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Without experience it probably won't get you the "high-powered jobs" but it will let you be better at the jobs you do get, finish tasks faster, advance faster, be capable of tackling bigger projects and open the doors for many jobs (entry level or not) that would not be available without it. A close friend who recently finished her MA says her IR grad friends from top schools are having trouble getting IR jobs, mostly because of the economy and they don't have the prerequisite work experience. They're young or were making a career change. I can't imagine what it must be like to get IR jobs without an MA!

Thanks for the thoughts Saladin. Yea, after some deliberating I've sent a request to defer. SIPA's a great program and I'm lucky to get in. It's not worth it to go through the pain of the application process again and risk getting rejected. Plus if I reapply I might choose SIPA in the end anyways, which would make me feel pretty stupid. Wish me luck on my deferral!

Yea it is quite interesting. Chinese isn't too tough to get to an proficiency good enough for office work, but harder of course than the romance languages. I hear that Persian and Arabic have really tough grammar. Chinese grammar is pretty simple, so many people learn to speak without being able to read or write. A more important factor is that there are more talented Chinese people that can speak good English nowadays. Companies have been doing more localizing and are more interested in cultivating local talent at a cheaper price tag then paying a big salary to some transient foreigner. Still though, being able to speak and read Chinese can open up a lot of opportunities unavailable to non Chinese speakers. It sounds like your language MA fellowship is pretty substantial and the program is pretty noteworthy. A couple of years of intense language training for free is a worthy investment, you definitely won't regret it. Plus you're right, at Yale IR you won't exactly have time to dedicate to language learning. I'd say do the language MA, you can always do the IR down the road. Plus with that language expertise and a couple of years of experience abroad, you'll get more out of your IR and will probably get better funding. Good luck!

I second that. You've got a strong app, especially with your MS and might be competitive to the best schools, so might as well give it a shot. I got into SIPA with a 2.9 undergrad GPA. Might as well give it a shot and apply to a wide range of schools. You can definitely raise your GRE score. I think I've posted my GRE story enough on other posts, but its pretty easy to boost your score if you follow the tips in the books, take as many practice tests as you can, do a lot of math work, memorize a lot of vocabulary. Focus in on your weak points, review math problems you miss the first time around and make sure you understand the math concepts behind the problems.

IRhopeful2010, What’s your language background? I would definitely go with the IR degree if you can afford it, especially since you want to work for the State Department or UN. There’s a couple of reasons. An MA in language is a humanities degree, it is training you to be proficient in a language for a translations, research, teaching and academia. It doesn’t provide you with any practical professional training. Just the language alone isn’t enough anymore based on my nine years in China. The UN and State Department have plenty of local people, all over the world, providing language support in their native language. You’ll be competing with the locals for jobs and, if you a pursue a difficult language, would in some ways have trouble gaining the proficiency to be competitive for jobs at local salaries. With the IR degree you’ll get professional training, advanced economic training, a greater understanding of international issues and be better suited to advise and manage projects. Of course being proficient in the language you want to work in will open a lot of doors, but there’s plenty of other foreigners who’ve learned that language (unless it’s Arabic or Farsi, I hear those are in demand. There’s more and more Chinese speaking foreigners. Arabic is really tough though) and might have more in country time than you. I’m assuming you already have some language background and would be able to continue your studies while at Yale? Of course you can also take summer intensive courses or study in country for a semester or two after you graduate. There’s plenty of these available, and some are very inexpensive. For example you can study in some parts of China with programs that aren’t affiliated with US universities for USD600 a semester. The better programs of course are more expensive but still.

Fletcher all the way. I've only heard and read great things about their program. A friend of mine is taking classes at both and says the quality of teaching at Harvard doesn't even compare. I think the only advantage of Harvard is if you want to work abroad internationally with that big name. But it's definitely not worth the debt. From what I understand you get a much better education at Fletcher, I myself slightly regret not applying there.

Ready to post. Program Applied To: (MPA, MPP, IR, etc.) MIA Schools Applied To: American, Elliott, John Hopkins (SAIS), Columbia (SIPA), Denver (Korbel) Schools Admitted To: SIPA, Korbel Schools Rejected From:Elliott, American (SIS) Waitlisted: SAIS Undergraduate institution: Top 25 liberal arts Undergraduate GPA: 2.9 Last 60 hours of Undergraduate GPA (if applicable): ? Undergraduate Major: Psychology GRE Quantitative Score: 730 (30 pts higher than my best practice test) GRE Verbal Score: 590 (50 points LOWER than my worst practice test) GRE AW Score: 5.5 Years Out of Undergrad (if applicable): 8 Years of Work Experience: 6+ Describe Relevant Work Experience: Taught ESL abroad, worked abroad for environmental, social welfare and corporate sustainability NGOs in communications, research and management positions. Currently do sustainability work for a major corporation in China. Strength of SOP (be honest, describe the process, etc): I put most of my effort into my SIPA, SAIS and Korbel SOPs and the results speak for themselves. My SIPA and SAIS SOPs were definitely solid, confirmed by a law prof friend who reviewed them. Not all schools ask the same questions, and I think adapting my SOPS for my GW and SIS apps probably weakened my application instead of making fresh SOPs for them that directly addressed their essay question. I worked on these over 5 months. It's important that you have time to brainstorm, write, think, rewrite and then step back and take some time off to reflect and edit/rewrite with a fresh pair of eyes. Also helped to get editors to affirm what worked, polish, and bring to attention things that didn't work. I didn't feel very good about my writing sample for SAIS. I tried to adopt something I did for work, but in retrospect probably should've just written something fresh. I've got so much development experience there's plenty of things I could've written about. Strength of LOR's (be honest, describe the process, etc): One good one from a former college professor, and I'm guessing a pretty solid one from the director of a major NGO, he had me draft it, I have no idea what sort of edits he made, but I made sure to ask him in my request letter if he would feel comfortable writing a "strong" LOR. And one fantastic one from a former supervisor, he let me read it and it was everything you'd want in a recommendation. Other: I was coming in pretty weak with my low GPA, but am pumped that I got into SIPA, Denver and waitlisted at SAIS. I was so clueless out of undergrad, I never imagined I could get into schools like these. I think this goes to show how different schools pay attention to different criteria. My work experience is substantial for these programs, but I didn't even come close to meeting the econ requirements of SIPA and SAIS yet I got waitlisted at SAIS even though they're econ crazy. On the other hand I guess GW and American didn't dig my GPA, SOP or some other aspect of my app. I was pretty surprised not to even get waitlisted at either of them. My GRE scores are bitter sweet. I knew getting high scores would be crucial to overcome my undergrad grades, so spent a lot of time studying. I had to fly to another region to take it, my plane was delayed and I ended up only getting a few hours of sleep, on top of a stressful week with little sleep. This definitely affected my verbal score negatively. It was the last section and my concentration really started falling apart, no time to retake. The verbal section was always my strongest; about 70% of my preparation time was reviewing math. On the other hand my quant score is solid, and I raised it about 150 points through studying. So the lesson is: You can improve your GRE score through studying, but make sure you get plenty of sleep before the test, and leave time to retest. Never delete your score no matter how bad you "think" you did.

Congratulations! Wow, I still haven't gotten my decision. If I don't get it by Tuesday I'm going to send them another email. Some of my schools have decision deadlines in two week.s

I haven't heard anything either. In their application complete email they say the decisions can go out as late as early April. Still though, I sent them an email today just in case. There the last school I need to hear from.

I agree. If you're getting that low, just start with fundamentals. Drill your multiplication and division tables, review algebra and geography. Review the words you got wrong and practice those sections. Start moving up to the harder questions as you master the easier ones.

Interesting article on SAIS and life there from Wharton Biz school. http://media.www.whartonjournal.com/media/storage/paper201/news/2005/11/21/Perspectives/The-Classroom.Environment.Lessons.From.Sais-1111223.shtml I think the last bit at the end "Hard Work Does Not Equal Learning" is particular interesting. It sounds like SAIS people work themselves to death and don't have any free time. This would definitely not suit me. While my friends that went to SIPA said that classes are rigorous, they didn't sound overwhelming and time was left to share with classmates and experience the city. Unfortunately I don't have any friends that went to SAIS DC that can corroborate this article. I know SAIS Nanjing can be very time consuming or fairly easy, but this really depends on how good your Chinese is going in, particularly writing. Anyone have input on SAIS DC's workload?

OK, I've got it! I just cast my vote to Oxford. Go to Oxford, then go to Yale Law (if possible). Then, if you're really craving for some practical IR education, you can always do a mid career program down the road. I know Fletcher offers this, I bet SIPA and SAIS do as well. Doesn't that fit together nicely? You seem really keen on using law for advocacy. This is important, you're law degree will be sharp weapon for this type of work. Oxford is such an ultra prestigious name, that it's not worth turning it down for mega debt. If you go to Harvard (depending on the aid situation) then hit up law school, you're debt will be huge, and you might think twice about doing advocacy in favor of doing something more lucrative, but less impactful.

Also keep in mind that if you get into an Ivy league US law school, you can get a job with a firm pulling 200k easy. You'd be working 60-80 hours a week doing corporate law, but just for a year or two. It might take care of that debt and let you build a nest egg to do the things you want to.

Man this is tough. Are you a UK citizen? If you have doubts about going to Law or can swing the dual degree with Harvard law, then definitely go the Harvard route. If not then Oxford one year would be a great credential, might get you into Yale Law, which would be great. Are you familiar with Oxford's curriculum and style? The UK style is a lot different with lots of writings and discussions with your professor, not ideal for a practitioner, but this might be your thing. However it definitely wouldn't suit me, I want classroom time with professionals so I can learn how to get stuff done. I didn't have time to read all replies so sorry if I missed something.

So47, Thanks for the insight. Yea, the "grass is greener" mentality is always an issue. The more I think about it, the more I don't want to go through the cursed application process again. Besides, it looks like all these top programs are just shades of the same, they all have great faculty, students and network. Still thinking though...

I'm still waiting as well. In Asia so I don't expect to get it for a while yet！ It's 2010, why don't they use email?

I applied this season for a Master’s in International Affairs and have been accepted by Columbia SIPA (no funding) and waitlisted by John Hopkins SAIS. I’ve already decided that I will probably not attend next fall due to my job and the fact that it would be impossible to get my Chinese girlfriend to the states unless we get hitched, which we’ll probably do next year, but I don’t want to rush things. So should I defer and have it done with or reapply and keep my options open? Columbia was originally my first choice since it’s in China friendly NYC and I really like their curriculum. It covers all the issues I want to study and has comprehensive econ but is not overwhelming. On the other hand I wasn’t expecting to get into SAIS (almost no econ background, 3.0 undergrad GPA, so-so GRE), so I was pleased to get waitlisted. I'm not crazy about their econ intensity, but they’ve got a great curriculum on Asia issues and large presence in China. DC ain't too shabby either. If I take the econ prereqs I think I stand a chance. I’ve also been reading more and more pleasant things about Tufts and some other schools that I didn’t apply to this time. Of course retaking the GRE again (I’m confident I can improve my score) and redoing that whole application nonsense is really unappealing. And what if I get rejected from schools that accepted me this year? Is there any risk in this?

Just got my reply via their website. Rejected! Kind of surprised since I got into SIPA, but I guess they put more emphasis on academic record. Or I just completely buffooned their SOP since I barely changed it from my SAIS SOS....

Saladin, I'm in your same boat. In at SIPA, waitlisted at SAIS. Originally SIPA was more first choice, but I'm a China fiend and SAIS has a superior China connection. Given that I don't have a strong econ background (I plan to take some correspondence classes this spring/summer) I'm very doubtful I'll get off the SAIS waitlist. In addition, I'm probably not going to start next fall, so I have to decide to defer SIPA or keep my options open and reapply next year. Any guidance?

le_neocon, thanks for the great reply, that's exactly what I'm looking for. I definitely know what I want to do, so yea, the pure MBA is out for me. So on the one hand you say MBA is the way to go, on the other you say you don't see any MBAs where you work? I'm assuming you moved from the private to the public/non profit sector? I'm assuming it's very IR related? You bring up a really good point, the MBA is quite generic. There are so many MBA grads these days, especially with the economy, everyone's going back to school. That reminds me what some MBAs I know say: the MBA isn't enough anymore, you have to have some extra skills/specializations. My bro in law is an MBA and his business has MBAs, some from very good schools, shoring up at his office looking for FREE internships. These are MBA graduates. I didn't realize MBAs are a different price point. Holy s#$%! They start at 40k and go up 80. Check out the Harvard price tag http://www.hbs.edu/mba/admissions/costsummary.html. I also didn't realize that SIPA lets you apply for an MBA the second year, that's something worth examining. So is there a value to couple an IR degree with an MBA?

Has anyone applied or enrolled in a dual MIA/MBA program or something similar? What are your thoughts on it? The reason I ask is that some people say that an MBA is better for getting IR jobs these days for a couple of reasons: Everyone knows what an MBA means, an MA in International Affairs with a Economic Development focus takes a little more explanation. Governments and NGOs are increasingly pulling talent from MBAs and the private sector. An MBA teaches hard administrative, accounting and management skills. More job flexibility, can swing non-profit, govt or business if necessary. Can demand higher salary. Right now I've gotten into some schools, but I'm probably not going to enroll this fall because of some work and woman commitments. So the question is defer, or reapply? I'd defer SIPA, but now I'm thinking about re applying and applying for a dual MIA/MBA track at Columbia or some place similar. I'm really interested in curriculum of the IR MA and development issues, so I'm definitely not interested in just an MBA. Then again, an MPA might be a better solution: issues, theory and admin skills. What are your thoughts?

Fuh real. But now that I know, I can finally mark it on my calender, put a task in Outlook to check my email that day, and set up and alarm reminding me of the important GW even awaiting me in my inbox. Good thing they reminded me, cuz I didn't have any plans to check me email on Monday. Now I definitely might.

Eh, never make assumptions, cuz know one really knows. You very well could be in the final pool of accepted applicants who are competitive for funding. I think last year they were accepting people well into the last week of March. Don't give up!

Definitely do number 2 since that has the MA and location that you're most excited about. So what if you have to take out loans for one year? That's not too bad and I'm sure if you search hard you can find suitable assistance to get by for the second year. A phd is like a 5 year commitment! If it's not something you're excited about, then that could be a pretty drab 5 years. You don't want to be at year three thinking "What if I'd moved to San Fran?" The rewards of going to San Fran to do want you want more than outweigh the financial burden. Living poor in the city can be fun!

Just heard back today. Got accepted! This was my top choice, so I'm pretty pleased. My undergrad GPA from 8+ years ago is only a 2.96, so there was a lot of uncertainty. Just goes to show that by taking some chances and doing on some interesting work experience, you can really improve your chances.