Pichichi

Little different take from the posters above me.. You can certainly apply learnings from one region to another and it's very probable that what you study tomorrow looks nothing like what you're doing 10 years down the road. However, you will need a job after you graduate. Among a variety of factors, how you position yourself will be crucial for your first job when you graduate from whatever program you choose. Both regions and languages you mentioned are smart choices for a career in diplomacy/intelligence. The US government has several scholarships and fellowships, see Boren and CLS, that should give perspective graduate students an idea of what languages and countries are priorities. For anyone considering a regional focus, I would suggest following the money. For example, if you were interested in development, look at where USAID/WB money is going, in terms of region and topic. Also, I know this sounds very cliche coming from a SAIS grad, but think about supply and demand. Is there a large demand for IR graduates who focused on X topic in Y region?

Take an hour or two to digest all the topics on this forum about debt. You won't second guess taking a full tuition scholarship at SAIS. Funding aside, the economics requirement is only four classes. Once you knock out those requirements you can focus the rest of your degree on the issues you're drawn too. If you're still unsure, I would recommend reaching out to the department you're interested in and having a chat with them. Maybe try to get a better sense of the coursework and get the contact info of recent alumni. Additionally, you could inquire about where students from that department frequently intern. Keep in mind that SAIS has a bigger class size, which might make the employment outcomes seem much more skewed to finance/econ. Wouldn't hang on to what one contact says about SAIS grads at State.. There are over 300 of them there: https://www.linkedin.com/school/jhusais/alumni/ In your position there's no wrong choice!

Whatever you are more comfortable using. People also use pen and paper too. You may find one method easier than the other - it can depend on the material or teaching style.

I can't speak to the employment outcomes at SIPA, but SAIS graduates also go to both of those firms. See: http://www.sais-jhu.edu/sites/default/files/2016 Employment Outcomes.pdf and https://sipa.columbia.edu/system/files/OCS/MIA_Employment_Overview_2016.pdf In my opinion, it might be worthwhile to 1) browse: https://www.linkedin.com/school/144720/alumni and https://www.linkedin.com/school/15105509/alumni 2) Contact the admissions office at both schools and relay your questions/interests 3) Reach out to students/alumni through any channel you can (the admissions offices may be able to connect you with someone of interest) 4) Look at the course curriculum and professors to gauge how well your interests/needs align with the each program. Best of luck.

From the SAIS website: https://www.sais-jhu.edu/content/part-time-and-non-degree-programs#overview

Many schools list the averages on their admissions page. Worth taking a look around to get a good idea of what score you need/where you stand.

SIPA and SAIS, maybe others too, have recommended resumes on their sites for their students to use. Using something similar would be a good place to start.

Correct me if I'm wrong here, but I believe the deadline to accept admission/scholarship money at SAIS has passed. I think the deadlines were May 2nd for admission and earlier in April for scholarship money.

Stumbled upon this and thought you lot might find it interesting: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iCvPct6g_Xk

Judging from the open house and having interned/worked along side Elliott students, I can tell you that the vast majority of students are interning/working during the school year. The fact that's hard to swallow is that many, I would say upwards of 50%, of the internships are unpaid. In regards to time management I figure (based on my time in DC and the student panel at the open house) you would end up doing one of the following options: 1. Intern 15-30 hours/week and study full time 2. Intern/work 40 hours/week and be a full-time student (forgo your free time altogether) 3. Work/intern 40 hours/week and be a part-time student -- you can correct me if I'm wrong on this one, but I believe being a part-time student you'll graduate in 3 years.

While brief, I hope my thoughts on the open house are helpful. - The accepted students: Definitely a younger crowd. There were actually some people there with their parents, which caught me off guard. In their defense though I know my mom would have loved to join me as well. A lot of people seemed worried about the econ prerequisites.. - Language: You take undergrad language classes and a max of 6 credits toward your degree. I was a little unimpressed with this. Granted I'm not worried about my second language proficiency, if you were totally new to a language or hoped to be fully proficient after two years you might not get the best language teaching/training. - The "Elliott School Competitive Advantage": Really stressed their location and night classes. The school is right in the thick of it. The State Dept, World Bank, etc. are very close to the campus and it was my impression that the ability to work or intern during the day and take classes at night really was the main draw for the current students that spoke to us. I can't remember if the percent of students that intern/work while studying was mentioned, but it seemed like the overwhelmingly popular option. - Study abroad: 19 Exchange partners, if I remember correctly. Plenty of opportunities to study abroad. - Capstone Courses: Full year and there is funding available to travel internationally (maybe if only for a week or two). You can choose your topic and team. If you wanted to do a thesis you would have to the the capstone as well. - Career Development: There's career coaching, site visits, info sessions, and then there are skills courses. These one credit courses are about giving students marketable skills. There's formal policy briefing, writing skills, micro-lending, etc. Having talked to Elliott students and alumni these courses are a hit or a miss. All students need to take three and I'm not sure of the availability of courses, but from what I gather you might take a class and learn nothing or gain very useful knowledge on whatever subject it is. It's also worth noting that if you wanted to get quantitative analysis skills, but not take a full 3 credit class there is a 1 credit course. How this skill course stands up to an actual 3 credit course? I don't know... The Dean spoke at the end of the day and seemed to have pretty ambitious goals for the school in the next 10 years. At the end of it, I thought while the presentation wasn't awe-inspiring, it wasn't too bad. While it may not be as highly ranked as SAIS or Georgetown the emphasis on the ability to intern/work was food for thought.

I'm in between GW and SAIS. I'll be going to the open house tomorrow and will share anything I find interesting.

I'm going to piggyback onto what mustangsally said as well.. Granted I haven't visited other schools yet, I found the whole day to be very impressive. From the courses and current students to the career services and the networking potential of a SAIS degree the whole package seemed fantastic. I came away with a different impression than alice1250 in regards to the network. I think the benefit of going to SAIS, rather than X, Y, or Z is that you do have this massive and incredible network and can use it to your advantage. Even if you're not getting job offers from the network you're getting connections, informational interviews, recommendations, and advice. You have career services at your disposal "forever" after graduating as well. I also thought it was interesting how recent alumni will come back to SAIS to talk about their jobs, give advice, and look for employees. Like the ERE students, the IDEV students talked about their practicum in which they work with clients, which is a big plus in terms of experience and possible job opportunities down the road. The career trips to multiple employers, even though I assume the majority are informational, open more networking opportunities as well. I also agree on the concentration lacking importance. This probably doesn't ring true in every scenario, but in the end you have a SAIS degree and that's what employers will see. @alice1250 I did talk with a girl who deferred for a year got more work experience and was starting this fall. Talked to someone else who was planning on turning it down and applying next year in hopes of more funding. However, like I mentioned above, I don't think you'll be facing that great of a disadvantage. Just my impression though. @coffeeandtravel It's definitely made my decision harder, but hopefully visiting GW's campus tomorrow will help make it easier.

Schools Applied To: UMD SPP (IDEV), AU SIS (IA), GWU ESIA (IA), JHU SAIS (IDEV), GTOWN SFS (IDEV), Tufts Fletcher (MALD) Schools Admitted To: UMD, AU, GWU ($), SAIS Schools Rejected From: Georgetown Waitlisted: Tufts Undergraduate institution: Public university in the Mid-Atlantic Undergraduate GPA: 3.35 Undergraduate Major: International Affairs; minors in Economics and Spanish GRE Quantitative Score: 152 GRE Verbal Score: 161 GRE AW Score: 4 Years of Work Experience: 2-3 Describe Relevant Work Experience: Teaching English abroad, internships in international development and microfinance Strength of SOP (be honest, describe the process, etc): Probably the strongest part of my application. I created a narrative that brought together my academic history/interests, time abroad, internships, and goals for the future. Strength of LOR's (be honest, describe the process, etc): Letters from professors in relevant fields and supervisors. One thing that I found useful, when getting my recommendation from supervisors, was to sit down with them and talk about what I did at the organization, what skills I gained, what I hope to accomplish at graduate school, and where I see myself after graduate school. Other: If I could go back in time: 1. Study more for the GRE - I studied for about a month, while working 40 hour weeks. So I "studied" an hour or two a day -- which considering the potential effect a score has on funding and admission probably deserves more than that. 2. More work experience - After teaching English abroad for two years I came back to the US and got two internships. This was great for my application, but if I landed a relevant job and worked for another year I probably would have had a much stronger app. Easier said than done though.

That's my dilemma.. 90k for SAIS over two years or 44k for GW. From talking with alumni it seems that SAIS has an all-around better program, but enough to justify ~90k? That's the question.