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Yelly, just curious, what type of Quant prep did you do? Did you take any practice tests? If you don't get into the programs you want this time around and decide to take the test again, there's quite a bit of cheap quant prep you can take. I didn't take any courses, just did some self study, and improved by quant score by 180 pts from my first practice test.

cnreves, I agree with Leica, it's tough to find IR jobs these days and if already know what you want to do and get into a good program, then you should do it. I'm a fellow sinophile and have worked in China's development field for years. Based on my investigations and meetings with admissions staff, schools are pretty pumped about Chinese skills. Also it is very true that the IR field has gotten really competitive within and outside of China (I'm assuming you want to do something China related). Sometimes even an MA isn't enough. A couple of reasons. One, there's been a big move in China to localize development orgs over the past few years. Now if you're American and want to work in China, someone like you would be stuck in positions that have limited growth (communications, editing, translation, cross-country fundraising etc), which are already competitive and few and far between. It's much easier to jump into these, and management positions, if you've got that master's degree. Second with the recession, there's just a lot more people on the street looking for jobs. Some of them have MAs, MBAs and have experience in some pretty significant positions. Even IR MA graduates are having trouble findings jobs. I was talking with some former SIPA students last summer and while before you get an MA and get some rad management or director level position, this time recent MA graduates are fighting for entry level positions. This was in NYC, which has gotten really competitive. The market in DC is better. Granted if your tenacious and look hard enough you'll find some internships or volunteer opportunities somewhere, but wouldn't be great to jump right into a full time position? Also with the MA you'll be able to do more, have a broader skill set, be able to take on better projects etc. You'll be more prepared for the type of work you want to do. Work experience is great and important. It can expose you to some new ideas and build real practical expertise. From what I understand the average at most of these programs are about 27, a couple years out of school, a couple of years of work experience under their belt. Also with development and conservation work, the situation on the ground might be a different story than you imagined it to be. My experience doing development and conservation work has it's ups and down, but overall it's been great. But, if you already have a focused vision and know that an MA is what you need to get from point A to B, then definitely do it. You can accelerate the work experience you take on later. Check out the job listings at http://www.chinadevelopmentbrief.com/ to gauge what kind of criteria NGOs in China are looking for.

Thanks guys/girls for sharing your stories, I feel a lot better. I've been spending a friggin' arm and leg on express mail, but better safe than sorry. Luckily it looks like my transcripts should be in on time for 4 of the 5 schools I'm applying to. The fifth one is pretty competitive and probably looking for reasons to exclude my app, but luckily it's not my first choice. I'm going to take the advice here and send some follow up emails explaining my situation just to be on the safe side.

Thanks for the feedback Spozik. Yea, I hope that other schools are thinking about the same as yours. Most don't start the review process until two or more weeks after the deadline, so imagine that if they like the app, they'll probably let a mildly late transcript of a single semester of credits that don't have anything to do with the field of study slide. I just hope that the processing doesn't take too long. I was reading one post that complained about some lazy registrar charging their card, but taking their sweet time sending the transcripts...I'll just wait and see.

So I'm finishing up my applications, have had my transcripts ordered and sent, got confirmation they were sent, but then got a notice from my top choice that they had not received my transcript. I immediately wrote them back, reodered my transcript, and had it expressed mailed to them. I then realize today that I forgot to order transcripts from a semester study abroad program. I just kind of assumed that my marks from the study abroad program on my undergrad transcript would be enough, but now one of my schools is asking for it. It totally slipped my mind (I graduated eight years ago), so I went ahead and ordered study abroad transcripts for all the other programs I'm applying to. So two questions: Do you think the late study abroad transcripts will disqualify me? Is there anyone out there that got into grad school despite a late transcript?

I would say yes it's too many, but look at the language they use in the instructions. Does it strongly suggest to keep it the word limit? Is the question addressed in their FAQ or on any admissions blog they have? From the research I've been doing I'd say going 10% over is ok, but 20% is really pushing it. I would give it to a friend or two who are talented writers and ask them where to cut. There's probably something there you can compress or combine with something else. My SOP for SAIS is 600 words exactly, but my SIPA one only allows for 400 words. I was able to compress it down, it took a lot of the flavor out of it but my main points were in tact. SIPA says several times on their site, FAQ and blog that a major goal of the essay is to see how well you can follow directions and provide a concise explanation of who you are and what you want from their program, so there was no way I was going to push it.

Mppapplicant, From talking to schools, admissions don't care that much about the AWA, but might take notice of a "low" score. Admissions get to read your AWA, so if they the score sets off any alarms with them they'll just take a look at it. Sometimes if you write an essay that's good, but out of line with the GRE formula, it will receive a low score. If you feel pretty good about what you wrote in your AWA, I wouldn't worry too much about it too much.

Current Korbel Student, I'm applying to Korbel and definitely have it pegged as one of my top choices. My intended concentration is International Development. Two questions What's the profile of a typical Korbel Student based on your experience? I get the impression that Korbel has a good balance of practical studies (project management, case studies etc) and theory and is not too focused on the academic and research end of things. Is this true?

dinosaur.fight, I had a similar situation. I was scoring about 640q and 650v on the practice tests. I think it says somewhere in the prep materials that you're supposed to get a lot of sleep, avoid too much coffee and not make any drastic changes to your life in the days leading up the GRE. I kind of messed this up. The days before my test I started a new job, got very little sleep, flew to another country to take the test, didn't get to my hotel till 3:00am, got probably three hours of real sleep and then loaded up on coffee before the test. I went in with that coffee fueled daze that you usually have after pulling an all nighter, pretty sure that I was not in ideal form. So the AWA came up first and I got a dream topic--something that related directly to my work which I had written about extensively before. I spent 5 min making an outline within the AWA screen then began writing my essay. I was able to pull out all sorts of crazy detailed examples and pumped out a ton of words. In the last 5 min I reviewed, was pleased with my work but then realize I hadn't deleted my notes and outline at the beginning. There was 7 seconds left. Crap. I frantically scrolled up to delete my notes, highlighted the section, and then as I frantically mashed backspace I got the "This section is over, you must continue to the new section" box. Damn. I hope my string explicatives didn't bother the other testers. The analysis went OK, the math didn't seem to go to well, my coffee high was starting to run out and concentration became difficult. I worked through, and then my heart sank as the questions became easier. Crap. I had no confidence in my answers and everything took about twice as long to complete as it felt like it should. At the end, with five min left, I realized I still had ten questions to complete. Well I just made it fast, guessing widely on the questions that looked time intensive, and making educated guesses with as little calculation as possible for the other ones. I felt pretty destroyed after this section. By the time the verbal section came around I was really starting to feel the lack of sleep. Reading passages were usually my forte, but the inability to concentrate meant I had to read stuff over and over again. Gut instincts, which are so important for this section, felt really dulled. I pulled though, sure I at least did better than I did on the math. Then it comes to that screen "In the next screen you will have the option to keep or delete your scores." I pressed "Next." Then I was given the choice to keep or delete them. I was pretty tempted to chuck the scores, but since it was already Nov, I knew I didn't have time to retake. So I selected "Keep." The next screen was almost taunting "Are SURE you want to keep your scores?" It was almost as if it was saying "dude, we've seen your scores and well...maybe you should think about re-taking, if you know what I mean." F&%# it, I'm keeping this for better or worse no matter how bad my quant score is. The results? 730q and 590v. Holy crap! Like I said I was testing at about 640q and 650v. This quant score was higher than my best practice test (700) and the verbal was lower than my worse practice test (610). So in short, my practice tests did had nothing to do with my final score. I ended up getting a 5.5awa, so the notes at the beginning didn't seem to take me down.

Glasses, Yup I confirmed it with admissions at a couple of schools I was visiting last summer. I'm sure it depends on how important the writing is to you program, but I'm sure if the see an awesome Verbal score and a strange AWA score, they'll at least take a glance at it.

Cornel, you need to put "non-profit" in that poll. I like the post btw. OTHER: I've worked for a year as an teacher at a university in Beijing, then studied Chinese and worked part time for a while and interned for some social welfare NGOs. Then I worked full time for a major environmental NGO, spent two years in a management position for a social welfare NGO, and then started worked for a business consulting nonprofit and now work doing "sustainability" (the beautiful catch-all) initiatives for a big company. Still in China eight years on, still digging it. Also mix in half a year of unemployment and time here and there dicking around. Life ain't bad! If any upcoming US/Eurpean undergraduates are reading this, I'd say go abroad as soon as you can. Just go travel or teach ESL in a developing country, then get involved and you'll gain some new skills in perspective. It also puts everything in perspective and can focus your goals. But it takes me a long time to get focused, so if you already know exactly what you want to do then definitely do it. africagirl, PolAn good to see some other 30+ out here! What school are you in? I'm applying to 2 yr programs, with Columbia as my first choice.

For those of you with lower AWA scores, keep in mind that your target schools get a copy of the actual essays. So if you're AWA score is a deciding factor in your app, chances are they'll take a glance at and see that it's a good piece of work. On another note, for those of you (especially international students) that think "more is better" and want to just frantically type out as much bs as you can, I'd think twice. If you look at their sample essays and commentary, you'll see that only well organized essays get a 5 or above meaning you need an intro, two or three supporting paragraphs and a conclusion. The bs has to be nice and organized. I got 5.5 and followed their middle school formula closely, but it helped that I spent 5 mins at the beginning planning my essay (especially for the issue), wrote a brief outline, and left 5 minutes at the end to proofread. I also wrote my conclusion before I finished the essay. This was to make sure it was there in case I ran out of time. I've talked to a lot of Chinese students who they just have to frantically write as much as possible and don't have time to spend organizing the essay. The people I know that do this are never scoring above a 4.5 (based on my limited experience). Just my two cents!

Down south, back and forth between Guangzhou and Shenzhen. I was up in Shanxi in Sept, went to Yanan and Huashan. Be sure to climb Huashan if you haven't already. Beautiful trip. Avoid bringing too much gear, that's one steep climb. My recs all in, haven't touched my SOP for three weeks now. I'm looking forward to going back at it with fresh eyes.

Cornell dude, come on out to China! It's the bomb over here. Eight years on and I'm not ready to return. Well actually I kind of am, we'll see how the grad apps turn out. Send me a message if you have any China related questions.

I just took the GRE and got a pretty high quant score. I got a 730 and brought it up from my 550 at my first practice test in Sept. A couple of things I did: Drilled multiplication and division tables through 15. Sounds a little silly, but it helped me get faster and, more importantly, more accurate and confident at all the little calculations you have to do. Memorized most of the roots that lead to 256, again, just made all those calculations really quick. It's nice when you see 3^3 and instantly know it's 27 or 2^6 and know it's 64 etc. Worked on my trouble spots according to practice tests (for me it was permutations and combinations). Memorized all the ratios and angles associated with all those special triangles. Reviewed my notes and math tutorial (I used P.Review cracking the GRE or something) the night before. Flew to another country and got 2.5 hours of sleep the night before the test (not advisable, my concentration started falling apart in the verbal section, killed my score there). Still waiting for my writing assessment. When I get it I'll post my score and story in another post for everyone's entertainment.

I second University of California at San Diego, their program focuses on Asia Pacific studies which is right up your alley. You also might want to look at: University of Denver Monterey Institute of International studies All of the other APSIA Schools Also look at your local state schools and see what type of IR programs and, if their IR program is not for you, examine other Master's options and concentrate your courses on IR. For example, I've got a friend who is doing a communications MA from UNC Chapel Hill with the intention of helping NGOs after graduation. The skills in that program definitely translate to being an effective fundraiser/advocate after graduation. Some other options are MBA, MPA, political science and economics.

I haven't taken the test yet, but have improved my practice scores and am expecting a verbal score in the 650-680 range. I've been memorizing vocab on and off for the past year. Whenever you see a word you don't understand, write it down, make lists or flash cards, memorize it. Download a flashcard app for your mobile phone so you can always test yourself on the go or during any downtime. I use an antiquated program called Flash! for my palm treo. There's lots of other apps out there. Get princeton's word smart for the GRE. It's a good list of words that are hard, but useful with handy quizzes and examples. I think these are words that most academics should know. It's size makes it easy to carry around. Then when you're done with that, there's also Barron's word list. This list is bigger than the Princeton word list and contains many easy words and some less useful words than the princeton list. I just go through it and pick out some of the ones I don't know, make lists, flash cards and memorize. Then of course the practice tests and strategies provided by Princeton review and any other test prep book are useful.

I'm putting the finishing touches on writing a letter of recommendation on behalf of one of my recommenders and am not too worried about it. He's a busy, high-level manager, family man, and his job requires frequent travel. He's very busy, so I totally understand. He wasn't my immediate supervisor at work, but we worked closely on a couple of projects and with LoR, the higher and more senior the recommender is the better. One thing I did at the beginning was in my email requesting the letter, I was very polite, reminded him of some stuff we worked on and tried to make it clear that he could level with me if he didn't feel confident writing me a "strong" letter of rec. Be up front. It's kind of fun though, while I wasn't exactly an superstar at this job, I just tried to think of some areas that shined through in my work and how I could present them to compensate for some weaknesses in my app (so, since I had a low GPA I said something like: "Carpe is a diligent worker and I was impressed by his work ethic and I'm sure he can handle any top schools bla bla bla"). He's going to edit it, so I didn't go overboard. Anyways, this type of thing is not uncommon, so don't stress about it, take advantage of it to say some things other recommenders might miss.

I was entering the recommendation information for one of my recommenders on WashU's online application and saw an interesting note: Do you wish to waive your right to examine this letter of recommendation? Yes/No Under the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974, students have access to their education record, including letters of recommendation. However, students may waive their right to see letters of evaluation, in which case the letters will be held in confidence. Interesting. I'd been checking the box as "No" or "agree" on some of the hardcopy forms but after I saw this it made me think. Say, if I don't get into any of the programs I want, it would be really useful to know if one of the reasons was a weak recommendation and who wrote it. Then of course not ask them again next time around. What do other people think, is it better to see your LoR after the fact, or waive your right and give your recommenders confidentiality?

I agree with Green_Tea. Even though you had big classes, you're profs will still be able to write for you. It's there job, they've got tons of form letters they use and they've no doubt written recs for students they can't remember. The trick is to approach them the right way. Give them as much information about yourself as possible without going overload. Tell them what you plan to study, what classes you took with them, what you made in those classes, what kind of impact (if any, don't bullshit) the class had on you and be really polite about it. Send them a CV, a draft personal statement and anything else (the best paper you did in their class, transcripts) that might aid them. They might not remember your name, but might remember really digging one of the papers you wrote, or they might just be impressed with your achievements since graduation. If they're are hard-ass grader and they gave you an A, then they can say in their letter, without knowing you personally, that you're top shelf stuff. If you're worried about it being week, ask specifically how confident they would feel giving you a strong rec. Let them know they can level with you. You could even offer to draft the letter for them to ensure it is not too generic. Case in point, I'm eight years out of school and am getting a rec from a professor in one of my advanced classes from undergrad. I wrote her a nice long email months ago, gave some context she might remember me by, told her what I'd been up to, what I was applying for and asked politely for a recommendation. She remembered me, thought my story since college was sweet and enthusiastically offered to write a letter for me. I think I only made a B in her class and it's completely unrelated to what I want to study, but considering the difficulty of the class (400 level neuroscience course) and the positive feedback I got from her, I picked her as my academic rec. I'm hoping she'll make the admissions confident I can hand their course load. I gave her as much supporting docs as possible and provided her (as with all my recommenders) with an easy table outlining what they need to do by when. Granted I went to a small liberal arts school where it's easy to remember people but still, eight years is a long time. You also want to give them plenty of advanced notice... so get on it!

Interesting post. For the past four years I've been oscillating between applying to grad school and just staying in the workforce and I've decided the plunge is worth it for the following reasons. My interests are in international development and environmental issues. In no particular order: Leadership cred: Whether you're applying for positions or in a management roll, people take you and your organization more seriously if you have an advanced degree. You'll have an easier time finding jobs, people will be more confident in putting responsibility you're way, and you'll have an easier time raising money when they see an MA as a credential. Specialized skill instruction: maybe I'm being naive, but I think all the courses I'll take in management theory, case studies and economic analysis will make me better prepared to conquer new challenges and take on bigger projects. Less figuring it out as you go and more momentum pushing forward to creating awesome results. Wide exposure: Exposure to ideas, exposure to best practices, exposure to the wide range of outstanding students you work alongside. I've learned a ton through my work, but am looking forward to seeing what's out there and learning about stuff that I didn't even know is out there. Then when I come back to the workforce, I'll know what "good" looks like and have a ton of ideas and skills ready to bring into play. Confidence/jumpstart: Since you learn so much and have so much exposure, it'll be easier to slide into a management position and hit the ground running with the MA as confirmation of your abilities. Not everyone needs this to kick ass at work, but some people have trouble with responsibility and management since they don't believe in themselves to make the right decisions, simply because they're conquering challenges they haven't met before. Better pay grade: I'm in it for the cause, but sometime down the line I'll need to support a family. Some companies only value your "worth" (i.e. salary) based on your last paycheck, and if you're last paycheck was a Peace Corps stipend, you might have trouble negotiating a higher salary. The more credentials you have, the more pay you can demand and the more security you have (to pay off those student loans ). What do the rest of you think about this? Carpe

I have never studied in Nanjing, but thought about it. In the end there's the cons I listed above and the fact that I want to get a masters that more directly addresses the development and non profit issues I'm interested in. Nanjing Hopkins strikes my as very econ-law heavy program. Check out the concentrations. http://nanjing.jhu.edu/academics/concentrations/index.htm Also I've been in China long time (8+) years and I want to go ahead and spend some time getting a "global perspective" on things. What I like about SIPA: -50% international students, It'd be great to hear what everyone else is doing. -Many of the teachers are actual practitioners which is attractive for me. -Quant heavy, but not as much as Hopkins or Tufts. I'm more of a qualitative dude. -New York is a way better city than Nanjing! About my friends. Don't get me wrong, the program is great and can lead to some awesome jobs. But it's not a "magic bullet" that guarantees graduates are making 20k RMB a month afterwords. One friend in particular had trouble finding a good deal in Shanghai, ended up doing consulting for less than 10k RMB a month. But that was years ago, he's doing awesome now at a job non China related. The other people I know well that went there (6 or so, attended at different times) are all doing pretty good, some of them doing some awesome projects.

I haven't done the Nanjing program, but have thought about it, been encouraged by Nanjing faculty to consider it and have friends who have done it. Here's the pros and cons as I see it. Pros. Great network for working in China. Both on the Chinese and foreign side. The Nanjing graduates are all talented people who are future movers and shakers in China. Great course work on politics and economics in China. You really know the lay of the land after you're done at Nanjing and will have the confidence to work business in China. Your teachers are Chinese. Cons: You need to be very proficient in Chinese and pass a fluency test to take this program. This may or may not be a big issue for you, but all teaching and coursework for US students is in Chinese. You have have to room with a Chinese classmate in a dorm for the whole year and vice-versa (not sure about the new masters programs they offer). If your roommate is cool, this isn't a big issue, if he's not cool or you're fed up with living with roommates, this is kind of a pain in the ass. The yearlong program is just a certificate program and doesn't necessarily get you an awesome job afterwords. I know graduates who've ended up in great places. I know others who struggled to get the careers they wanted, end up with low paying jobs after the program and would love to have the jobs I've had. This program isn't a guarantee. You're teachers are Chinese. The standards of teaching and evaluating coursework are much different and often less stringent then the are in the US. You're paying big bucks for this. But the faculty from what I hear are pretty inconsistent. Some are awesome, others totally just randomly assign grades.This is just from what I hear. Again, I haven't attended this program. Any Nanjing grads have anything to say?

Wjibara, I would definitely suggest you just make an appointment and get in touch with the admissions office (or faculty) of schools you want to apply for and tell them your story. I was just in NYC and DC visiting schools last summer. I made some appointments, told them my story (low undergrad GPA, great intl experience, 8 yrs out of school) and asked them to give me an honest assessment of where I stood and what I need to do to make my application competitive. This was very helpful. Talk to them on the phone as opposed to just email preferably, and send them your resume beforehand so you can discuss it with them. Some of these are actual admission faculty, some are just plebeians that run the phone desk, but still have a good idea of what makes a competitive candidate. I was surprised to learn that I stood a chance at some schools such as Columbia and SAIS, that I might not have had the confidence to apply to if I hadn't asked them directly. I also learned that some programs were more interesting for my goals then others. Similarly, if you're not a competitive candidate for the schools you want, it will be good to know upfront, so you can rethink your strategy and not waste time on those applications. Anyways, all of the non academic IR programs look to be about the "big package" (i.e. recs, statement of purpose are very big) and you can totally swing your GRE score by focusing on the other stuff. Give them a call.

circumfession, looks like you feel strongly about this! It sounds like you know your stuff when it comes to Eng lit Phds. I'm definitely no expert on the English SOP, so take my advice with a grain of salt. It sounds way more technical than it does for the type of stuff I'm applying for (MA and MPP programs). Hyo, one easy way to save yourself some time and stress: just call up the admissions office at your target program(s). Call them or email them, they are probably pretty responsive. Tell them your GRE scores, tell them your TOEFL score then ask if the AWA is a big deal. You can totally ask them this anonymously.