gradschoolnewbie

I would just call the Admissions Office and ask whether this is a common occurrence, and if not, whether they can check on your specific concerns.

I'm going through the exact same thing right now!! I have two faculty recommenders who have been very supportive of me in my job/internship searches while I was in school. Since graduation, I've moved away from the school, and the only way I have of contacting them about my grad school apps is by email. I sent emails to both faculty on Saturday (I know, I know...should have waited until Monday morning to send the email) letting them know I'd like to receive LORs for the two schools I'm applying to this year. They've both written letters for me in the past, so my request shouldn't require them to reinvent the wheel. Since they've been supportive of me in the past, my emails requesting the LORs were for formality more than anything else. My apps aren't due until January 15, so I'm not pressed for time. I know it's Thanksgiving week, and also only 3 days since I've emailed both professors; I know that they're probably writing their final exams since classes are ending soon. I told myself that I would send out friendly reminder emails next Monday, but it's hard to sit still (yeah, I'm type A). It would really do wonders for me if the professors could just send a short email---even a simple "OK" will do!!

I totally understand how you feel. I'd suggest that you polish the original paper for the applications that are absolutely due next week. Trying to revise your most recent writing sample when you feel exhausted is not going to help your applications to those schools or your writing sample. By polishing up the original paper, you'll get some time off from your writing sample AND generate some good ideas about revising it in the future. Also, try to catch a breather (even if it's short!) before the next round of edits. Hope this helps!

I may be confused just because I spent the entire day working on my CV and SOP. Do internships count as WE when applying for MA in IR? Can we talk about internships as "work" in our SOPs or interviews? Does it matter whether the internship was full- or part-time, paid or unpaid? Or do internships not count towards WE at all, but only as "relevant" experience? Thanks for your help everyone!

I am currently in the thick of drafting an SOP for my first-choice school for my masters program. After researching the different schools and their programs, I am convinced that this particular school and the program it offers are the best fit for my academic and professional goals (don't we all feel this way about our first-choice schools?). In this case, is it appropriate to use superlatives or other strong language to hint at the fit between myself and the school (e.g., "pursuing an MA at X University is essential in achieving my goals in life")? Or should I take out the strong language and hope that the Admissions Committee sees the fit, too? Is there a middle ground?

Hi BrandyDances, I don't know anyone who has successfully gone through this route (MPA/MA in IR after JD), but I am planning to do it myself! I'm happy to post my experience so that there is something out there for law students/law graduates/attorneys considering this path. I graduated from a Top 30 law school in May, and passed the NY bar exam. I studied IR in college, took a year off after graduation for internships in the field, and entered law school with the intent to use my law degree to work in international affairs. The streamlining forces at law school made me question myself at every turn (wondering if I was crazy going after internships with non-profits and government rather than the coveted summer associate positions in law firms), but I managed to survive through the pressures by taking international law classes for electives and participating in as many international law oriented activities at my law school. I really want to go back to school for several reasons. I think that the masters degree will be a great asset to my law degree in pursuing international legal work in the public sector, which I find is interdisciplinary in nature. Also, I miss being in an academic setting where I'm free to exchange my ideas on these issues with other students and professors. I've talked to my friends who are in MPA/MA in IR programs (they are at HKS now, and were also accepted to other top programs when they applied) about their experiences with admissions, and I find them to be (refreshingly) different from law school admissions, or the law school experience for that matter (everything from journal experiences to OCI). My friends were surprised that I was asking questions about numbers, as in what GPA/GRE score combination would be competitive for MPA/MA in IR at X University. They stressed the importance of your SOP, your international experience, and your LORs over GPA and GRE scores. Obviously, it doesn't hurt to have strong numbers, but my impression from what I have learned thus far is that strong numbers alone do not guarantee admissions. This is a far cry from law school admissions (let's admit it, everyone slavishly follows the US News and World Rankings, and most applicants are accepted or rejected largely on the basis of their GPA and LSAT score) and the legal job search (with certain jobs at certain shops limited to students who have the GPA/class ranking desired by the employer, with very little room for exceptions). Thanks to three years of law school finals and the bar exam, preparing for the GRE has been manageable thus far. I've got about a month before my testing date, and I feel pretty comfortable about being able meet my study goals before then. After all, we only get 2 months to prepare for the bar exam! Anyways, I hope this has been somewhat helpful to you. I'd love to hear from other law students/law graduates/attorneys who have gone down this path. Any information would really help!