Gov2School

Current WWS here -- no idea what's planned for admit weekend but I'm sure more info will be coming soon. The easiest way to get from Boston to Princeton is probably by train (Amtrak from Boston to NYC or Trenton, then New Jersey Transit from NYC or Trenton to Princeton) or at least that's what I did when I visited HKS and the Woo. It may be faster to fly Boston to Newark, but when you add in transit time to/from the airport and arriving early for your flight, it's probably about the same, possibly faster by train. Another more economical option would be to take the bus Boston to NYC and then bus or train from New York to Princeton but that would be a longer less pleasant journey.

You might want to reach out to the schools you're most interested in and see if they can connect you with current PhD students. That's the best way to get a sense of the program and whether or not it's worth the considerable time and effort it takes to apply, let alone complete a course of study like that.

Keep in mind that DC also has a reliable bus system, so you don't always have to live right by a metro station in order to easily get around without a car (it's also a very walkable and bikeable city, since the majority of it is very flat). It may be worth trying to find out what bus lines service your campus, just so you can expand your housing search. If you want to live near the metro in Dupont, Adams Morgan, or Cleveland Park, be prepared to pay top dollar, as those are some of the priciest neighborhoods in the city (along with Logan Circle and the West End area around GWU) for renting, and rent anywhere near a metro station will be higher. If you're looking for neighborhoods where rent may be more reasonable (keeping in mind that in DC "reasonable" is relative), you could look at Mt. Pleasant, Columbia Heights, Navy Yard, Southwest Waterfront, Bloomingdale, or Petworth. In my expereince there are deals to be found for renters on Capital Hill as well, but it requires some searching. And as a general apartment hunting note, look closely at the exact location of any housing. People will advertise an apartment as being "steps from X desirable location" when in actuality it's pretty far. Good idea to check the Walkscore, and also to find out where the nearest grocery stores are. Finding good quality grocery stores in DC can be a challenge, and apartments near new grocery stores are some of the most desired commodities in the city. Finally, just to flag, the red metro line is the oldest line in the system and notoriously the least reliable, so you may want to look at places where you're served by more than one method of public transport (multiple metro lines, bus and metro, etc), rather than reliant on just one line.

Like Pavlik said, apartments in DC are very expensive, so most young people in DC -- even ones who are not students -- live with roommates, either in an apartment or a "group house" situation (DC has a lot of large row houses, so frequently groups of people, even as many as six, will share a group house). Most people who find apartments in DC do so off of craigslist, so you can start looking now to get a sense of what prices to pay. Living alone, even in a studio, can cost between 1200 and 2200 dollars per month, and that does not necessarily include utilities. A one bedroom can cost between 1500 and 2500 a month, and two bedrooms anywhere from 1800-2700, and so on (these are just estimates, I'm sure you can find more expensive places as well). I'm not sure how that compares to AU housing, but as I said you can look around craigslist and see some current prices. If you're living with a significant other, you can save a lot of money by renting a one bedroom apartment and sharing it, but if you plan on having an unrelated roommate, you'll need a two bedroom or larger. Three bedrooms can sometimes be a more affordable option than two bedrooms (if you find a three bedroom for under $3000, and you can find two roommates, that's better than a 2 bedroom for $2400 for example), but they have the added hassle of finding an extra roommate. The really hard thing about finding apartments in DC is that it's very difficult to do remotely. There are a lot of young people on tight budgets here (not just students, but congressional staffers, nonprofit employees, etc), so competition for affordable places in good areas is strong, and if you can't come to look at the place in person you'll probably get passed over. So if possible, it's a good idea to make some kind of temporary housing arrangements for the first 1-2 weeks to give yourself time to look for an apartment, that would be best. Alternate option would be to come down to DC for a weekend before you start school and try to pack as many viewings as you can into that window.

For me, the visit days were really helpful, because I was picking between three equally great programs, and I was really undecided about which would be better. The visit days helped give me a taste for things that I couldn't read from the website -- how friendly did the other students seem to be? What were their reasons for picking this school over that school? What were the other admitted students like, were they people I had a lot to learn from over the next two years? Did they have interesting and varied backgrounds? How diverse were they (not just ethnically but intellectually, socioeconomically, and in terms of their personalities)? Would I like the environment of the school, and what did it even look like? It's kind of hard to get a sense of that just from glossy website pics and brochures. I wouldn't spend a ton of money to visit, but if it's not that expensive (or even better, if you can get one of your schools to cover transportation costs), it can be useful. Especially if you're trying to choose between programs that are either very very similar (in which case, visiting can help turn up some differences that you may not be seeing on the website) or very very different (in which case, you should be able to get a sense of which you prefer from a visit). Also if you're trying to establish to yourself whether taking on more debt to go to a certain school would REALLY be worth it, a visit can give you some basis for making that decision.

I think most people look to rent their own place in Somerville or Cambridge. It's not cheap to live anywhere in Boston, but getting an apartment is cheaper than the Harvard housing options.

Filling out the FAFSA is to determine your eligibility for whatever federal financial assistance may be available from the U.S. government, such as federally subsidized student loans (which offer a low fixed interest rate, compared to private loans).

It's an impossible question to answer, as there really is no average award and no way to know what percentage of students receive funding. If you have multiple offers, or if you are really interested in a school but need more funding to make attending viable, it's always ok to try to politely negotiate. It never hurts to at least ask, and just see what they say. You're unlikely to go from a $5,000 scholarship to a full ride, but every bit helps!

I was talking about the email. I did receive it eventually it just took a little while. Looks like they've already started sending out the "No" letters, so soon enough folks should know one way or the other.

I just want to say for those that are still waiting that I didn't receive my acceptance until 45 minutes AFTER everyone else last year. I was convinced I got turned down, but I think they were just moving through the applicants alphabetically.

Every school is different, Harvard is very strict about not accepting ANY materials after the application deadline, even grades that don't get turned in until January or updated resumes if you change jobs between the deadline and the announcement date. WWS is much more flexible, they will let you turn in things a little late and also update materials if there are changes between the deadline and the final decision. I don't know if turning things in late affects your standing. If you want to confirm that they've received materials, you can always email the admissions office, they were pretty responsive to me when I had questions.

It's worth remembering that some of these decision release dates are strategic. You have a lot of programs competing for a relatively small slice of top students, and many of those top students want to go to an Ivy League or similarly high-ranked, big name program if they can, and if they want to go into federal or international policy after graduation they'll likely be drawn to the industry centers for those activities (New York and DC), because of the networking and internship opportunities they provide, or just because they think -- rightly or wrongly -- that's where they need to be. So if you're a non-Ivy League program or a program outside of DC or New York, or if you're a great program like Tufts competing with an Ivy League program in your backyard, it's in your interest to get your admission decisions (and your funding decisions) out as soon as possible. That gives you weeks to sell yourself to applicants and get them excited about the special qualities of your program, so they'll be more likely to remember you once decisions start coming in from Ivy League programs. It doesn't mean your program is less pretentious it just means you have to work a little harder to attract the same eyeballs.

The waiting is hard, but hang in there! WWS will be out at the end of next week, and HKS probably around the same time, with others following either closely before or closely after. Almost all the schools have admitted students weekends at the end of March, so they have to get their notices out before then, so you're nearly there!

You might consider reaching out to the schools you're most interested in and asking if they can put you in touch with current vets who are attending their programs or alums who were also vets, as they are probably the best positioned to give you advice. When I visited the schools you listed during accepted students week there were almost always veterans or current officers on the student panels and they seemed really eager to talk to other military folks who were applying/interested in the programs. You could also try looking at the alumni or student profiles on the school websites, and if you see a vet that you want to connect with, ask the school if they could put you in touch or see if you can connect with the person directly on LinkedIn.

I find it a little odd that these rankings were made based on a survey of IR academics and scholars rather than a survey of practitioners, and yet at least for the Master's rankings it says it's ranking the best schools for a policy/practitioner career. Not that many of the scholars at these universities haven't also been practitioners at some point in their lives, but thought that was interesting. As with all rankings, it can be fun to look at (especially if your school is on/near the top!), but not something to take too seriously.