Sotototo

One of my close friends applied to Harvard ed school for Learning and Teaching but got rejected. Had 3.2 from top 20 univ. and 1400 on GRE. Decent work experience. Not so great recs. Amazing personal statement. I personally thought he would get in because of his personal statement and GRE but they weren't enough to overcome the recs and GPA. I think Harvard looks at the overall package.

Man no votes for Vanderbilt?

i am still checking everyday!

Harvard is Harvard. The gap between TC and Harvard might not be much to you but not to the rest of the world. Harvard will open doors to anywhere within your field of work.

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She was always in the public sector. I assume it was multinational org since she always want to work for UN while she was in undergrad.

I only got into SIPA for policy school. Got rejected by SAIS/Fletcher/Georgetown/WWS/KSG. I have no international experience at all. I am not sure if I'll go. 200k(includes opportunity cost) seems too much. If I had a choice, I'll choose SIPA over any school except KSG and WWS. But, like I said in the previous post, it's your personal choice. I'll go to SIPA because of its name value, knowing other schools are just as good. No other reason than that. I am planning to work in academia in SE Asia and Columbia will be better for me than Hopkins/Georgetown/Tufts for its name recognition. I am sure there are many people who'll choose another school over SIPA, and I have nothing against it. Personal experiences with IR schools: 1. My uncle went to SAIS and he is in 50's now. He is working at one of the biggest steel companies in the world, and he has the biggest SAIS pride. He says that many of his classmates are millionaires in the Wall Street. 2. I went to a top ten school in US but most of my friends didn't know SAIS/SIPA/SFS/Fletcher. A few people knew about Kennedy. They were all busy trying to go to law school or Goldman. 3. My SIPA friend applied for a position in NYC but she didn't get it. So she called the employer and the person said 50 SIPA applicants applied for the position. My friend isn't dumb. She was reasonably competitive. 4. A friend of mine who has been working at an NGO in DC for over five years said she will never go to any policy school unless she gets a full scholarship. She says MA will not take you anywhere.

SIPA is a great program. The difference among Georgetown, SIPA, Fletcher, and SAIS is almost ignorable when you are job-hunting. You'll get your interview chances if you come out of any one of these schools, and it is up to you to rock it. People say Georgetown and SAIS have geographical advantage but wouldn't the employer also consider a SIPA graduate if he/she is on the list of applicants? The bottom line is, you go where you want to go. Certainly if it's WWS or KSG, there is a difference but not among Georgetown, SIPA, Fletcher, and SAIS. Personally, although I hate SIPA's big class size, I will take SIPA over other schools because it's an Ivy. Sounds shallow but that's the reality. You'll be surprised how many people don't know SAIS and Fletcher .

I am interested by the "other schools" beside top six we usually consider. Not where you want to go, not depending on what you want to do, but vote by just the overall reputation and prestige for international policy. Please choose up to six.

Dilemma? This is a no-brainer. Kennedy it is.

Berkeley MPP is a lot more recognized than Cornell's. Berkeley does not have international focus. But Cornell is not well known for international affairs either. So I would either go to Berkeley or try out next year for other school like SAIS and SIPA. If you got into Berkeley with $, it tells me that you are very competitive. I know a few friends who got rejected by Berkeley but got into Kennedy.

Got in. No funding. It seems like a lot of us didn't get funding. Everyone I know applied there have gotten in so far. It makes me wonder about its reputation. Actually I myself isn't a stellar student either and was shocked when I got in. 3.5 from top 25 and 1300 GRE with no international experience. I talked to a friend there and he told me that NYC public sector job markets are very competitive and that many are unemployed from SIPA now. 50 SIPA students applied for one position and he said he had no chance(I don't know what the job is). More and more I hear about it, it sounds like a factory. What's your take on SIPA? And would you go for 120k+80k(opportunity cost)=200k?

Even if the job market gets better, it will be flooded with laid-off MBA people in private sectors. 50k for public sounds right.

No advice. But Wharton Ph.D sounds more prestigious for business.