MPPgal

Thanks! i am international so moving to dc is harder but yeah I think I will attend UT, it seems like an amazing place!

@ MPPgal - relax. It's just a couple of knuckle heads that's still doesn't know how to play nice with others talking. LBJ is a very collegial environment, despite the immaturity of some of the students it admits. Hope you are not one of them. 
 
@jtow & @whatwhatinthe you may think the anonymity of the Internet allows you to say anything you pls, but I wonder if you would say that directly to "the international guy" in person or the guy he was talking to then when you were being "annoyed"? I bet you it's because you might get come off as "not-so-nice" for saying stuff like that that you didn't, right? And what if the international guy is on this forum and he might know who you are? Opppps. Cat's out of the bag now...
 
For your information: I was the other guy the "international guy" was talking to and I thought he wasn't bad at all. If fact, I like the guy. I hope he comes to LBJ. I thought he was considerate and nice. We were chatting about this forum and glad to finally get to meet each other. And the info being put out wasn't going to end your world if you missed anything (was it?) Sure we were rude for talking during the presentation, I will give you that. For that I apologize for both of us. But did it turned you off that much to you had to bad mouth a future classmate on here? And how will that look to future applicants? And @whatwhatinthe let's not fool ourselves with your talk of selflessness in public policy pursuits. We are all selfish in one manner or another. Let's not use that to "attack" another person anonymously. I end with this thought: Everybody is held accountable for what they say in the public realm, so pls don't think you can hide behind this veil of anonymity. 
 
I'm Allan Aw, MGPS in the Fall of 2013. You got a problem, then come discuss it with me (or whoever you got a problem with) and resolve it together. No need to be mean-spirited. Don't embarrass your school, or yourself. Be cool. We are here to support each other. 

you see some of us actually care about IR and PP and didn´t just apply to these programs as an easy way to have an MBA, therefore we are excited, go and have your dinner.

Why do you need to point out that he is international? That information is useless.

Austin! Great city and Austin has a great name anyways.

I will not deny that I am overthinking this entire process.
 
Grad school is a huge investment of time and money, however, and unlike going to undergrad as an 18-year-old, there are a lot of other productive or more profitable ways I could be spending the next two years of my life. With SAIS-Bologna in particular, I don't have the luxury of visiting campus before committing, so blog posts from students who were actually there are invaluable resources. Plus, as other posters have mentioned, SAIS is so highly-regarded on this forum that it's good to hear the other side of the story! 
 
I was certainly not trying to denigrate the program as a whole. I am simply moving towards the conclusion that it's probably not for me.

yes, I had a very easy question Nelson couldnt answer, he said to contact the woman in charge of career services, he even forwarded my email, I then emailed her, and again and again this was 3 weeks ago she never responded

Yeah, something tells me that BC is almost a glorified study abroad - partying in Europe and spending a lot of time in hostels and on Ryanair. I had that sneaking suspicion even before reading that blog post and the comments. If that's an experience you want, and in the end you're able to get the same career benefits as those who spend two years in DC, then why not go for it, I suppose. For my part, I think I'm looking for something different for my grad school experience.   

Man, that calculator kind of freaks me out. If I take out $100,000 to go to SAIS or SIPA, and IF I qualify for BOTH the IBR plan and the PLSF, I will only pay $2000 more than if I only take out $60,000 to go to Fletcher and get both IBR and PLSF.
 
That makes it very tempting to take out more loans, and go where I want to go...b/c not only will my monthly payments be the same, but my loans will be forgiven in 10 years either way with only a $2000 difference. Essentially, it seems like the only price differntial between my three choices (in the long run), regardless of my substantial scholarship from Fletcher, is 2 grand.
 
However, I am very wary of the PLSF. I've heard that for your payments to qualify, you have to be paying a lot. I'm not even sure if the IBR plan qualifies. Additionally, since the program hasn't been in place 10 years, there's no hard evidence of its success or ease of use. What if the thing falls apart well before I would qualify? I have at least 12 years.
 
Arghh. I should just commit to Fletcher and stop dicking around with all this. I don't even think I want to attend SAIS, and I only really like SIPA bc of the brand name and location. I'm just torturing myself with hypotheticals.  

Im from Mexico so I will stick to Mezcal (same cactus as tequila, lots more alcohol) in here tequila makes you cry, mezcal makes you cheerful, it worked to make a friend happy when she got rejected from all her PhDs. So get some mezcal, cut some oranges and smile! 

Im from Mexico so I will stick to Mezcal (same cactus as tequila, lots more alcohol) in here tequila makes you cry, mezcal makes you cheerful, it worked to make a friend happy when she got rejected from all her PhDs. So get some mezcal, cut some oranges and smile! 

Im from Mexico so I will stick to Mezcal (same cactus as tequila, lots more alcohol) in here tequila makes you cry, mezcal makes you cheerful, it worked to make a friend happy when she got rejected from all her PhDs. So get some mezcal, cut some oranges and smile! 

I wrote to Georgetown explaining how as an international student I wasnt even eligible for loans and how they were my first choice, yesterday I was informed they awarded me 7.5k per year in additional funding!

Well, we will definitely see each other at the Open House on April 8. I am going for the MGPS as well.
Thanks for the opinion, I must say I pretty much agree. Still, I really want to take the most possible informed decision for my next two years !
 
 
MPPGal : if we don't have any answer on last Monday Open House, I will keep you posted on the one in two weeks.

Hey MPPGal !
 
We both now we're pretty much in the same boat here. So I will be happy to hear from others as well, and I will share a few thoughts:
 
First, the "important" connections of GPPI : the connections that matter are the connections related to your field of study and field you want to work afterwards. General connections in DC won't help you as much as really relevant connections from the LatAm & Environmental departments in Austin. The question is more, do the actual expertise of Austin in those areas translate in some useful concrete connections. From the discussions I have with the faculty there, it appears they do.
 
Location : definitely DC is THE international affairs hub. That's one of my main concern with Austin. And while Princeton is also lost in the countryside, it has the name that draw world class praticioners & speakers anyway. But LBJ faculty seems really involved in many national & international research projects and there is a lot going on there. Plus, they look really dedicated to teaching. So I guess it could balance some star guest speakers !
 
I have a phone call with Kate Weaver tonight, so maybe I will be able to share more on the subject after.
 

 

@ vincehoward - I don't want kids in the immediate future, and possibly ever. I also don't mind living low rent and on a small budget. *shrug*

Also, don't base your decision based on the reputation of the schools on this forum.  Half of the people here are crazy.  The other half are also crazy.

That's one of the biggest reasons that I'm not considering SAIS. Not only do I have to accumulate a significant amount of debt, but the location in Bologna for two yeas since I was accepted into the MAIA program is way more than I can afford. Had they given me some financial aid it would have been a different story.
 
Either way I looked deeper into the program and found it to be very challenging and I would have loved to be part of it. I was an Econ major in college so the quant aspect of it does not bother me at all. That's decision we face though, whether the program is worth the cost or not, and that's a very subjective issue. 

I am glad I am not going to B school as if men in there are as creepy as Revolution, I will never date again, ever!!!!!

I am glad I am not going to B school as if men in there are as creepy as Revolution, I will never date again, ever!!!!!

JFactor, from speaking with Erin Cameron at Admissions, I learned that for the core exams, you can either 1) take the class for credit, 2) audit the class and take an exam, or 3) just take the exam (no hands, Ma.) (assuming you know said topic really, really well).  
 
___________
 
I'm reposting some similar info here after having discovered the untainted SAIS thread.
 
I'm seriously considering SAIS Bologna, wavering on Georgetown PPI, and tempted by Columbia SIPA because I fucking love living in NYC and can't bear to leave.  None have offered me funding, but I also didn't think I was a very viable candidate to get into any of the 8 schools I applied to (I got seriously lucky!)  
 
Pros: I agree that SAIS's "academic rigor" is appealing, especially in my position--I have a very general international development degree, 3 years of domestic work experience, and little econ experience.  SAIS would be serious skills and technical training that I could not learn elsewhere.  I also would kill to live to Italy and get trilingual skills!  
 
Cons:
-Missing out on DC opportunities in Bologna, although the tradeoff seems to be a much more close-knit Bologna student community (with about 17 IDEV kids out of 200 students), smaller classes, better chances faculty interaction, and possibly less competition/distraction from all them type-A+ folks in DC.  They don't advise interning/working during the semester, but Bologna does have some nearby internship opportunities or on-campus research positions.  I attended the career services chat--their touting Bologna internship opportunities as the same as DC students sounds like a bunch of euphemistic thinking.
 
-Class offerings:  Bologna has a lot more European focused and energy policy courses; the Asia regional courses and Chinese are offered in DC only.  I don't like the idea of having to plan a cookie-cutter schedule to make sure I hit all the marks to graduate.  
 
-Personal issue--I'm interested in non-profit and NGO management, program development, impact evaluation, etc.  I didn't get the sense that SAIS was necessarily humanitarian or grassroots development focused, and it almost seems that'd I'd come out as a quasi-economist with neoconservative leanings.  (JK?  The 48% private sector jobs result is somewhat telling.)  There's obviously all-star faculty, but the program and class requirements seem to leave little room for flexibility/specialization, or even the idea of aiming for "interdisciplinary" studies.  For instance, you only take 2 regional classes.  
 
- I also got the feeling that administration was disorganized.  The admissions director I met with couldn't name who the IDEV program coordinator was, and gave me a general email address and phone number to call: "Someone will answer." I also couldn't even get a reply to my "I'd like to visit the DC office" email until a week later.  And forget trying to visit classes--the website is all like "submit your request 10 days before."  Every other school I visited just made it happen overnight.  Not that I'm entitled to it, nor is this a Yelp review, but the other schools have been much more welcoming.
 
- Not always having the same academic advisor reminded me too much of the huge public school treatment I was churned out of.  I'm not sure if you get a faculty advisor at SAIS? Probably not....
 
- Second year scholarships and fellowships are few--admissions admitted they don't have much funding to give out and that students who attend view the education as an "investment." 
 
 
I can't make it to any admitted student days but would love to hear your feedback!!

Try the world bank if u r from a poor country!

Try the world bank if u r from a poor country!

Your desperation for these "super smart, accomplished, and attractive women" will be so obvious that it'll be a turn-off for them. I dont know you but you seem to be spending money and wasting time on a degree purely based on a fantasy of having tons of sex with women. Its frankly pathetic.

Revolution at the MBA Buffet...awesome!