ZebraFinch

You still have time to re-take it, so I'd re-take at least for the peace of mind aspect, but if the scores don't improve by a lot, I wouldn't lose all hope

Hey, I did similarly on the GRE and have been selected as a finalist for Pickering. I think given your experiences, you're still a competitive candidate for the fellowships!

I like The Geopolitics Reader (there's a few editions), if you want a quick run through of modern international relations/theory.

But debt is a huge "string" that's attached to you. And if you wait a few years, work a tad, get great GRE scores, etc... you'll have a better profile, more connections, etc and will be likelier to get funding. I'm not telling anyone what to do, but unless you make a ton of great connections in an MA, and are lucky, you're likely to face the same tough job market in two years. Truth is our field is competitive as heck and getting your foot in the door is hard, grad degree or not. Forking over 80k for slightly better odds, I'm not sure it's worth it. Personally, I won a scholarship that gives me priority hiring in the federal government, and I've managed just one job offer in the huge amount of apps I submitted, so I don't have much faith that an MA will prove much different. On the other hand, maybe MA programs are exactly the place to meet the right people and find work.

I want less than 30k in debt. I know that's optimistic, but I've had a pretty awful time in the job market. With no guarantees that a master's = better job, I can't put my family through that much debt.

I was accepted at Korbel with funding, and waitlisted at Fletcher (I only applied to three programs). I hope to get off the waitlist at Fletcher. I'm waiting to see about the Pickering fellowship. If I get it, I'll most definitely go to Fletcher if they accept me but otherwise Korbel is fine. If I don't win it, I'll work on improving my profile to become a more competitive candidate for next year.

Wow.

This exactly is the problem.. that deposit!

Praying I get off Fletcher's waitlist.... But otherwise, still don't know. Denver maybe, depends if I get the Pickering fellowship *knocks on wood*

"To all the fellow-rejected, please join the official FB group of the Cuddling Society for people rejected from PhD programs: https://www.facebook.com/groups/cuddlingsociety/"

Just shot you an email!

Me too! I can't believe it still! I thought it wasn't gonna happen at all.

Most competitive too (at least that I've heard).

Yep, I'd much rather get rejected at a school I'm not into than take the place of someone who really wants it. I got waitlisted at my top choice (Fletcher)... so hopefully that pans out somehow!

Rejected, expected and okay with it as I wasn't very into the program.

I'm strictly in the "less-to-no debt crowd. I was extremely fortunate to not have any undergrad debt (I went to a little-known, but excellent school that gave me free tuition after the first year because I was in the Honors Program, and tuition at the school is so low I could pay it all with Pell Grants in my first year). I studied abroad with the Boren scholarship. Having no undergrad debt has put me in an excellent position now, because I'm able to afford graduate certificate programs at better-known schools (those as well I've paid out of my own pocket even if they're costly). I've made a decision that I will not attend grad school for fall 2016 unless I get significant funding from a school. If that doesn't happen, I will take a year to get more work experience, study more for the GRE's, and generally work towards getting a profile that will be competitive for funding opportunities. Now, I could afford to go this fall even without funding, and I can afford making loan payments in the future, but here's why I won't, even if I had gotten into a top brand-name school; no program at any school guarantees a job. I want to be in the Foreign Service. I worked at FSI for a while and had the chance to converse with some of the people who chose the A-100 class for that year. They explicitly stated they are looking for candidates who did not go to the traditional IR schools. There's too many of them, so you'd have to stand out some other way. I looked through some of the profiles and what they all had in common was a lot of professional experience (degrees from all over the place though) and either foreign language skills or extensive military experience. So, although I applied to those traditional schools.... I'm not getting in massive debt to attend one of their programs. I'd rather get professional or international experience some other way and try again another year. And also, I guess this is the biggest factor for me, stuff, horrible, finance-destroying stuff happens. I'm very diligent with money but got struck with a previously undiagnosed medical condition as an undergrad that left me paying thousands and basically left me without any type of savings for a few years. The thought of going through that again AND having 80k in loans (and possibly a mortgage, kids, etc) gives me chills.

I sent you a PM, if you don't mind! Rangel's my dream fellowship.

You got the Rangel?! Congrats!

I've greatly enjoyed the HKS ones, just from David King's posts, even though I didn't even apply to HKS!

I've found talking to anyone in admissions at Fletcher next to impossible.

END OF MARCH I just want them to reject me already geez.

If I were you, I'd go for SAIS, as you will get financial aid and get to focus on Eastern Europe (as that's what you seem to want to do and SAIS is very good with the econ stuff). But either way, my belief is always minimize debt. You got into great schools so you don't have to worry about, say, avoiding debt but going somewhere worse.

I'm not trusting my email to get updates... Fletcher never sent me one, the results only show on their web site!

No

I think thus is exactly it, do you want to be solely in IR? Fletcher's good, but if you're open to non-IR possibilities, maybe name recognition is more important.