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Tho it'd have been better if those typos weren't there, but I'm sure the admission committees won't be as petty as writing someone off b/c of couple typos... I'm sure I made typos on my IHEID and SIPA SOPs as well (I didn't have much time before submitting them), but that didn't stop IHEID!

Bluebird86, no!! SAIS is in DC. It's located across from Brookings and other top think tanks and organizations. It's at the very center of policy research/activity! I actually did an internship near there and had opp to go in the main building. It's actually not the best campus, compared to Georgetown, but it's very centrally located. Also, Baltimore isn't so bad either!

Still waiting as well! It's been so long since I submitted the application that I actually kinda forgot about NYU...... hopefully good news comes to everyone.

IRToni means that the info I provided is for the security studies. My bad.. Most of what I said still applies, except that academic background/record will be more important for a PhD. And admissions rate is much, much lower for PhDs, tho funding options are usually much, much better with a PhD But if you want a PhD and you don't have any postgraduate qualification in that field, you might be asked to do a MA first anyway. The securtiy studies programs I and others have mentioned are policy programs that are more multidisciplinary (except for the KCL War Studies program, which is basically in a league of its own, being an academic degree for the study of war/conflict), in contrast to more traditional, disciplinary, academic poli sci degrees, which are more grounded in poli sci research methodology. MIT poli sci dept that I mentioned is an example of the latter, which is a academic poli sci dept with particular expertise in war studies/security studies. You can still get a security studies PhD from Johns Hopkins SAIS, but it'll be offered by a policy school, and thus will not hold much sway with traditional poli sci depts. It will be good for a career in the policy community, but not so for becoming an academic in traditional setting

I'm still waiting on LSE, and I'm more inclined to go for LSE if I'm given the chance (tho the acceptance rate for my program is close to 11%, so my chances are not great...) It's b/c it's shorter, it's in London, and it's, after all, LSE I'm applying straight out of undergrad (not much exp besides good internships), and I really need to be done with school fast and start getting full-time exp. At the same time tho, IHEID just seems like an excellent school. I would think that even if it wasn't in Geneva. Great faculty, great research, an appealing curriculum, super low tuition and many positive feedback from students... But I would just be happy to be in a position to be deciding between the two, over all.

Indeed, it'd be a hard to decide btw the two! I didn't mean to be a downer....but it's def hard to shed all that negative feedback from former students.... But then again a lot of that I've seen from thestudentroom.uk (I've even seen a thread titled "I fucking hate LSE" or something along that line hahaha) I did hear from a LSE grad, and s/he didn't go as far as the haters but didn't have many good things to say about the program either... That just might be b/c s/he is used to a US system where you're spoon-fed (or given ample student support, depending on the way you see it).

Congrats!!!

Wow! Respect! I wish I could be in that happy position of hesitation!! But they're all great schools... damn...

As much as I would love to go to LSE, I've been having some serious reservations about its Msc lately... First, its program is very short (1 year), and on top of that it's program starts in October and ends in March. That's basically two three month-long terms, and you're out on the pasture writing your thesis. Second, for most programs, you can only take, what, 5-6 modules. I'm really skeptical that I can learn anything at all with those number of classes. That's the number of courses I took in ONE quarter (UCs run on a qt system) as an undergrad Third, I've been hearing a lot of horror stories. It's normal to see former students disillusioned with a program. But LSE has WAY TOO MANY of this type of students. Stories vary as well. Some students say faculty/student contact is limited. Some students say you can only meet with a faculty member a total of 4 times while writing your thesis. Some students talk about the general snobbish, corporate money-grubbing atmosphere there, and some complain about multiple faculty members teaching a single module, resulting in a fragmented course. BUT STILL, at the same time, I wouldn't hesitate to gamble with LSE if the opportunity came... I'm sure the horror stories are exaggerated, and a lot of whining is going on. As someone who went through public schools with ever shrinking funding, I'm sorta used to being a neglect case, so I won't cry too much at a school administration that doesn't give a shit about its students. And b/c it's so short, I can still gain a postgraduate qualification without investing 2 years...which is probably bad for personal intellectual growth but good for professional prospects... In my view, IHEID is the opposite of LSE in many ways. It seems like a school that actually cares about what its students learn, instead of churning out diplomas....

I'm not sure actually... My usual plan when I'm moving or staying in a city for an extended period is usually to just check into a hostel that allows long-term stay or student dorms that allow weekly rates. That's also a good way to meet ppl and make some friends if you're new to the area This usually works in the US, since you can find some place that fits those criteria in major cities... I'm guessing you can contact ppl over the web and try to land a place, or stay in a hotel/hostel for couple days and find some dorm where you can stay for couple weeks/months

I'm thinking about UNIGE dorms as well... Tho I'm not a big fan of quite neighborhoods (weird i know), it looks like i would have little choice if im too picky... there are many stories on the web about ppl waiting months and going thru a number of vacancies before finding a place...

In my case, I missed the housing deadline. I got the housing info email and everything, so i can't blame anyone haha just forgot about it..... And unsurprisingly, housing may be an issue in geneva... it's really hard to find good resources for housing, and many student housing and just housing in geneva have all their websites in French, and my grasp of French is very rudimentary....

Congrats!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Is that your first choice, or are you still waiting on other schools?? Congrats!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! In my case, the admission module first gave me the decision, and the next day I received an email from IHEID. I'm sure you'll get an email soon, but since only an official email from IHEID is binding, you should contact IHEID if the email doesn't arrive in a couple days.

Your law background certainly won't hurt, if not help you. And your poli sci background will also serve you well, esp with your GPA. As for your chances, the SSP's published admissions stat is: GPA - 3.59 GRE Verbal - 162 (87%) * GRE Quantitative - 156 (65%) * GRE Writing - 4.8 (76%) TOEFL (Internet based) - 108 IELTS - 8.0 Average Age - 26 Average Years Work Experience - 2.7 (http://css.georgetown.edu/ssp/admissions/review/) And "Admission to the SSP is competitive: 25 to 30 percent of applicants are admitted each admissions cycle." All in all, your chances are very good, esp with a GRE score above the average. Compelling SOP is def good, and good, personalized LORs would boost your prospect greatly (mixing academic and prof. references is something you need to consider as well) Since you prob took the LSAT, I assume you shouldn't have too much trouble with the verbal section, tho idk how you're with the math... And in general, IR-related programs like to see 1) relevant professional/academic exp. in the field you intend to study/work in after graduation, 2) your fit to the program (does your particular academic interest match the faculty expertise, etc), and 3) a compelling reason/narrative why you want to study this field (relevant in your case b/c you're switching fields, tho your case isn't too uncommon in the IR field. Many IR folks I've seen had law background) (hopefully this isn't too general of information you already know...) And like others mentioned, MIT is well-known for security studies issues, as well as Fletcher School King's College London is also def well known in the field, esp. bc not a lot of UK universities can match KCL's expertise in War Studies.

But Geneva would be pretty close to French wine regions as well!

The usual choices would be Georgetown Security Studies Program and Johns Hopkins SAIS Security Studies MA. But I haven't really dug around in this area to know a lot.... I know a person in the Georgetown SSP, and s/he loves the program and Georgetown in general is very well respected in DC.

As a recent UC Santa Barbara Sociology graduate, I can also say that my department is extremely collegial and friendly. Although I was only an undergrad there, I had plenty opportunities to interact with grad students, and also I had taken several grad-level courses. And all the grad-level students were quite friendly and inclusive to even a "lowly" undergrad student like me, which I heard is not the case in many universities. Everyone knows each other, is friendly to each other, and the general atmosphere is def geared towards collaboration rather than competition. As far as my subjective perception can tell, there wasn't much of a competition vibe in the dept. Also, because the Soc dept was housed in the same building as the Global Studies dept, the ties between the two depts (at least among students and faculty members) were very highly developed, and opportunities for finding ppl w similar interests abounds. And idk if this is common or not elsewhere, but I would also often see people organize group attendance to seminars and conferences in other universities. Also a side note: If you want a "laid back" environment in the physical sense of the word, it really doesn't get any better than Santa Barbara and the UCSB campus haha

I'm still waiting as well... I remember reading somewhere that the decision is sent out early March, but looking at past results, it's likely that we'll indeed have to wait at least til the end of this week..... Tho I'm expecting to be rejected, it's still nerve wreaking to be waiting for so long......... Hopefully everyone gets good news soon!

No further information from IHEID to me either... hopefully good news comes out soon

That's one of my fears as well. I've been looking into scholarship opportunities, but even if I get some third-party funding, I would need some funding from the school to do a program in the US...unless I'm willing to take on student loans... But international students get discriminated against in MA funding opportunities at US universities? I didn't know that....

Congrats! SOAS came highly recommended for me as well. One of my profs who wrote me a LOR has great ties with couple of the SOAS profs, and has told me great things about the place. But I just wasn't sure if it'd be worth it to pay non-EU tuition for a lesser known school, even if I'd be able to have great academic exp. As much as I love learning more and doing independent academic research, my aim's to find employment in NY or DC, and from I've seen from my friends/acquaintances go thru, it's quite tough to peak the interests of potential employers with a SOAS degree (but then again that might apply to IHEID as well), unless you have substantial amount of prior WE.... Wow indeed. Quite expensive... I'm always amazed at how much money goes into simply getting about a city The times when I have to worry about transportation cost is when I miss Seoul and its cheap public transportation the most haha

BTW, has anyone applied to SOAS? I was originally going to apply there, but I may not anymore, at least for a MSc Still, it'd be useful to have some more info on the school for future reference. I heard their faculty, esp in IDEV, is excellent, tho their ranking and overall reputation has declined in recent years due to several internal problems. Has anyone heard or talked to SOAS students or faculty members?

Indeed! Low tuition, great city living, loads of positive feedback from current and past students, and proximity to a variety of IR-related job opportunities (and, for me, also the opportunity to further my French skills) make IHEID very very attractive.

Haha indeed. But yeah, as I expected food prices are quite outrageous in Geneva...Then again US benefits from multitude of factors that keeps food prices low for most people... I've lived in East Asia as well, so I guess I'm no stranger to astronomical grocery prices... I would think that US universities would def more likely to give out generous financial aid packages than European universities, considering the size of their endowment... But if I'm not mistaken, isn't it rare, especially for first year students, to receive full funding or 80-90% funding in even the wealthiest US universities? Even if you get 80% funding on, say $40,000, you would be paying more in tuition at a US university than in IHEID. And if you are qualified enough to get that much funding out of a US university, I'm sure you can manage to get some funding out of IHEID as well. So all in all, US tuition rate is just absurd...

@mych Hmmm... I would say that's about how much I paid in NY and DC as well, minus the insurance bit. So I guess I could expect to pay a little bit more in Geneva. That's a lot of money...