bjorntsui

All these schools offer quant and econ courses, it is up to the student to choose the courses they believe will prepare them for their goals.

You do not need a car in Seattle, you can commute via metro and bike. And Seattle's weather is far from harsh, sure you got raining days but that is why we use umbrellas. Seattle springs and summers are to die for. I dread Midwest winters. Seattle is awesome, then again I'm bias because I'm from there.

I don't understand why you folks fret over "reputation" of schools for federal government jobs. The only reason I would choose GWU is because it will psychologically allay my own insecurities of ego because people keep on telling me GWU has a better reputation than AU. This obsession over reputation becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. In the end, it comes down to how much knowledge and skills you gained from your time in school, how much you gained from internships, and extracurricular activities. With all that you have to convey how much you accomplished from your schooling and other activities to the employer. If your skills, professional goals, and experience matches the needs of employer, you may be considered for the job. The (federal) employer could care less whether you went to GWU or AU.

It doesn't matter.

Previous Schools: University of Washington (the state one), Seattle University, Chinese University of Hong Kong Previous Degrees and GPAs: International Studies, History, Chinese 3.56; Post-Bac Certificate Teaching English as a Second Language 4.0 GRE Scores (Verbal/Quantitative/Analytical Writing): 164V, 157Q, 4 AW Previous Work Experience (Years, Type): One year teaching English in South Korea, 1.5 years Peace Corps Volunteer in China, summer internships in state government and in Beijing consulting firm, volunteer work with foreign students and immigrants, 1.5 years restaurant management Math/Econ Background: Intro to micro and macroeconomics, business & econ calculus Foreign Language Background: Mandarin Chinese (advanced-low), Korean (novice), German (novice) Intended Field of Study in Grad School: MA in international studies with concentration on China/East Asia region Long Term Professional Goals: Foreign Service or Civil Service at the US State Department Schools Applied to & Results: American University SIS - accepted($), George Washington Elliott School - accepted ($$), Johns Hopkins SAIS 5-semester Nanjing-DC program - accepted ($$), Tufts Fletcher School - accepted ($$), Georgetown MSFS - waitlisted Ultimate Decision & Why: My top schools to get in were Johns Hopkins or Georgetown simply because of their reputations. Since I got waitlisted by Georgetown, it made decision making a lot easier. Decided on Johns Hopkins ultimately because of my interest in China and East Asia. SAIS has a program at Nanjing University where there are classes that are taught in Chinese by Chinese professors. I want to take my Chinese language skills to the next level and Johns Hopkins offers that. What better way to get a better understanding of China than to study in China? Also the program is eligible for the Boren Fellowship. There are also professors at SAIS that do research on topics I am interested in, especially China's current presence in Africa. Johns Hopkins also did a nice job selling me on the Nanjing program as well, they have an informative blog and hold online chats about the program. Also their admissions staff is very responsive. The second year and a half of the program will be in DC, which fits nicely with my aspirations in working for the State Department. The DC location will make working at internships while studying much easier. SAIS also offers pre-term courses to get you back into the academic world. SAIS also has a heavy emphasis on economics and quantitative skills which I think are great assets. Also in terms of job prospects, when I was taking the oral assessments at State a couple years ago, I met quite a number of SAISers, that must mean something... Advice for Future Applicants: -Know why you want to go to grad school. If you are having trouble finishing writing a statement of purpose, you might want to reconsider grad school. -One regret of mine is not retaking the GRE, a higher GRE score can be the difference of thousands of dollars in fellowship money. -Meet and talk with your professors from undergrad about your plans for graduate school. This will help with letters of recommendation and statement of purpose. -Work experience helps. I'm not going to lie, I think my Peace Corps service helped me A LOT in getting into these great schools. -Double check on the spelling of some of the schools, some of them have unusual spellings.

Funding info should be out by now. Now it's decision time!

In terms of sequence of reputation, it parallels roughly with the median GRE scores of the schools, take it as you will. In the end, if you want a government job, it doesn't matter where you went to school. Not sure what kind of job you want but I'm going to choose SAIS over GWU because of SAIS's emphasis on economics and quantitative skills along with a concentration of one's choosing. SAIS also gives refresher courses to prepare for the econ and quant courses for those who don't have a strong background in such subjects. I can only see the upsides in honing one's hard skills. Also you can always do internships in DC during the summer.

Yeah, for Hopkins-Nanjing Center.

Got a nice email from the director of the program though...

Ouch, got waitlisted. But I guess it makes my decisions easier.

Got May 1st as well. I guess we'll know for sure about funding once it arrives by physical mail. Well glad I got accepted even though I spelled the school's name wrong in my SOP. Hehe.

Obviously there are flaws to the statistics (not to mention it uses pie charts) so take it with a discerning eye: http://www.sais-jhu.edu/career-services/employment-outcomes http://www.sais-jhu.edu/resources/sais-employment-outcomes

Just got an acceptance letter today. Excited yet also conflicted on which schools to choose from now.

Isn't this a SAIS thread?

Got accepted a week ago.

Yeah got it. At least they'll notify to consider if you are a finalist before the deadline for replying to most graduate programs.

Got my acceptance letter. Funding is significantly lower than my SAIS offer, and I only got funding from AU because I'm a former Peace Corps volunteer... I think I'm going to pass on this...

A little off-topic... but when we attend grad schools like SAIS or what have you, what kind of attire is expected? Business casual or business professional or whatever? Forgive my ignorance because I'm from the Northwest, and it's pretty laid-back over here.

Applied to Pickering and Rangel but got rejected by Rangel. Can't believe Pickering notifies applicants that late. Knowing whether I get a Pickering Fellowship would influence greatly which program I was to decide on.

I think by email. Also check your spam folder... my financial package was in there...

Just got a letter from SAIS that I got accepted to their 5-semester Nanjing-DC program.