ativerson

I've spent quite a bit of time in Southeast Asia so I managed to work it into my SOP...but its not exactly crucial. More than anything I was trying to bridge the gap between life experience and academic interests. Cambodia doesn't factor directly into my interests but I can't imagine an extra 2 years abroad and language training would do anything but strengthen my application. Still, there's no guarantee of funding in the future as it seems somewhat arbitrary.

So I applied to the Peace Corps about a year ago, partially for the grad school tuition and language incentives. The application process is long and I wanted to have a Plan B in case they didn't extend an invitation, so I applied to 3 MA programs not really expecting to be accepted. The Peace Corps finally sent me an invite to Cambodia for a teaching position. This was my ideal location and I excitedly accepted. Over the following weeks I was admitted to the University of Pittsburgh without funding, University of Denver with a scholarship covering 50% of tuition, and American University without funding. Pittsburgh is a non-issue. Denver is pretty solid but not the best fit for me, although with my savings and scholarship I could most likely graduate debt-free. American was my top choice, but it'll put me into $25-$40,000 of debt. I do have some experience teaching overseas so the Peace Corps would in a way be more of the same, but I would still like to do it and probably won't ever get another chance. It also seems like beneficial experience for State Department jobs which is ultimately where I want to end up. So really I have 2 questions: 1. Would it be crazy to turn down the opportunity in Denver for a slightly more prestigious, but also more rigorous and interesting program in a city where I could make more relevant contacts and internships? and 2: Could I reasonably assume that I'd be admitted to the same programs again with an extra paragraph in my personal statement outlining 2 years of Peace Corps service?

I was accepted and offered $20k annually. Has anyone else heard back on funding yet? Would I be crazy to turn this down? I applied to the Peace Corps about a year ago but they didn't contact me for 6 months after the interview so I also applied to a few grad programs. It turns out the Coverdell fellowship for returned Peace Corps volunteers is only good for $5k annually and its impossible to tell if Korbel will offer me a comparable scholarship if I reapply in two years.

I'm thinking about applying this upcoming year but I'm not sure if I'm ready just yet... Applying for: IR MA's with a focus on security and strategic studies Prospective schools: John Hopkins, American, University of Pittsburgh, University of Denver Undergraduate institution: UC Berkeley Undergraduate major: Sociology Undergraduate GPA: 3.7 cumulative GRE: 160v, 148q, 4.5 awa Work Experience: I'm a fairly recent social science grad so mostly crap/irrelevent jobs. No internships, I do have about a year and a half experience volunteering in a Social Psychology lab (which gave me some graduate level units on my transcript). Overseas Experience: I taught English in Korea for a year and helped develop new course materials, and I've traveled pretty extensively throughout Oceania and Southeast Asia. Language: No university level language courses, took a few years of German in high school but thats mostly gone. I did learn to read/write Korean but I can't understand or speak much of it. Thinking about taking a few Spanish classes to gain at least a moderate proficiency before applying. Quantitative requirements: As you may have guessed from my GRE scores, math isn't exactly my strong point and I did my best to avoid it in college. I did take a basic statistics course which I did reasonably well on. I have no background at all in economics. Haven't started a statement of purpose yet, but I'm fairly confident that i can get solid LOR's. I've thought about taking a few community college economics courses but I'd rather not invest the time as each of the programs I'm looking at has micro/macroeconomics courses built into the curriculum.

So I took the GRE a few weeks back and did reasonably well on the verbal and writing sections, but pretty bad on the math (160V, 148Q, 4.5 AWA). I'm looking at applying for an MA in International Relations. Of the programs I've looked at which have median GRE scores published, they're mostly around 160V, 153Q, 4.5 AWA. I'm wondering if I would be at all competitive with my current GRE score and academic credentials. I have a degree in Sociology from UC Berkeley and graduated with a 3.7 cumulative GPA. I also have close to two years research experience in a Social Psychology lab (not sure if this is at all relevant for IR programs), and I've got around 5 units of grauate level credit on my transcripts. I'm pretty well traveled and I've been living/teaching English in Korea for close to a year now. Also, I know I can get solid references from a few of my former professors. Any thoughts on whether or not it'd be worthwhile for me to retake the GRE? I actually actually put a lot of time in studying for the test and I'm not sure I'm capable of doing much better.