spartuckeye

If you haven't already, I would suggest applying for this program with FEMA http://www.nationalservice.gov/programs/americorps/fema-corps to gain some entry-level disaster management work experience and money for grad school. In addition to Georgia State, the University of Delaware hands down has one of the best programs in the country for Emergency Management and the program is quite well-known in the field. http://www.sppa.udel.edu/content/ms-disaster-science-and-management However, I would say that the name of the school/program/and degree type are not barriers at all for moving up in this field....a Master's will be required to hold high level positions but ultimately work experience in disaster areas is the most important thing people in this field are looking for when hiring. An MPA from any school will be an asset.

Previous Schools: Big 10 School Previous Degrees BA International Relations, minor Middle East Studies, GPA 3.4 GRE Scores: 154 V, 148 Q Low, but honestly the GRE hardly matters Previous Work Experience: 1 year study abroad in the Middle East as a Boren Scholar, relevant internships, IR-related fellowship during undergrad, PPIA Fellow, 1 year unrelated to IR post-grad experience with a government agency, post-grad part-time internship with a small non-profit while working as a sales associate at a department store Math/Econ Background: 2 undergrad stats courses (B, A), micro , macro [C], international economics (A), PPIA summer courses: Advanced Stats (A), Advanced Econ Foreign Language Background (if applicable to your program): Arabic, Spanish Intended Field of Study in Grad School: MA in International Relations Long Term Professional Goals: Public, Foreign Service Schools Applied to & Results: Applied and accepted to Columbia ($$$), Georgetown MSFS ($$), Johns Hopkins SAIS Bologna ($)+re-take macro and pass with a B, Tufts Fletcher ($), Milano @ The New School ($$), GW Elliott ($0) Ultimate Decision & Why: After visiting the schools, it was between Georgetown MSFS and Fletcher. I enjoyed the smaller program size and curriculum flexibility compared to the larger schools where the curriculum was too cookie cutter for me. SAIS Bologna was a distant third, but I wasn’t about to re-take macro when MSFS did not require me to. Advice for Future Applicants: Where to begin? 1. VISIT, VISIT, VISIT! the schools you are seriously considering! This is your investment! You need to see how much the school is willing to invest in you while you are there! Go to the open house and try to visit a class if possible. Scouring the websites and idealizing the program from afar are not helpful. If visiting is not an option, definitely find a way to contact current students in the program to give you both the good and bad aspects. 2. GRE Scores: As you can see, I have very low GRE scores. I am just terrible at standardized tests that are not applied to any sort of real-life situations. This is why I made sure to make up for this through taking econ and stats in undergrad. Those courses were not a walk in the park, but I worked hard at them. If you are an undergrad, start challenging yourself with these courses now because every time you take it, your grade WILL climb higher each time you take it. Definitely apply for PPIA http://www.ppiaprogram.org/ppia/what-we-do/junior-summer-institutes/ because you will have dedicated faculty and peers who want you to succeed in these areas and IR/MPA/MPP grad programs really look favorably upon PPIA because they know you have had the preparation necessary to succeed in grad school quant courses. 3. Work experience: It was painful. I really wanted to go to grad school directly out of undergrad. Everyone told me wait 2 years…they were RIGHT, and I am so glad I listened. While internships are important, gaining experience out of college, in any field, no matter how unrelated, will be an added perspective that you will bring to your grad courses. I know its tough finding relevant work experience with a BA these days, but volunteer work (AmeriCorps, City Year, Peace Corps) is great because it is highly likely that you will get more financial aid than someone who has had a chance to save money for grad school with a full-time job with a nice salary for the same amount of time. With that being said, I noticed that the people who did get a lot of Fellowship money had worked for 4-7 years. If neither of these appeal to you, I would totally recommend starting some sort of business venture at this age and if it doesn’t work out, you’ve always got grad school to fall back on! 4. Statement of Purpose: You must share it with other people, preferably someone you know with impeccable grammar. Learn to take constructive criticism in this area and be prepared to write many, many drafts. It will be worth it in the end!

2014 Fletcher Open House Review To start off, Fletcher was the school I probably knew the least about, but the open house probably made the biggest impression on me. Sunday night they had an alumni panel and reception. They were all of course, very accomplished individuals: a PMF Fellow, a military veteran, an international student working in the private sector, a Foreign Service Officer, and a guy who got his MA and PhD from Fletcher and a law degree from Harvard who started his own company in Boston that works on social innovation. They were the most enthusiastic alumni panel of any school I had visited, and could not say enough great things about their experience during school and after with the Fletcher alumni network. There was a bit of the Fletcher v. Harvard that arose in some of the questioning. The Fletcher/Harvard dual degree guy said that in his personal experience, the contact back rate with alumni from Fletcher was 95% whereas Harvard was 5%. And other panelists told similar stories about landing great opportunities through the Fletcher network. Fletcher students cross-registering at HKS seemed to be very highly regarded by those professors for being “hard-working, intelligent, good-people.” I think of any of the schools I visited, Fletcher had the best reputation in terms of the people they produce, rather than the skills tacked onto their resume like SAIS for example. In terms of “skills”, I was really surprised by the amount of econ and quant courses available in the course bulletin. Like one of the panelists said, Fletcher doesn’t “shove them down your throat.” I like that I can choose which of these courses I want to take (and how many), rather than a standardized curriculum. The next day was a mix of class visits, student panels, guest lectures and career and financial services sessions. You could choose which ones you went to, which kept things relevant and interesting. The Dean also gave a great presentation about the school and how they prepare graduates for the international issues we will be facing in the future. I think him having gone to Fletcher is a huge plus for the school since he is always looking for ways to build the program and clearly has a personal interest in doing so…rather than it just being a job. He had a very impressive background, but was still very personable and took the time to go around and talk to the admitted students. The faculty panel that followed was informative as well. They emphasized “student-centered” learning, talked about various things people did for their capstones (which ranged from the traditional thesis, to publishing op-eds to creating a business plan). Another thing I was surprised by were the amount of admitted students interested in entrepreneurship and innovation, and I guess having the Masters in International Business really attracts those types of people. I would be doing the MALD, but it’s nice that the MIB courses are made available to take. Of course the one thing that everyone harps on is the location. The students did not really see it as a big deal. Every year they said about half of Fletcher grads end up in DC, with the rest working either internationally, elsewhere in the U.S. and some stay in Boston. A lot of the students at Fletcher had already been working in D.C. for a number of years or studied there in undergrad and seemed much less insecure about the need to be in D.C. or NY than people at other schools. They said their professors and the alumni had great connections and got them internships at places in the U.N., think-tanks in NY and DC and elsewhere. There were a number of students interested in the private sector and had a variety of internships in Boston with different companies and also the FBI during the year related to cyber-security and technology…. another strength of the program that I did not know before the open house. As for diversity, Fletcher gets an A. There was a great representation of international students, a lot of U.S. minorities, military veterans, and people of varying age ranges. And they were all interacting like one, big happy family. Everyone pretty much knew each others’ names, too. And the only low point….financial aid. I know they give a little to everyone, and most people are taking out some amount of loans here, but in the face of competing offers that is the only thing keeping me back from immediately accepting. Hope this review helped for those not able to make it!

2014 SIPA Open House Review Structure: Most of the day was held in a large auditorium, with members of the admissions team speaking at the auditorium. The Dean of SIPA had recorded a video welcome message that was shown on a large screen. This was the first of a series of encounters that reminded me of previous reviews of SIPA as being “impersonal.” This was definitely the largest of the open houses I went to. The academic overview was given on a PowerPoint, which had a pretty useful breakdown of how many people were in each concentration and specialization. Please keep in mind that this was a bar graph with intervals of 20, so the number I am writing is an estimate of what I inferred from the bar graph, but still should be fairly accurate. Concentrations: Int Finance and Econ Policy: 139 Econ and Pol Development: 137 Energy and Environment: 79 Int Security Policy: 79 Urban and Social Policy: 65 HR and Humanitarian Policy: 35 Specializations: Management: 164 Applied Policy and Econ Analysis: 120 Int Conflict Resolution: 73 Regional (all): 50 Int Media and Advocacy Concentration: 50 Therefore, even though SIPA has around 1100 total students, you can certainly still find a small community within each concentration and specialization after the core courses, which make up 1/3 of the curriculum. Overall impression: The “New York” attitude is very evident among the current students of the school, which I would characterize as being very much a “go-getter,” seeking out your own opportunities and taking the initiative to make your own connections to get you to wherever it is you want to be in your career. As for the concentration professors and directors of some of the regional programs (who sent members of their staff to talk to students at the open house), it’s similar. They have their careers and their research, and being a faculty member at an Ivy League institution is not necessarily about how they will invest and support you in your career, but how they need investment in theirs (i.e. TAships, RAships). With that being said, I was impressed with how the current students were able to balance their coursework with a TA or RAship, PLUS 2nd positions more related to advancing their careers. It did seem as if the professors used whatever connections they had to help the students they were working with closely achieve it. Additionally, there was a fair amount of people admitted here out of undergrad both who were admitted and current students. They seemed attracted to the fact that the core curriculum forces you to develop practical skills for the work place that they had not yet had a chance to develop. This (in my opinion), at the expense of having the flexibility to take more courses that entail deeper intellectual exploration. The program also seems good for people not sure of what sector they want to work in As for diversity, there were a lot of international students from everywhere and it seemed as if there was a community for everyone. Like with any program, there can always be more U.S. minorities, but for those that do attend SIPA, they are a warm and close-knit group that is really open and committed to improving diversity and inclusion within the program.

Gov2School--thanks for chiming in with your informative and helpful response, and thanks CurrentFSO for your thoughts on that subject as well!

Thanks for offering answers to our questions! Some of the international affairs grad programs I applied to will offer public sector management and financial budgeting and management courses as part of their core curriculums (in addition to econ and stats). I was wondering whether you thought these courses were still relevant and useful in the Foreign Service for someone planning to be in the Political track, and not really considering the Management or Econ tracks. I was wondering whether you would recommend going to a school that includes this in their curriculum, versus a more traditional IR school that only requires international economic theory and a stats course. Thank you very much!

I will be attending the open house and I will try to write a review after for those who can't make it!

Yes, I can certainly understand this! Well, definitely compare the coursework of the two schools...maybe even plan out tentative courses you would take in your first two semesters and compare the two. Which of the course schedules excites you the most? Which Masters program would you be able to learn more from? Which Masters program would be more flexible for your interests? If you are strong in one area, you may want to gain more knowledge in the other area. You certainly don't want to feel bored in your regional studies MA if you are already fluent in the language, but you are right...funding is a big deal. But hey, doing well your first year in the MSFS could allow you to always get 2nd year funding. It's a tough choice, but best of luck with your decision!

As far as I know with the regional studies programs, they are much more focused on gaining area and language expertise of their respective regions than the MSFS, which as you stated, are more thematic. My friend doing the MA in Arab Studies primarily is primarily concentrating on being entirely fluent in Arabic through intensive language courses and learning more about the history, culture and economies of Arabic-speaking countries. As far as I know the regional studies programs are not required to take such economics courses as international finance or trade, or quantitative courses like the MSFS programs. Regional studies MA's are great for those who are interested in being area or country analysts for the government or private sector. I would venture to say that the MSFS would be better for those hoping to gain broader knowledge of international relations and acquire in-depth knowledge of a certain area (international development, security, international business, etc) to get the advanced degree needed that could be applied to a range of jobs in those different fields. I think that the thematic and regional specializations to compliment their opposite degree focus is a great idea, especially if you already have the language skills needed for the particular regional specialization and you want to pair it with something more functional in the MSFS program to maximize the amount of job opportunities you could receive. Just my humble guess!

Thanks a lot! The waiver exams are a huge plus. Very helpful for my decision!

Yeah, both GW and Georgetown are on spring break this week, so probably won't be til sometime next week. (sigh) the wait continues...

Oh yes, bjorntsui, good point. I was worried by how late the interview was...May 1st! It will be very difficult for me to make a graduate school decision before knowing for sure about Pickering. That'll be a leap of faith! Even before we know if we receive it, ultimately for me it will be a premature choice between where I would go without having to worry about funding vs. my Plan B to go to the school with the most funding, regardless if its the "best" program. Catch-22.

Thanks for answering our questions! Compared to other schools, it seems like both SAIS DC and Bologna students get many opportunities to travel to other countries related to their concentrations or for service work, events, etc. Have you been able to travel outside of Italy through SAIS, or do you anticipate traveling anywhere next year with your concentration? Does SAIS pay for these expenses? Any commentary would be helpful, thank you!