hlove

Grad school is a HUGE decision that isn't to be taken lightly. And the school you choose has a huge impact on your future for multiple reasons. Personally I think you need to take as much time as you need until you are absolutely certain that the school you choose is the one you can commit to wholeheartedly.Clearly Dani hadn't reached that stage if she changed her mind. It was the reason she paid both deposits. Though I agree that now that she has realized she can't give up SIPA she should notify Fletcher as soon as possible. But seriously what is up with all the attacks that go on in these forums? Is the anonymity going to peoples heads? Or is your life so sad that you like to stir up drama?

If you know what you want then definitely put it down but it's not set in stone. Like rudy said, IDEV is the only program that you have to apply to when you apply to SAIS. Obviously it's better to know what area you want to concentrate because then you can look at which campus gives you the best range of courses and background. As some have said on the board, SAIS BC is great for European Studies but not so much for African studies. And you can start taking classes in your specific concentrate (barring pre-reqs) right away. I think on one of the other topics a current SAIS student was thinking of switching her concentrate this late in the year so it doesn't seem uncommon to change your mind.

Thanks for all the great advice flyingjellyfish! I think going to definitely take it and see if I can speak to anyone in my specific program/s. I'm actually hoping to double, well I guess triple concentrate with Econ, so hopefully I'll be able to benefit from all programs. I speak (rusty) german so with some luck I can test out of that and then I'll be taking Italian during pre-term...either microecon with survival or just intensive to help me during the year, and then do Spanish has my main language of study after pre-term. Haha if you hadn't guessed I'll be in Bologna for my first year then on to D.C. Excited to meet you and all my other class mates! Still a lot of things I need to decide but I'm getting there. I heard the exact same thing about all those concentrations from a current student I pm'd on this board, so either we talked to the same person (not unlikely) or that might actually be the general consensus. In any case, I don't really think any of us are going to get a "bad" education no matter what we choose so I'm not going to stress to much about it.

So I've officially accepted my admissions offer and was wondering what everyone is going to concentrate in. I've heard about so really well backed programs (Idev, Security studies) and some not so well developed concentrations (ilaw and conflict management). This makes me slightly worried as I'm seriously leaning towards conflict management but haven't settled on a concentration. So what are you guys concentrating in, why and what have you heard about the program?

Thanks I did the same. Will see what happens.

Did you email admissions or finaid when asking for additional aid?

When is Korbel decision deadline. I tried looking it up on my admission's letter but it wasn't there.

Does anyone know how I go about this? I still haven't received a financial aid decision from SAIS yet, because I worked abroad part of 2012 but not enough to need to file taxes so it's been a headache and a half to get them acceptable proof of income seeing as Korea doesn't hand out w-2 forms. BUT it should be solve as off yesterday and they said they should let me know by Friday. However not knowing how much financial aid (if any) I'm getting is obviously impacting my other decisions. So how do I request extensions on decisions from my other schools includ. SAIS? Do I just send a request to the admissions board or is there another way? Is this even possible this late in the game?

Depends which branch of the government you want to work in. If you go the DOD route, jobs are pretty much everywhere, well at least everywhere the American military is, which is pretty much every state and numerous countries.

I got much more out of the post from reading the comments below which turned into a discussion about tuition cost, student satisfaction at BC and a real look at some of the negative and positives. I actually feel a little relived at hearing the not so good about SAIS Bologna and it hasn't changed my decision applying for the BC program over DC.

I think it depends on the field of study you are talking about, MA in IR this typically a professional degree, meant to prepare you for going out in the working world not an academic career. It focuses on practical applications over looking at issues from purely academic standpoint. Granted the ratio between academics and applied depends on the school, so you will always get a mixture of both. What are you looking at getting a masters in and what do you want to get a Ph.d in? I know for anthropology (my undergrad major), a masters in anything, including anthropology is pretty much worthless and at times discouraged (Archaeology is a different, with my BA I could go into Archaeology and a masters in it would make me more marketable). Most Ph.d programs in anthropology award a masters degree in the course of your Ph.d studies. I'm not sure how typical or atypical this is, so you would have to look at what you want to master. I think in general though, a professional degree in global affairs isn't going to help very much in increasing your marketability towards a Neuroscience Ph.d program. It will help you immensely in working in the field of global affairs.

Riverguide, Were there any cons to your trip, the school, or the program that you saw or another student mentioned?

Cool, I look forward to hearing about your visit!

Dinged. Probably would have been more upset two weeks ago, but now I'm just relieved to have all the information so I can start making a decision. Congrats to all that got in. I'm more than likely off to SAIS (my top choice!)

*eye roll* Seriously? If you feel his opinions are so bad that you need to pick up the phone and call the school about an unknown poster on a grad school forum board, that's up to you. But I question your scope of what's really important and your tactics for achieving "results" are questionable. Just for clarification, I never actually quoted anything revolution said and referenced more what I thought was the gist of almost every single one of his posts i.e. business school is amaze balls, all the hot girls go there, you won't have the kind of life style worth having if you don't go. SAIS isn't worth it, it's sucks and while it's reknowned in the IR field it's basically a no named brand else where yadayadayada. The last post you said set you off, was basically all about how his oh so important friends didn't even know what school he'd gotten into and they made fun of him. And that they student profiles he looked at weren't up to his standards. I mean I read his posts and think how pathetic. To bring this topic back to the, well topic at hand. Riverguide, what are you impressions of SAIS so far? Good and bad? I'm going to try to make it out for the open house but it's still up in the air,so I'd appreciate the insight. *I get really into debates, over topics large and small but hope no ones taking this personally because it's certainly not meant that way *

Maybe it's just me but I'm not one to feel personally insulted by him or anyone bad mouthing a program I'm considering going to. Again so what? As far as I can recall he didn't insult anyone, specifically or generally, personally. He just the stated that the program wasn't worth the cost...in a demeaning manner. Yes I think he comes off as and probably is a misogynistic pig. But I'm not personally insulted that he thinks business school women are the epitome of women-hood that all women should aspire too. Why should I be insulted or care? While I agree that people should be accountable for their actions. Words, deeds and opinions are vastly different things. If I think fruit candy is better than chocolate, or milk tea is better than coffee (shout out to all my boba lovers ) should I have to defend my reasoning? Isn't that the beauty of an opinion? Normally I wouldn't have tried to defend any of the trite BS that spews from revolutions mouth but free speech is something I hold dear and your threat to call the school just seemed like a petty way to get back at someone for airing opinions you disagreed with...even if you were joking and he is a douche-bag<-----just my opinon. Agreed, so tell him the stfu, but threaten him?

Though you may not agree with all or even anything Revolution says, this America and we do guarantee free speech. So he doesn't value SAIS as much as everyone else, so what? I don't care about his business schools and don't hold MBA's to a very high regard. I doubt that effects his decision to go pursue an MBA and his opinion has no bearing on my decision to go to SAIS. JHU obviously saw something in him that they believed he could contribute to the school which is why they offered him money, regardless of whether you think he deserves that isn't up to you or me and again he shouldn't be punished for voicing his opinion just because you disagree with him. Revolution knows what he wants out of life and though its a life style I have no desire to be a part of and holds no value to me, at least he's honest about it. He may be disparaging about the program in regards to his goals but he's never once attacked (at least from what I recall) anyone personally or wrote anything bad about people on this forum, unlike what most (myself included) seem to be doing towards him. Personally I think he should still visit SAIS. He's admitted that it is a possible path to achieve his goals. At least by visiting he'll know one way or another if it's the right fit and won't have any regrets about declining or accepting. On a final note, Revolution. I have no problem with you voicing your opinion about the program but at this point your just saying the same negative things over and over. I appreciate the opposing view points even if your negatives aren't my negatives, but you aren't saying anything that you haven't said before.

I read past forums about bringing spouses/significant others/parents to admitted student days and the concensus seemed to be that it makes for very awkward interactions as each event is geared towards helping make potential students feel like this is the program they want to study. One person said her spouse came with her to DC, but instead check out the living environment (places to live, shop, go out and how close/far/expensive they were to campus) which was really useful to them. I also thought about bringing my dad with as he has worked in the government for over 30 years and I really value his opinion, but eventually decided against it based on what everyone else had said. Personally I have no problem with anyone bringing someone else but they might not really get anything out of the events.

I just got off the phone with admissions. According to them, letters are going out as decisions are made and this will continue (at the latest) till the end of next week but should be done by the end of this week. Also financial aid letters won't be included but should follow soon after. Not sure how great a decision this is on the part of Georgetown as I am already looking ahead to the other schools I've been admitted to. Originally, my top two were SAIS and GT but now I'm almost complete decided on SAIS.

I'm still debating whether I'm going to go as DC is on the opposite side of the country from me but I think I'm going to make the trek out. I'll probably go to GW Elliott, SAIS and MSFS (If I get in). As someone who has never been to the east coast or DC, any advice for where to fly in and also where to stay? I'm on a pretty tight budget but I'm also having nightmares of trying to figure out DC public transportation the morning of the open houses.

Good god, I worked at a PR firm in Beverly Hills and I thought I'd meet the worst of the worst but the way he represents himself on this board, Revolution is right up there. I don't know whether to be entertained or sadden. It's clear he gains his self worth, not from who he is as a person or what he himself accomplishes but instead seems to gain validation through the people he associates with, which again is very sad yet at the same time very entertaining. Revolution, reading your posts throughout this thread, it's clear you want members of this board to convince you that SAIS or any IR degree is worth your time and money. We all know our reasons for applying and they probably very different from yours. You seem to be searching for a lifestyle and while I think most of us are searching for a career in something we are passionate about. I don't think anyone goes into IR to get rich. The expected salary for IR grads is readily available and yet we all applied because it's what we want to do. You seem to know what you want, which is fine I'm not attacking your life goals. SAIS is a great program for IR, it's not trying to pass itself off as an MBA or as a substitute for an MBA. It doesn't make sense that you keep judging it by that standard. As a side note on the social scene, one of the SAIS (Bologna) grads I meet at the APSIA fair I went to, did a joint MBA/IR program, and one of the things she said was the her IR degree was a lot more fun than her MBA degree. Personally I don't think an MBA is that great of an accomplishment but I did my undergrad at a school that had a great business school so maybe I was just desensitized to its prestige by the sheer abundance of business students I knew. The herd seek out the great, not for their sake but for their influence; and the great welcome them out of vanity or need. Napoleon Bonaparte

So I crunched some numbers and if I took out a $100,000 in Grad Plus Loans with a 15 year repayment plan at a fixed 7.9% interest rate the total monthly payment is about $950. If I graduate and attain the average starting salary of SAIS grads (someone said $63,000 on one of the forums) that less taxes should be around 47,000-46,000 or a little over 3800 per month (I'm rounding down). Minus the 950 for student loans should give you about 2,900 of disposable income. Now minus rent and other expenses depending on your overall consumption (Rent in DC is about 1500 on the lower end, I think). It seems doable to me if I actually get a job the pays 60,000 or more. Granted I'm fairly young and don't have anyone dependent on me for their livelihood i.e. kids or spouse. What do you guys think? Does this at all sound plausible? Fell free to correct on the math if I made a mistake, not my strong suit.

So most of the grad school selections are out and I thought I'd start this thread help me (and others) work through the decision process. It'd be interesting to hear other peoples views on the pros and cons of the schools they are deciding between. Surprisingly I've actually been admitted into all the schools I've heard back from and more choices just make it that much harder to decide. MA International Relations Programs I've been admitted to : Denver Korbel (12k), America SIS (no funding), GWU Elliott (no funding), SAIS Bologna (Funding unknown), and waiting on Georgetown. SIS is a pretty much out of it for me. I didn't get any funding, and it just never got that great a feeling about it. Between Denver and GW, if I wasn't considering the financial aspect I'd choose GW. I really like the courses, location and overall feeling I got when I talked to former students and admission people but Korbel gave me a little money and the cost of living is about a third of DC's cost of living. I did go to DU as a undergrad so I'm familiar with the school, area and program. Obviously DC as the benefit of location but how much of Denver's location would be a disadvantage when it came to getting internships and Jobs after graduation? SAIS and Georgetown: Are my top schools, not sure if I've gotten into Georgetown but I'm also not sure if I'd choose Georgetown over SAIS in any case SAIS's economic focus scares me a bit but I'm taking Micro and Macro right now and I'm really enjoying it. I did fine in math during High School but that's a long time ago and my quantitative skills are very rusty (got a 150 Verbal score). Alumni network at SAIS is a big plus for me. It's hard to fake the level of enthusiasm Alum have about the school or the sheer abundance of them around the world. Also Bologna program is one of the main reasons I choose it. If the trend from all the other schools continue I won't get any funding which means I'd be going into about $100,000 of debt which again is incredibly scary specially in this job market. I eventually want to go into the Foreign Service and as with any gov' job they do have loan forgiveness programs but it will still take a large portion of my hypothetical salary. I'm also fairly certain (or at least hopeful I can get fellowships and outside scholarships my second year. Is anyone else debating this problem? In any of the programs I'll be in debt but at least at Denver it will only be about $70,000 as opposed to the DC schools 100,000+. What are your guys pros and cons for the schools you've been admitted into? Reasons you choose a specific program if you have already decided? Any input into the programs I've listed?