flyers29

Well said. Just as a benchmark, I finished my MA with 60k in debt. A conservative projection has me looking at about 7-10 years to pay that off (meaning my early 30s or so). I think it would be worth it for many of you to use an amortization calculator (here's one: http://www.bretwhissel.net/amortization/amortize.html) to figure out what you'll be looking at in terms of pay-off.

No one said that taking out loans in some form isn't worth it, but to the tune of 140k--especially given the salaries that one can expect out in this field--is ludicrous.

This thread was dead, why did you need to bring it back?

No way. And imho it's not a great idea to bet the house on that "government pays off your loans after 10 years" program.

Probably should ask in the Gov't Affairs forum.

It didn't say anything specifically about that (I was also wondering); however, that might be included in the extra fees I mentioned. Did some searching and found this link: http://www2.fiu.edu/~health/internationalStudent.htm. If you scroll down to the grad assistants portion it says you only pay 25% of the premiums listed there, which comes out to $40/month (assuming I'm reading that correctly). Not bad!

$18,800 (though they said around $800 in fees aren't covered each semester). That kind of seems like the median amongst programs so no complaints.

I'd have to agree--funding is not as common for MAs on the whole. Maybe you should wait until you get a final decision on the funding before making your choice?

I was rejected from GMU for the Ph.D, though got into a different program that I was probably going to go with anyway. Best of luck to everyone!

I'll take it if mormegil doesn't need it. Which leads me to a question--better to accept the offer I have asap in case some other funding magically shows up (I got the standard tuition + stipend package, which is pretty decent, but you never know)?

I am waiting on one more decision on the public policy side, but even so I'll likely be choosing FIU. Feel free to give me a shout if you end up doing the same.

Got an acceptance at FIU, which was my only IR app (I also applied to 2 public policy programs). Guess on this board I get to claim I went 100% then

Hmm, guess I'll have to keep an eye out for notification then.

Still waiting for George Mason on the Policy side, though that's to be expected as the deadline was March 1.

I think there are pros and cons depending on one's personal situation. The conventional wisdom was that it was better to show specialty in something. As someone currently having trouble finding a job in the field right now, however, I'm thinking that the outside world has a better idea of what "international relations" is versus "security studies." I really can't give you a solid answer, though fwiw I don't think the courses you can take as part of a general IR program will be vastly different than the ones you can take as part of a more focused security program.

Hmm. I see you were accepted at FIU, which is actually the one I'm waiting on.

Nope, also hoping it's a similar timeline to last year. I do have another program with a Jan 15 deadline that hasn't given me a decision yet...at this point GMU might end up beating them!

Just a general question: is it usually a bad sign when someone is still waiting on a decision awhile after some have already gone out? I'm talking 1-2 weeks difference here (and yes I called, they just told me that my application is still being looked at and it should be soon).

Just received a rejection from Maryland (yes, received an email this late at night saying a decision was up on my online account). Kind of expected it, so 2 to go now...

The government doesn't care where you went to school, so you're not at a disadvantage in that respect. However, the non-governmental sector starts to matter a lot more when you're approaching graduation and the agencies that security studies students tend to target significantly reduce their hiring pipelines (which is the case right now). I'm not all that familiar with the development career field, but it seemed like a lot of people were just getting jobs with local non-profits (Denver does have a lot of non-profits and charity organizations, actually) as opposed to places that were closer to what they studies. So while I don't lack the sufficient knowledge to say whether or not it is weak across the board, I still have pretty good reason to believe that Denver is pretty far out of the networking loop. The GFTEI side may be better, though I think their degree is a lot more flexible as far as what they bring the table (some quant skills at the least) and its applicability to the private sector. As far as enjoying the outdoors goes, I don't think the quarter system was all that bad. May depend on what program you're in, but my security classes seemed to be a short paper (7-12 pages) and/or group presentation due in the middle of the quarter and a longer paper (15-20 pages) due at the end. So I found my quarters to be slow in the first half and busy in the second half. Besides, ski season doesn't open till November, and you have over a month between the end of fall quarter and beginning of winter to go nuts.

I'm still waiting. Not sure if that's a good or bad thing.

Just my personal opinion (hindsight is 20/20), but I would certainly take American over Denver if the costs are now lower. Take this from someone who also chose Denver over American because I wanted a different perspective as well--it's a great program, but given Denver's mediocre networking and placement it would be tough for me to advise you to go there. I mean that is how one justifies the high tuition, no?

Well I did graduate from Korbel last year. Good program, but due to the lack of networking opportunities it's not worth the money imho.

I can't comment as to how receptive specific schools are to people who don't have a social science background (though they generally are on the whole). I think a lot of big IR schools discussed here fit the bill perfectly for what you're looking for though. Only issue might be the funding--many schools do give out $$ to top applicants, but it's not really something you can bet on until you apply and see what happens.

I would go with the master's if you're already sure you want to finish a Ph.D elsewhere. Much easier to make a clean break that way--I imagine that getting LORs etc for the next level won't be easy if you jump ship from one Ph.D program to the other.