StyLeD

I think the difference between the two is a matter of nuance. If you study Asia from a comparatist perspective you are looking at and contrasting domestic, political, and cultural institutions. If you study Asia from an IR perspective you are looking at the bilateral and multilateral relationships between the two countries and the rest of the world. They have a ton of overlap. @Moofasa Schools like Georgetown SFS and Columbia SIPA have excellent IR and Asia faculty. Georgetown offers free language courses below the advanced level; Columbia has the most Asia specialists; and SAIS has a Nanjing campus which is very well-known. Assuming you are applying for an MA program, your scores you should be competitive for most of these programs. Refer to this website for a list of rankings by IR academics. I would take an especially close look at UCSD's School of International Relations and Pacific Studies (recently renamed the School of Global Policy and Strategy) for both MA and PhD. Even though they are switching to a more inclusive name and degree title, the program is still very unique and distinguished for its location and focus on the Asia Pacific.

I think this is a very tough decision that you will have to make where both choices will seem "right" in hindsight. A lot will depend on how well you can manage and keep to a schedule. From personal experience, balancing two internships with a full courseload is not impossible, but it does rule out quite a few things: a robust social life outside of class, frequent visits with interesting professors, work breaks in general, weekend trips, networking events, and perhaps even a relationship. You may have difficulty preparing for class and performing to the best of your abilities. On the flipside, upon completing your internship you will have secured the approval of an ostensibly supportive professor who has demonstrated her approval in your professional abilities. She may end up as a lifelong mentor and adviser. Ideally, you will also have diversified your resume and developed a rigorous work ethic. Your experience will only help you secure better opportunities in the future. My advice for you would be to use a calendar app like Google Calendar and map out your potential schedule for the duration of this schedule. I find that looking at my work/class hours on a calendar often serves as confirmation that, "Yes, I can do this," or "Holy cow, this is WAY too much for me to handle." Additionally - and I should have mentioned this at the start - I would speak with your internship supervisor and professor and ask whether or not you can work for less hours. Don't end up taking on too much work and disappointing your supervisor/professors because you're constantly distracted and tardy with your assignments. Finally, I would keep things in perspective and ask yourself whether or not this added bonus to your resume/potential career is worth the extra work. If you already have a strong portfolio, it may not be necessary to overwork yourself. Likewise, if you already have a strong mentor network, you may not need another one. I've had two separate occasions where I took on two internships simultaneously as an undergraduate while taking a full course load + graduate courses. The first occasion was a fantastic success, as both internships (a non-profit and a think tank) ended up opening doors that otherwise would have been sealed shut. The director of the non-profit ended up writing me a stellar recommendation which secured me a prestigious fellowship, and I used the think tank experience to demonstrate my experience for work at other think tanks. The second occasion was a letdown - I felt that I spread myself too thin and ended up doing just average in all my of commitments. As long as you're careful and pragmatic in your decisions, I'm sure you'll be fine. This is a good dilemma to have! Best of luck.

Think of the resume as the skeleton of your Cover Letter / Statement of Purpose. Once you've build up a solid foundation, all that's left is to weave it into a compelling story. Therefore, along with the categories you've listed, the resume should show real world work/internship experience, leadership experience, and extracurricular activities alongside any technical skills you have - coding, quantitative programs, Adobe Creative Suite, WordPress, etc. Depending on the purpose of the resume, consider including international experience and relevant coursework. If you have 3-4 significant scholarships, fellowships, or similar awards, you can lump that with your GPA and stuff like "Dean's List" or "Dean's Scholarship" in a section on Honors/Distinguished Achievement. Undergraduates these days are expected more and more to have a balance of high GPA, demonstrated leadership potential, and real life experience in the form of work study, internships, and/or research publications depending on your career goals. If you've made substantive efforts in filling out all three categories, consider a fourth: nationally competitive scholarships/fellowships to distinguish you from your peers. Edit: One last thing - while most job resumes are at most 2 pages, academic/award programs often ask for more to get a better sense of the applicant. In such cases, be detailed in describing your research and job activities and format your resume in a way which prioritizes the most relevant sections.

Another word for "major scholarships" would be "nationally competitive scholarships." I would also include state-wide competitive scholarships which offer significant funding or education. I would not include competitive school scholarships; that can go on your resume.

I have 33k in student loan debt, so I'm also worried about the cost of a Master's degree. Unfortunately, for my field an MA is the minimum requirement for many mid to upper-tier jobs. There's no point in me taking a year or two to save up money because very little will be saved. My advice for you would be to explore some of the careers in your field and see whether or not they take BA candidates and pay them well. If they do and the salary is enough to pay off student debt in addition to housing & food, I would seriously consider it. Alternatively, see if you can obtain a fellowship which will help pay for the 5-10k. From my perspective, 5-10k is significant but not crippling. I wouldn't drop out of an MA program for that amount of money. Edit: Seems like the $29,000 debt figure was for 2012. For students graduating this year, the figure is $35,000. http://blogs.wsj.com/economics/2015/05/08/congratulations-class-of-2015-youre-the-most-indebted-ever-for-now/

@mrs12 I think the Pickering site is new this year because the State Department rotates the NPO that administers the Fellowships. Unfortunately this probably means that you're out of luck asking former fellows for concrete advice. Even if they could advise you on the selection process it would be slightly out of date. Your personal statement should exhibit the 12 dimensions identified by the Department of State. Also keep in mind that they cater to underrepresented minorities, women, and low-income applicants...so write your personal statement according to their selection criteria. Best of luck.

Your best bet would be to call them directly and ask. Each program has its own schedule.

I emailed one of the programs I'm currently considering, who granted me an extension for admission decisions. I asked for a new deadline two weeks later than the original date, and I was granted an extension of one week. I didn't receive the full two weeks because it would complicate my enrollment should I choose to go to that school. It's not quite what I wanted BUT it does show that programs do have some flexibility regarding their dates. In fact, I would not put it past them to set an early date in anticipation of these requests. I would email them asking for an extension because you are still waiting to hear back from other schools.

In my opinion, you answered your own question You have a demonstrated passion for schizophrenia research but you are not one-dimensional. You have other intellectual pursuits, one of them being mindfulness.

@HJoey I'm straight out of undergrad so no full-time work experience. I have 3 years part-time internship experience beginning from my sophomore year in UG.

Admissions results out today (at least for MIA)!

If you are writing a personal anecdote, it needs to answer one of the questions every SOP prompt will ask (why this program? why not? what have i done to prepare? how will this degree help me in the future? what are your academic/intellectual interests?) In my opinion, I don't think you necessarily have to change the entire essay - but you do need to narrow it and answer one of the questions from the prompt. This sentence, "It was then that I had an epiphany. It dawned upon me that my passion for software programming had proliferated tremendously," need to be at the forefront of your essay. Everything before that - working on your website, trying to create an authentication feature - is superfluous because it does not answer why or how you became interested in software programming. Also, to be blunt, I find it hard to believe that completing an authentication feature for a website in 30 minutes is the right sort of "epiphany" that will floor the ad comm. In fact, some might argue that your passion for comp sci has been colored by the joy of your marriage.

Sure thing! I hope we both get good news. I'm going to call them first thing in the morning on Monday about admissions decisions. I already received offers from GT and Tufts but neither program is giving me much funding, if any. GT also wants a decision in an extremely short period of time. All I know is what SIPA states on its website - that results will come out sometime in November. Unfortunately, as you mentioned SIPA did extend their deadline to October 31st, so I think it's very likely that decisions will be made later rather than sooner. It took Georgetown a little over a month and Tufts about three weeks. As for GRE scores, I know nothing concrete about SIPA's preferences. They make it very clear that a foundation in quantitative analysis is critical to making it through SIPA's core courses, so I wouldn't be surprised if they focused on the quantitative score as much as, say, SAIS.

Hi James, I also applied for Columbia SIPA's Spring 2016 admissions cycle. I applied for their MIA and am waiting on results (and then hopefully funding!). I would not worry too much about GREs - they are only one part of your application! Plus, there is really no point fretting now that everything is out of your hands. I'll pass on what the Director of Admissions told me: they accept a smaller cohort in the spring, but from a proportionately smaller pool of applicants. It would be quite a fiasco if data suggested preference any other way. From speaking with Georgetown's admissions team, they also echoed the same sentiments about Fall/Spring admissions. However, they stressed that the number of available spots for the Spring depends entirely on how many students graduate the previous academic year. They open up slots as people leave. SIPA may treat Spring admissions in very much the same way. Finally, I dug up this thread in 2013 about Spring admissions. Seems to suggest a 40-50% acceptance rate, which is on par with what Peterson's has on their website.

There are many academic journals that cater specifically to undergraduate research. If your adviser believes your thesis will be competitive for submission, do it. There is no drawback, right? It's not like taking the GRE one too many times, or retaking a course. If you're daunted about submitting to "real" journals, I would look for undergraduate journals catering to your thesis' topic. You can then move on to graduate journals, and then to professional ones. Of course, many journals (especially at the professional level) have strict requirements about publication - they won't let you publish your material in two other journals, for instance - but there's no harm in sending it out prior to serious consideration. I would also look to submit the thesis as a presentation in a conference format. Many times such conferences, which are also held at the undergrad/grad level, have end-of-conference publications where you can disseminate your work.

Every admissions department will have a different policy. Generally, if the online application allows you to self-report scores, there's a decent chance that your application will not be delayed. The ad com may make a decision based on your scores and follow up with you afterwards. I would also be careful about the transcript requirement - some schools require an official transcript before even releasing applications to their respective departments. This could tank your chances and eliminate funding (personal experience).

Have you called the admissions office? It seems like you've done everything but confront the problem directly. Alternatively, most programs have specific dates on when you will hear back. Check their websites. I've called several programs and they each have a different system. Some will store all the applications until the actual deadline, others will review them on an unofficial rolling basis.

You seem like you've already decided, so this is my advice for the bigger name: Be concise. If you haven't contacted this individual since June, and you don't have time to work up to a recommendation request, then summarize your request in 2 (or 3 short) paragraphs, max. One benefit will be that your graduate program appears to be in the same field as your internship. Emphasize how the work experience convinced you to commit your next two years to a graduate program in that field. Tie in specific programs from your top schools that show you've done the research and you aren't wasting his time. If you still live/work in the same area, ask if he has time to sit down with you to talk about your interests and career goals. If he does not have time, then offer to attach a single-page document listing the reasons why you believe you are qualified for XX graduate school. Offer to include a document of your time as an intern. What notable things did you do that separated you from everyone else? Did you submit an op-ed that got published? Did you work closely with said supervisor on a project? Did you offer specific technical skills that no one else possessed? Even if you did none of the above, a list of your duties and tasks will make the prospect of writing a recommendation a lot less arduous. Your job is to make things as easy as possible for your supervisor. Be proactive (but not pushy!) in as few words as possible. Keep cordial greetings to no more than 2 lines. Don't feel too worried about asking for a recommendation without prior notice - he should understand that recommendations are a part of professional culture, and that ~6 months between life updates is natural. And, of course, thank him for taking time to consider your request.

Why will your professor write to only 3 schools? That's a unique requirement. If your programs are similar in specialization/functional field, you can try to convince him that applying for 3 is no different than applying for several more.

Your support has carried me to the promise land For anyone else with cringe-worthy typos out there: fear not! I am living evidence that you can still get accepted when you title your header, "Spring 2015 Applicant".

A lot of professors have multiple emails and rarely check their voicemail. As cliche as it sounds, they come from an older generation where in person contact is far more efficient than anything digitally or electronically generated. If you contact them in person, you'll also receive an answer up front - if they reject you, you have the opportunity to ask why. If they are not available in person, then be politely persistent. Make sure your header clearly and concisely states the purpose of the message. If you have time, send a personal note in the mail - professors often check their boxes on the way to work, or after class.

Never underestimate the power of a military background. I've had many, many internships but to this day interviewers look at my NJROTC experience (high school, not even military) and bring that up before anything else And I'm not just saying that facetiously - military experience suggests several positive character attributes about the applicant. But of course you already know this. As for AU, I would recommend browsing this site: http://www.american.edu/provost/registrar/schedule/schedule-results.cfm?term=2016SN&subj=SIS&search=&mode=title&stat=ALL&hr=&mn=&ampm=AM&class=Browse+Subject Their website is quite unwieldy so I linked the direct database search result. Anything SIS-500 and above are for graduate students. Unfortunately I am not familiar with their CRS program. One great thing, however, about AU is that we have student reviews of professors & their classes posted online each semester (AU students only). If you enroll, you will be able to gauge each professor based on student reviews (out of 7) about their overall experience in the class, class toughness, the grade they anticipate getting (and the GPA they currently have), and how much they took away from the curriculum. From experience, I would absolutely pay attention to the ratings. The reviews are anonymous and will serve as a warning sign for professors that focus too much on traveling/research than on teaching. One of our school *notables* is Akhbar Ahmed. SIS has a "lounge" of sorts for their distinguished faculty. I worked there as a lowly intern for a semester (for a different professor) so I've seen Professor Ahmed entertain several high profile guests over the course of the year. Because my background is not in the Middle East, I can only tell you that you picked the right school to study that region. A disproportionate of the SIS undergraduate curriculum lay in Middle Eastern studies and/or terrorism, which was frustrating to me as an Asia major but will be great for you.

I noticed you applied for Columbia SIPA - Ironically, SIPA extended their deadline for Spring admissions to October 31st so you probably could have submitted the same application for Spring and Fall! I am a Spring '16 applicant for SIPA, so best of luck to the both of us. if I can make one recommendation to anxious applicants - do not review your applications *after* submitting! I noticed two rather egregious typos and I'm ready to book myself a room in the psychiatric ward.

Sure thing - there's no point dwelling about competition since we've both submitted our applications already. At this point I wish us both the best of luck! I graduated from American University with a great but not amazing GPA. Acceptable GRE scores at 162/160/4.5. Majored in International Studies with a regional focus on East Asia. I'm hoping to narrow my education to international security, hence my applications to SSP and Korbel. I'd be thrilled to get into any of the 5 graduate schools I applied to, especially because I made 1-2 typos in my applications. Assuming I get multiple acceptances, financial aid will be a huge factor in where I decide to go. I'm applying to spring because I have to - I received late notice about a fellowship in early January that pays for some of graduate school. I made the argument that beginning grad apps in January was unrealistic, and we agreed that I would apply for Spring. At the time, I hadn't realized how few schools had spring admissions. I didn't know SIPA had spring admissions until very late in the process - they didn't advertise it until 2-3 weeks remained prior to the deadline, and I didn't know until a friend at SIPA told me. Since my alma mater is American - I'd be happy to answer any questions you have about their programs and faculty! I've taken several graduate courses at SIS during my time as an UG. I'd also be interested to learn more about your background. @Izospwox Congratulations!! It is always a good feeling to receive that final acceptance letter. Your career track seems quite different from mine, so I wish you the best. I'm very glad that there are very short turnarounds for spring applications - it reflects a small applicant pool and an even smaller cohort.