MSFSer

Got a new account just so I can answer this without outing myself. Look, clearly I'm an MSFS graduate, so the bias is there, but I think that there is a goldilocks argument to be made on Alumni communities. You don't want a small 20-30 people programme which is too small to have significant impact and network. But you also don't want a huge, SIPA/GW style programme where you're one of so many people that being in that "club" really carries no importance. I think MSFS (and less so- SAIS, it's much bigger) is actually better for networking. Because only 90 people a year get in, you know everyone. You've had coffee with everyone/partied with everyone. It feels like a community. If there are 250 people in your year, there is no way for you to meet everybody, so you hang out with people with similar interests, and that's that. In joint happy hours with SAIS and SIPA I was always struck how they didn't all know each other. Now when you call an alum and say "I'm from MSFS", for that alum, he thinks of his own year, the small, select club, where he knows everyone, so he will help you on a much more personal level. It's elitist, it might be douchey, but it's true. I've had meetings scheduled within days with UN agency directors, NGO heads, top journalists. I've once even landed in a new country and had 3 meetings scheduled within my first week with MSFS graduate diplomats from two embassies and a CEO. Because when you get that MSFS email, you respond, and make time. Never had an alumnus not answer an email. In a large programme, you get lost. You're one of many. You got in, but so did 300 other people. You don't know them all. Your connection to the community and dedication will just not be the same. When you will get that email as an alumnus, it will be less urgent to answer. In retrospect, even though I didn't even think about it at the time, the perfect programme is big enough to cover different fields, but small enough so that everyone knows each other. For me, MSFS fit the bill and I couldn't be happier. There might be other schools out there, but I can tell you that my other alternatives, GW, SIPA, Fletcher or SAIS weren't even close.