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MsFutureDiplomat

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  • Gender
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  • Location
    Former USSR
  • Interests
    American in the Soviet Bloc. Passionate about transparency, education, accountability, democracy, national self determination, freedom of media.
  • Application Season
    2015 Fall
  • Program
    JHU SAIS MA

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  1. Hi Everyone - I'm happy to add my input as it was very helpful for me while I was applying last year. Previous Schools (Name, type, or tier): Top 25 National University (Private research university in the USA) Previous Degrees and GPAs: BA (3.75) in History GRE Scores (Verbal/Quantitative/Analytical Writing): 169/162/6.0 Previous Work Experience (Years, Type):3 years as a research assistant (law and history) in undergrad. 1 year in private sector after graduation (HR). 1.5 years working abroad in the country of Georgia (teaching English, college counseling, volunteering for political and humanitarian causes - i did not go with Peace Corps or any other organization, just went independently, which I think helped my application stand out) Math/Econ Background: Nothing. I knew this was the weak point in my application, so I studied hard for the Quantitative section on the GRE and got a good score. I'll have to take an online econ class before starting at SAIS. Foreign Language Background (if applicable to your program): Russian, intermediate to advanced (took 3 years of Russian in college and studied abroad in Moscow, also it's a major language in Georgia) Intended Field of Study in Grad School: International Affairs and Finance Long Term Professional Goals: World Bank or Private Sector (credit risk analysis in ibank) - would like to live in Europe. Schools Applied to & Results: Accepted at SAIS (MA-IR), Yale Jackson, Georgetown MA-russian, GWU, Columbia, and Fletcher. I had about half tuition funding at all of these except Jackson, where I got 0$ even after appealing. Ultimate Decision & Why: SAIS!!!! I like the quantitative focus, it's very well respected in Area Studies, and the opportunity to study in both Europe and DC is important to me for networking reasons. I might have gone to Jackson had they offered a comparable financial aid package; really loved the program. Advice for Future Applicants: Come up with a "theme" that unifies your application, rather than trying to tell your whole life story and throw in anything that might not be totally relevant to your degree. Grad schools want to see FOCUS in applicants, not necessarily the most "well-rounded" applicant. My theme was my love of the former USSR - I had taken a bunch of classes on this area as an undergrad (although my ugrad years were anything but laser-focused!) I had founded a Russian club on campus, studied abroad, etc. So my decision to move to Georgia seemed random to many people, but made sense in this context. Georgia was where I got very politically active after meeting a certain politician during a major transitional period, and this was the focus of my personal statement. I asked him to write me a recommendation (even though I never formally worked for him) and to my surprise, he agreed and asked what he should emphasize! So I spoke to all 3 of my recommenders (Politician, Professor, and Current Boss) in depth and made sure they knew what to emphasize in their letters (basically the fact that I have this passion for the area, I'm driven by my curiosity, and I'm very independent in my work and my decision to move abroad). I'm sure they added other stuff; I never saw the letters, but you definitely should give as much guidance to your recommenders as you possibly can - don't just email them with a quick request!!!!! The letters are an important part of your application's "theme." I was thrilled with my acceptances, and would like future students to feel the same, so I can recommend the following: Don't apply straight out of undergrad unless you have amazing internship/work experience, especially if it is international. Dedicate at least 3 months to the GRE, it means a lot when funding is allocated....maybe even more than UG GPA! I didn't take classes or anything, but I did get the Powerscore books and Manhattan Prep online tests, which were very challenging and prepared me really well. Other than that I just memorized a crazy amount of vocab. For Analytical Writing I approached the essays as I did on the SAT (Look up Shaan Patel's SAT 2400 for an essay template) and I just wrote as much as possible with a lot of big vocab words. My essays were far from perfect but somehow received a perfect score! Then, I decided to apply very early - I wrote my personal statements in June-July 2014 and spent the whole month of August perfecting them. I showed them to my dad, who is a professor at the graduate level, and he gave me good suggestions.....BUT I will caution you against showing them to too many people for editing, because you don't want the letter to lose your own voice and unique character! I sent all my apps off in September-mid October, which I think helped me? In December, I received acceptances from Fletcher and SAIS, then I visited all the campuses in January (you guys should really try to do this, not only to judge which ones will be a good fit for you, but also to show your interest to the admissions/financial aid folks!). For Prospective SAIS-ers - don't worry if you lack an econ background, just nail the Quant on the GRE and they will consider you. I also wrote a little note after my personal statement indicating that I understand my lack of econ background is the weak point of my candidacy, I explained why I didn't take econ in undergrad, and I promised that I would take it before starting if admitted. Maybe this helped me too. Also, the analytical essay for SAIS is really open - which made it difficult for me! I ended up writing about a broad topic related to Russian Area Studies, and my own personal experiences with it (feel free to PM me if you want more details.) Hope this helps!
  2. Made my final decision; I'll be attending SAIS Bologna this fall! See you all soon!
  3. I am planning to do the EES concentration as well, and Kathryn was able to switch my acceptance to the Bologna campus almost immediately after I emailed her to request it. It didn't affect my funding at all (I just have institutional funding, no outside scholarship or anything)
  4. right - thank you for your advice and best of luck in your decision!
  5. Thanks for your advice. I am leaning towards SAIS too. It's just hard to turn down the others :/
  6. Hey everyone Sorry if this is the wrong place to post this. I have gotten great advice in different parts of this forum, so I thought I would ask this question of you all and hope for the best. A little about me- I'm American. I work in Eastern Europe, was considering a career in international development but now I'm not so sure. I went through phases of wanting to work for OSI and GMF. I am especially interested in development banking in the former USSR. With that said, my dream is to become a political consultant (it would be a possibility in Georgia, but it's not the most lucrative career here). Basically I have no set idea of what I want to do, but it would be nice to help build civil society in this part of the world while becoming more financially comfortable. I plan to figure it out in grad school and get the tools to do well in a variety of positions. Now my question!!! I was fortunate enough to be admitted to my top choice programs:Fletcher MALD and SAIS (Eastern Europe concentration - in bologna). Financial aid at both is exactly equal. Unexpectedly, I was also admitted to Yale, with no funding. It will be $40k more expensive in total than the others. The reason I mention this is that money is a big concern for me. I have on,y saved enough to cover my living expenses. The rest will be loan debt. So what I'm asking is, what would you do if you were me? If you're a current student at any of these 3, especially if you had to make this hard choice, your input is extremely valuable. I just have no one "in real life" to discuss this with.... Thanks for reading if you made it this far best of luck in your decisions!
  7. Got in, no word on funding, like everyone else. I didn't get a call or anything so I don't have my hopes up about a fellowship. Ah well, happy to have been accepted almost everywhere I applied, just not looking forward to the amount of debt I'll be in at graduation
  8. Got half-tuition funding (the US Bologna fellowship) for the upcoming year, but no mention of the second year. What does that mean for second year funding? If I have half-tuition for both years, well, SAIS would be a serious contender against Yale for me.....
  9. This is kind of a weird question but I'm just looking for other opinions. How much debt would it be reasonable to go into for a Jackson degree? I can cover living expenses, but I'll be on my own for tuition. I have no undergrad debt. What would you do in my shoes?
  10. I am 24, but I have been out of undergrad since 21. So I feel ready to go back to school with this amount of work experience. A little nervous about re-adjusting, but ready.
  11. Check your email... You will find another message with attachments. My "official" offer letter was attached, and unfortunately, I was not awarded a fellowship So, I wrote to their office to inquire about FLAS and other sources. We will see what happens. Hope your news is better!
  12. I'm in the same boat. Since I'm interested in working in a developing country in the public sector, I don't want to be too encumbered by loans. With that said, I'm studying a language that should qualify me for FLAS funding (although I know it's not 100%) so that will help a lot. But still, it feels like this process never ends can't wait to see what's in that letter! Best of luck to you for funding; they seem pretty generous with it based on the website anyway...
  13. Agreed! I was rejected by WWS too, and as cliche as it sounds, in my case it came down to the right fit. Will you be attending Jackson?
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