Katrun

Like alchyna I was just excited to see European schools making it in the rankings at all.

Anyone see this today: http://www.topuniversities.com/university-rankings/university-subject-rankings/2014/politics#sorting=rank+region=+country=+faculty=+stars=false+search= Sciences Po went up in the rankings. Keep in mind this is super relative.

at SAIS I applied to Law and Diplomacy if I recall correctly. I want to go into both human rights/development so at SAIS I decided to approach it from the human rights angle because I really loved the program. Do you know when we hear from SAIS?

Probably Johns Hopkins. I don't know. Lack of lengthy work experience is holding me back as a truly excellent candidate, I believe at least. I am trying not to think in terms of top choice until I get all my decision letters. If nothing really seems to be the best fit for me I have the option to stay in Haiti for several more years or go somewhere else. I actually applied to two others, but I didn't include them because I think I have a slim chance of getting in and I only applied because a professor asked me to haha.

Ok I exaggerated a bit with McDonalds, because I never ate there haha. What I told myself the whole time I lived there was that you were paying for the quality of life, and let me tell you it was worth it. Also I became a fantastic cook because of living there. You just invite people over for drinks (buying in the store is very cheap actually) or go out. Just drinking out isn't bad and happy hours exist and you get to know the bartenders haha. Geneva for vegetarians isn't difficult at all, in fact it is wonderful. I was vegetarian the whole time I was there simply because of the price of meat, I loved it so much I am a vegetarian still. At least five of my friends there were also vegetarian and never had a problem. Theoretically you could quite cheaply live on cheese and bread (although I don't recommend it). The only thing I really hated was the coffee.

I am telling you the cost of a chicken breast in Switzerland, one chicken breast can be between $7-$14 (US). Going out to eat even at McDonalds won't cost you less than $25 (US).

Yeah it says 6-8 weeks from When you submitted so 8 weeks for me is the 4. Hopefully by then.

I figured it out! NVM.

For the technologically dumb, how does one add a signature??? I've been trying to figure that out. Thank you!

Anyone hear from Brandeis yet? I got an email a while back saying if you applied by January 15 you should hear March 1. This seems weird to me as it is a Saturday and I assume no one is sending out those emails today.

I feel your pain. I am suppose to hear from Brandeis today and I am incessantly checking my applicant page.

Good luck as well and if you visit please tell me your thoughts. I love the breadth and depth focus on ethics and practical. The option to spend the whole second year in a developing country is such a great opportunity and makes the education so much cheaper, because you only pay fees the second year and not tuition. I worry a bit about not being in DC, but I don't know. At this point I am kind of just waiting to hear from everywhere and then make decisions. I have options to stay in Haiti for as long as I want working so if I don't feel good about my choices for the fall I may just stay here. If you do find anyone who graduated from Brandeis let me know. I know someone who did there undergrad their and played on the soccer team. She enjoyed it and said it is a really small school. I don't know. I guess it is just waiting and seeing at this point.

I applied to schools all up and down the East Coast, Tufts, Johns Hopkins, Georgetown, George Washington, American etc. I also applied to Sciences PO, Paris MA International Development. So far I have been accepted to Sciences Po. I really love the Brandeis program, but among the intl. dev applicants this year I have yet to find anyone, other than yourself who has applied there. I don't know what to think. I currently live and work in Haiti so I cannot exactly visit the school before I have to make a decision. Do you know anyone who has gone through the masters program? What are their thoughts? What made you want to apply there and did you apply anywhere else? Good luck to you!

Sorry I should have clarified. I applied to their Ma in International Sustainable Development. Because I submitted by January 15 I received an email saying I'd here by March 1st. I don't know for PHD programs though.

I didn't apply to IHEID but I can speak of life in Geneva, for young professionals it is such a great place to be. My friend's sister is a lawyer there and she lives with four other young professionals and that's how so much of the city is. I went to the Center for Humanitarian Dialogue to meet with the director with some students from my university and there are just lots of opportunities through those sorts of connections. Plus I mean it's Geneva, you will pay an arm and a leg for everything, but it is beautiful and ridiculously international. Speaking French isn't even necessary, everyone there speaks English, but they appreciate when you try and the Swiss are so kind to foreigners when they are learning French. I had a lady actually get out a piece of paper and write things down for me and tell me without me asking and I was in a government building, as much as I love the French, that would never have happened in Paris haha.

I have a couple questions for you if you don't mind. What exactly makes it so hard to study a language? Is it not pushed as much? Are there few students who pursue language classes? How are the development focused classes?

Hello Friends, Does anyone know anything about Brandeis, The Heller School masters program, specifically the Sustainable International Development Program? I am very impressed with it so far, but would like some insight from people who applied there or actually went there. Any thoughts would be helpful. Results come out next week! Thank you!

I think that's really well said. I agree also that there are always exceptions to the rule and people can come straight from undergrad with the right mindset and an unusual level of maturity, I guess that's what job interviews are for hahaha. The only more agricultural economics program I applied to is at Brandeis. I applied to the MA in Sustainable International Development. I am currently doing a lot of ag development and loving it. I hear from them in 9 days so here is to hoping. Also the undergrad institute I came from, Texas A&M Univeristy, has a big agricultural development program and has the Borlaug Institute so there is a lot there. I didn't want to stay in Texas though nor at the time was I sure that I was so interested in agricultural development.

Where did you apply to in the US? I applied to a couple more economics/agricultural programs.

I realized I sounded super down on European schools. I think it really matters where you want to end up. I think European schools offer a huge diversity of education and a different perspective that can be vital. If your end goal is to end up at a big finance firm then going to the school in the US is worth it because you will easily pay off the debt and it will be fine. If your goal is to work at a small non profit, then it is probably not the best financial choice. Likewise if you just want to work at the EU then going to school in the US is kind of an odd choice. There are a million options either way, but so far the consensus from professionals, professors, and students is that if you want to work for the US government or a big US organization/company then you better stay in the US. I really think it depends on your type of studying too. If you are really independent and love self study then Europe is probably a great place for you, you are right there is no hand holding. I personally love a good discussion and need that kind of mental stimulation in class, not just from a textbook. But you are right, for how much I paid to go to a university in the US I expect a professor to show up, be engaged in the class, hold discussions and be available outside of lecture. It is a completely different system.

So I read what the other forum had to say about Sciences PO. All I could think was wow that is exactly what my experience studying in Lausanne, Switzerland was like. I too lived in France for a while and then I spent a year in a very similar system in Switzerland. I have many friends at many schools in Europe. The general consensus is the same on some points: 1.) Interactions with professors/socratic method. In the US you are used to going to professors office hours, seeing them after class, maybe even having been invited to their house or out to lunch with them. This is normal and either required or highly encouraged by the university. Professors are teachers first. Many classes follow the socratic method to some point, meaning you are expected to come prepared to class and to learn through engaging in class discussions. In my experience with the French/Swiss/German system this is not at all the case. Professors do not interact with you, classes are lectures of varying quality and the whole thing about the exposes is true. My last semester I had a class taught by a visiting professor that was a two lecture and then a two hour discussion. No one, but me and my other American friend and two other exchange students understood what a discussion was suppose to be. Only two of us ever read the required materials. Our grades were based on an in class presentation and a final paper. The paper had barely anything to do with what we discussed all semester and the concept of presenting a thesis and working through it in the paper was lost. It was more of a summary of the articles we (in theory) had read. The in class presentations were horrible and the professor never gave feedback. My friends in all different majors concurred that this was their same experience. There is no such thing as a binding syllabus and professors will frequently change what is going on in class. Many final exams were a 15minute oral exam. Many of his other points hit home too, no study space, inefficient administration, taking months to receive exam results, arbitrary grading, etc. Some of this I think is due to the difference in funding of US institutions versus European ones. Also i think it is a different mindset about learning. All of these things made me already afraid to study at Sciences Po. In addition my Dad works for a French company and part of his job is hiring the graduate students. He says almost without exception the best students come from the US and the European ones just aren't up to par. By this I do not mean Americans versus Europeans. I mean those holding degrees from the US versus those holding degrees from Europe. My dad hires many different ethnicities from US universities, most aren't even American. As he is paying for my graduate school he is very reluctant to send me to Paris. The Swiss system is definitely the same about grading. 6.0 are almost never handed out. Even 5.0s are barely handed out and a 4.0 is passing. In Lausanne they admit everyone who applies to the business school for undergrad, their goal is to only graduate 100. So they intentionally fail out the rest.

I got accepted to Sciences Po for my masters for the fall. I too want to return to the US and work for the government or for a US based non-profit at some point. Jorstak, what was your opinion of their education system when you were there for undergrad? I know the French system differs a lot from the American system. Did you apply to schools in the US as well? I have a contact with a professor who did Ivey league all the way through PHD and did the Harvard Kennedy School masters. He is well known in the International Affairs world. I am going to ask him about his perception of the value of a MA from Sci Po and job prospects in the US. What I have heard so far is that if you graduate from Sci PO and spend a few years in Europe getting experience it is no problem to return to the US. BUT if you intend to return immediately to the US you will be competing with all the recent grads from Johns Hopkins, Georgetown, Harvard, Yale, Columbia etc. I assume you would probably bump down a bit in competitiveness and be on the same level as the American Univerisity and George Washington grads. I am speaking specifically about the Washington D.C/New York sphere for job opportunities. I have to safe that is just the opinion I have gotten from several people but it would probably be best to talk to an HR person at an organization you are interested in. Most of the opinions I have gotten I felt were heavily tainted by the whole I went to this school so it was the best and I got a job with my connections so you have to do that too. In the end you are paying for two years of education and it has to be where you are happy and where you think it will take you to where you want to go.

That's exactly the experience I am having now. I am working for a very small NGO that has its hands in a lot of pots so to speak, so there is plenty to do and I have the freedom to do whatever I want, but I don't even know where to start. There are so many needs and such limited resources. Hopefully I will gain some much needed insight and direction in the next couple months. After this internship I will be in definite need of some Argentinean wine considering I am not allowed to drink during my time here!

Just to add, not to be a downer, but I know someone who go the admissible mail from Sciences PO and then was rejected on his GPA later. I think admissible just means you met all the application requirements such as with the paperwork, recommendations, etc. The only stipulation Sciences Po has about academic references is that it should not be from a language professor. The rest they are happy to look at, although only two are required. Congrats to those receiving acceptance letters! Btw I am in Haiti and it is amazing so far!

My top choice is Johns Hopkins SAIS MA, but we will see (decisions wont be out until March). Thanks everyone for their congratulations. I emailed them and questioned their thought process, but they haven't got back to me.