saudiwin

Hi -- I finished my Elliott school M.A. two years ago. I remember in a conversation with the admissions guy that they offer about 25% of students some "funding"--its really just a tuition discount. The highest standard award they will give is half-tuition. A tiny number of students, probably less than 10, receive a full tuition waiver. I believe most of those come from outside sources--my roommate got one and it came with a stipulation that he had to serve in the USG for five years after graduation. You can, though, defray the cost of tuition by working. I knew a good number of students who were working full-time (usually they would slow down their degree to three years). Working part-time is quite normal, and all the classes at GW are in the evening so its easily accomplished. Much harder, though, to have a good social life! : / GW was a great program, but reeeealllyyy expensive with cost of living factored in. I got into AU and GW, but AU's offer was much more generous. Honestly, if I did it over again I would have given that AU offer some more serious thought... its also a very good school for professional international affairs. Feel free to contact me if you want any other thoughts on the Elliott School.

Hi friend -- I think you want to be careful about doing a "terminal M.A.". A terminal M.A. is one that is disconnected from a PhD program--i.e., the program does not issue any PhDs at all. I did a terminal M.A. in a foreign policy school, and I had a similar experience to our European colleague in that it convinced me that I really wanted to do a PhD. However, I didn't make that realization until my final semester, and because I did a terminal M.A. I didn't have a degree that easily segued into a PhD program. My degree was aimed at producing good candidates for the job field, not academia, and it did that very well, but it made it difficult to then use my research and training to apply for a PhD. So my advice is that it makes sense to take time off to think about a PhD before you do one because it is a career decision and it will take years and years. But if you go for an MA, try to get into an MA program that is as highly ranked as possible and connected to a well-established PhD program. That will 1) allow you to gather lots of information about PhD programs, profs and lifestyles and 2) allow you to check off a lot of your PhD boxes. In fact, if you go to UofC, its not a bad idea to try to use your dept connections and enroll directly in their MA program. Maybe they'll even let you take some grad classes your senior year. Then you can always take a year or two off and work before going ABD. Some thoughts for you, friend. It sounds like you're on a great trajectory if you want to do a PhD!

PROFILE: Type of Undergrad Institution: Top 100 Undergrad Private Liberal Arts Major(s)/Minor(s): International Relations Undergrad GPA: 3.80 Type of Grad: Top 100 Private Liberal Arts / MA Int'l Affairs Grad GPA: 3.87 GRE: 760 V / 730 Q / 6 W Any Special Courses: Letters of Recommendation: Two grad profs, one academic and the other policy, one undergrad prof Research Experience: All internal research experience, none for external publication Teaching Experience: None Subfield/Research Interests: Comparative Other: 2 years experience U.S. foreign service (overseas), 1 year data consultant RESULTS: Acceptances($$ or no $$): Virginia ($$) Waitlists: Rejections: U Penn Pending: Georgetown Going to: Virginia LESSONS LEARNED: If you're already a good ways into your career, you may find it more challenging to relocate anywhere in the world for a PhD program. There is a measure of safety in numbers that you won't have if you apply to fewer schools, although that feeling is really a chimera if you can't attend any of them anyways. I only applied to three schools because only three (and really just one) worked well. If you can convince a school, particularly if it isn't in the top 10, that it truly is your number one choice, I think you will have a better chance at getting in due to the yield problem (% of people accepting offers of admission). Communication with professors, though, is essential for this to happen. Be proactive--this is a career, not just another degree. Secondarily, it seems to me that PhD school admissions are heavily weighted in favor of academic work experience, even if that experience is relatively mundane or uninteresting. This may well be a problem with the academy overall (academic inbreeding creating external irrelevance), but it will make it more challenging if you haven't been sitting in a think tank or a professor's office as their research assistant for the last two years. I attended a professional M.A. program and had to re-write my thesis in order for it to fit the more traditional format that I thought schools were expecting. While that project was absurdly time-consuming, it did pay off. So my advice for those applying farther into your career is to work hard at re-fashioning your experience to fit into the academic model and consider even attaining some academic credentials before applying, especially academic publication. A successful professional career is relatively uninteresting to academic panels compared to an application with all the academic boxes checked. If this bothers you too much, consider staying in the MA/MPP program world. SOP: I won't post mine, but I did receive advice to be sure to list out any "special" reasons that you want to attend a certain school, such as family or other obligations. That will help the admissions committee see that you're not just putting them first like all the other 10 colleges you applied to.

Hi -- I did an M.A. at GW (not the Poli Sci school, although I had some Poli Sci profs). It is a gross over-simplification to call GW a "policy school". The PhDs there are trained in the same quantitative/qualititative/theoretical work as everyone else. GW does hire non-academic professors, but these will teach in their public policy programs, not in the Poli Sci department. Yes, professors there may have a stronger likelihood to be engaged and interested in the policy discussions inside the beltway. But there are many, many academic professors at schools in remote places like New Haven (*cough*) that relish any chance they can get to opine on USG policy. A good friend of mine is currently enrolled in GW's PhD program after also doing the M.A. with me. He has found the program to suit his needs very well. If you want his contact info, just send me a message. Second, relationships matter. That is what GW and Georgetown have going for them. If you want to do research in US foreign policy or other USG bureaus and agencies, it is the place to be. If you want to work in a think tank then both schools are excellent starting points. Many think tanks are biased towards PhDs, even if they hire M.A.s and B.A.s for research assistant positions. The PhD gives them credibility (rightly or wrongly). I would say that the perception is that Georgetown is a more selective and higher quality school than GW, although often the professors and programs between the two schools are quite similar. Neither school of course would compare with the top 10 poli sci schools in terms of placement. Third, I think GW's and Georgetown's biggest weaknesses are the lack of good student housing and a high cost of living. You will be competing for housing with lawyers, consultants, lobbyists, and a horde of others. It is one of the hottest real estate markets in the country. In my mind, that would make UMD slightly more attractive as a grad student because you could live a ways out from the city. That's my $0.02, take it or leave it.

UWSpades -- Any idea when that weekend will be? Thanks much --