Cornell07
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Posts posted by Cornell07
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Quick note from a second year IR at Yale: the decisions will be going out in the next week or two, and the admitted students day will be Monday March 28. I have no further info. Good luck!
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Yale Jackson IR
What is your admission rate?
In the past few years, we have received approximately 300 applications and have admitted about 50 - 60 students for an incoming class of 20-25.
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*bump* to help this year's batch of applicants.
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*bump* to help this year's batch of applicants.
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Hi,
I'm still a couple of years away from applying but I've been compiling some research on all potential schools. Search as I may, for some reason I haven't been able to find tuition costs and/or estimated living costs for graduate students at Yale MacMillan. Can anyone help me out with some numbers? This year's or last year's would be fine, it's just for a rough estimate. Thanks for your help.
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Sounds like she just wanted to get your number.
It's a shame that already enrolled grad students such as myself can't apply for Pickering Fellowships; I sure wouldn't mind having an FSO position aleady lined up plus gobs of funding for my second year.
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I don't know the student's details, but a senior from Columbia U whom I met at Yale's visiting day on Monday said that she was already accepted as a Pickering Fellow.
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Is it possible to apply for some of these awards during your first year in a program? Most are talking about posting for the sake of next year's applicants, so does that mean many of these are only open to students entering (as opposed to continuing) a graduate program?
After you have been accepted, finding external sources of funding is nary impossible, from what I have seen. FLAS is the exception and you can get ~18k (I think) towards a year of graduate study. Technically, FLAS is managed by individual schools who receive X number of FLAS fellowships from the federal government to dole out, so it is only pseudo-external.
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Off the top of my head, some of the popular ones for next year are the Pickering (for future FSOs), FLAS (foreign language studies), and DHS (for national security). And, of course, WWS offers a full ride & stipend to everyone offered admission (sometimes, I think, waitlist people don't get this offer, though).
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I concur. Some debt should not scare you away from a job that will pay huge dividends professionally and monetarily versus staying with only a bachelor's or force you into a program that is is a poor fit for you. Off the top of my head, I know some people here at Yale who passed up better offers from say Georgetown, SAIS, and SIPA to come here with the difference being a full ride and perhaps a stipend there versus half to full tuition here without a stipend. Though those school are all great, they did not offer my classmates the types of experiences that they hoped to get out of grad school and, therefore, those aspects were deemed to be worth the extra 20k-40k.
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Acceptances are in with generous funding all around, and it's decision time. I'm leaning very heavily towards an MA in IR at Yale versus SIPA or SAIS. I would like to hear anyone's thoughts for or against this decision.
The way I see it...
Pros:
- I plan to focus on International Security Studies and SE Asia. Yale seems to do ISS well, SE Asia only so-so, but the flexibility in the curriculum lets me spend time studying classes relevant to my field.
- Yale's academic focus is a plus. I still entertain the (fantasy?) of getting a PhD one day and Yale will open the most doors. I would also genuinely like to understand the theory. 11 years in government service have given me great OJT in applied IR, but I couldn't tell you the why if you stuck a gun to my head.
- The Yale name. SAIS and SIPA have great recognition among the American foreign policy community, but Yale is known by all the folks I deal with, all over the world.
- The faculty and staff seem very friendly and personal. I visited both Yale and SIPA (no time for SAIS), and was really struck by the reception I got at Yale versus the impersonal SIPA.
- Yale's IR program seems like its on the up, with new attention, facilities, and professors.
- Location. OK, New Haven's not great, but the suburbs are close. Moving from a large Asian city, I would like to give my wife and daughter a taste of suburbia before I stick them back in a crowded metropolis.
Cons:
- Maybe too much theory? Some of the classes offered seem a little too ivory tower for me.
- Small size = small alumni network. I don't know if Yale's larger alumni network makes time for us mere MA in IR folks?
- Like I said earlier, SE Asian studies okay, on par with SIPA, but not as good as SAIS.
- Location again. As much as I hate downtown NYC and DC, they do open the door to a lot of unique seminars and study opportunities.
Feel free to shoot gaping holes in my logic. My mind is by no means made up, and feedback, positive or negative, would be greatly appreciated.
As for the amount of theory, it really depends on what you consider instruction in theory. The intro class on international relations that everyone must take their first semester touches on a number of the major theoretical debates, among other things, and you are also required to take a political science theory class of your choosing. Other than that, nothing else you are required to take explicitly teaches IR theory - e.g. realist, liberal, & constructivist theories. BTW, as someone who hadn't touched IR theory since high school debate, I did poo-poo the whole concept of theory. After taking an intro theory course, however, I have a great deal more respect for it; theory allows me to understand the underpinnings of my perspective on problems, as well as the virtues and failings of the schema of others.
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Is it possible to go from undergraduate straight into a Masters, such as the one at Heinz College, and then to a job at the federal level?
Let's say that there is an internship at a policy research institute between the completion of the undergraduate degree and the beginning of the Masters, and then an internship at the federal level during the Masters. Do you think, then, that a job can be landed?
(And, can an internship at the federal level be landed in this scenario?)
It all depends on what you want to do. Though I want to be a foreign service officer, it is not required to have a graduate degree (perhaps not even a college degree, I think). A large portion of getting the job is taking the written foreign service exam and then passing oral+group exams. So, in short, yes.
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For the sake of this year's applicants and future generations, I'll bump this thread; I think it may be better to keep all this info in one place and copy over gen518's post from this year.
Previous Schools (Name, type, or tier): Calvin College, private Christian liberal-arts college.
Previous Degrees and GPA's: English, 3.9
GRE Scores (Verbal/Quantitative/Analytical Writing): 760 Verbal, 800 Quant, 4.5 AWA
Previous Work Experience (Years, Type): 5 years total: 1 year teaching, 4 years management consulting in DC
Math/Econ Background: Zero math since High School, Intro to Macro/Mico (taken at the USDA Graduate School)
Foreign Language Background: Spanish - learned via living in Peru/Marrying a Spaniard
Intended Field of Study in Grad School: International Economics/Security Studies
Long Term Professional Goals: International Management Consulting
Schools Applied to & Results: Admitted: Yale MA ($), Tufts Fletcher ($), Harvard Kennedy School, Johns Hopkins SAIS ($), University of Virginia ($)
Ultimate Decision & Why: I am still somewhat on the fence. At this point, I think I will be heading to Yale, as I have also been admitted into their School of Management and the prospect of doing the joint-degree is highly appealing. Yale also provided a great scholarship. With its highly flexible curriculum, outstanding faculty, and somewhat academic bent, I am increasingly excited about the program in New Haven. I am still waiting to hear back from Harvard on financial aid and scholarships, so that may sway my decision making.
Any advice to Future Applicants? For me it was seriously a factor of taking the time. I studied for the GRE for nearly four months, roughly an hour a day. Also, it helped me a lot to take the time to really research the schools and make the effort to visit them if you can. They really are different and have different things to offer, if you can capture those unique characteristics in your essays and craft a story of how you fit and will contribute to their unique culture, I believe the Adcom's find it compelling.
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I'm in a similar situation. I still haven't heard back from all schools, but so far its 3 rejections. Someone told me early in the process that being a bit different (coming from an Australian media background, having worked in Indonesia for two years, four years full time work experience by age 24) would help, but it doesn't seem to have helped at all...
Do the admissions departments usually give feedback if you ask for it? I'd really like to know just where I went wrong for future reference.
I remember Tufts explicitly offered feedback.
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The Yale IR program is offering no money at all :-( just a letter stating that times are rough, and they can't afford to fund people, which makes me very sad.
But I have been offered a spot in another graduate program at my local state flagship University . No word on funding yet, but of course it turns out to be much cheaper than the $100,000+ price tag of Yale.
Is an Ivy-league education worth that much?
It depends on a lot of factors -- especially what do you want to do and what is the other degree program in?
In my cohort, I'd unscientifically guess that about 1/3 or slightly more have outside sources of funding (a job they are returning to after graduation in the private or public sector or a fellowship like Muskie or Pickering), 1/3 have some Yale funding (few, if any, have full rides; most just get a few thousand per year), and the rest are footing the bill themselves through personal contribution and on-campus jobs. I'm in the third category and am paying for it with the money I saved up working in the private sector and by teaching (depending on the class, it is not always terribly taxing compared to the amount of money you receive).
I chose Yale also over some other cheaper, also un-funded options like American and GW (both about 10K per year less, I think) because what I would get out of it was easily worth 20K to me.
Good luck and I hope to meet you in a couple weeks!
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Anyone Heard back yet? I haven't yet and don't know if its that decisions are delayed... or something else.
I received my decision last year at 4:40 pm on the last day before Spring Break -- 3/6 (*checks watch* At this exact moment last year...)
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For all who are interested, here is an article from today's Yale Daily News regarding the new Jackson Institute here at Yale. http://www.yaledailynews.com/news/university-news/2010/03/02/jackson-institute-school-cheaper/
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I expect that if Yale follows the same schedule as last year, the decisions should come out this Friday, the day before spring break starts. Good luck, all who applied! Hope to see you in a month at the admit day.
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Thank you for the synopsis. You brought up some points I wasn't quite aware of and if/when I get in I will have to consider them. I am a bit confused about the TF thing, is it just a paying teaching position, or does tuition remission come with the package?
What about the Jackson Institute? Has it had any impact on your experience at all, or are you at least hoping it will once it gets going?
Again these are only the sorts of observations that you could not get from a brochure and/or info session. Obviously, there are a lot more positive things I left out as these are the sorts of things that the program touts -- the generally superb quality of professors, the library system, the lectures on campus, the internship connections etc.
Teaching Fellows are the same thing as Teaching Assistants at other universities -- Yale just likes a hoity-toity name because a 'fellow' sounds more prestigious than an 'assistant' like how at Harvard and Princeton, you have 'recitations' instead of 'sections'. Unless teaching is a required part of your financial aid package when you are accepted (I don't think that happens with MA students), the pay for TFs works like any other job on campus where you pay taxes and you can choose to pay your tuition with as much or as little as you like from what's left. Even if you have Yale put the money directly credited against your tuition balance, there is no way to get out of paying taxes, although the taxes should be approximately nothing as graduate students can't hope to make more than the poverty income level. Furthermore, Yale does not offer to slash your tuition bill just because you are teaching (which would be nice -- I think that my mom's university during grad school nixed her tuition in exchange for being a TA - I think this is what you are asking about).
As Jackson hasn't formally started yet, it has not begun to impact our lives in any meaningful sense. All that we, the students, know is that a handful of rotating professionals will be hired (i.e. diplomats, NGO officials etc.) for 6 mo. to 2 year terms to teach; their names should be announced shortly. Officially speaking, I will be in the first Jackson graduating class. Fingers are crossed that we may get some more financial aid for next year.
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Yep. It can happen, as I well remember. Be prepared for some frantic drives up and down the east coast -- or around DC, as the case may be --
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Generally, I'd say that I like the program and that I still would select Yale over SAIS, which was (out of my accepted schools) the only other one that really competed for my interest. Both programs easily eclipsed my other accepted programs at GW and American in terms of overall quality of students, faculty, and match with my interests.
I admit that sometimes I do wonder if I made the right choice and, when I reassess the options I that I had, I still come to the same conclusion that Yale was a better match for me.
Here's what I think would have been useful for me to know or internalize (there are, of course, plenty of other pluses and minuses, but those you should be able to get out of any info session or the like). Also, yes, you should consider your academic and non-academic lives when selecting your school:
Positives
- If you are feeling motivated and funded, you can easily sneak your way into a dual degree. You can get a joint MA/MBA in only one extra year or joint MA/JD in two extra years. Though it is still very tough to get into the JD program, our students have lots of success getting into the MBA program.
- Pay is really good for Teaching Fellow positions. Though they aren't as easy to get as the school would have you believe (you are only getting one your first semester if you are very lucky), you stand a great chance of getting one your second year. I am a grader this semester and get a little less that $5k and next year I will probably be getting about $9k each semester to TF. This is a great opportunity to get build relationships with professors who are a) interesting in their own right, B ) can write great LOR's for jobs or further graduate study, and c) are probably willing to put you in contact with people who can get you a job or an internship. As you will all agonize really soon, money will weigh heavily on your school selections and these are much more useful campus job options than what most other schools can offer.
- There is a campus pub with cheap drinks and a laid-back atmosphere just for graduate students. It may sound silly to bring this up, but having this sort of place to hang out and meet other graduate students without breaking the bank is a really nice option for us.
- There is a surprising number of opportunities to go on school sponsored trips. Over winter break, 50 grad students went to China on the PRC's dime and a cohort will be traveling to Japan late this summer (i.e. that time between the end of internships and the start of school). I know someone who takes a class that every semester travels somewhere pertaining to a development-related topic.
- If you want to make the minimal effort, it is easy to be connected to the rest of the MA IR group. Some people seem to be shut-ins, but for the most part, if you want to make a bunch of friends who will be your support structure for the next two years, it is not hard. The benefits of a small program!
Negatives- Though many of the requirements seem very open ended, your options may be quite limited depending on your background. Specifically, I am thinking of our econ requirement. One of the big reasons that I passed on SAIS was my lack of interest in econ and limited math background -- a couple stats classes and zero calculus. You need to take an economic analysis course and an international economics course. If, like me, you have a limited math background and only intro Micro and Macro, you have essentially no other options for these requirements other than intermediate Micro and Macro.
- I wish more classes did simulations, something SAIS seemed to offer many more of. Every once and a while, a class will give as a midterm or major assignment a detailed description of a crisis (e.g. Iran and Venezuela set off nukes simultaneously, declare an alliance, and put an ultimatum on Israel high-tailing from the West Bank). But that only sort of resembles a simulation, like one (exceedingly hard to get into) class that takes over a building, sets up student led government, and then, over the course of two weekends, the professors throw a mountain of problems at you, while requiring you to hold press conferences, light the x-mas tree etc...
- Undergraduates get lots more love from the university than MA candidates. it feels sometimes like we are the somewhat overlooked middle children -- they get more funding, cushy dorms, and better access to the zillions of great speakers who visit campus regularly (often at "master's tea's".
- You can only take one course per semester at one of the professional schools. So, don't think you can moonlight as a JD candidate.
- Remember, just because someone is famous, he is not necessarily a good professor -- just ask the people who have had classes with Tony (Zzz...) Blair.
Others
[*] Yeah. It is true that New Haven is pretty lousy town. I was a little spoiled by living in Ithaca during my college days, which is what I use as a benchmark to compare collegetowns. Restaurants are often expensive and not that good. This isn't the cornfields of Kansas, mind you, but when you want some good food that isn't pizza or Thai, your heart will wander. Also, there are lots of homeless people and there sometimes is gun related violence. I've never felt any more unsafe than I would walking around the Bronx, but there are places pretty close to campus where I probably would not go jogging or park my car late at night, if you know what I mean.
[*] Parking is a pain in the butt. Meters and pay-by-the-day lots are fabulously expensive. I pay about $675 for a year long garage spot and I consider my investment worth every penny.
[*] Don't believe what people tell you about this being an easily bike-able area. It does snow -- this is New England, people.
[*] The library hours seem waaaay to short, imho.
[*] You are locked out of all of the undergraduate college buildings.
- Though many of the requirements seem very open ended, your options may be quite limited depending on your background. Specifically, I am thinking of our econ requirement. One of the big reasons that I passed on SAIS was my lack of interest in econ and limited math background -- a couple stats classes and zero calculus. You need to take an economic analysis course and an international economics course. If, like me, you have a limited math background and only intro Micro and Macro, you have essentially no other options for these requirements other than intermediate Micro and Macro.
- If you are feeling motivated and funded, you can easily sneak your way into a dual degree. You can get a joint MA/MBA in only one extra year or joint MA/JD in two extra years. Though it is still very tough to get into the JD program, our students have lots of success getting into the MBA program.
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Hey
I'm a long-time lurker and first-time poster. Anyone else out there applying to Yale's MA in IR? There's lots of talk about the other programs but not so much about this one. Anyone else want to commiserate/anticipate? I figure we can get a discussion rolling.
Just a few more weeks till decisions come out. Does anyone know if apps to Yale were up or down this year?
Good luck. Yale was the first program I heard back from last year.
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We generally get about 3 per year at Yale out of our 22-26 person classes.
Yale vs Fletcher
in Government Affairs Forum
Posted · Edited by Cornell07
We don't have a tremendous number of clubs here at Yale other than the student social organization, IASSA, and our journal, Yale Journal of International Affairs. The real resume building activities are being teaching and research assistants for our big name faculty and visiting practitioners. Plus, the pay is very competitive. Between 5-10k per semester depending on the position.
As for the website, it is very much a work in progress as we only transitioned this year to being the Jackson Institute. Hope to see you at the admit day next week.