TimB

Most are fully funded, or fully funded for most folks. Duke, UNC, and Vanderbilt are fully funded. I think CUNY is too. UMD funds most people.

My understanding after speaking to people who sit on PhD admissions committees is that statements of purpose are generally the most important part of an application, followed by the writing sample and recommendations. GREs and transcripts are used to identify people who were unlikely to succeed because they won’t be able to complete the curriculum. I imagine that top 10 programs, which likely see a lot of applicants, are more likely to use GRE scores and GPAs to narrow the field. However, the people on admissions committees are aware that some schools inflate grades much more than others, or that some professors help students develop writing samples more than others, and take account of that. One thing they pointed out is that not retaking the GREs if you have time to do so, after getting a low or middling score, can indicate a lack of commitment. 160’s is near the top of the range however. Don’t know what else to tell you, but on the bright side, apparently the low acceptance rates of most PhD programs are a bit deflated because every program gets a number of unserious applications each year, from people who don’t really understand what a PhD program is. For example, people who are looking for professional masters programs and want private sector careers apply, even though their goals aren’t aligned with a PhD program. Oh, and they said the biggest way to torpedo your application is to list people you want to work with who: No longer work at that school Work in other departments (IMO this is kind of unfair though because some schools leave faculty profiles ups for a long time after a member has left.) Or to: Misrepresent someone’s research in your statement of purpose/ make it clear you only skimmed their papers while getting ready to apply.

Thanks for all the help, much appreciated! The thing I found worrying about Columbia is that students with masters need to enroll, then wait for a semester to be granted advanced standing. Their FAQ points out that the funding is not enough to raise a family on, which I can believe given the high rents and general cost of living in the city. That and of course, I'd be worried about getting in. I don't want to apply for mostly schools where I have a narrow chance of making it in and MIT seemed like a better fit. For anyone with similar questions in the future, UMD seems like a great fit, although the research focus of the faculty seems to address civil wars more than fragile states, there is a lot of overlap in some areas.

Yes. Problem is: a large portion of research in these areas is written by people who don't work in polsci programs. You have people in pubpol, anthropology, criminology etc. all writing on similar topics. I'm also finding a large proportion of publications coming from people who don't teach. It's unsurprising given the interdisciplinary nature of terrorism studies and the study of fragile states, but it does make the search harder. Hence, trying to ask if anyone else has already looked into this.

Hello, I would love some help looking for schools that have faculty who share my interests. Unfortunately, most programs just have long lists of faculty with bios that may or may not work, so it's hard to get an idea of who is doing research in what. I am interested fragile states More specifically I'm interested in answering the questions: 1. How/why do conflicts (particularly intrastate conflicts) end? What drives actors' decisions to stop fighting. I'm interested in formal models of state and insurgent decision making, the role of leadership in conflict resolution, and the effectiveness of various third party interventions in ending a conflict. 2. What drives the failure or success of fragile states? I've seen a lot of work done on the economic variables which drive the success of fragile states. It seems like a ton of work is currently being done on CVE, civil society building, rule of law promotion, etc. ie. "soft power solutions," to the problem of fragile states. I'd like to look into the evidence coming out of these programs to see what is or isn't effective, and then see what the success/failures of these programs tells us about current theories on the determinants of fragile states' success. This seems like it would be a good dissertation topic. USAID Forward is really pushing this sort of new capacity building/civil society focused aid programming, and they do a good job publishing project evaluations and datasets. I could also blend questions one and two by looking at aid programs and interventions aimed at countering extremism and reducing violence, and then fitting the results into current theories/models on groups' decision making, recruitment, etc. I've spent a lot of time looking at faculty publications, so far I am interested in: Duke MIT UNC I've also sort of written off: Syracuse Vanderbilt Columbia - due to lack of shared interests with faculty, or in the case of Columbia, the funding, length of study, and cost of living in NYC just didn't seem to add up. I've also been looking at Northeastern but not closely enough to have made a decision yet. I'm hoping find 4-5 places to apply to, one of which is Duke since I'm already there and know that I like the faculty. Also, I feel like Duke and MIT might be kind of reaches, so I'd rather not round out the rest with "Harvard, Yale, Princeton."

I've done a decent amount of research on this front so I'll give my $.02: The advantage of the regional studies degrees is the level of specialization you come out with. I think this pays off most in terms of languages. I know both IR and RS programs both want you to know a foreign language, but RS programs seem to give more focus to higher level language instruction. For instance, I know at Duke the Middle Eastern Studies program requires fluency in one regional language, but also highly encourages proficiency in a second regional language and will grant credit for picking up a second language. So if you already know Arabic, learning Farsi or Turkish in addition might be easier to do in RS. In MPP/IR programs it seems like extra language skill development is something you do "on your own time," by picking up extra courses not credited to your major. That said, I think the MPP/IR degree has a lot of advantages over regional studies. For me at least, it's easy to read through history books, or listen to them in the car, and pick up a lot of information. I'll read novels on my own time. Courses help develop your cultural and historical knowledge, but it's easy to pick up on your own. Graduate level economics, multivariable calculus, and learning how to develop research studies and apply statistical methods to your data is probably harder to teach. Especially things that are inherently collaborative like research methods. To my mind, you can always build up regional expertise later in your work, but the hardcore quant/research stuff is harder to pick up on your own. To this end MPP/MPAs and IR programs likely have an advantage. Also, if you want to work for State or in the IC you're also going to want a good understanding of how US policy is crafted and the legal framework those organizations operate in, so in that case, those degrees win again. RS is better if you're interested more in academics or want to be a strict area specialist.

How do married folks manage family life? Tips on the interview?

That and lack of work experience. Most of these schools like to see 2-6 years. Internships with reps sound good to outsiders but everyone on an adcom will know it's unpaid work in an extremely expensive city, which limits the competition for those positions quite a bit and thus kind of undercuts their value. Research experience seems to be a big factor in getting offers and aid, maybe try to get on some in your last year? Really, I'd say you have to wait for GRE scores to know you chances. If they're stellar, that will help offset the lower GPA. I don't think you'll be all that competitive for HKS unless you get some work experience, simply because it just seems like lots of people with similar educational backgrounds, more work experience, and better GPAs still don't get in (doesn't hurt to try though). Columbia maybe but I'd be worried about aid (full cost of attendance is $140,000 by their estimates, which at the 7.5% interest you're going to pay on loans > $20,500 a year is nuts ). The problem with the NYC and DC schools is that you need to get 50%+ COA in aid to make attending reasonable. You'll almost certainly get into NYU Wagner as long as your GREs are decent. I would worry about funding though, I rarely see people getting much aid from them. I imagine that if you cast a wide net you'll get in somewhere good, especially with good GRE scores. Keep in mind though that having no work experience is going to make it tough to land a job and you'll have both undergrad and grad debt piling up interest while you work. I'd advise at least a year of work.

I imagine ad comms would catch wise to this the second they see 3 score submissions with "NS" for the other two sections.

Ask yourself: do I know what I want to do enough that I'm willing to spend $60-100k on it? Some people know what they want by the time they are 16 but I didn't have a clue till 2-3 years out of school. Look at job prospects in your intended field. Learn what environmental policy grads do, how competitive it is to get a job, and if you even want those jobs. See if other people with no experience and just a master's are getting hired or if there are lots of people chasing a few jobs. The last thing you want is to be racking up $400 a month in interest working for $11 and hour when you get out. See how much interest your initial debt load racks up a month. If you're paying sticker that'll be $200-500+ most likely. Keep in mind that grad loans are lent out at 5.8% . Don't forget cost of living, you're going to pay $12,000 and up over full tuition- $18,000 in places like NYC most likely. IMO if you're not sure, and you're going to take on debt levels which will limit your options quite a bit, don't rush into school. Everyone's needs and family financial backgrounds are different but I can't see taking out more than $20-30,000 in debt for an MPP.

Congrats, Syracuse is in a lovely part of the country with the Adirondacks near by. Just make sure to purchase a snow-shovel by mid-September

Scratch that, total cost of attending is $150,000 at Columbia. No way it's worth that much, that's an anchor on your standard of living as well as your career. For what it's worth, I was in the same situation as you last year with the same exact schools + NYU, and I reapplied and am now looking at less than $20k in debt. If you're set on NYC though you should expect cost of living to make things a bit more expensive than that.

What's your aid at the other schools like? Living in NYC is very expensive, and attending SIPA at sticker price while living off loans will, by their own conservative estimates, run you over $104,000 (more if you're interning internationally and paying for flights). At 5.8% interest you're generating $495 in interest alone each month with that principal. Since government service that would allow you to discharge that debt in 10 years is highly competitive and could fall out from under your feet any time there is budget cuts, and earnings for early-career MPPs is generally not amazingly high, I would be very careful about taking that much out in loans. Also consider that $104k debt gives you less flexibility if you ever want to go for a PhD/JD/other program down the road. At 80% Milano is also very expensive. It's worth a shot to see if you can talk each up by presenting the offers of the other to each school. Columbia has a better reputation than Milano and you could see if they'd offer you more of an incentive to stay there like 30-40% off. You're financial situation matters a lot to. If you have $40k in personal savings, have inherited money, lotto winnings, or parents who will pay for $25k of your school that makes a big difference in what your principal looks like when you get out. I wouldn't take $100k+ out for anything other than medicine where ROI is pretty much assured and debt is inevitable. It's hard to change the world when you need ANY job just to pay down your interest.

Previous Schools (Name, type, or tier): Syracuse (ranked 31 when I enrolled, in the 60's now) Previous Degrees and GPAs: Psychology, 3.83 GRE Scores (Verbal/Quantitative/Analytical Writing): V 169/99th, Q 154 /57th, W 5.0/93rd Previous Work Experience (Years, Type): 4, 2 years random work during the heart of the recession, 1 year with a large federal government agency (FEMA), 1 year in health policy in NC. Math/Econ Background: stats, stats for the social sciences, research methods (all A's). Macro and econ grades at community college pending as I applied. Foreign Language Background (if applicable to your program): none Intended Field of Study in Grad School: International law, democratization, and national security Long Term Professional Goals: Long: Policy adviser on senate/house committee relevant to foreign relations and/or national security, counsel at CIA, State Department, or NGO. Medium term: would like to return to FEMA, considering JAG, Foreign Service, private firm focused in security/int law. Schools Applied to & Results: (2013) Columbia, admitted, NYU Wagner, admitted, The New School admitted, not enough $, reapplied. (2014) Duke, admitted with $, accepted. Ultimate Decision & Why: Duke. I already live in Durham and it's the only place I applied in 2014. When I didn't get the funding I wanted at NYC schools and simultaneously had decided that I no longer wanted to live in NYC after 3 years there, I pretty much settled on Duke as my ideal target school. Coming from a middle class background and going to failing inner city schools, the concept of networking was totally out of my frame of reference as an undergrad. I know I'll do better making connections in a smaller program. Duke's small class size and excellent faculty in my area of interest sold me on attending. Moving to Durham just to maybe get accepted to Duke with adequate funding seems crazy I'll admit, but it ended up working for me. I'm also leaning more and more towards a JD/MPP so with UNC a top 30 law school, and Duke a top 10, there are two great options for me going that route. Advice for Future Applicants: Really take your time in figuring out where you want to go and don't get too hung up on name brands. For me the chance to attend an Ivy almost overwhelmed my better judgement to the extent that I considered taking on $100k+ in 5.6% debt for a masters degree! That amount of debt would basically have made it impossible for me to work for a smaller non-profit, and if I still wanted a JD after that I would either have to compromise a lot on where I attended or take on over a quarter million in loans, not a good plan. Apply to multiple schools! The funding I received is quite generous, but I'm not coming out debt free. When you let the school know you're only applying to that one program it kind of undercuts your bargaining position. I've since read of lots of people getting schools to raise their aid offers by showing them better offers from peer schools. It's worth the $75 application fee to expand your options and increase your bargaining power. Finally, don't write over dramatic personal statements (which I kind of did)! I just read an article on this from someone at UC Berkeley's Law adcomm talking about how they roll their eyes every time a SOP opens with action scenes and launches into a long narrative on how special you are. People in law (and government affairs) will never write like this in their careers. SOPs are not novels. By all means, lay out your reasons for wanting to go to school and include personal experiences as evidence, but with 50+% of people trying to make themselves sound like Indiana Jones, you probably want to lay off the narrative stuff because it will seem cliche to people who read SOPs for a living.

Thanks for the input. All valid points. I do plan to take formal courses once I'm back in school. I'm hoping that software and tutors can get me to 102 level in a language so I can be 5 semesters worth of training in by graduation. BTW, Russian is now once again a "critical language," lol.