Bombaygunner

I think the lack of alums from Jackson itself is a disadvantage compared to other schools, but remember that there are plenty of Yale International Affairs alums all over the shop.There are Yalies in some pretty high places in this field, even if they aren't Jacksonites. I think the small class size at Jackson is its biggest advantage because you get to know your classmates so well. It's so different to undergrad, where you know only a few people from your course. Here, I know all the 30 1st year students well - we went on an awesome team-building camping trip on the first weekend of term. It's like being a part of a sports team - everyone looks out for everyone else and helps out with contacts for internships, etc.... I've pretty much sorted out my summer internship for next year after one phone call with the former colleague of a girl in my class. I also got into Fletcher with a great aid offer, but I chose Yale because the brand name is better known worldwide and as an international student, that really matters to me. I think Jackson are going to be a lot more vocal about what they have to offer from next year onwards (they are revamping the website / outreach). Fletcher is probably better known in the US and among US policy circles (this is what lots of folks have told me). But I would say, cross that bridge when you get to it. I would encourage you to apply to Jackson and see what funding you get. Fletcher is a great school and they seem generous with financial aid (they offered me the same money as Jackson).

I'll do my best! I don't know what everyone is on but lots of people are fully funded. I got half my tuition funded, which was the 2nd highest amount of funding I was offered from any program). I think they're trying to raise the level of funding even more next year. I think they're trying to be like WWS and fund everyone but who knows. The amount of resources once you get here are also great. For example, every student gets a pot of $5,000 for your summer internship/research from Jackson. Additionally you can apply for a whole host of other research grants from the MacMillan Centre. There is a fully-funded 10 day Spring trip around Israel/Palestine next year (excluding flights). American and the other DC schools will give you that DC connection that Yale never can, but from what little I've seen, the Yale network is pretty powerful, even if the Jackson brand-name isn't. What do you mean by "ranked among foreign policy circles"? It's a new program so it's not very well known, but I'm pretty sure the Yale brand name and network can open some serious doors. I think it's not ranked very highly by FP magazine (I assume this is what you mean?) and I imagine that's because Jackson is new and they're trying to revamp the whole IR program (renaming it Global Affairs, etc....). IDEV is a big program and separate from Jackson, but you can take all the classes at IDEV. I don't know enough about the resources at IDEV specifically, apologies!

Yes there is. You can take any class from the Econ, Poli-Sci, Law (though not all), Environment, etc... schools. The program is what you want it to be. I'm only in my first semester (where we have a core curriculum) here but this is what I've found: - Howard Dean holds his office hour every week in the Jackson building and whatever you may think of him, is an interesting guy to talk to about issues related to the United States. - Our econ prof Zach Cooper taught our Intro to Micro Econ course using real data from US industries like health care, aviation, etc... to highlight policy actions. - There are a bunch of talks/seminars every day open to Jackson students, given by senior US policy makers. In the few months I've been here, I've had 1-2 lunch/dinner sessions with hedge fund managers, ambassadors and other civil servants. We also had a fully paid for 3-day networking trip to DC where connected with Yale alums who work at Capitol Hill and spent a morning meeting folks at the Pentagon. That being said, I think that most of my classmates have interests that are international in nature. Even the Americans all want to better understand America so they can better position it in the context of the wider world. Hope that helps!

At Yale they are pushing to fund all new students from next year onwards. Don't know whether it will happen but they are trying; so it will be like WWS. For now, most of my class is funded to a considerable extent, many are fully funded.

I was in the same boat as many of you guys last year. Happy to help in any way I can.

$75k from SIPA is crazy money. HKS is obviously great but do you really think you will get a similar offer from them? You might do. But a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush. If funding/time is no concern then of course you can wait. Otherwise, go enjoy New York as one of the few SIPA students not massively in debt/bank-rolled by their parents.

You're not underqualified! You *might* not get into Harvard/Princeton. But most people don't. You'll get something great, I'm sure! Re: LORs - Most profs are used to writing these. I would reach out to 1-2 of the profs whose classes you scored highest in / contributed to most discussions in, to let them know what you're doing now and give them a heads up that you're applying to grad school. They are used to writing LORs for students and should reply positively. Then you can send them another email where you refresh their memory with the marks you scored in their classes, the presentations you gave and the essays you wrote. I didn't really speak to my IR prof for 2 years but he still wrote me a nice recco letter after I did what I just outlined. I'm sure you can ask your employer for a good recco letter anyway. Other advice: 1. Study hard, practise harder and nail your GRE. 2. study the 'Am I competitive' thread and the 'Final decision wrap up' threads for the last 3 years to get a sense of where you fit in the grand scheme of things. It will help you outline programs that are a good fit for you (HKS, WWS as dream schools, maybe 3-4 other stretch schools and 2 safety schools where you have a great chance of funding) Good luck. You'll be fine.

I have an old iPhone 4 and I want to buy a new iPhone (whatever is the latest one out when I get there in late August) with a talk/SMS/data contract. Do they require some kind of credit history in the US? I assume I will need to open a US bank account before I can get the phone/contract? Therefore it seems like I will be phone-less for a few days until my bank account is open and I can get a phone + contract. Is that what any of you folks faced? Note: I am not an Apple fanboy / have no emotional connect to the iPhone - I just figure it would be easiest to stay on it since I'm used to the device/interface.

Spent this summer there on an exchange program. Not sure about housing but try to get something that is near a U-Bahn or S-Bahn station (NOT a 'Regional' train station, as these trains are less frequent). We were staying in student accomodation Rahlstedt, which was not only far away from Hamburg, but almost a mile from the train station itself. I also would not recommend living in St Pauli / Reeperbahn, unless you like crazy/drunk people on your doorstep 24/7. Altona seems like a cool spot, actually. Harburg is a shit hole, avoid it. My favourite place to party/hang out in Hamburg was Sternschanze (Katze bar is a favourite). It has a Berlin-y vibe about it, while not being as trashy as St Pauli / Reeperbahn. Check out Hatari in Altona for great burgers. There are always open-air festivals and stuff that happen - you need to get acquainted with the right crowd when you get to uni. Hamburg is a perfect balance of the civility/wealth of southern Germany (areas around the Alster lake and the beautiful Blankese areas are like Stuttgart) while also offering the cool/hipster Berlin-y spots like Sternschanze. The area around Hauptbahnhof is surprisingly shitty. Avoid as much as possible. The Savoy theatre (close to Hauptbahnhof) shows English language movies quite often and for roughly 8 euros. Hamburg is windy as fuck but a wonderful city. Have fun!

Thanks a lot!

BBS? I'll be at the Jackson Institute. I hope orientation week is good!

I'm a GSAS student looking at a dorm (don't want to spend money on furnishings for an apartment) which isn't too far from campus. Currently it seems that the two Prospect places are the best bet. HGS would have been good but for the mandatory meal plan. $2,400 for 150 meals comes to $16 a meal which seems massive for a student to be paying. At uni in England I did my grocery shopping at a supermarket for roughly $80 a week and cooked most of my food myself. I've heard American unis don't really have a "cooking culture" (compared to Europe anyway) but is it possible to buy decent ingredients in supermarkets around Yale and make your own food?

The 2013 and 2014 versions of this thread were a huge help in picking schools and tailoring my application. Hope this one helps future grads too. Previous Schools (Name, type, or tier): Top 25 (?) university in the UK. Exchange year in Germany. Few have heard of either uni. Previous Degrees and GPAs: BSc Business and International Relations - GPA 3.6 GRE Scores (Verbal/Quantitative/Analytical Writing): 162 / 163 / 5.5 Previous Work Experience (Years, Type): 3 years as a journalist with a brand-name business magazine. Had done 6 internships during school/college but none were relevant to my application and I didn't mention any in my essays. I volunteer with an NGO that crowd-sources funds for micro-loans (something like Kiva) and I write descriptions for loans, but this is only for a few hours a week. Math/Econ Background: Took a fair few stats, econ classes at undergrad. (It's not as standardised in the UK as it is in the US.) Good GRE quant score for what it's worth. I also do a lot of maths/econ analysis in my daily job. Foreign Language Background (if applicable to your program): 9 years of French in school, 2 years of German (including a year in Germany). Speak Hindi every day. None of these languages are up to professional/business fluency though. Intended Field of Study in Grad School: International Relations, with a focus on cross-border trade and investment. Long Term Professional Goals: Live around the world and help bring trade and investment to India which benefits low-income Indians. Schools Applied to & Results: See below Ultimate Decision & Why: Yale Jackson. They offered me 50% of tuition and I simply couldn't say no to that. The Yale brand-name is extremely important for me since I want to live and work outside my home country (India) and everyone I speak to says having that on your CV helps convince international employers to seriously consider sponsoring your visa/hiring you. The class size is only 30 per year so it seems comparable with WWS and smaller than SIPA and some other big schools. Apparently you can take classes in any of Yale's graduate schools and so the potential network is that much larger. Biggest draw-back is that it's an IR program that's miles from NY/DC. Also I've lived in some pretty lively cities and I'm not sure what student life is going to be like in Connecticut. Advice for Future Applicants - Take time to do your GRE. I didn't spend enough time/effort on my SATs before undergrad and only score like 2100/2400. This time, I enrolled in a coaching class and spent 4 months preparing for my GRE. The first 3 months I would study on weekends and weeknights after getting home from work. The last 2 weeks before the exam I took off from work and studied all day. In the end, I feel I could have done better but I'm still satisfied with my score; it's the first time I've done well in a standardised test. It is possible. It just takes time and effort. - Create a spreadsheet using this forum to understand the profiles of applicants who get into different schools. I saw that folks with my GRE scores/GPA/etc... were by and large getting into Yale/Fletcher/SAIS with some aid, while WWS/HKS were a massive stretch and pretty much everyone got into SIPA but without any aid. This forum shouldn't be the be-all and end-all pool for information but it's a great resource if you sift through it and pick out info that's relevant to you. Reading the AMA's from past students helped me tweak my essays to certain schools. - Figure out the DNA of the school. For example, WWS's is public service. This was clearly an area I was weak on and so while I was disappointed not to get in, it didn't really surprise me. I think if you speak to current students and chat to admissions officers, you can build up an idea of what the school stands for. Not so much from a political stand-point, but you can get a sense of what tone your essay should take. With Yale, I felt it was about their alumni innovating at the intersection of different fields of study and I used examples of alumns that I knew well (one was working in Medical-Tech, another in Development-Finance) in my essay to outline how I also want to do something similar.

Fletcher's admissions folks have been the nicest ever. No question. Personalised, warm, informative and quick.

Wow. I think kingthearab owes me a beer now