leon32
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Posts posted by leon32
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You would get into at least one, probably two with those stats is my guess.
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I had Korean friends use their national service as work experience and it was a plus to their application. It is especially a plus if you had a specialized form of service (i.e. my Korean friend was in a program for English speakers that work with the U.S. military that is competitive to get into). What's important is how you can show what was unique about your experience, different for your personally than everyone else doing the same required thing, I think.
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Keep in mind that after you have graduated, you will be competing with a group of people with masters degrees as well as (in many cases) impressive work histories. This would make things much harder for you, and you should consider this aspect as well.
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I've taken classes at HKS and thought highly of it, but it is not an IR school and for what you are talking about doing wouldn't make sense doing if it required turning down that much funding, also there are always mid-career masters you could consider later on that are popular at HKS. I can't recall seeing many/any human rights/conflict resolution classes at HKS when I scanned their course catalog, although there probably is at least 1 or 2, and you could cross-register at Fletcher down the road which actually has a program for it, but then what would be the point for getting hung up on the Harvard name?
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I'd strongly encourage you to wait to apply for Graduate School, and to try and work somewhere, even if it is not totally related. There are numerous ways to go abroad and make money, such as teaching English, working holiday in Aus and other places, etc. etc. In the meantime, you can do things like study study for the GRE. Before I took the GRE I studied everyday for 6 months and brought my math score from 20% range to 70% range. Taking the time and spending the $200 again will not only increase your chances of getting in, but of also getting funding. Also, studying and improving language skills is extremely important for either jobs or getting into schools. You can go to a top program with your GPA, but not without more experience and better test scores. My undergrad GPA was only 3.11 (I liked parties more than homework at the time), but after a few years of work and improving my skills and a high GRE score I got into every IR program I applied to, including top 5 ones with funding. BTW, do not go to Law School unless you actually want to be a lawyer, getting into international law is not exactly an easy thing to do, and probably hardly the first step for almost anyone out of law school.
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My advice, read fiction or anything other than what you will study, because this will be the last chance for awhile where you do not have to read stuff related to what you will be studying, and you will be fine anyways.
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You will hate yourself during the 2-3 weeks of midterms, and probably the last month of the semester with papers, finals etc. coming due, which partially depends on what classes you take/how hard your program is. (probably try to balance easy and hard classes) You will miss out on extra-curricular options and social stuff. However, money and experience are both great, so it is a balance. Maybe consider giving yourself the first semester to find work and to just be a student, make connections, etc.
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I'm planning on going into public service but I'm afraid of banking on the 10 year repayment scheme. If I were to lose my job and be forced to work in a non-public service position, or if I have kids in the next ten years or something, I'm not sure what would happen..
From my understanding of it, you can still use the income based repayment plan whether or not you are in public service, and it is 10%-15% of your after tax income depending on the plan, which should be manageable. For me, it is not really the idea that it will get forgiven that is attractive (although nice) it is the idea that the first 1-3 years out when my salary will be the lowest it will make the monthly payments reasonable, and after I've worked my way up some in terms of promotions and raises then I can concentrate on paying it off.
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Debt can make or break a career and your life. If your total debt is equal to or less than your anticipated starting salary, then it's manageable. That doesn't mean that it will be easy to live. If you're considering $100,000 or more in total loans, then that equates to $1,200 per month in loan payments. That's untenable on the salaries for most jobs an MPP/MPA/MIA leads to. With that load, you're going to have trouble saving any money, taking vacation, buying a house (good luck getting approved for any sort of loan), and so on. Suppose you took out $100,000 in loans for your master's, then take a GS-9 job in DC with the federal government after graduation (just as an example):
That doesn't mean that you should go to wherever is cheapest, but just keep in mind what debt means. It's easy to discount it now, 2 years away from when you'll have to start paying it, but taking out these loans can really affect the rest of your life. You could be stuck at a job you hate for the paycheck, stuck in a town you hate for the job, unable to take that trip to wherever you've wanted to, and so on.
True, but with income based repayment plans, you would not have to (nor probably should you) pay that much per month, and depending on where you are working the debt will potentially be forgiven after 10 or 20 years. If it were not for those programs, you would be absolutely correct though.
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For Fletcher, you don't have to write a thesis, you can do things like write a policy paper, a business plan, etc. it just has to be a significant work agreed to with a professor for a supervisor.
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At some schools it is possible to get higher funding the second year. Also, while I didn't get offered much funding with my GPA, I did get offered some, and there are some fellowships and scholarships for specific things you can look for at schools themselves and elsewhere.
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My guess is you will get in, but will not probably be that competitive for funding based on my own experiences with a 3.11 GPA.
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I'm at Fletcher, and they have about a 50-50 mix of foreign/domestic students, but they don't really emphasize the foreign language bit.
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It probably depends on what in specific you want to study about in terms of Asia. Most international relations schools have at least a few good professors on Asia, even if they don't offer an Asia specific degree, or they might have an Asia concentration.
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Why not email the admissions staff and ask? I know that many of them print out all the applications and read them on paper, so it might be a waste of time.
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I had a 3.11 GPA and got into every school I applied to (GWU Elliott, Tufts Fletcher, USC, Korbel, AU, etc.) If you are strong elsewhere in your application, then why not try and see.
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Students in top IR programs are less liberal than you would think, especially considering how many are studying business and security. Also, since so many students are foreign, it's not really that big of a deal and the viewpoints do not tend to fall in american style conservative or liberal camps.
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You should check and see if these schools are more academic focused or professional focused- i.e. are they training people who are then going to get a Phd and try to become professors or are they training people for government or private sector careers. For what you want to do, it seems like it would make more sense to try to go to a professional program, and perhaps try to take some security classes as well as regional based ones.
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If your parents are willing to pay for it now, and not later...that is something to consider. Otherwise wait, get more experience. It will help you with admissions, and you will just get more out of it if you already have experience- plus if you wait a bit more you will get more out of it in my opinion, just in terms of overall maturity. The average age at my program is something like 27-28.
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What I've found is that it depends on what part of the semester it is. When it is around midterms and finals, the couple of weeks before that will be taken over by school work. Other parts of the semester it depends on what kind of classes you take and how you manage your time, but you should have a manageable amount of free time, and be able to squeeze in some stuff like a part time job or internship if you want. Be careful of trying to do too much, though.
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Sure, you could apply now and if you get a good offer go, or just wait a few years to apply again. It will cost a few hundred dollars and be annoying, but there is nothing to stop you from doing so.
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Hi, no I had a few years of professional and international experience first. I've met a few students here, at Fletcher, who came straight from undergrad, but not many. It can be done, and looking at your stats, I think you have at least a decent chance, but no idea about funding. Most people here are in their late 20's early 30's, but a few are younger.
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My suggestion would, beyond any rudimentary preparation stuff with languages and quant, take advantage of the free time because once school starts you are going to have very little of it.
HOW can I become more competitive?
in Government Affairs Forum
Posted · Edited by leon32
My undergrad GPA is 3.11 and I got into every school I applied to, including a top 5 program. I had a bit more work experience, but not tons more. I studied a lot for the GRE and had high scores, I had very good LORs (I wrote one myself after the recommender asked me too and was able to make it fit the program perfectly) and took a lot of time and care with the essays. Also, while I did not get into HKS, I took two classes there. They were very nice, but rest assured that if you do not end up going to HKS you will be fine, it is not really going to be that different than another top program.