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NPRjunkie

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    Washington, DC
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  • Program
    JHU/SAIS

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  1. I'm a couple years out of SAIS. Whatever preparation you made, your analysis of DC in relation to IR is mostly inaccurate and should not have guided your decision making. In any case, good luck and enjoy your time there.
  2. This is the right question. Grad. school will not get you a job; job experience will get you a job. Grad. school should be used to hone skills you already have, to achieve a necessary requirement in a career ladder you have already been climbing. Does your career trajectory really have that as a notch in the ladder as do many IR career trajectories? It may not. If energy is really your business, though (as it became mine), SAIS will not serve you very well, possibly not at all compared to your existing work experience. Somewhere like Stanford is where you want to be, and this is probably obvious to you already. The location/network/brand versatility of a school will be of more value to you at this stage of your career than a cookie-cutter IR program like SAIS, if you feel you have to attend grad school at all.
  3. This song is sung by everyone attending school in DC and while it's partially true that "IR in the states evolves [sic] around DC" (have you forgotten where the UN is, not to mention where countless NGO, MNC, and bank headquarters are?) you do not need to attend school in DC to be involved in IR. DC is filled to the brink with IR students. SAIS students do not stand out (even in DC) in job applications--there are just too many. The reputations of these schools in the job market itself is far less than what it is to the students who attend them, and your chances of landing an IR job/internship are not significantly enhanced by being in DC. It's not as though it is hard to get from Boston, NJ, or NYC to DC, or to get a summer internship there, and SAIS has definite drawbacks of its own (like every school). I felt like I was in a kiddie pool at many moments studying there with how little world/work experience my cohort had. And after all, IR isn't just about the United States... no one will care where you attend school if you are applying abroad for jobs/internships. Not to mention, if you get into WWS, HKS--all things being equal in terms of funding--you would be dumb to choose SAIS, most especially for the reason that it is located in DC. Also, the quant/econ really isn't as hard or rigorous as people make it out to be so long as you go in with a basic familiarity, and I think all IR programs offer pre-term econ/math refreshers. The main drawback of SAIS is that it lacks the versatility of a better branded school if you want to work outside DC and IR. Try flaunting that SAIS degree in the Bay Area or NYC, as I tried to, and you'll end up with quizzical looks and a dearth of job responses. So many SAIS grads end up acting like a PR firm for their own school. Here's an insider insight: it's because they have to. Every time I read a SAISer's comments on these forums I'm sensing only insecurity about the value of the program, and it's because I went there and know the feeling/tendencies well. Who are the most satisfied people who went to IR/public policy programs? I would suggest they are largely the ones not spending time on these forums... If you're sure you want to be in DC and work in IR, though, yes: great program. Hardly as unimpeachably wonderful as it is constantly touted to be here, though. Really scrutinize what you want out of a program and get all perspectives.
  4. The named fellowships are different from SIPA fellowships (and, in the second year, are normally a supplement to them). These are really what you are being considered for for the first application deadline. Named fellowships are basically scholarships and are given out to only the top first-year applicants and then again to top second-year students. If it requires a separate application, though, it's different. SIPA fellowships have a work requirement and I think (could be wrong) are normally only handed out the second year. Those fellowships range from tiny amounts to half-tuition, with an average (according to them) of around 17k for those who received a 3.4 or higher GPA their first semester. Those are then supplemented by named fellowships if you qualify. As I understand it, very few people get full-tuition covered. Hope that helps.
  5. I hear TC is a joke at Columbia and (as you've said) it's an affiliate college. SIPA is definitely higher on the pecking order.
  6. It's their overall "public affairs" ranking. I refuse to link to absolute bunk, though, so I'll leave you to figure it out yourself. It is 0% accurate. If you want to see approximately where these schools rank, use the Ivory Tower rankings; better yet, if you want to study international affairs, look at the US News politics and international affairs rankings.
  7. The US News rankings are complete bunk. If you are basing your thinking on them, think again. They do not reflect the value or actual quality of the programs either in and of themselves or to your resume. If US News puts Indiana U and Syracuse above the Harvard Kennedy School and Princeton's Woodrow Wilson School, maybe you should question the validity/accuracy of those rankings.
  8. If you're going to be paying out-of-state tuition, you might as well be applying to HKS/SIPA/SAIS/Gtown etc. Peace Corps is very well-respected. Is there any reason you're limiting yourself to state schools? Seems like your only deficit is a low quant. score, but I think you're underestimating your chances a bit. If you think "nonprofit management" will actually matter as a concentration/specialization, dispel that idea out of your head right now. Go to the best branded school you can get into and that you can afford.
  9. Women's college is better than "gluten-free restaurant," something similar to which I had thrown at me in NYC one time.
  10. If conflict management/resolution is your thing, Columbia has the best program hands down. Look into their international conflict resolution specialization. The former head of UN peacekeeping directs it. If Columbia interests you, they like people with work experience and are fine with career changers; that said, your GPA and quant score are low. Assuming your app is good they are fine with career changers... just make sure you apply for the MPA and not MIA.
  11. All three of these schools are traditionally international affairs programs and have very little to do with "public affairs," a category for which there is very little definition/meaning in the first place. Columbia does not offer much outside international affairs within SIPA itself, but the school is amorphous with many departments/programs so you can customize your degree by availing yourself of the entire university (thus "public affairs" encompasses more at Columbia than what SIPA alone may offer in terms of its own courses). Its MPA and MIA differ little substantively. SAIS may offer the most narrow/limited choices since it lacks any real connection to the larger university community. I can speak from experience that I wish I had access to an interdisciplinary environment with however many departments, institutes, schools that were all in one location. GTown packages its degrees very differently (and thus preserves the illusory prestige of its MSFS program) but I'm not sure it offers any more/less in the "public affairs" category than SAIS or SIPA. None of them are "public policy" programs in the same league as HKS or WWS. SIPA, GTown, SAIS, and Fletcher are all (really) international affairs programs that also masquerade as public affairs ones. That is why they are all unfairly disadvantaged on the US News rankings (or don't appear at all). Their Politics and International Affairs ranking provides a more accurate picture for traditional international affairs programs. Hope that helps.
  12. That's great you know foreign languages--it'll serve you well. And so will the fact that you taught abroad, although you haven't said for how long. Your perspective on development, like most others, is already skewed: when you think of development work, you think of Development, i.e. institutions endowed with this special purpose with headquarters in various world capitals and a lot of money/studies/credentials to back up their work. If you want to work for some "prestigious" NGO (not to mention IGO) and you have to have a master's to even volunteer with them, there is something wrong with that system. Most people in "development" think this. Development work should not be conflated with the international development regime. Here's some perspective, from my experience: living in a developing country for a prolonged period--no matter what you're doing--it is almost impossible not to be exposed to development work. I lived in India where thousands of domestic/local NGOs exist practically begging for volunteers. Some of these aren't by the books and some are legitimately operated; it doesn't really matter so long as they're trying to accomplish something development related and are potentially effective in doing so (some legitimately operated NGOs in India are some of the worst and some without papers do fantastic stuff). I taught English abroad and ended up doing water/environmental reclamation in my local community in my spare time, and then this expanded to surrounding communities, I got connected with other environmentally conscious people and was in the beginning phases of a creation of an NGO that now does environmental clean-up. I inadvertently got involved in development, and SAIS was sufficiently convinced it was development related. And with my development experience, I knew I didn't want to go into Development as you're conceiving it. Do not limit your definition of 'development' to Development. Our current model of international development is antiquated and is continually discredited, and the institutions you likely extol are the ones most likely maligned by people who've been on the ground getting their hands dirty. If you want to work for some smaller, Western-operated NGO that has a very narrow scope, there are many and they'll value your experience abroad much more than a master's degree. The trouble is, so many people who have that experience also have a master's degree, but you may be mistaking effect for cause here. Many people accrue their development experience--living abroad, volunteering, taking the initiative to be involved--before going to graduate school. Anecdotally, I don't know anyone who hasn't spent at least a year abroad doing development-related work prior to getting into a good IDev program. There are many different ways people support themselves. I (like many others who get into development) started teaching and had a modest salary, other people might get free food/housing, many others work regular jobs at home and save money to live/volunteer abroad, other people live off the interest in their bank accounts because it is dirt cheap living in some countries. If getting an expensive master's degree to go volunteer with some celebrity touted NGO sounds great to you, I'd reconsider your priorities. If that's not what you have in mind, then I have no idea what you're talking about, because you can go volunteer and do development work in many places without a master's degree. Maybe apply for the Peace Corps if you're American. But here's the bottom line: with an unspecified amount of time teaching English abroad, do you think you're setting yourself up for a good IDev/MPP/int'l affairs program? If the answer is no, get more experience, and maybe take some initiative while you're abroad to do something development related. I can say, for my part and for everyone I know, it isn't hard finding something if you're remotely engaged in a local community in a developing country. But did I do Development--i.e. international development--in a way people in Delhi, DC, or wherever wouldn't look down there noses at? Maybe not, but that question is entirely irrelevant, and I had the experience that would have gotten me hired by an international development organization after it was all said and done. I had the connections; I lacked the interest. In any case, that's my spiel. Take it or leave it, I won't argue about it because I already know I'm right. But good luck regardless.
  13. Good luck getting a job in ID with no work experience. Years of experience evaluating/hiring (or not hiring) people with master's degrees in public policy who went to these schools straight from undergrad. with zero work experience tells me a different story. Most people who go straight from undergrad. to a public policy/international affairs master's program will be in the same position as an undergrad vying for entry level positions, most especially in ID. That's why so many of these master's students end up in entry level positions meant for people with only BAs. That is why federal internships meant for college kids are going to grad. students from GWU, American, SAIS, and more. Grad. school in this field is a false facsimile for real work experience. There are too many people with master's degrees from these schools and too little demand, especially in development. Want to get into development? Get work experience, even if it's in a non-development related field. Get that experience abroad if possible; you can even volunteer or teach abroad. Start learning a language. Then go to grad. school. It's not impossible or even hard depending on what region you want to work in (sometimes demand outstrips supply, especially with English teaching--although it's not as high as it used to be). I did this and everyone I know in development got started that way. From a hiring standpoint, you are going immediately to the slush pile regardless of what your degree is in if you have a master's with no work experience. There are too many other better qualified people with that experience and with a master's degree to make it worth a glance.
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