pyrhuss

Only somewhat related, but I send you a PM.

All of these are terminal Master programs that are in no way intended to prepare you for a career in academia. While it will certainly not be held against you, completing one of these programs will by no means work in your favor for a PhD or later academic career. If you already know you want to go down that path, I suggest you take another year, get some more research experience in a related job and apply for PhD programs during the next application cycle. In any way, I think that way you will save yourself some serious time and money. Unlike in Europe, you don't need to complete a Masters before entering a PhD program, that's why American PhDs take you 5-6 years.

Anyone heading to either Fletcher's or Jackson's Admitted Students Weekend and would mind sharing their impressions afterwards?

Anyone heading to the Admitted Students Weekend and would mind sharing their impressions afterwards?

Curiously enough, I'm in the opposite position. I got full tuition from Jackson, but I still haven't come around to convince myself of going to Yale over Fletcher/SAIS/Columbia who all offered me half-tuition, for many of the same reasons @MENAaddict mentions above: Particularly, I worry about the lack of dedicated faculty and real-world practitioners (besides the odd Senior Fellow who only teach one class each), a small to non-existent alumni network and small choice of IR classes since most coursework would take place in disciplinary departments or the other professional schools. At the same time, the overall Yale brand does appeal to me and it might be foolish to turn down such an offer. After all, every alumni I ever talked to pretty much recommended to go where you get the best funding and minimize debt. I'm an international student as well by the way.

You're not alone. I didn't hear anything either.

Strange, I applied to the same program and haven't received anything yet.

Did anyone hear from the International Development program? Also, what is the acceptance deadline you guys had in your letters? That might be a pointer towards funding or no funding.

Wow, congrats! May I ask what your other options are/were?

Which program did you apply to if I may ask?

GMT+2 and Fridays off? Doesn't leave that many countries ... you're not in Jordan as well by any chance?

If you log into ApplyYourself, what does it say about the date of completion? For some strange reason it says "Your application was completed on 3/9/2016 1:55:00 AM", so yesterday.

Anyone else who was admitted and was contacted by a 2nd year student? Yet, still nothing official or word on funding... it's kinda strange

You might want to take a look at this report compiled by the Hertie Student Organisation in 2014, which evaluates the MPP program against other established policy schools. It helps to get a bit of an inside perspective on where the school stands and where it is going. But that being said, all my friends there are extremely happy with the quality of instruction. Hertie seems to offer good value for money, and some of the people I know that went on to do the dual degree with SIPA even told me that - besides the Columbia name and a much wider course selection - they still felt they got a better education during their year at Hertie.

I'd be really interested if you could tell us a bit more about your (or second-hand) experiences with SAIS career services in Bologna and DC. How approachable are they, especially given the relatively large student body? What kind of services do they offer? Is it satisfying? How easy is it to reach out to Alumni to build the network for you job search? I'm also curious as to how much work experience the younger Bologna crowd can really bring to the table? And how that reflects/impacts class discussion.