ipsofacto

Also check out for more information about the program.

1. Would someone have an idea about the average salary post graduation from Stanford IPS or just advise a range of salaries for this program. This depends entirely on the field you enter and your experience. To put a number on it, you can expect to make between 35k and 150k a year. IPS does not, to my knowledge, publish this data, but if you contact the admissions committee they may be able to share knowledge with you 1:1. BTW you should know that there is personalized career counseling at IPS, and the program deputy director will reach out to contacts on your behalf in order to start the conversation, gauge interest, etc. She’s also great about connecting you to program alums so they can give advice on a particular industry or organization. 2. How reputed is the Stanford IPS Program vis-a-vis the established MPA program at Columbia SIPA .Further, how do organizations/corporates/ngos/multilaterals view this course ? Very reputed, IPS alums are doing some awesome, awesome things. In terms of comparing it with other schools, I think the nice thing about Stanford’s program is that it doesn’t fall into one single category. My classmates are serving in the military, in governments, working for startups, helping incubate startups, etc. What I think Stanford offers that would be hard to find elsewhere is the social entrepreneurship resources, both within the program (several awesome companies have been borne out of the program, and people are involved with the field in many ways since graduation) and also across the University for IPS students to leverage. 4. If you study at Stanford IPS, would you be allowed to take up courses with Stanford Law School and business school? Yes, but you may not get to take every single class. As a general rule, most programs, including IPS have a number of core courses reserved for students of that program only, and a number of classes that are electives open to the University. You are welcome to take cross-registered classes anywhere. Beyond that it’s up to the professor. 5. My idea will be to go for a management consulting. Do you think I can carve that niche from this program? Yes, you can definitely do management consulting from IPS. All the top firms recruit here. The key to consulting is kicking ass on the case studies -- your program doesn't matter as much as doing well on that front. I’ve heard of students doing it though I don’t know anyone personally. 6. While I understand the alumni network for this program is building up slowly. Do you think one can leverage the alumni network of Stanford university as a whole, while studying in this program? I wouldn’t say the network is building up slowly – there’s an awesome, diverse, robust network in place and lots of people have gotten jobs through their peers. But yes, you can leverage the alumni network of Stanford while in the program. 7. How difficult would it be to find an internship or job in New York or Washington DC if you are studying in California ? Really easy. Lots of IPS students intern in DC and NYC while in California. In DC there's a "Stanford house" where you can get housing over the summer, and lots of meetups so you can connect with peers. 8. Do World Bank, UN, IMF, other multilateral and bilaterals hire from this program ? Yes. Lots of World Bank, IMF, and UNDP alums. 9. What are the chances for getting RA/TA for the 2nd year ? Very good – but you have to have a skill, and be willing to compete. Around 5 students or so each year TA introductory economics, which pays your full tuition and a living stipend. One student each year TAs the IPS intro courses. So there are at least six or so “set” positions that will be offered. But applications for these are pretty competitive, as it’s a sweet deal. Other RA-ships depend entirely on your expertise. Some students wrote books with visiting scholars, others RA or TA for Condi Rice, or find other courses around the university (business, law, etc.) where they can TA or RA. 10. What is the general background of peers for this course ? Amazing – students are so smart, well rounded, mature, and inspiring. For specific profiles, you should search LinkedIn.

A Stanford IPS alum here, getting a lot of questions about the program around admit day. Decided to put my thoughts up here so I could direct people to a common source of information (feel free to ask questions about the program here as well). To summarize overall, the program has exceeded my expectations in almost every way and I am thrilled to have gone there. First let me start out with a few things that I didn’t expect to be a centerpiece of my IPS experience but were cornerstones of my experience: · An amazing community. Incredibly cooperative and bend over backwards to help each other. One example I once had a question about an assignment that was due the coming week and a colleague of mine in the program just sent me her already completed assignment. When she also had a question, I did the same. It’s the kind of interactions that are based on professional trust, friendship, and a sense of camaraderie. Or, as one IPS-er (and West Point graduate) put it, “cooperate and graduate.” We’re also constantly sending out events, funny links, etc. over our class email list, even after graduation, which makes for a great group. · Professional development courses across the university – there are tons of classes you can take like public speaking, excel training, etc. that really push you forward as a professional. I hadn’t really expected these to be a part of my Stanford life, but I’ve taken a few classes and plan to take many more if I can! You can make these either hard skills (Excel, etc) but the ones that are truly unique to the school are the classes centered around soft skills (Stanford has a huge number of classes that emphasize behavioral analysis and cultivate greater personal awareness). · The design school (http://dschool.stanford.edu/) – In case you’re not familiar, design thinking is basically an innovative framework for approaching social problems that has had tons of success and has gotten a fair amount of press in the last year (http://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/30/technology/solving-problems-for-real-world-using-design.html). The approach has tons of applications for development, and there are lots of awesome companies that have come out of the d.school, with IPS students as founders! See: http://www.rewireworldwide.com/ and also http://www.noorahealth.org/. And that's just the beginning. This is, hands down, an amazing place if you are thinking about social entrepreneurship, either in the senese of working for a startup social venture incubator or starting your own org, or anything else in the space. A few questions that came my way... In terms of networking, do IPS students find it easy to interact and meet with students in other departments? It's super easy to meet people from other departments, grad students love mixing! There's a real interdisciplinary committment at the school, so you'll find a ton of natural opportunities to meet people through classes, projects, clubs, etc. The Grad Student Council and Grad Student Programming Board puts on events for this exclusive purpose (http://gsc.stanford.edu/). Stanford is a wonderful place to meet people across fields because the school itself is a "campus" so it's super easy to just run into folks, spontaneous bbqs are easy to organize, and the California weather makes people happy all the time Given the fact that IPS is an interdisciplinary program, how practical do you find the courses? Its all about what you take In terms of the ips core, they are not at all to theoretical, and any theory is applied to policy problems and cases. The only exception is the one class that is specifically labeld as IR theory, and even then we had to write a policy memo on a practical policy issue! Stanford and IPS are amazing because of the revolving door between the institution/program and "the real world." I would not at all worry about the practical component. My advisor is a big stickler on teaching us theory and also the limitations of theory in practice.