Jump to content

ExponentialDecay

Members
  • Posts

    906
  • Joined

  • Last visited

  • Days Won

    6

Reputation Activity

  1. Upvote
    ExponentialDecay got a reaction from d1389jjch in Too Old for History Phd?   
    You're not arguing that a hobbyist shouldn't be admitted at all. You're arguing that a hobbyist shouldn't be admitted over a candidate who would see the PhD as a job. Do you think that a candidate who sees the PhD as a job is going to be easier competition for your internal funding or whatever else than a hobbyist?


    I.. wouldn't care? As long as the person knows what they're doing and is easy to work with, I don't care what their motivation is. That's their private business. And like I said, I see no reason why the quality of scholarship should be impacted by lack of desire to turn scholarship into a paid job. There's certainly more than enough examples of terrible scholars who want a job in academia.
    I think this is sour grapes. Like, if you're not fully committed to battling against impossible odds in obtaining TT, you can't sit with us. Your attitude is functionally no different to the attitude of some quasi-emeritus who looks down on people for having an alt-ac plan B. And your attitude is your private business, except I don't understand why you align yourself with a view that is expressly counter to stated beliefs and even interests. If you are a "serious scholar", more people getting your degree for fun is better for you in every possible way. These people represent a more (or should I say, de facto) sustainable source of demand for the training that you want to be paid for to provide, yet they at the same time are not part of your competition for those professional positions. The age of people getting generic humanities degrees to be more employable is over - so I think catering to people who get your degree for personal growth purposes only is in your field's future. And moreover, perhaps they'll be able to inject perspectives into the profession that people who are desperate for history jobs are disinclined to express even if they hold them. It may be uncomfortable to view your field as something people enter for fun, but why the hell not?
  2. Upvote
    ExponentialDecay got a reaction from WhoaThereWombat in MPA or MPP for Journalism.   
    bro, this OP is from 2012...
  3. Like
    ExponentialDecay got a reaction from kreitz128 in MPA or MPP for Journalism.   
    bro, this OP is from 2012...
  4. Upvote
    ExponentialDecay got a reaction from Dwar in I have been unemployed since graduating last December. Do I stand any chance at getting into an MPA/MPP program?   
    [quote] will having no work experience for nearly a year likely disqualify me from most reputable MPA/MPP programs?[/quote]
    No. Programs will be lenient, most of all, because academia is facing some very lean years and professional grad schools in particular are struggling to attract and retain enough students to stay open. If you're a legal person and you're willing to hand them money, they'll take you.
    That said, all the discourse about being cautious when investing in this degree applies doubly to anyone without work experience. Pandemic or no pandemic, it's going to take you time to build your CV up (unless you luck into the foreign service or consulting). The real hurdle you're facing is convincing employers to hire someone with a master's and no experience (which isn't so much about being overqualified - the job market in policy being what it is, employers can pretty much set any terms they want - as it is about convincing the employer that you can bring value). The other thing is, MPAs and their ilk aren't versatile degrees at all, so if you're going into this without holding an evidence-based conviction that you are right for this field and want to stay in it for the next decade or so, don't assume that it'll be easy for you to sell the policy degree if you decide that policy is not for you. Finally, if you will need to take on student debt, think really, really hard about whether you need this. Maybe read some of the many horror stories on this site. 
  5. Upvote
    ExponentialDecay reacted to went_away in Fletcher School of Law & Diplomacy - Pros and Cons for the Future   
    This is a really odd post. You've listed a lot of general points that don't display much knowledge of Fletcher specifically and that could apply to about any international affairs school, so I'm a little confused why you chose to create a post specifically about a school with which you don't seem to have much personal knowledge or experience and list a lot of generic negatives about IR in general, framed as a critique of Fletcher in particular. For example, the cross-registration with Harvard is a tiny part of the school's offerings and has very little to do with the overall educational experience or its interdisciplinary core competency (Fletcher's curriculum and faculty are entirely built around an interdisciplinary education; it's generally *not* about drawing in profs from other schools or doing partnerships).
    I am as much of a critic of these schools and degrees as anyone - see my post history about the mismatch between degree price and perceived prestige vs actual career outcomes and earning potential - but not seeing how this conversation has anything to do with Fletcher in particular. For example, the renewed entry of Yale to this market is a challenge for all higher-end schools, not just for Fletcher.
    If you've heard anecdotes or are in touch with a large number of recent grads and are picking up this buzz from them, I'd be curious to hear about that, but didn't see anything about that in your posts above.
    Also, you say that MSFS has managed to pivot to getting its grads into other government programs apart from the Foreign Service. I haven't seen any evidence of that and don't even know how that would work given that the path into government service is pretty set for everybody (except Princeton grads who benefit from a legally shady arrangement to get in), but am open to hearing evidence of it. Finally, you seem to be under the impression that Fletcher is primarily a training school for the nonprofit sector. This would be a far more relevant critique for a place like SIT in Vermont. If anything, the primary career destinations are government service, multateral institutions, international security, defense consulting, and finally international development.
  6. Upvote
    ExponentialDecay got a reaction from Sigaba in Programs that will allow me to stay in the country where I studied or get employed abroad?   
    @GradSchoolGrad Please enlighten me if you see otherwise, but I've read both posts I made here and I see nowhere that I've been unkind or not nice, to you or to anyone. You never explained why you took such a condescending tone with me, "First off" and so on. Based on my longterm experience on this board, you are very invested in being the resident expert on all things here and you become incensed whenever somebody posts something you disagree with. I'm really not looking for an internet fight so, if you can't keep your communications civil, I'd rather we not interact anymore. You can post your opinion on a subject without directly putting it in opposition with mine. People here are smart and capable of making their own conclusions.
    Anyway. I find your post off-topic. The conversation was about whether trying to stay in the US after a master's degree is a good risk right now, and you have not addressed this point whatsoever. I will reiterate that, per my assessment, the US is not worth the risk right now (and basing one's decision on your unpedigreed assessment of what is "highly likely" for an as-of-yet unelected Presidential candidate to do is quite silly). This is where I'll leave it.
  7. Downvote
    ExponentialDecay reacted to GradSchoolGrad in Programs that will allow me to stay in the country where I studied or get employed abroad?   
    I'm not going to waste my time on teaching anyone how to conduct proper professional communication or how to user proper word choice. I hope people partaking in this board can make smart decisions based upon comprehensive assessments of the nuances rather than broad generalizations from someone who has had over 100+ negative post reactions (obviously for crude language and preferring to throw around accusations than trying be legitimately helpful). 
  8. Downvote
    ExponentialDecay got a reaction from GradSchoolGrad in Programs that will allow me to stay in the country where I studied or get employed abroad?   
    @GradSchoolGrad Please enlighten me if you see otherwise, but I've read both posts I made here and I see nowhere that I've been unkind or not nice, to you or to anyone. You never explained why you took such a condescending tone with me, "First off" and so on. Based on my longterm experience on this board, you are very invested in being the resident expert on all things here and you become incensed whenever somebody posts something you disagree with. I'm really not looking for an internet fight so, if you can't keep your communications civil, I'd rather we not interact anymore. You can post your opinion on a subject without directly putting it in opposition with mine. People here are smart and capable of making their own conclusions.
    Anyway. I find your post off-topic. The conversation was about whether trying to stay in the US after a master's degree is a good risk right now, and you have not addressed this point whatsoever. I will reiterate that, per my assessment, the US is not worth the risk right now (and basing one's decision on your unpedigreed assessment of what is "highly likely" for an as-of-yet unelected Presidential candidate to do is quite silly). This is where I'll leave it.
  9. Like
    ExponentialDecay reacted to AP in visa appointment   
    Absolutely agree.
    Departments are not obliged to learn the legal framework of your status. Always, ALWAYS verify their information with HR, Lega, ISO. In my institution, ISO was not very good (they catered for the rich international undergrads rather than the poor international grad students). As a result, my program and my school were better allies in helping me figuring things out. What I did was CC'ing them in every conversation about my status, taxes, etc. Even leading to my graduation there were some hiccups that they helped me resolved with their advocacy and because I had kept them in the loop for seven years.
     
  10. Downvote
    ExponentialDecay got a reaction from zagorthespirit in visa appointment   
    Not commenting w/r/t the specific situation with your visa, but I wouldn't attack @PokePsych for trying to be helpful and saying something that is very true. Moreover, not only are departments usually clueless about visa policies, but HR, legal and even the ISO can make mistakes and give bad advice. From the State Department's perspective, you and you alone are responsible for maintaining your visa status, so if you have problems because of some bad advice you followed - from your school, your lawyer, who cares - you are screwed. So just as a general piece of advice from someone who has spent a decade on F1, by all means listen to your provost and the international office, but double check everything they say with a second (qualified, of course) opinion or by reading all of the relevant legal documents yourself. Most visa stuff is handled on the USCIS website, but you may need to look up tax treaties etc for financial matters. Seriously, your visa status in the US is serious shit, especially in this administration. So stay vigilant and don't get nasty with people who try to help you out
  11. Upvote
    ExponentialDecay got a reaction from milka49 in Does a conservative political affiliation hinder admittance chances?   
    I think calling it a "postmodern-leaning establishment" is going to do far more to tank your chances than either your political affiliation or interest in Calvin Coolidge. Like, what does that even mean?
    There are certainly party affiliation trends within fields, but as long as you are a good scholar and don't act unprofessionally (which goes for what I presume you call SJW snowflakes as much as it goes for the neo-Nazis), nobody will care.
  12. Upvote
    ExponentialDecay got a reaction from PolPhil in Does a conservative political affiliation hinder admittance chances?   
    I think calling it a "postmodern-leaning establishment" is going to do far more to tank your chances than either your political affiliation or interest in Calvin Coolidge. Like, what does that even mean?
    There are certainly party affiliation trends within fields, but as long as you are a good scholar and don't act unprofessionally (which goes for what I presume you call SJW snowflakes as much as it goes for the neo-Nazis), nobody will care.
  13. Upvote
    ExponentialDecay got a reaction from Sigaba in Garbage Rankings That Harm Profession Released   
    But if the rankings are commonly accepted as garbage, why should they reflect on the quality of your credentials one way or another? Similarly, what about the first-gen, low-income, nontraditional students of color who were accepted into highly respected schools that did not place well on these rankings? Should they feel as upset as you are satisfied? If so, doesn't it seem like a zero-sum game wherein everybody has a lot of emotions and nobody wins?
  14. Upvote
    ExponentialDecay got a reaction from Sigaba in Does a conservative political affiliation hinder admittance chances?   
    I think calling it a "postmodern-leaning establishment" is going to do far more to tank your chances than either your political affiliation or interest in Calvin Coolidge. Like, what does that even mean?
    There are certainly party affiliation trends within fields, but as long as you are a good scholar and don't act unprofessionally (which goes for what I presume you call SJW snowflakes as much as it goes for the neo-Nazis), nobody will care.
  15. Upvote
    ExponentialDecay got a reaction from GradSchoolGrad in jhu sais MA vs cornell cipa mpa   
    afaik SAIS is getting restructured imminently so just a thought
    overall though, unless CIPA is giving you a ton of money, you should do SAIS, especially if you want to work in an IO. I also don't know any country where Cornell is better respected than Johns Hopkins, but I know many countries where Johns Hopkins is a brand name and Cornell is virtually unknown.
  16. Downvote
    ExponentialDecay got a reaction from Dwar in Let's Talk Debt   
    Vet status will do shit for you in international government.
    Daamn is Gandhi liberating India in this post? Because it sure is salty. You call it a depository, but the G-4 is worth ~20% of your annual salary plus avoiding the H1B bloodbath, on which the risk premium is punishingly low, especially in this administration.
    Know before you go is all well and good, but what really grinds my gears is public servants who act like they're doing the world a huge fucking favor. The UN institutions and affiliated organizations have a lot of problems work environment-wise, and the least protected employee classes are treated abominably unless they have someone in power who is willing to advocate, but let's be real, working in international organizations has undeniable positives, which may not be so positive for one person as they are for another, but if they aren't, why stay in the field? Do something else. The world is your oyster.
  17. Downvote
    ExponentialDecay got a reaction from jbc17 in INT STUDENT: HKS MPP (no funding) vs. PRINCETON MPA (full funding)   
    How the fuck are you going to pay back 200k in debt with interest working in the humanitarian sector??? 
  18. Like
    ExponentialDecay got a reaction from limeorange in 100k debt for IR Masters worth it?   
    These two things are concerning. Why aren't you getting any scholarship money? These programs aren't super competitive, so as long as you're not a functional idiot, you should be able to. Take a look at the results pages for the various schools, SAIS, SIPA, HKS, etc. - people are getting 50, 60, 70k. So it's possible. Why aren't you?
    Like - and stay with me until the end of the post, because this next part is going to sting - when it comes to hypercompetitive fields, be it academia or IR, if you're failing, so to say, at the first hurdle, the field is probably not for you. IR may seem glamorous, but doing something you're not built for becomes really old really quickly. Career outcomes are path-dependent, which means that, if you're starting at a disadvantage, barring some deus ex machina shit, you're going to stay at a disadvantage - and in a hypercompetitive field, that disadvantage will quickly catch up to you and leave you high and dry. 100k in debt, btw, is one hell of a disadvantage. That'll preclude you from taking most interesting entry-level jobs and will trickle down to seemingly innocuous stuff like not being able to attend networking happy hours because you have to catch the last train to Largo - stuff that cumulatively makes a big difference.
    All of this isn't to say that you'll never amount to anything, but rather to say that you should avoid starting at a disadvantage. There's lots of reasons why somebody doesn't get scholarship money, and most of them are fixable. Do you lack work experience? Do you need to retake the GRE? Are you not applying widely enough? Is your application not telling a coherent narrative for what you want to do in the field and why School X is the best place to prepare yourself for it? If you don't know the answer to these questions, find out. Go on LinkedIn and set up some informational interviews with people in the field. Pick something you don't know about and learn about it, ideally by doing it. Immerse yourself in the field as a professional, not a starry-eyed child.
    A note on work experience in IR: as someone who got a job in IR out of UG, don't get a job in IR out of UG. The entry-level stuff is all bureaucratic support (so, not the people who get to even touch policy with a 3 foot pole). It's a good way to learn about how the sausage is made, but that's about it. If I were to do it again, I'd get a job in something competitive, like consulting, that will teach you grit and concise analysis while also paying well and looking good on a resume, or I'd move abroad and do something crazy, e.g. start a beach bar in Trinidad, and learn from the ground up. Or work at an NGO that does fieldwork on the actual ground. You can arrive at policy from any background: I know former engineers, MDs, stock traders, artists, activists and so on who have successful careers in IR. It's all about what skills and network you can bring to the table. All this bullshit about what degree you have and where it's from and how much it cost is so fucking secondary.
  19. Like
    ExponentialDecay got a reaction from KIMAMS in HKS MPA/ID vs SAIS IDEV   
    MPAID is far better respected at IFIs. In terms of curriculum, SAIS offers undergraduate-level economics and methods courses without much exposure to the theory behind what you're doing (which leads to people not understanding what they're doing), there's no opportunity to take math and econ department courses because it's a separate campus, so if you're aiming to do serious quantitative work you'll struggle there and afterwards. I know that at least a few of the alums from the most quanty specialization within IDEV get jobs that a good economics major can get out of undergrad. But if you don't want to do quantitative work, SAIS is fine. In terms of cohort they're very different but imo this is a matter of preference. The MPAID intake is highly constrained, it's mostly people who have some to substantial work experience in development (that isn't teaching English), and the alumni network is smaller (it's also a younger program) but they're all mostly well-positioned. SAIS is very mixed. Even in IDEV there's a lot of undergrads and people with 0 quantitative background. It's a huge cohort (IDEV is ~100 people and the whole class is ~500, afaik) and most of them will be doing things that are totally irrelevant to your interests whereas at MPAID, everyone is interested in evidence-based development policy.
    MPAID will funnel you into the optimal formative path for an evidence-based development policy professional; you can accomplish something similar at SAIS, the opportunities are out there, but you have to find them yourself. Don't get me wrong, SAIS will get you an interview for a technical position - but a lot of the time you'll have to prove that you're not a monkey. As an illustrative example, this subject came up in conversation with a friend who is a hiring manager at one of the Fed economics agencies, and (surprisingly) he said he does interview SAIS grads for analyst roles, but apparently a lot of them can't pass the interview because they don't know what domain is. At IFIs, there's more MPAID grads going through the prestigious hiring pipelines than SAIS, but there's a simultaneity problem between Harvard and the background/experiences they had going into Harvard (given there's also a lot of MPAID grads stuck in eternal consultant limbo, you guess where that leans). Ultimately, either one is a Name, either one will funnel you into IFIs - and once you're there it really depends on what you do rather than your resume.
    Regarding the million dollar question, I don't know, dude. The MPAID is the only program I would personally even consider taking loans for, but I have my biases and I'm not sure they're rational. On the other hand, 35k at SAIS is an okay deal (ask for more money!!!) assuming you can finance the living expenses, and if your profile is strong enough for MPAID, I think the kids-who-get-into-Harvard-do-just-as-well-if-they-go-to-Podunk adage applies. It's an agonizing but a good choice to have. GL.
  20. Upvote
    ExponentialDecay got a reaction from Sigaba in IS THERE HOPE FOR ME ? Grad School after 3 years post grad   
    I suggest reading the stickied chance me thread. You will find that a large proportion of applicants are both 3+ years out of undergrad and coming from an unrelated field. The thread is also a trove of advice on several years' worth of applications - assuming, of course, that you are willing to see yourself as not so unique that nobody else's experience could possibly apply to you.
  21. Like
    ExponentialDecay got a reaction from Adelaide9216 in Undergraduate events/student groups   
    Am I the only one who thinks it's super weird for a early to mid-20s person to actively seek out teenagers to befriend/date? 
    @Comparativist
    you'd date someone just out of high school who can't even drink? Anyway, in my experience as a younger woman dating men your age, the problem with having a preference for younger women is that a lot of the time it comes from a place of immaturity or manipulation. Certainly if you articulate it as "younger women are more pleasant to be around". Because we don't have the wherewithal or courage to call you out on your bad behavior? 
  22. Upvote
    ExponentialDecay got a reaction from PolPhil in Help gauging competitiveness for PhD in IR/Poli Sci?   
    You should read your own "article" for MPA-PhD stuff, because the guy with the MPA and PhD in Public Policy is perfectly right - an MPA is not good preparation for a PhD. If you attend open days or prospective applicant presentations for the top policy masters like Princeton and Harvard, their reps will tell you the same thing. The reason is not so much that a bunch of classes will be irrelevant, since curricula at these programs are pretty malleable, but that even the relevant classes are designed for practitioners, not researchers. For example, your econometrics class will focus on interpreting and understanding regression outputs, not on how to build an econometric model and apply it to data. You will also have limited opportunities to work on stuff that will make you more competitive for PhDs, like writing a great thesis or getting real tight with professors in your subfield, because the program will be focused on trotting you out to employers and getting you a job at the end. There are programs that are better geared for an academic application, like the MPA-ID or some of the Harris School's programs, but they are an obsecenely expensive option that isn't tailored to what you want, and choosing them over going to a dedicated poli sci MRes in Europe that will cost you pennies on the dollar is a strange decision. I don't think a master's is a bad idea, but if you want a PhD, don't get an MPA. 
    I don't think your GPA is bad at all (although I'm confused if that's a first or an upper second), but the GRE really is quite low for top programs and unfortunately they pay extra attention to that when you're not from a US school. 
  23. Upvote
    ExponentialDecay got a reaction from Crusteater in I'm finally going for it :)   
    Most English programs allow you to take classes in other departments. All worthwhile PhD programs in the US are fully funded. If one isn't, it's predatory and it doesn't actually want you to attend.
    This is a cute OP and I feel like it has purpose. That said, it's kind of hard to advise you because you don't say what your research interests are. That will guide your program choice much more than your desire to take classes in the philosophy department. Not to mention, philosophy departments, just like English, differ in focus and strength and the classes they offer. If your interests are sufficiently interdisciplinary, an English program might not even be the right fit for you and you might need to apply to interdisciplinary programs. That's only if you know for certain what your project is, because grad school really isn't the time for self-exploration for the sake of self-exploration.
    As for lack for undergrad prestige, I'm not sure it's so much that that holds people in your situation back (though it is a factor, among hundreds of factors). The thing in common that applicants from low-ranked UGs and applicants from prestigious non-US universities seem to have in common is a lack of polish. Like, an OP from an applicant from a top US undergrad contains much different questions, assumptions, and information because they are more likely to know what's up. They have more information and support from their department in preparing for grad school. Presentation and register of your materials ends up mattering a great deal, and that's something most people struggle with if they didn't spend time in an environment that runs by those rules. Good news is, unlike prestige, that's all fixable.
  24. Upvote
    ExponentialDecay reacted to Teaching Faculty Wannabe in Girlfriend moving for grad school - Do i stay or go with her?   
    I would say that if you are not ready for that sort of commitment, then it might be best to break up. Sadly, sometimes love isn't enough. Love is complicated, complex, and can be hard. You really have to be committed to that fact and the person you love in order to make it work, long-distance or not.
  25. Upvote
    ExponentialDecay got a reaction from Passing in Stuck in dilemma (international student admitted to CIPA at $20k/year)   
    @MBR given OP's goal is to stay in the States, this degree might as well be art history (which, insofar as "hard skills" go, is not that far removed from policy programs). It is difficult for someone who is not an immigrant to understand how many more problems and how many fewer safety nets F1 students have, to the extent that I think people who are not international students are being irresponsible when giving advice on this matter. The only scenario where OP should "just go" is if this decision wouldn't cause financial strain on his family (i.e. they are very wealthy). Otherwise, no, they shouldn't YOLO because someone who can get their loans forgiven and get a job at any gas station told them to just do it.
    OP, I came here on an F1 from a similarly socially suffocating country which has strained relations with the US, studied a similar major to yours, and I now work in policy. I also know a lot of people who are working or are trying to find work in the US, UK, or EU on a visa. I can only speak from experience, which is colored by my individual perceptions, dis/privileges, and abilities, but I hope it helps.
    The first thing to realize is that your job search will look nothing like citizens' or green card holders, as will your financial risks. So take any general statistic, from placement statistics to minimum GPA requirements, with a grain of salt - they are not representative of international students' experiences. When it comes to getting an H1B, you face two major hurdles. The first is finding an employer who is willing to sponsor you for an H1B following your 1-2 years of OPT (because any decent school will make it possible for you to use OCT for internships). These employers are mostly big companies with lots of money, lots of lawyers, and lots of experience with the H1B process (though small companies sponsoring because they really like you as an individual and want you specifically has happened once or twice among my acquaintances). They mostly want to hire people with technical skills or at least work experience. Economics is probably the least quantitative that you can afford to go if you want to be competitive, which is why I personally would think twice about an MPA; the mathier, the more opportunities you are eligible for (which is not the same as getting the job, of course). The second hurdle is getting the H1B, where, assuming your company wants to sponsor you (i.e. pay for all the paperwork and go through the long bureaucratic process), you are admitted into a true lottery. I know people who have had to go home after working in M&A at Goldman Sachs because they didn't win the lottery, and rebuild their career from scratch. This was before 2009, when Obama cut the H1B quota to a third. H1B is a bloodbath, no matter where you work or what qualifications you have. You have the same chance as anyone else in that barrel, and if you don't get it, some companies will transfer you to an office outside the US, and some will just let you go.
    People who are telling you to consider routes to UN-type jobs are absolutely correct (though a degree from SIPA is by no means a guarantee), because that makes you eligible for a G-type visa, which has many perks beyond the chief perk that it is not capped and makes you eligible for a green card after a certain number of years.
    With that in mind, let's discuss degrees. Policy degrees are pretty frou frou, and I disagree that the skills they impart are particularly hard (please, tell me what a ~~quantitative analyst you are when you don't even understand the functional form of the model you are estimating). The problem is that the master's offering in the US is pretty bare - there aren't (m)any quality academic masters in social sciences that are valued by employers, because the market is dominated by professional degrees and there is a tradition for talented undergrads to work in a research position out of undergrad for a couple years and then go straight into the PhD. Then there's the problem that everything is so damn expensive. This is a serious problem, because you can't (imo as a person with a very low risk appetite) justify taking out 6 figure debt unless you are absolutely certain you can pay it back, but you can't be absolutely certain due to the effectively random H1B lottery outcome, and I know of no country in the world besides America where you can pay off that kind of debt, no matter what job you get. In my country, if you emerge with 6 figure debt and no US job, your life is fiscally ruined. For that reason, I wouldn't consider an MBA in America unless an employer were covering it. 
    As regards what you would learn in an MPA vs an MBA program, I think you have a slightly unrealistic idea of both as well as an unrealistic idea of the realities of the US academic/job environment. Firstly, whilst I'm sure you learned a lot in undergrad and that the curriculum at Cornell or wherever is fascinating, these are professional programs, the point of which is to get a job. The strength of the curriculum is negligible compared to how effective a program is at achieving the latter. These aren't programs you go into to ~~find yourself or learn about the field. A lot of your classmates will already know 90% of what you're being taught, in technical or content classes or even both, and will be using this time to build their professional networks and work on projects that they can show employers or PhD programs (so, not exactly student work). If you go in without at least knowing what policy field you want to pursue as well as something academic or practical about that field, you will be lost. Secondly, and this probably goes for everyone, but especially for international students who haven't studied/worked in an American environment, one of the things you need to achieve in these programs is learning how to exist in your professional cohort, which includes building a personal brand/niche/narrative. Don't believe anything to the contrary: the US work environment is incredibly insular, and if you do things not how people are used to them being done, people will think you're weird, which will negatively affect your career progression. Another factor is what my foreign family call Americans being duplicitous, which is their naive way of saying that how people express themselves in America and how people express themselves in my culture are different, so unless you've been immersed in this culture for a while, you won't know what your cohort thinks of you, which is bad bad bad in this relationship-based business. There is still a classist, xenophobic notion here for what constitutes educated, unfortunately. For instance, a precious few of my colleagues are sympathetic to people who don't speak/write good English. Few bother to investigate whether an ESL person can't construct an argument or just doesn't have enough facility with the language, and just assume it's the former. On that note, writing well is the #1 most important skill (right up there with presenting/interacting with people well), not Stata. You may think you write well, but policy writing in the US is its own register. This field has a culture, and you will lose out if you don't know what's up. Especially the big players that everyone here wants to work for are snake pits, where no one will give you more than one chance, no one expects less than perfection, and a few people will screw you over just because they can. Don't get me wrong: I have a fantastic work environment with people who are invested in my success, but among my entire acquaintance, I am the only one who is this lucky.
    As for what you should do, the main red flags to me are that you aren't 100% sure what you want to study, and that you graduated college last year. imo you need to be about 2 years further along in your career than you are, both so you can get better offers and so you know yourself better and have a better idea of how to make the best of this opportunity. This is a lot of money to spend on something you're not totally sold on, man. My first year out of college, I was similarly discombobulated and unhappy, but I'm glad I rode it out. I learned about how much I didn't know I don't know, and simultaneously I got a much better handle on where I want to take my life and career. GL.
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

This website uses cookies to ensure you get the best experience on our website. See our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use