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.

It's probably worth a retake, since you have plenty of time before you apply. if you increase your scores by even 3-4 points, that could make a difference. I was accepted to Tufts and Georgetown and SIPA with a quant score only a fee points above yours, so it is doable, depending on if the other parts of your application match what theyre looking for. You might as well give yourself a chance to improve. You have an overall strong looking background and if you got good grades in your economic classes in undergrad, that at least shows that you're capable of doing the work you'll need to do, even if thats not so obvious from your GRE scores, so that can help. Consider writing about that in the "optional essay" on the application, where they give you space to speak to any concerns.

No idea what it means, other than the fact that they're trying to recruit a more diverse class than previous years.

That tracks closely with last year (they also notified on the second Friday in March). I think I heard back from Harvard first, then Princeton, then most of the other schools the following week.

They're all of course great programs, and you can't go wrong Personally, I ruled out even applying to SAIS pretty much for the same reasons you cite as concerns: SAIS' requirements, particularly their economics requirements, seemed a little arbitrary to me and I didn't necessarily want to do a concentration in international economics in addition to the concentration I was actually interested in. Similar to you, I also think from my field experience that, while some economics is important, day to day success in every international field doesn't hinge on that alone. Fletcher has an excellent brand in DC, especially in development work, though I have no idea how that translates internationally (though I'm guessing as long as you're in the development field, it continues to be valuable). They also offered me a scholarship, which was nice. Of course SIPA also has a great brand, and is a great school. I did visit SIPA during admitted students weekend, and my overall impression (keeping in mind this was based on just a one day visit) was: wow! they have a lot of programs and a lot of students here. Definitely a place where you can get really, really specialized, and the wealth of concentrations means you can study things there that not all schools can offer (for example, a Management concentration within SIPA itself, not something you have to take at a neighboring business school). However, more people also means more competition for limited resources (including the time and attention of faculty, as well as just pure dollar amounts), and I felt a little lost/overwhelmed when I visited. My overall impression was that if you were willing to do a little self-advocacy, you could get a lot done at SIPA, but I wanted a program that was a little smaller and had more money and time to spend on each student. I also wanted a place where I could combine some language study with my MPA course, and at SIPA that's hard to do (at least for Middle Eastern languages) because of the way the Columbia language programs are designed and how popular they are. If you study a less popular language though, that might not be so hard to do. I did like that SIPA has such an international student body, not all of the schools in its peer group are that diverse. Again, you can't really go wrong with any of them, it just depends on what attracts you the most. I would encourage you, if you participate in any virtual townhalls or student q&A events to ask about funding support for things like research travel, summer study, and internships. The difference in availability of those kinds of funds was a major factor for me, since living on a student budget doesn't always leave you room for significant savings, especially in expensive cities like NY and DC.

Contact the program and let them know. Every school has their own policy on late materials. For most of them it probably won't be a big deal.

Not even joking, my acceptance email last year opened with the word "YES!!" Not sure if they do that every year.

Definitely having some kind of relevant work experience or volunteer experience helps with admissions. Some programs specifically state they want students with 2-3 years of post-college work experience, others are a little more vague. I know that Georgetown i particular likes to see some kind of international experience on your resume, whether that's working overseas after graduation or studying abroad or working in the US but in some organization with an international footprint. Keep in mind that work experience can mean a lot of things. It can definitely mean internships, volunteering, or doing a fellowship program. It can also mean working for local organizations or state and city government. It can be starting your own NGO, or maybe just raising money for a cause you care about. The more relevant it is to your personal interests and passions the better. Many schools post profiles of current or recently admitted students online. You might find that helpful to get a sense of how much experience and what kinds of experience your peers are likely to have (though keep in mind those profiles are usually picked to represent the "best of the best", so some students will have less experience/achievements than those featured).

I think it is more competitive, but you have to ask yourself would you really be happy with the other program and would it really prepare you for where you want to go with your career? Even if you don't get in to the SFS program, would it be better to do the public policy school or would it be better to work for a few more years, get some additional field experience, and then circle back to SFS, if that's still what you want? It's a personal judgement call really based on your own experience, goals, and plans, but just some things to think about. As a personal anecdote: When I was applying I ultimately dropped one school off my list that I had on there as my "safety" because I realized that if I didn't get into one of the more competitive programs that I was applying to, I wasn't really going to be happy going to a less competitive program and it wasn't going to serve me professionally. So I decided that I would rather not waste the time, energy, and money on a "just in case" application, and instead just focus on strengthening my other apps. I figured I could always continue working if I didn't get in, and that would be better than leaving for a program I wasn't really wild about/didn't think was the best fit for me. But again, that was based on my circumstances, plans, and experiences. Yours may be different.

I don't know if it would hurt you to apply to both schools within both universities, but it may not really be necessary/worth it. Keep in mind that with most programs you can cross-register within the university, so you can take public policy classes even if you're a student within the IR school or vice versa. With that in mind, probably better to focus on the school/program that best fits your needs and future goals, and then take what additional classes interest you at the other schools. If you're trying to choose, all things being equal, I would focus on the flagship program for each school. More established usually means better resources and a curriculum that's already had the kinks worked out, in addition to giving you a boost with the reputation of the school. So for example, Georgetown's public policy school is pretty new and fairly unknown, so if you can't choose between SFS and the policy school, I'd go for SFS and then try to take policy courses when/where they fit. And keep in mind that SFS is intended to be a policy degree, not pure international relations, so you're getting a lot of policy courses already.

I wouldn't worry about it. They may just be slow updating the website (they have a lot of applications). In my experience, WWS was very good about letting me know if something was missing, so the fact that you haven't heard is probably good. It's nearly Christmas holidays here, so if it still says your letters are missing after January 1, then I would get in touch.