Inscrutable_Chinaman

Just found out today that I've been accepted into Columbia's Quantitative Methods in Social Sciences course. It's appealing because I still haven't really decided if I went to go the academic or professional route... I've been kicking the can down the road ever since last year of undergrad. A couple QMSS grads have been accepted into top-tier IR/PS PhD programs, so it could potentially open certain doors that were closed to me previously (having taken no quant in undergrad at all). But, what I'm curious about is how a QMSS grad would be treated by a government entity or IGO versus a policy school (in my specific case, Fletcher) grad. Any thoughts on this one, guys? (Sidenote: It seems pretty clear that people in econ/finance do use the QMSS for professional development, but I'm not really interested in those fields.)

Also curious, has anyone had any luck with Fletcher? They are already offering me a decent sum, but getting it to 1/2 or more would help square the financial circle a lot.

I've been accepted into three programs: Oxford IR MPhil - no money IHEID Geneva IR/PS - CHF 9000 Fletcher MALD - USD 15k My goal post-graduation is to at least be able to compete for a job with the U.S. government, but I'm also pretty poor right now. Going for Fletcher would heap about 60k minimum in debt on me, while going for IHEID Geneva would be a much sounder financial choice (since their tution is CHF 2000 or so, compared to USD 38k for Fletcher). Oxford is off the table barring a late notification of some sort of award. Would going abroad really kill my chances of coming back to the U.S. to work? I already did that for undergrad (LSE) and I feel like it set me back. (P.S.: Still waiting for outside chance of Columbia QMSS and/or World History w/ LSE program).

Was just about to create a thread asking about this topic, glad to see there's this one (and many others evidently). Following on from the last question that was asked -- while I guess that means many people have to take a year out after doing the QMSS, do you know of anyone that went straight into a PhD program without doing a gap year? And second, how rigorous is the requirement for quantitative courses for admissions into the program? The website's brief section on that topic can be summed up as "some stats" necessary. I'm only applying to this course because I had no quant whatsoever at undergrad level, would like to know if I'll have to do some post-bacc in order to get into QMSS.

Hi all, I'm considering doing a Masters before taking a shot at a PhD application to an IR program. My reasons are that I have only one academic recommendation from undergrad and I didn't take any quant courses (not even intro to econ). I have lower-tier excellent GRE scores and a very good (but not excellent) undergrad degree. Couple questions about doing a terminal Masters before applying to PhD programs: 1.) Which programs are good/geared towards PhD prep? I hear that Kennedy School, Chicago Harris, and WWS are the best, while quantitative programs such as this one at Columbia are also good. Any others? 2) Of those programs, which are likely to accept someone who didn't take quant in undergrad? I know that rules out WWS and a couple others. 3.) If the Masters program is 1-year only, is it not recommended to apply for PhD programs during that one and only year? You don't have any grades on the table afterall. Thanks. /and yes, I just posted something similar at PSJR.