littlefighterjet

@leon32 Oh that's good to know! I was under the impression that it had to be a traditional thesis - working on something more real-world would definitely be more marketable @WinterSolstice I've heard the same thing about SIPA (very big, impersonal, not a lot of access to the star professors) which is a definite drawback - I do plan to continue working abroad though which is why I feel the brand makes a bit of a difference. In terms of being a development practitioner vs an economist, I mean I'm more generally interested in working in the field on the implementation of development projects, with an INGO, the UN, or a USAID contractor, etc. rather than with, say, a development bank on the design of its development policies. I've been working in field level implementation for a couple of years now, and from my experience the skills required are much more related to project management and the pertinent technical sector (WASH, food security, governance, etc.) than economics, unless one is working specifically on economic recovery/development programs. Of course it helps to have a broad understanding of the economic context for perspective, but in my experience it doesn't necessarily inform one's day to day work in this field. Fletcher does definitely seem to have the strongest humanitarian program which is why I haven't ruled it out, but my interest is sort of in the middle of the humanitarian and development phases since I want to work in post-conflict development, helping to build institutions in contexts recovering from violence. I don't want to work on the purely humanitarian side (handing out food, building camp latrines, etc.) but I don't want to work on fully post-recovery development (expanding businesses, education, etc.) either, so I'm not sure that having the strongest humanitarian program makes a difference when SAIS is overall a better school.

Hi all, Hope you guys are doing well! Thanks to the beneficence of the early decision deities, I now have three months to agonize over where to go for IR grad school. I got into SAIS starting in Bologna (IDEV concentration), SIPA (EPD concentration, Conflict Management specialization), and Fletcher (Human Security/Law and Development). Right now (e.g. independent of financial aid decisions to be released in March) my ranking is sort of in that order 1.) SAIS 2.) SIPA and 3.) Fletcher. My professional background and continued interest is in humanitarian relief and post-conflict development, focusing on the growth of good governance. I know Fletcher has a really strong humanitarian affairs program, but their emphasis on a thesis over a practicum and the location in Boston (vs development hubs like DC/NY) makes it seem like it would offer less than the other two in terms of career development (I'd love to hear from anyone who feels differently though). Between SAIS and SIPA, I'm leaning more towards SAIS - within the IR/IDEV field, it seems to enjoy the strongest reputation, the class size is relatively small, and the chance to live in Italy for a year doesn't hurt either A couple things about SIPA also stand out for me though. For one, the curriculum seems a bit more praxis-focused vs SAIS - SAIS has a pretty significant mid-level economics component, and I'm not sure how necessary that would be given that I'm more interested in being a development practitioner than a development economist. For another, SIPA also has very close ties to the UN, who lead many of the types of relief and political development interventions I hope to work on - I feel like getting some UN experience could be really valuable in this regard. Finally, though SAIS has the better reputation within IR, I feel like Columbia has a much stronger general brand than Johns Hopkins - I'm wondering how relevant this would be in terms of future jobs, etc. Would love to hear other people's thoughts on this, and particularly your perception of career prospects/services for grads from each of the schools. Thanks guys!