Cornell07
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Posts posted by Cornell07
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I am currently in the SAIS building and just met with some people and I am fantastically underwhelmed. If you want to work at the World Bank or do finance, this is definitely your place. If you don't want to work in the private sector, do want to intern in DC during the school year, or don't really have any strong feelings for economics, this is not your place. After having a very good time at Yale yesterday, my initially thought is that Yale has moved up on my list and SAIS has dropped a notch in my book.
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For those still considering Yale, here's a news item that might provide more incentives.
Wow. That definitely makes Yale much more appealing. I assume they'll talk about this in detail on Monday.
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Ditto to you both of you (emforpeace & yuhoolio)! I really like Yale except it does seem like something of an unknown. I'll be in New Haven on Sunday walking around campus / attending that open course meeting that evening and then going to the Open House in the morning.
I really want to keep a foothold in academia with the possibility of a PhD in the future, but be more than just someone who lives in the Ivory Tower.
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Yale
in 2009 Archive
I'm visiting Yale this weekend for the International Relations students open house, then it's a quick jaunt to DC to check out my other schools. Yale is high on my list because of its small size, apparently stellar employment rate, and ability to facilitate any future PhD dreams I have.
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Yesterday I actualy got an email from Fletcher outlining my funding package (scholarship, subsidized loans, unsubsidized loans, work study). But Fletcher seems to be very on top of its game in terms of transparency and getting information out quickly, which definately makes me want to go there more as I feel like they actualy care about my needs and run a smooth operation.
I agree very much with the sentiment. I hold not a drop of hard feeling towards Tufts for rejecting me because at least they have been exceedingly transparent in their admissions process. Heck, they even offer to review your application to tell you how to make it stronger in the future!
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I think that a lot of it has to do with need, also. I'd like to think my application was strong, but having gotten out of undergrad with some of my parents' savings intact (hooray for merit scholarships!) and then worked/saved the past year and a half, I think that my FAFSA expected contribution hit me pretty hard. At least, I like that narrative better than "well, I guess I'm somewhere in the lower half of the admits..."
The thing I don't like about the savings argument is that, in theory, I might be penalized for being more frugal than other applicants. While I am not suggesting that you or anyone else on this board spent their money like drunken sailors after college, I would be annoyed if a school said that if I had not worked ungodly hours and not saved nearly all of my post-necessary expenses income,I might be entitled to more financial aid because I would "need" it more.
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I did get some funding from Elliot(int'l affairs MA). 17K/year, renewable for the 2nd year.
I am an international student(and US resident), coming from a flagship univ of my home country, straight out of undergrad and my undergrad GPA's very high, like 97th percentile. Maybe that's one of the creteria(undergrad GPA). my GRE's not so impressive, and i have no full-time paid job experience though i do have 2 pretty good 6 month internships related to the field i wanna go into.
Hope it helps
I wish it did. I went to Cornell, a school of some repute, (editor's note: I am really sick of the Ivy League fetishism out there. It's a sport's conference for Christ's sake) and got a 770Q, 5.5 W, and 630 V, a 3.61 GPA, plus 2 years work experience and quite a bit of public service volunteer work. I just cannot figure out why none of my schools offered me a cent of grant money when I felt that I offered a competitive applicant profile. Who knows, maybe it had something to do with my SOP? *shrug* :?:
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I really wish I could figure out what the criteria for who gets financial aid at these schools. I always assumed that part of the financial aid calculus was trying to woo students whose scores would raise the average admissions scores. For example, at GWU, almost all of my stats are in the top 25% for the entering class, yet I was offered bupkis. Perhaps schools are penalizing me for having slaved away at a law firm for a while, doing insane hours for quite good pay, while living like an impoverished grad student and stowing away a decent portion of my grad school education?
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Also, there is nothing inherently wrong with Neocon profs and this is coming from a dyed in the wool Democrat. In fact, one of my favorite professors from my undergrad years was Jeremy Rabkin (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeremy_A._Rabkin). His obvious opposition to most of my classmates and me, combined with his truly professorial attitude, always made for fabulous discussions.
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Previous Schools (Name, type, or tier): Cornell University
Previous Degrees and GPA's: History, 3.61
GRE Scores (Verbal/Quantitative/Analytical Writing): 630/770/5.5
Previous Work Experience (Years, Type): 1.5 years in int'l structured finance law, .5 years in unpaid field organizing on the Obama campaign, volunteer alumni adviser for my college's policy debate team during this time
Math/Econ Background: Intro Stats, Statistical Research and Design, Microeconomics
Foreign Language Background: 2 years of Italian, 5 years of Latin
Intended Field of Study in Grad School: Security Studies \ Diplomacy
Long Term Professional Goals: Mix of legislative affairs, foreign service, and teaching (that's in the very long term)
Schools Applied to & Results:
Accepted (zero funding):
- Yale - MA in International Relations
Johns Hopkins SAIS - MA in International Relations
George Washington Elliott School - MA in International Affairs
American University - MA in International Affairs
Rejected:- Princeton WWS - MPA
Harvard KSG - MPP
Georgetown Walsh - MSFS
Tufts Fletcher - MALD
- Princeton WWS - MPA
Ultimate Decision & Why: Yale.
1) Small, very closely knit program with tons of face time with professors and other students.
2) Flexible course schedule.
3) Solid academic and professional preparation, giving me the most long term flexibility.
4) Great pay for TF positions.
5) Cost of living is lower than in DC
6) While a school's name may not open doors, the name Yale certainly will never close doors.
Advise for future applicants: Spreadsheets for tracking your documents/payments/LORs/logins/websites etc were key to keeping my sanity this year. Three years of experience seems to be the right point for both getting into a ton of schools AND getting funding. I may have gotten into some awesome schools, but not getting any funding was pushing me towards the cheapest (and not necessarily the best) option. Also, start everything as early as possible. Schools will lose your files, so make sure they are in sooner so you can iron out problems expeditiously.
When it comes to your essays: rewrite, rewrite, rewrite. When I met students at Yale and SAIS, I was in awe of their prior experience. I must conclude that a stupendous personal statement can make up for a great deal. If you want to do an academically geared program, be reasonably specific about what you want to study - ie the question or set of questions you hope to explore in g-school.
- Yale - MA in International Relations
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I'm leaning on taking GW over SAIS, Yale, and American because it is so much cheaper than the first two and because it seems like a superior program to American.
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Hot damn! GW got off its collective butt, admitted that my application has been complete for about a month and a half (contrary to what it's original decision letter had said), and admitted me! Come on funding...pretty please...
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No unique assistance, just federal loans.
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Did anyone find out about financial aid yet? Based upon the acceptance email, I'd guess that packages were mailed Monday afternoon, so people in DC might have received by now.
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I can't say that the thought hadn't crossed my mind. Any idea what the tuition cost difference is? Also, classes are still in English, unlike the Nanking center, right? I can read and speak Italian, but not well enough to take all of my classes in Italian.
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Also if we want to attend CIPA how fast do we have to secure our dorm/apartment. Where are the best places to live on campus? I saw that they have some graduate housing are those more desirable than looking for apartments. Are any apartments outside of the college housing furnished?
On campus graduate housing consists of a large condos complex on the absolute most northern part of North Campus (unless you were a law student, which means you could literally live in the law school at its residential college). I lived on campus all 4 years and none of my friends' apartments were furnished (save a beer pong table or couch deposited by the previous residents).
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I think this may be one of the fun cases in which you receive an answer depending on the first letter of your surname? Mine is "j" hope that helps.
Bl
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Hmm. I guess then if I did not get an email by this evening, I can safely say that I did not get in? (I did always feel it was the longest shot of all my schools)
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I'll be at SAIS on the 15th.... gradcafe meetup anyone?
I'll definitely be there.
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GW continues to fumble my decision. Blerg.
When is the admitted students day? I will be in DC for the SIS admitted students day (4/13) and the SAIS admitted students day (4/15) and I hope very much that Elliot's day is around that time.
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I'm still waiting on SIS. It's taken them forever considering I submitted my application before the January 15th deadlines. How is it that schools like MSFS and WWS that get 800 - 1000 applicants have a smoother and more efficient system?
Maybe you should call them. One of my recs arrived super late at American (I swear, this one professor was always either 100% on his game, sending out letters the same day I emailed him, or completely unreachable for weeks on end). The admissions counselor worked this out with me (March 4) and I received my decision about 2 weeks later.
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The USPS failed today. My SFS decision should have arrived today (NYC) and (perhaps? I dunno when they went out) my SAIS admissions package. Boo. Just watch, I will post this, and, within the next 5 minutes, the mail will show up.
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No news. When is the admitted students day? I will be in DC for the SIS admitted students day (4/13) and the SAIS admitted students day (4/15) and I hope very much that SFS's day is around that time.
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Congratulations! This 3 to 6 month ordeal is coming to an end. By now, you've probably heard back from all or most of your schools, have weighed your choices, and might have even made your final decision. For the aid of future gradcafe applicants, please post as much of the following information as you feel comfortable sharing after you have made your FINAL decision.
Please do not use this thread to ask other users to help weigh your choices.
Previous Schools (Name, type, or tier):
Previous Degrees and GPA's:
GRE Scores (Verbal/Quantitative/Analytical Writing):
Previous Work Experience (Years, Type):
Math/Econ Background:
Foreign Language Background:
Intended Field of Study in Grad School:
Long Term Professional Goals:
Schools Applied to & Results:
Ultimate Decision & Why:
Feel free to add any more info that you feel would paint a better picture of your applicant profile.
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I, for one, have started leaving Italian news running in the background and try to read a couple articles a day in Italian in preparation for g-school language exams. I also will probably need to take a Macro course, so I am looking into that in the meantime.
SAIS
in Government Affairs Forum
Posted
I have not totally given up on SAIS yet -- maybe administrators instead of faculty are not the best people to speak with -- so I am about to meet with the faculty in my admitted department. I promise to provide more insight.
I'm presently sitting on a couch in a dept. office waiting for a prof to come back from a dissertation defense, so more details will be forthcoming.