Tupacalypse

Could you photocopy a couple of pages of your notes from the book (if you write in the margins) and turn that in as your proof? You could do this along with a short synopsis of your notes as well.

Thank you! That is a little relieving. I have thoughts about becoming an FSO but I can't see myself doing it for my whole career.

Hey GA/IR peeps, I will be starting my MA in the fall, and was wondering if any of you have any input about textbooks. Specifically - when you buy a textbook for a class, do you keep it to always have in your personal library, in case you need to reference it in the future, or do you sell it back? I'm debating right now on if I should buy or rent my textbooks. I know in undergrad this was a different story as often textbooks were something I wasn't interested in career-wise. But are things different for your MA?

I can't seem to find a consensus on this question anywhere but: Is there a contract you sign for a certain amount of years when you are accepted to an A-100 course? That is...if you are directed to serve in Afghanistan, is it for a set number of years? Or can you change posts as soon as a position becomes available?

I will preclude this with the fact that I am not very wise when it comes to this, because I have yet to begin my first year of a masters degree, but I can give my (probably misinformed) opinion. In terms of low-risk route in making your way up the international relatiosn ladder, that certificate you posted might be a good opportunity. It won't really get you an advancement in the workplace, but it will put your foot in the door and most importantly let you determine if you want to pursue a masters in IR or not. This would also be ideal if you discover that your other two fields of interest are what you actually want to focus on, but with an IR affilliation. I think another thing you may want to look at as well, if maybe you want to get a masters in a shorter amount of time, is completing it in the UK, where a lot of IR programs are only a year long, and (somewhat) cheaper than large, private IR programs. I think both computer science and finance would be useful masters to have as well for counter-terror (can't speak much to the finance aspect, but there are some great international finance programs out there, some which I believe you could do dual degrees with IR programs). I, myself, have recently become interested in computer science mainly as a way to increase my job prospects and pad my resume. I believe this is something that you don't necessarily need a masters for in order to work with in the future. There are tons of free places to learn programming out there (MIT open courseware, codeacademy etc.) and what I plan on doing is creating an app or a website or something, gaining a ton of knowledge, and then using the actual product to showcase on my resume rather than a degree, while maintaining my IR master aspirations. I think any of your goals are great for advanced education, it really just depends mostly on what you could see yourself studying in an academic environment the most. Just because you don't get a degree in one doesn't mean you can't further pursue goals at another later on.

This advice is awesome. I went to my Bank of America account the other day (the only credit card I have is the Bank of America rewards) and applied online to increase my credit line by $400. They just checked my credit and it was instantly approved. This should raise my credit a fair amount of points next month instantly just for sheer credit ratio.

Definitely, in fact I'd say a plurality if not majority of members posting on these forums have some sort of military experience. Also depending on who you serve with, the GI bill is also an amazing thing for Grad School and whether or not they admit it I think also factors in school decisions because that's less financial aid they will have to dole out to attract students. I think if you're up for it, military experience is a huge factor in getting admitted to a great MPA program.

Thanks for the reply! There isn't a new name at all and the only thing I have seen about it at all was the random email I got about it. I guess as of now it is just called the Seton Hall School of Diplomacy. I haven't heard of any scandals at all but who knows.

So this seems random but I received an email today notifying me that the Seton Hall Whitehead School of Diplomacy (where I will be entering in the fall) will be removing the Whitehead name from the school. As the school is usually referred to as the Whitehead School...does this bode bad for me? The school? Can it effect me in any way? I thought it was pretty shady that they didn't send any prior notice until the email. Any input?

I've been reading about the site creditkarma lately so I just signed up there and they gave a pretty accurate credit score (at least it seems like it makes sense). It's one of the few ones around that doesn't require any fees or anything so if you want to check credit its worth a shot.

http://db.tt/9PQV3XNK does it work that I'm clicking your links even though I already have a dropbox? Or do you have to refer somebody that doesn't have one?

Hey all, I will be attending grad school at Seton Hall next year and was wondering if anybody had information about living around the area. The campus is located in South Orange which is, from what I have been reading, the nicest area around. However, rent here is a lot more expensive and in reality only about a mile closer to campus. Does anybody know if it would be possible to live in one of the other Oranges without being murdered and/or mugged a lot?

Previous Schools (Name, type, or tier): UNC-Chapel Hill (Top 10 Public School) Previous Degrees and GPAs: Global Studies/Political Science Major, African Studies Minor...GPA - 3.7 Honors GRE Scores (Verbal/Quantitative/Analytical Writing): 164 Verbal, 160 Quant, 5.0 Writing Previous Work Experience (Years, Type): 0.5. Worked as a research assistant for part of last year working with a professor on Arab Spring research. Also this past summer I interned at a human rights Commission in Nairobi. Math/Econ Background: Calc in high school. Introduction to micro/macro Econ. Poli Sci Quantitative Methods Class. Foreign Language Background (if applicable to your program): Advanced Kiswahili, intermediate French, beginner Spanish Intended Field of Study in Grad School: International Relations with an African regional focus Long Term Professional Goals: Working on democracy and governance research either through the United Nations or another similar international institution Schools Applied to & Results: Denver Korbel (accepted $12k a year), American SIS (accepted no funding), Seton Hall Whitehead (Accepted half tuition + RA), Columbia SIPA (rejected) Ultimate Decision & Why: Whitehead - Obviously, the financial assistance plays a huge role. But other than that, they were the school that reached out to me the most during this whole process. I had phone calls with the Dean of Admissions and the Dean of the school, professors, and the Chair all emailed me directly to assist me throughout the process. I don't even feel that welcomed at my own undergraduate institution which I've been at for 4 years, and I love it here. The hospitality and willingness to answer any of my questions ultimately was the main reason I chose Whitehead. Additionally, I have a chance to be a big fish in a small pond there, which is very difficult to do as somebody in my position of being younger than most and lacking work experience. Plus, if I do want to work for the UN one day, arguably there is no better school than Whitehead which has a direct affiliation with the UN and serves internships there. Also, I talked with the internship director who told me that they would be able to get me an internship in Africa. Essentially, this school serves every purpose I was looking for in a Master's program, and will provide me a great way to get more work experience while still being enrolled in school and undertaking minimal debt. Advice for Future Applicants: This applies mainly to those applying straight out of undergrad - Don't be lazy about applications!!! Don't be lazy about any aspect of this process actually. I, unfortunately was. I missed about 4 or 5 deadlines for schools which I may have looked at (SAIS comes to mind), and thus was unable to apply to them. Granted, most people in my situation would (logically) reapply next year, but for me I don't have the mentality that I would be able to just exit the working world and go to an educational setting again. I was lucky in that Whitehead worked out, but be sure you know if you want to go to Grad School or not BEFORE your senior year in college. Also, don't be so hard on yourself. I wasn't expecting to get in to any of these places, but when I found out I got in to Denver (about 3 weeks before the other decisions) I began to have hope and be more confident. If I had this confidence when actually doing my applications, who knows what results could have happened. TLDR; don't be lazy, decide whether or not you want to do an MA next year early on, be confident in your abilities, or at least fake confidence

That's weird my letter said "To accept the offer of admission, please click here to complete the SIS Admissions Reply Form online as soon as possible but no later than April 19, 2013."

Whitehead has been really adamant about me attending there. They even had the chair of the school who is a professor with a focus on Africa (my specialization) email me over the weekend. At this point, I'm going to go ahead and make the decision to attend Whitehead. If for some ridiculous reason American turns around later this week and offers me more money than Whitehead, that may change things. But I'm about to call and inform them of my decision. Thanks all who took the time to help! You guys are great.