le_neocon

Octavia, I don't know what makes you say that. But a lot of us have chosen SIPA over SAIS and it really is a question of finance and personal career goals more than anything else. Both of them will give you the same amount of debt and I'm not sure where you get the whole Admin Assistant thing at UN thingie from. I don't want to get into an argument, but I believe your particular comments are extremely flawed and not based on any reliable data, if at all you have any. However, a free ride at any top school is a no brainer. You go there and nowhere else.

For a 35k differential I might choose the better known program, Georgetown. So I wouldn't let the extra money cushion at Cornell get in the way. Choose the school which you think has the better curriculum and would help you pursue your desired career path.

I will be attending SIPA this fall, and I will be choosing it over SAIS and CMU($). The stark prospect of debt does lie ahead of me, but I'm absolutely confident that this is the best route given my specific career interests and goals. What convinced me the most, to choose SIPA was some of the feedback I received from both current students and alumnus. I think talking to alumnus who have your current interest and are working in your preferred career will be your best bet. You can use networking sites to work your way around. Another way is to contact some of the current students in the SIPA message board. I was able to talk in detail with one of the students and was pleasantly surprised at the honest feedback he gave me. I'm sure they'd be happy to help you out and direct you to some useful sources. Harris is no doubt a great school and the money makes it a difficult choice to make. All the best !

Agree with narius..SAIS for sure !

Did anyone go for SIPA Open house ? How did it go ?

On a sidenote, I wish SIPA had more marketing videos. SAIS seems to have loads of them on their site. SIPA uploads quite a few panel discussions but none thats really program specific. Of course, there are the SIPA follies videos on youtube. Anyone else found any SIPA videos ?

This link might be outdated and you may have already found this http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/graduate-school/286389-fletcher-vs-sais.html

Tell me about the confusion. I'm debating the full SIPA - New York vs SAIS - DC option. I've even paid the deposit at SIPA just to speed up my visa process and I'm still confused. For me they will eventually turn out to be equally expensive. And that 50 grad thing at SIPA freaks me out too, though I shouldn't be trusting just hearsay...

It really depends on what you want to get out of the degree. I'm in a different scenario and had to turn down CMU with some aid, because it didn't actually align with my intended career path. The Harris full ride definitely looks like the way to go, and I'd look into SIPA only if you can back yourself completely to get second year scholarships and get your dream job after you graduate. If it can help, I'd suggest you join the linkedin alumni group of both Harris and SIPA and check out what people do after they graduate. And it includes both recent and old alumni, average alumni, top alumni, the whole bunch. I just think it could give you an additional perspective and justify your choices.

I was mailed on the 5th asking me to call them on the 6th or the 8th.

Did Cornell just vanish off the list ?? Anyhow, I guess you should not go on these rankings completely. These take into account various factors such as size of department, variety and amount of research. Moreover, these rankings are for the IE department. You will have to look into each of these department's websites to find out more about what the research interest of the faculty there is. From my research on some of these colleges, I remember noting that Purdue was more focused on manufacturing and so was VaTech. The more you look into these departments and/or forums where these are being discussed, the better informed you will be to take a decision on your target schools. All the best.

MPAIndia2010 I'm in the process of securing loans (SBI) which I want to use only for the first year, given their limit of only $45K(20 lakh). I want to leave the second year funding either to US private loans like Sallie Mae and scholarships/internships (if i get lucky) Can't we use the bank loans only for the first year, given that they are a small amount anyways. Once we are in the US, we'll be able to avail of the US loans, which have lower interest rates, higher lending amount, all with the help of a cosigner.

i think this is in reference to the federal aid packages etc. Nothing for international students to look forward to.

I'm located 8000 miles away !! I won't be there for any of the open houses