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The Mark

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  • Gender
    Male
  • Application Season
    2013 Fall
  • Program
    MA IR

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  1. I'm curious to hear about your experiences reapplying to these programs: SAIS MA and MSFS. I'm wondering what effect, if any, persistence plays in the readmissions game. I applied to the big four programs in DC a couple years and got dinged at all but one, GWU, but they offered no money, so I passed. But I've been getting that itch again. I can't get it out of my mind. I understand that improving your application in a meaningful way is the most important factor in reapplying. However, I'm just looking to hear some stories and get back into this.
  2. I scored in the 17th percentile (yes, I'm serious) on the gre quant and somehow managed to get into the ITIP program at GW, which is essentially a straight international economics program—unlike SAIS, which is only half int'l econ and half functional/regional study. The irony is, SAIS is where I really wanted to go, and, though I haven't heard this directly from them, I'm confident I didn't get in there mostly because of my horrible math background and gre quant score. Yet GW thought I could handle two straight years of int'l econ. Go figure. I don't know how that happened, but it did. So there is hope, especially if you don't want to study econ heavily, which I actually did.
  3. Does it happen? If so, is it difficult to do? And if you can, is it even worth doing?
  4. Yeah, or the myopia of admissions committees at top schools.
  5. A 64 percent acceptance rate for my program doesn't exactly make me feel better about getting in.
  6. I applied to four DC schools and was accepted only to the Elliott School ITIP program with no funding. Naturally, I've been thinking a lot about this very topic, and the conclusion I've come to (at least for now) is this: the ITIP program at Elliott is worth borrowing the full $60k for tuition for two years, but not the full advertised cost of attendance (COA) for two years, which would amount to about double that. The metric I've heard is "Don't borrow more than you expect to make in your first year on the job." Whether this is accurate, I don't know. Maybe some other people can chime-in. Given the salary range of ITIP grads from the last few years' employment reports (the highest of all the Elliott School programs), $60k seems like a manageable amount of debt. Plus, my situation is unique. I'm an older student, but my relevant (note the emphasis) work experience is weak, so the chance to live, work/network, and go to school in the hub of international relations for two years will provide me with opportunities that I will never have should I choose not to attend. I don't want to get too into the weeds about my background and professional goals, but there's no doubt that my chances of accomplishing my long-term goals will be greatly increased by taking the GW offer and giving it my all rather than not going. For me, the key is that I will need to work full-time to minimize how much I borrow, so I'll be spending my summer looking for a job. Once I accept my offer at GW, I can put that on my resume and hopefully use it as leverage to find higher quality jobs/internship opportunities. I'll be attending the Elliott School open house on April 12, and I'm expecting great things.
  7. Thanks, MollB! I like your perspective. I'm embarrassed to admit this, but I didn't study for the GRE last time around. I took it completely cold. Considering that, my verbal was actually pretty respectable (69th percentile), but the quant, arguably the most important part, was dismal (17th percentile). No clue how I got into GW at all, let alone their international econ program. I am in no way bitter about the fact that a four hour test can invalidate 15 years of personal, professional, and intellectual growth and achievement........yeah.
  8. I just called SAIS, and they said that I should contact them in June, and that I could set up either an in-person or phone meeting with an admissions counselor to go over the reasons why my application was rejected. Had anyone here ever taken advantage of this, and how blunt are they? On the one hand, I think I should just take the offer I have at GW. On the other hand, it's going to annoy me every time I have to walk past SAIS and know I could/should be there. If they can offer me specific reasons A, B, and C why I didn't get in—and if they're reasons that are easily fixable (i.e. GRE, lack of math background)—then I may just fix the issues and reapply.
  9. I'm actually considering taking a year off and doing just that. But it's kind of a scary proposition. Outside of drastically improving my GRE, I feel like there's only so much I could accomplish professionally between now and the end of the year. Then I could apply and end up in a not too much better situation than I'm in now. To be perfectly honest, my GRE was atrocious, particularly my quant score. I have no idea how I got into the Elliott program I did. I have a feeling that was a big part of the reason for the rejections from SAIS and MSFS. I'm going to attempt to get some specific feedback from both programs, and if it's along the lines of "Improve your GRE scores and you've got a real shot", then I may do just that. My professional background is very nontraditional. I though thought it would be an asset—and I thought I explained pretty well in my statements why it would be—but I guess they didn't see it that way.
  10. CalSeeker: That's very helpful information and exactly what I was looking for. Thank you. I certainly would like to/need to work full time during the two years I'm there, but I'm curious how one finds the time to do school work and study when you're at work all day and in class most of the evening. The ITIP program sounds like it's exactly what I'm looking for. My undergrad degree was kind of soft, so I was hell bent on finding a quality international economics program with great career opportunities. That sounds like what ITIP is. My real concern is borrowing money for the full cost of attendance. If I can manage to live off the money I make from a full-time or almost full-time job, then I would be willing to borrow only the cost of tuition, which, assuming tuition doesn't skyrocket this coming year, should be around $60k for two years. That seems like a reasonable debt burden considering the salary range reported in the most recent employment report. I'm curious what type of math background is needed to handle the quantitative component of the program. I had no real math courses in undergrad, just a couple of generic liberal arts math classes. If I accept the offer, I'm going to enroll in a introductory statistics course this summer. Do you think that would suffice? Or is there higher level math like calculus involved?
  11. Someone in the MSFS thread said their decision was up even though they hadn't gotten an email, so I checked and mine was there too. This was about 30 minutes ago.
  12. Perhaps I was a bit hasty. Maybe not a full ride, but I would need some significant funding from SIS to make me consider it. Why? If I'm gonna be brutally honest, prestige is an important factor to me, considering my undergrad institution had zero, and I feel that prestige is at least somewhat connected to future opportunities. My perception is similar to yours between the two schools, that they're similar, but it seems to me, based on some of what I've read around here, that Elliott does edge out American in terms of quality of program, alumni, and opportunity, etc., even if only marginally. I just officially got dinged at MSFS a few minutes ago, so it looks like my initial conundrum remains. Also, I'm seriously considering working on my app and reapplying next year. Not quite sure yet.
  13. The only decision I'm still waiting on (that I care about) is MSFS. But I got dinged at SAIS so MSFS, short of a miracle, is virtually a guaranteed reject. Still haven't heard from SIS, but it would take a full ride for me to even consider it, and that isn't happening. It's looking like the Elliott ITIP program at sticker price is my only option. Is it worth it? I know some of you have been in a similar (or the exact same) situation. I'd love to hear some opinions on this and/or the ITIP program in general.
  14. No funding. So...the question of the hour: Is Elliott worth sticker?
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