Wrapping It All Up: Int'l Relations -- Final Decisions!

[aurora]

Previous Schools (Name, type, or tier): London School of Economics and Political Science

Previous Degrees and GPA's: BSc International Relations

GRE Scores (Verbal/Quantitative/Analytical Writing): 650/590/6.0

Previous Work Experience (Years, Type): 4.5 years, UN in Middle East, international NGO in Europe, freelance journalism, and communications consultancy for start-up social enterprises and government in my native country and abroad.

Foreign Language Background: Scandinavian native, fluency in English, some background in French and Persian

Intended Field of Study in Grad School: Humanitarian Affairs and International Communications

Long Term Professional Goals: Head of Communications or Country Representative for UN agency or INGO focusing on humanitarian affairs.

Schools Applied to & Results: LSE (accepted), SAIS (accepted), SIPA (accepted), Elliott (accepted with 25% tuition), MSFS (accepted with 50% tuition), Fletcher (accepted with 50% tuition).

Ultimate Decision & Why: My decision came down to SIPA vs SFS vs Fletcher. Money talks, and I couldn't quite justify the additional cost at SIPA, plus I was not impressed by their admissions process or feedback from some ex MIA graduates. SFS offers very few courses in international communications and social media, while Fletcher's communications program is strong and includes a joint club with media@MIT and Harvard. Also looking for an exclusively academic experience with summer internships, rather than doing internships during the year. Turning down the scholarship offer from G-town was really hard, but I'm confident I made the right choice!

[can-bra]

Previous Schools (Name, type, or tier): International, globally ranked

Previous Degrees and GPA's: BA (Hons), Political Science (First Class), LLB (Hons)

GRE Scores (Verbal/Quantitative/Analytical Writing): V 690 Q 720 AW 5.5

Previous Work Experience (Years, Type): 2.5 years govt foreign policy, 2 years pol sci TA, internships

Math/Econ Background: nada

Foreign Language Background: Spanish (basic), Portuguese (basic)

Intended Field of Study in Grad School: international affairs (conflict/humanitarian)

Long Term Professional Goals: work in an international organization on conflict prevention/political analysis/peacebuilding

Schools Applied to & Results: WWS (rejected); SAIS (accepted, $0); UCSD (accepted, $12.5k/year); LSE (accepted, $0); IHEID, Geneva (accepted, full scholarship + stipend)

Ultimate Decision & Why: IHEID. Why? Ultimately it came down to finances. I love the course at SAIS, but without financial aid was not prepared to incur that level of debt (esp against IHEID full ride). Given my professional background, am not looking for a career-changing experience, but rather an opportunity to make the shift from strategic 'national interest' foreign policy at the government level to humanitarian operations/negotiation in a multilateral context. Course-specific benefits: MIA allows for almost as many int eco courses as SAIS - a field I see as my biggest professional weakness; opportunity to learn French in-country; access to world-leading NGOs and int orgs in my desired field (for both internships and guest professors); opportunity to write a thesis; exchange opportunities in US (Fletcher, GWU, Yale).

[emforpeace]

Previous Schools: Top Ivy

Previous Degrees and GPA's: BA in Politics. Overall: 3.75, Department: 3.86

GRE Scores (Verbal/Quantitative/Analytical Writing): V: 740, Q: 780, AW: 5.5

Previous Work Experience (Years, Type): 6.5 years, state politics and lobbying

Math/Econ Background: Undergrad Macro, High School Calculus

Foreign Language Background: 6 years classroom study of Spanish

Intended Field of Study in Grad School: International Relations

Long Term Professional Goals: African political transitions and American foreign aid

Schools Applied to & Results: Columbia - SIPA MIA (accept); Harvard - KSG IGA (accept); Oxford - MPhil IR (accept), MSc African Studies (accept), MSc Global Governance and Diplomacy (withdrew); Princeton - WWS (accept, $); Yale - MA in IR (accept, $)

Ultimate Decision & Why: Princeton WWS.

Once all the decisions were in, Columbia quickly knocked itself off the list for its insane price tag, huge size, and total lack of funding. Harvard was off next, for some of the same reasons. I also wasn't a big fan of the heavily prescriptive course load in areas where I already had experience.

While the idea of turning down Oxford was nearly impossible, the more I looked into the actual coursework, the less useful the programs seemed. All were very research focused and designed mostly for folks leading into a PhD. Might have been a fun year or two, but probably not best for the long term.

So it came down to Yale and Princeton. Yale's open house was very friendly and welcoming with nice students. Classes were a mixed bag. I'd heard criticisms of the program for its overly academic focus, but wasn't immediately turned off by it. I was a bit worried about the size of the program and 20 students seemingly headed on 20 different paths, but left thinking I'd be pretty happy there.

The visit to Princeton started off somewhat slowly (especially after a formal Open House) with a small Q&A session in a conference room. After that, we were turned loose to just explore the school and classes and campus. This is where the program really set itself apart. The classes, while somewhat bigger than Yale's, were much more interesting and the students engaged better with the classes and with each other. The whole program felt very collaborative. I'm not usually one to go for that sort of thing, but there was this pretty genuine since of community that I got there (and from every alum with whom I've spoken). Adding in the resources available for summer programs, year out, and career stuff (and, I'll admit, the lack of a language requirement), it was pretty impressive.

In the end, it was the difference between the student populations that was decisive. At Yale, I talked to a lot of students about what they wanted to study. At Princeton, it was all about what they wanted to do. As someone who'd been working in the activist world, that made all the difference to me.

[fall09]

Previous Schools (Name, type, or tier): London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE)

Previous Degrees and GPA's: BA, International Relations (upper 2:1)

GRE Scores (Verbal/Quantitative/Analytical Writing): 510/580/4.5

Previous Work Experience (Years, Type): 1 year political communications, 2 years Foreign Office (in UK & Argentina), 1 year microfinance-related work in Peru.

Math/Econ Background: Micro,Macro summer courses at LSE

Foreign Language Background: Fluent in English (not mother tongue), German, Spanish, Swedish. Proficient in French.

Intended Field of Study in Grad School: Economic and democratic development at micro-level (fairly rigorous quant. training).

Long Term Professional Goals: Working for a policy think tank/consultancy on sound (foreign) investment in emerging markets, democratisation and civil society.

Schools Applied to & Results:

LSE - MPP (Accepted)

Georgetown - MSFS (Accepted)

WWS (Rejected)

HKS - MPP (Rejected)

SIPA - MIA (Accepted

Ultimate Decision & Why: SIPA - MIA.

I declined LSE early on because I had been an undergraduate there and was looking for a different academic experience (it was my safety net). The hard bit was deciding between MSFS and SIPA. SIPA suffered a lot of bad press (big programme, less selective, impersonal) lately which made me insecure about the programme. MSFS is a great programme but somewhat narrow in its focus and courses they offer, and structured around internships to a degree that had me worry that academic rigour would suffer. I decided against MSFS because it is first and foremost a foreign service/IR degree and I am looking for more quantitative training in my core courses as well as quite a heavy policy curriculum (I am thinking of switching to the SIPA MPA). Finally, MSFS is a very practical degree (visible both through their faculty and programme structure) but pretty much a dead-end for people considering doing a PhD sometime in the future. Also, when I started bombarding SIPA staff (programme coordinators, admissions office) with questions, they were forthcoming and helpful, nothing like the things I heard about it.

[globalsun]

Previous Schools (Name, type, or tier): One of the smaller campuses in the University of California system.

Previous Degrees and GPA's: International Economics with College and Major Honors (3.84 GPA)

GRE Scores (Verbal/Quantitative/Analytical Writing): 690/740/4.5

Previous Work Experience (Years, Type): 6 months in Global Human Resource Management (China), 1.5 years in Global Marketing (U.S., India, Vietnam, Germany), Obama Campaign IT support.

Math/Econ Background: 16 Economics Classes with intro statistics and business Calculus

Foreign Language Background: Fluency in Mandarin.

Intended Field of Study in Grad School: International Political Economy

Long Term Professional Goals: Management consulting in Mckinsey, Boston Consulting Group, or Bain. Then venture capital....

Schools Applied to & Results

Accepted:

Johns Hopkins SAIS - International policy concentration with choice first year in Bologna ($0)

Stanford IPS - ($0)

SIPA MIA - ($0)

Tufts Fletcher - MALD (9k/year)

U Chicago CIR - 1/3 Tuition

UCSD IRPS - ($0)

Wait-listed

Georgetown Walsh - MSFS

UC Berkeley GSPP - Failed to make it off the waitlist

Rejected:

Princeton WWS - MPA

Harvard KSG - MPP

Oxford MPhil IR

Cambridge MPhil IR

MIT Political Science MA (One Year)

Yale MA IR

LSE/Peking University

Ultimate Decision & Why: Stanford IPS

A difficult choice given that both SAIS and SIPA were my dream schools before, but here are 10 reasons for Stanford.

1. A intimate experience - at most 30 students per entering class

2. One of the few schools that elite management consulting firms will recruit from

3. A rigorous quantitative and interdisciplinary curriculum shared with Stanford's many top tier programs (LAW, MBA, PS, EE)

4. Guaranteed on campus housing for entering students

5. A challenging Practicum project with a real world client

6. Less competition to get RA and TA work in the 2nd year that offer full tuition waivers and large stipends

7. You get an adviser that is a fully tenured professor that will use their network to get you internships

8. 2 week global study trips that are organized by the students but are paid for by the school

9. Generous summer internship stipend

10. Unbeatable weather and a relaxed, collaborative environment

[jjclark624]

Previous Schools (Name, type, or tier): Syracuse, RPI, George Mason University

Previous Degrees and GPA's: Information Technology/Economics (BS), Information Technology (Masters), Computer Science (PhD)

GRE Scores (Verbal/Quantitative/Analytical Writing): Took them 7 years ago, need to retake

Previous Work Experience (Years, Type): 5 years @ the DoD (FFRDC)

Math/Econ Background: All types of Econ classes, Math up to Calc 3. Some other logic / number theory classes

Foreign Language Background: None

Intended Field of Study in Grad School: Security Studies (counter-terrorism, cyberwar)

Long Term Professional Goals: Research counter-terrrorism issues as it relates to information technology. Example, how terrorists use the Internet. Definitely work in research think tank in the defense industry. Possibly teach evening classes if given the opportunity.

Planning on applying to DC schools only since that is where I live and work.

Georgetown SSP (top choice)

JHU SAIS (2nd choice)

Maybe apply to GW and American

[riz1]

Previous Schools: Georgia Tech

Previous Degree / GPA: BS, Int'l Affairs / Spanish, highest honors

GRE Scores: 660V / 700Q / 5.5AW

Previous Work Experience: (by the time I start school) 2.5 years, including 20 months private sector (with 6 months abroad in developing country), plus 7 months nonprofit (anti-poverty) work in Boston, with 3 months laid off in between :?

Math/Econ Background: Calc I & II, Micro and Macro before uni, Int'l Political Economy, Quant Methods

Foreign Language Background: Kutchi (derivative of Sindhi) native; Spanish professionally fluent; Arabic learning

Intended Field of Study in Grad School: security studies, South / Southwest Asia

Long Term Professional Goals: nuclear disarmament, South Asian conflict resolution, policy think tank work before returning to school for PhD and diving into academia

Schools Applied to & Results: HKS (rejected), MIT PhD Political Science (rejected), Fletcher School (waitlisted fall 2009, eventually accepted starting January 2010)

Ultimate Decision & Why: Fletcher! -- top choice (and only school to admit me )

Advice: After reading everyone's posts in this Final Decisions thread and being consistently surprised by what schools accept what kind of profile(s), here are my thoughts:

• 
  [*:3syre4l8]Don't undersell yourself -- I've seen people with amazing backgrounds and the perfect statistics get rejected from schools like WWS, HKS, SAIS and Fletcher. Conversely, I've seen people with what I thought were sub-par attributes get into those same schools (this latter group includes me). These institutions like to have diversity of all types within their classes, including a broad spectrum of work experiences, academic backgrounds, travels, ethnicities, etc. If you read the profile of one person who got into your dream school, and you feel your own profile doesn't match that standard, don't think you won't get in. Apply anyway!
  [*:3syre4l8]SELL YOURSELF with a story -- With respect to what I will be studying in grad school, my professional and academic profile appears to be a hodgepodge of disconnected and random experiences. These include, among other things:
  
  - a study abroad program on European security (in the context of EU enlargement, transatlantic relations and roles/responsibilities of NATO)
  - a senior seminar in game theory and military scenario planning (the scenario was, interestingly, that DPRK has confirmed development of nuclear weapons and is threatening ROK with said nukes)
  - six months in India working for an IT consulting company (I only took the job because they were paying me to live abroad for six months!How could I say no to that?)
  
  However, I was able to find a common thread amongst these and other experiences: me. My own background, my upbringing, my developing passion and my myriad experiences had brought me to this tipping point where I finally realized what I wanted to do, although I had never set out in the first place to achieve what I now want to accomplish. And, I wrote in my SoP, the only way I could consolidate those experiences and fuse them together -- so that I can head off in my newfound direction with conviction -- would be with [insert degree name here] from [insert school name here].
  

I hope this helps. If anyone has any questions as the new admissions process gets underway in a couple of months, we're all here to help!

[dave85]

Any new admits for this years application cycle that would like to post? Lets keep this thread updated!

Me - I applied to UCSD IR/PS and expect to hear back from them very soon.

[Cornell07]

For the sake of this year's applicants and future generations, I'll bump this thread; I think it may be better to keep all this info in one place and copy over gen518's post from this year.

Previous Schools (Name, type, or tier): Calvin College, private Christian liberal-arts college.

Previous Degrees and GPA's: English, 3.9

GRE Scores (Verbal/Quantitative/Analytical Writing): 760 Verbal, 800 Quant, 4.5 AWA

Previous Work Experience (Years, Type): 5 years total: 1 year teaching, 4 years management consulting in DC

Math/Econ Background: Zero math since High School, Intro to Macro/Mico (taken at the USDA Graduate School)

Foreign Language Background: Spanish - learned via living in Peru/Marrying a Spaniard

Intended Field of Study in Grad School: International Economics/Security Studies

Long Term Professional Goals: International Management Consulting

Schools Applied to & Results: Admitted: Yale MA ($), Tufts Fletcher ($), Harvard Kennedy School, Johns Hopkins SAIS ($), University of Virginia ($)

Ultimate Decision & Why: I am still somewhat on the fence. At this point, I think I will be heading to Yale, as I have also been admitted into their School of Management and the prospect of doing the joint-degree is highly appealing. Yale also provided a great scholarship. With its highly flexible curriculum, outstanding faculty, and somewhat academic bent, I am increasingly excited about the program in New Haven. I am still waiting to hear back from Harvard on financial aid and scholarships, so that may sway my decision making.

Any advice to Future Applicants? For me it was seriously a factor of taking the time. I studied for the GRE for nearly four months, roughly an hour a day. Also, it helped me a lot to take the time to really research the schools and make the effort to visit them if you can. They really are different and have different things to offer, if you can capture those unique characteristics in your essays and craft a story of how you fit and will contribute to their unique culture, I believe the Adcom's find it compelling.

[carpecc]

Bump!

Previous Schools (Name, type, or tier): Top 25 US liberal arts college

Previous Degrees and GPA's: Psych, 2.9

GRE Scores (Verbal/Quantitative/Analytical Writing): 590, 730, 5.5 (higher quant and lower verbal then expected. See my other posts for my GRE story)

Previous Work Experience (Years, Type): 2 year teaching ESL in china, four years development work in China. Administrative positions in major NGOs, management position in smaller NGO. currently management position doing corporate sustainability work.

Math/Econ Background: College calc, stats, micro econ

Foreign Language Background: Over eight years in China. Spent two years studying full time in country. Would have trouble getting through literature, but can speak, read and write Chinese (Mandarin) very proficiently

Intended Field of Study in Grad School: Undecided, probably economics and environmental issues.

Long Term Professional Goals: Undecided between social and environmental jobs. Something impactful, definitely not private. probably non profit or multi lateral org. Maybe govt. Whatever job has the most opportunity for having the biggest positive impactful or giving me the tools to get there.

Schools Applied to & Results: GW (rejected), American SIS (rejected), Denver Korbel (accepted), SAIS (waitlisted), SIPA (accepted). Zero funding for all

Ultimate Decision & Why: deferred SIPA till '11. It was a tossup between SIPA and SAIS, plus I got rejected from two of my other choices. SIPA has the wide range of courses available to make a great specialization, I love NYC, and the Columbia name is awesome. Now I just need to use that time deferring to decide exactly how I want to specialize.

Feel free to add any more info that you feel would paint a better picture of your applicant profile.

You can improve your GRE score a lot through some good studying, you can also destroy it if you don't get enough sleep before the test. The SOP can take a lot of time and different schools ask different questions, length etc. Be prepared to write a different essay for each school and start early enough to have some time to sit back and come back to them after a rest.

Also, if you don't think you're competitive, you'll never know until you ask. If you don't have the qualifications now, you might be able to make up for it by taking some risks with your career, traveling abroad, having some adventures and seeking high and low for those opportunities to build yourself. I only got the jobs I have by not being afraid to move around, sacrifice pay for building skills, being tenacious, and making some good personal relationships. Some of us are more suited to bringing achievement in the work world then the academic one. Don't be afraid to leave your comfort zone. If you don't ask they can't say "no."

[SAISDC]

Previous Schools (Name, type, or tier): University of Toronto; University of Melbourne, Australia

Previous Degrees and GPA's: Music (Jazz), 3.3; Public Policy (Hons), 3.7ish.

GRE Scores (Verbal/Quantitative/Analytical Writing): 740, 800, 4.5

Previous Work Experience (Years, Type): 2.5 yrs government foreign policy, 1 yr research assistant/TA, 1 yr teaching ESL China (also 16 years living overseas).

Math/Econ Background: College stats, calculus, intermediate micro and macro.

Foreign Language Background: Basic Mandarin, French, low-intermediate Indonesian.

Intended Field of Study in Grad School: Asia, Int'l Econ

Long Term Professional Goals: International org - Asia, conflict prevention, peacebuilding, Econ/development.

Schools Applied to & Results: All accepted - Georgetown, SAIS (w/funding), Harvard KSG, SIPA, Graduate Institute, LSE.

Ultimate Decision & Why: SAIS - was my top choice starting out, great reputation/faculty, allows me to seriously pursue my econ interests, located in DC. Hope it works out!

My approach? GRE - studied for 6 weeks intensively, it was almost all I did outside work. Flashcards, word-lists, books, etc. I bought pretty much everything there was to buy - varying results. Didn't focus on AW, which clearly shows. SOP - again, spent a lot of time on this, many rewrites. My approach was to write something that provided a good outline of myself, as well as something that was interesting to read (the odd anecdote). Recs - with my work and academic background this wasn't too much of a problem.

[Cornell07]

*bump* to help this year's batch of applicants.

[timetomakethedonuts]

Bump.. i'd love to see people's thought process.

[macmc]

Previous Schools: University of the Arts, Temple University

Previous Degrees and GPA's: Music, 3.6 (transferred after sophomore year); Political Science (Hons), 3.77.

GRE Scores (Verbal/Quantitative/Analytical Writing): 630, 620, 4.5

Previous Work Experience: Senate campaign internship. Other than that, I'll be straight from undergrad.

Math/Econ Background: Barely. No econ whatsoever.

Foreign Language Background: Basic French, German.

Intended Field of Study in Grad School: US National Security

Long Term Professional Goals: The dream is to work on a presidential campaign and then in the White House. The (somewhat) more attainable goal is to work as an analyst for the Company. I'm also interested in political communications consulting.

Schools Applied to & Results: All accepted - Georgetown SFS, American SIS, GW Elliott, Korbel, Patterson, UCSD.

Ultimate Decision & Why: Georgetown. It was tough choosing between Georgetown and Elliott, especially because I'd applied to two completely different programs--at Elliott, I'd be doing Global Communications with a focus on national security policy. I found this really appealing when considering my private sector interests (consulting, campaigns). Ultimately, however, I reminded myself that practically none of the best speechwriters/consultants out there are so because they went to Elliott specifically. I think Georgetown will help more in the long run, both because of their career services program and (straight up!) the name. I'm a still a little sad I declined Elliott, though.

Other: I was/am very surprised that I got into SFS--it's the number one program in the nation, I have basically no work experience, and my stats aren't mindblowing AT ALL. However, my statement of purpose was basically as perfect as a piece of writing can be--I started working on it in July, and revised it tens of times. It was edited by two professors and my mother. It was awesome, no two ways about it. Don't neglect your SoP! I think mine got me into Georgetown. They also may have looked favorably upon the fact that I'm in ROTC.

Good luck to future applicants! My main advice is to start and finish the process early! My applications were done by November, so then I had lots of time free to harass my recommenders. Don't stress too much, and don't neglect to apply to the top tier because of your perceived deficiencies--let them tell you why you can't come their school. Don't do it for them.

Edited March 15, 2011 by Meg11

[DevDoc82]

Previous Schools (Name, type, or tier): Large Private School

Previous Degrees and GPA's: Middle Eastern Studies/Arabic; 3.82 cumulative GPA.

GRE Scores (Verbal/Quantitative/Analytical Writing):600/550/4

Previous Work Experience (Years, Type): 4.5 years as a Navy Corpsman attached to a Marine Infantry Unit.

Math/Econ Background:Calc; Macroeconomic; Microeconomics

Foreign Language Background: Arabic--I speak at advanced levels

Intended Field of Study in Grad School: Global Development and Global Markets

Long Term Professional Goals: Global Development in the Middle East and South Asia region. I wish to do this in the private sector.

Schools Applied to & Results: SU-Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs (accepted TBD funding); UW-Evans; UT-LBJ(withdrew application); Harvard Kennedy School (withdrew application); UMich-Ford School (withdrew application)

Ultimate Decision & Why: Going into the application cycle, my top choice was the Maxwell School, which made the decision pretty easy once I received admittance to the program. The available classes an individual can take made the school attractive from the beginning. Another factor that aided me in my decision was the study abroad programs and global internships available to students at the Maxwell school. The faculties willingness to answer my question made a huge impact as well. After acceptance, I called an asked numerous question concerning their global abroad programs and about opportunities to go to areas were Maxwell programs were unavailable. They assured me that whatever my goals maybe, they will help to facilitate my desires and get me where I need to go. Another thing is that I do not like the big city life, so Syracuse was an easy choice for me. I like the outdoors and fishing.

[indyir]

Previous Schools: Jai Hind College, Mumbai University Previous Degrees and GPA's: Bachelor in Economics (Hons), 67 % First Class ( Only 3 year degree) GPA Conversion- 3.7 GRE Scores (Verbal/Quantitative/Analytical Writing): 760,760,3.5 (Had nightmares about the AWA score getting me rejections - but i guess it didn't matter in the end) Previous Work Experience: 3 Years in Rotaract, 3 years in AIESEC, An internship in Poland teaching Culture Sensitivity, Anti Racism. 6 months working in Hungary - market research and teaching Business English. 5 months interns ship at The European Union Chamber of Commerce for Trade with India and now been employed as a Senior Executive there for a year. Math/Econ Background: Macro and Micro advanced and one course Mathematics applied to Economics for my Bachelors Foreign Language Background: Native English, Hindi. Learn elementary levels of German and Spanish - will continue with Spanish Intended Field of Study in Grad School: International Economics and Political Development.(South Asia Focus) Long Term Professional Goals: Work for various projects - in economic consultancy or work in a think tank / world bank. Confused. Schools Applied to & Results: All accepted - Georgetown SFS, American SIS, GW Elliott, Johns Hopkins SAIS-DC, Columbia SIPA, Fletcher (MALD), LSE, SOAS Ultimate Decision & Why: Its between Hopkins and Columbia . Confused. I am declining Georgetown as its very focused on middle east and security and those are not my areas of interest and for some obscure reason i find Georgetown intimidating. Other: Without wanting to sound modest, I really did not expect to get into all these Universities, several problems included , low AWA, a 3 year degree, lack of work experience and total dissatisfaction with my SOPs. But i guess as Meg11 said , let them make the decisions do not apologize for what you think are your shortcomings. I have a feeling the European Union Chamber thing - did it for me.

[Cleverwater]

Previous Schools (Name, type, or tier): China, HK Baptist University

Previous Degrees and GPA's: BA (Hons) in Journalism, 3.78

GRE Scores (Verbal/Quantitative/Analytical Writing): 580/760/5.0

Previous Work Experience (Years, Type): 0 only internship : 2 months in a HK TV, 2 month in a language school

Math/Econ Background: No Calc, but Statistics, Intro Micro/Macroeconomics

Foreign Language Background: English, Chinese, basic French

Intended Field of Study in Grad School: Global Communication

Long Term Professional Goals: journalist/working for intll orgs

Schools Applied to & Results: rejected: SIPA MIA, Heinz MSPPM, MIT CMS, NYU GlobalJo; WL: Duke Sanford; AD: Elliott Global Communication & LSE Media and Communication Governance (no funding at all)

Ultimate Decision & Why: GWU!!!! Though I'm not supposed to ask, but I like the program more than LSE. But I like the school LSE better.

[evitable]

Previous Schools (Name, type, or tier): Stanford University

Previous Degrees and GPA's: BA International Relations 3.72

GRE Scores (Verbal/Quantitative/Analytical Writing): 720/730/4.5

Previous Work Experience (Years, Type): Fulbright fellowship, internships at thinktank, news organization, democratic development organization

Math/Econ Background: Calculus, Linear Algebra, Statistics (Post-Calc), Basic and intermediate econ

Foreign Language Background: Chinese, basic French

Intended Field of Study in Grad School: Masters in International Relations

Long Term Professional Goals: political development, human rights

Schools Applied to & Results: Accepted to SIPA ($20K), SAIS ($57K), Georgetown ($?). Rejected from Princeton WWS

Ultimate Decision & Why: Probably SAIS because of the funding, though it is going to be a really tough decision!

[timetomakethedonuts]

Previous Schools (Name, type, or tier): Top Liberal Arts

Previous Degrees and GPA's: BA Economics 3.64

GRE Scores (Verbal/Quantitative/Analytical Writing): 650/650/4.5

Previous Work Experience (Years, Type): Summer Analyst at Top I-Bank, Two Summer internships at bulge bracket i-banks, Teach For America corps member, Guest Teacher at Chinese University

Math/Econ Background: Majored in Econ

Foreign Language Background: German (I did the Middlebury Language School, which I would recommend to anyone who is serious about attaining fluency.) French, Basic chinese

Intended Field of Study in Grad School: International Relations

Long Term Professional Goals: Public Sector

Schools Applied to & Results:rejected- Kennedy and Woodrow Wilson, which makes sense considering my SOP was tailored to IR focused schools. Accepted-Maxwell, SIS, SFS, SAIS.

Ultimate Decision & Why: SFS. First, SFS is what I set my sights on years ago. SAIS is compelling for many reasons, however I feel that the program is more focused on economics and finance skills that I don't really want to focus on. I don't think SAIS will teach me modeling and analysis any better than my previous economics and i banking experience. This is not a knock on SAIS. I like the size of the Georgetown program, as I personally feel I do better in smaller cohorts. SFS also seems to allow a greater amount of electives which is important to me. I feel it offers better exit opportunities in the public sector than any other school. The fact that many students are able to have 3 different internships over the course of the degree is appealing.

I don't think any of these schools would be a bad choice, and I may end up changing my mind.

[Poppet]

Wow. This thread is fascinating. Now I wish I'd written the GRE.

Congrats to all of you, sounds like a really impressive bunch.

[quocdimus]

Previous Schools State University in the South

Previous Degrees and GPA's: BA History and Communications 3.2 (3.7 excluding freshman yr ) MA in Education from Johns Hopkins 3.8

GRE Scores (Verbal/Quantitative/Analytical Writing): 690V, 680 Q, 4.5 AW

Previous Work Experience (Years, Type): Student Gov, campaign intern for city and state campaigns, study abroad in France, Japan, Turkey, 2 yrs Jet Program, 4 yrs inner city school teacher, teaching at the university level in south east asia.

Math/Econ Background: Statistics, Micro, no Macro

Foreign Language Background: English (fluent), Vietnamese (advance), French (Intermediate), Japanese (Low)

Intended Field of Study in Grad School: International Affairs

Long Term Professional Goals: Focusing on the public sector, state dept, etc...

Schools Applied to & Results:Accepted: SIS, Elliot, Korbel, Patterson Rejected: Maxwell, Georgetown

Ultimate Decision & Why: Elliot- the short of it: location, network, prestige, internships. I wish I had spent more time on SOP, I sent in all my apps in October so I don't have to worry about them as I was going to travel and work in Southeast Asia.

[carrythezero]

Previous Schools Top Canadian University

Previous Degrees and GPA's: BA (Hons) in Political Science and Development Studies, minor in Economics

GRE Scores (Verbal/Quantitative/Analytical Writing): 700V, 610Q, 4.5 AW

Previous Work Experience (Years, Type): 2 years in economic diplomacy with a foreign service. Internships during undergrad with provincial government and a legal aid NGO in East Africa. Lots of other extracurriculars.

Math/Econ Background: Micro, Macro, Stats, Development Econ

Foreign Language Background: English, French (proficient)

Intended Field of Study in Grad School: International Affairs/International Political Economy

Long Term Professional Goals: Economic diplomacy (trade negotiations, global economic governance)

Schools Applied to & Results: Accepted: Columbia SIPA MIA (No $); LSE MSc IPE ($), uToronto MPP ($), uOttawa MPIA ($); Still waiting: uToronto (Munk School) MGA, Carleton NPSIA

Ultimate Decision & Why: Hoping to hear back from everywhere before I make a final decision. Leaning toward the MSc IPE at LSE, for the internationalism/prestige/experience of living and studying in London. Also a one-year program = lower opportunity cost, and I'd be able to start paying off my loans far more quickly. SIPA would be a dream, but unless I win the lottery in the next few weeks, I'll have to decline.

[compost&recycle]

Program Applied To: MPP, MAIR, MEM

Schools Applied To: Berkeley GSPP, Duke Nicholas MEM and Sanford MPP, Johns Hopkins IPS, Georgetown GPPI and MSFS, Fletcher, Stanford IPS, HKS, Yale FES,

Schools Admitted To: Berkeley GSPP ($), Duke Nicholas ($), Johns Hopkins SAIS ($$), Georgetown GPPI and MSFS ($ next week), Fletcher ($$$), Stanford IPS ($0)

Schools Rejected From: HKS, Yale FES, Duke Sanford

Decision: between GSPP, Fletcher, SAIS and Stanford IPS

Undergraduate institution: first two years – relatively mediocre German University, second two years - middle tier U.S. State University and study abroad in Sydney

Undergraduate GPA: 3.95

Undergraduate Major: International Relations <br style=""> GRE Quantitative Score: 740

GRE Verbal Score: 500 (English is not my native language - can you tell? )

GRE AW Score: 4.5

Years Out of Undergrad (if applicable): 3

Years of Work Experience: 10 (worked before I went to school and in between)

Describe Relevant Work Experience: Media planning, marketing, consulting, translation, energy regulation

Strength of SOP (be honest, describe the process, etc): I started in July and reviewed/edited it at least 50 times. I had it proofread by a few friends for grammar purposes; I put a lot of effort into telling a cohesive story and clearly expressing my passion/goals

Strength of LOR (be honest, describe the process, etc): my undergrad IR professors, my old boss and my current boss (used them alternatively 3 out of 4). Didn’t read them but I assume they were very good. I believe it is important to ask the recommenders if they feel comfortable writing a strong recommendation to make sure they don’t feel obligated and write you a mediocre one, which can severely hurt your chances. I heard of horror stories where professors wrote "I was asked to write this letter. I honestly don't remember the student at all....(that cannot be good!)

Anyone who has an opinion on Stanford IPS vs. SAIS, GSPP and Fletcher please let me know because this decision has become harder by the day! Thanks.

[Benincredible]

Program Applied To: MAIR

Schools Applied To: Fletcher and Korbel

Schools Admitted To: Fletcher (20k/year), Korbel (Peace Corps Fellowship equivalent to roughly 20k)

Schools Rejected From: none

Decision: Fletcher!

Undergraduate institution: Top 15 liberal arts

Undergraduate GPA: 3.27

Undergraduate Major: Economics

GRE Quantitative Score: 780

GRE Verbal Score: 720

GRE AW Score: 4

Years Out of Undergrad (if applicable): 4

Years of Work Experience: 4 not including summer internships

Describe Relevant Work Experience: Currently a Peace Corps volunteer in West Africa, before Peace Corps worked as a financial analyst.

Strength of SOP (be honest, describe the process, etc): I think that my SOP was very good and made all of the difference in being accepted to Fletcher with a scholarship. I wrote about 6 drafts and slowly honed it to focus on how my experiences have shaped where I want to go with my career and how each school could help me get there.

Strength of LOR (be honest, describe the process, etc): I never got to read them but I assume they were alright because I got in! One was from my undergrad major advisor, one from my previous boss in finance and one from Peace Corps

Honestly I did not think I had much of a shot at Fletcher because of my mediocre GPA so I was thrilled to be accepted with some money on top of it. Congratulations to everyone who is done with the process and good luck to those of you who are just starting it.

[fifa0001]

Previous Schools (Name, type, or tier): UC Berkeley

Previous Degrees and GPA's: Poli Sci with a focus of international relations/ minored in Chinese lit. and overall 3.4GPA

GRE Scores (Verbal/Quantitative/Analytical Writing): 650/750/4.

Previous Work Experience (Years, Type): 1year in Woodrow Wilson Center in D.C., .3 years in private sector doing management and service.

Math/Econ Background: Intro Stats, and Microeconomics (didn't like theory much, so basically stats and econ. classes were rotten apples on my grade report)

Foreign Language Background: 1 yr of French, 10yrs of Chinese

Intended Field of Study in Grad School: IR\ management

Long Term Professional Goals: foreign service/ state department

Schools Applied to & Results: applied to UCSD MPIA, Yale and USC

Accepted (zero funding):

UCSD MPIA- no funding yet (have to wait until June I heard)

Rejected:

Yale- MA in IR

Pending for decision:

USC- Public Diplomacy

Ultimate Decision & Why: UCSD-MPIA

Overall reputation is good. This was my top choice due to area of study and the school location.