my research interests. It was a strange situation where I clearly mentioned in my statement of purpose my goals and reasons for entering the program, but the program turned out to be a poor fit. It also wasn't a very serious program in my opinion. I needed something more challenging and this program had issues. In my case, I left after one semester, worked for a semester, and am now in a different school that is a much better fit. Yes, I visited this time to make sure it would not be a mistake. Leaving the previous program was the best decision I could have made. Also, you mentioned how the people in your department are "mean" but this would be a silly reason to leave. If you are going to be somewhere for years, there are other factors besides whether it is a good fit for your research. This is your life and in my opinion, it isn't worth being miserable for a number of years so you can get a degree from a certain school. My semester will go down as the dreariest experience of my life. It would have been a nightmare to be there for years. In my case, my fellow grad students were an odd group that I did not connect with in any way whatsoever and this was a small factor. Several were in the program simply because it was an easy to gain admission to the program (student from foreign country with spouse in different program who needed to study something because a work visa wasn't possible, someone from different field who entered because there was funding, locals who just wanted to do master's degrees). I was in a small cohort with five other students and one guy had interpersonal issues and wouldn't even talk to other people or say anything in classes. Now I look back and laugh at the experience. The thing I kept thinking about was how everyone said this college town in the Midwest would be a great place to be in grad school and it was very unpleasant. I was so happy to leave and head to a different program elsewhere that is a better fit. Hopefully this will help you with your decision.