CakeTea

I heard that with the addition of MIA and rising applications in recent years, Hertie may now need 4-6 weeks. Your waiting time is still on the lower range. Maybe reach out to adcoms in week 6. Just make sure that all your required documents are complete. Normally Hertie's adcom has vast experience with applications from US students. Is Hertie your only application? Single focus makes wait more intense as you have only one egg in the basket. With rolling application, there is a drip of admission decisions rather a single wave. I am sure you have a strong profile and would be a good fit for Hertie. Some other poster told me that he checks his email three times a day. Good luck.

Congrats on your LSE MPA admission. I think you are the first candidate on this forum. The LSE scholarship decision takes a while based on previous posts.

It depends on the program and its funding. I have seen in previous threads that Harris may allocate one full tuition waiver scholarship to a fortunate candidate. Cost of living is not covered. For an exceptional candidate with strong profile (peace corps or foreign affairs writer, great GPA/GRE, LoR), I have seen full tuition scholarships plus small stipend from programs such as USC Price, LBJ, Sanford, Heinz and Georgetown.

Maybe you will get a USC Valentine's Day Special. USC Price is a great program. Good luck.

It depends on required documentation, foreign translated and certified docs need longer verification. On average, Hertie needs 3 weeks. But the fastest admission decision I heard of is 5 working days (!) from a German applicant with first class degree and internship with int. orgs.

For all courses, IHEID had in previous years an acceptance rate of 25%. But some popular courses such as MIA/Development have a lower acceptance rate than history.

I have seen a few bios of PhD students in their 30s and 40s. One was retired career military officer (line and staff duties) and the other person came from non profit management. I think both had MPP degrees. I don't know if there are friendly PhD programs for seasoned candidates. No specific advice, but I have seen older PhD student bios at UNC and UCalifornia schools. I think PhD students at GA tech tend to be on the younger side, particularly those from the inhouse BSc/MSc accelerated track. My general advice is to follow your areas of interests and find a department with fit. Your profile indicates some quant background if you considered Econ PhD. Maths requirement and GRE should be doable for you. The maths requirement depends on department and course work. For quant focused course work, calc III would look good. But less urgent for International Political Economy as areas of interest.

Berlin is doable on a student budget with more housing stock. One can live with a student budget of 800 euros a month. People would struggle to find a single room in London at this budget. In the UK, some English students from moderate background get admitted to LSE, but can't enroll to to financial constraints. Rent and transport would exceed maintenance loans. LSE has the reputation for being a rich (UK and international) kids' uni. In short: Many applicants just ruled themselves out for LSE.

LSE MPA: Significantly higher tuition and living cost makes LSE unaffordable, fewer scholarships, requires more work experience, lower acceptance rates, Brexit concern for EU applicants, more technical streams requires quant skills

This is rubbish about IHEID prefering fresh graduates. The average class age for IHEID is 25.3 years. This proves that many admits and matriculated students have a few yrs work experience.

Another important fact: If you think you need 16,000 euros a year tuition and earn it, this assumption would be after(!) tax and national insurance contribution. As a non EU student, you are allowed to work max 20 hours a week. Most student jobs pay 10-11 euros in Berlin gross. Do the maths and the numbers do not add up for self funding to cover full tuition and living cost without savings. This applies for Germans too. Many German applicants are in the same boat without scholarship.

I think MIIS may not place into many DC federal government jobs, but it has its niche. A career military officer told me that MIIS is known in certain military circles for its Defence Language Institute for language training and some well established Navy postgrad training courses. Talented career officers are picked and sent to further training at MIIS and move on to Defence Intelligence Agency, field or staff appointments at the pentagon. After leaving the military, MIIS alumni may work in private sector or other government intelligence agencies. Some alumni work in sensitive areas and may not be on LinkedIn.

For China-Taiwan relations, I would suggest SAIS. It has a few profs with Chinese studies concentrations in your area. Are you interested in economic or security related issues? I am suprised you did not apply to Georgetown as it has strengths in your area. Both have decent language training for Mandarin. I know that for undergraduate studies, American U has a good Chinese Studies program with excellent language training and exchange partners in China and Taiwan (NTU, Normal U and Chengchi U).

It depends on the course. Popular courses are full in early admission cycle. Econ and ME are very popular courses with hundreds of applications. The general advice given is to apply early before Christmas. On the other hand, less popular niche courses are still open to applications after Easter.

Commiseration on your KCL ding. Hope you get admission to your LSE 2nd choice. In the UK, for Security courses: KCL LSE and Cambridge St Andrews UCL

UCL as overall university may be higher ranked with more reputation than KCL. But for the department and course, KCL MSc War Studies is the superior choice in terms of academic reputation, available courses, alumni base and relationship with think tanks, gov, military and intelligence agencies. Incidentally, KCL War Studies is more established course (30 yrs plus) attracts better faculty and higher quality of students. Professionals in relevant positions know the difference. UCL came really late to the Security course as a recent entry and the course does not have the same substance/depth as KCL War Studies or even St Andrews. A UCL student told me that the there are some gaps in themes in UCL syllabus. In the beginning, there were glitches and some turnover to find suitable lecturers. The course did not have the same coherence as KCL.

Hertie offers German language classes. Some students start from scratch and manage to achieve working knowledge within 2 years. I think it depends on the effort one invests in and the level of interaction with locals versus living in an expat bubble. Other students have some basic to intermediate German upon their arrival.

Hi Pedro, Congratulations on your Hertie admission and you must be delighted. Hertie's strength is in governance and EU policies. There are some smaller scale electives. Due to its small faculty, some areas are not well covered. So it really depends on your interests and goals. For Governance and EU, Hertie offers opps while other areas may be a mismatch. Students: More on the younger side and less seasoning compared to US schools. Most come straight out of undergrad or have 1-2 yrs experience. If you look at student bios, very few in late 20s and early 30s. I spoke to some current students and they are articulate and bright with an avid interest in international affairs. So you know the central neighbourhood from your visit. There are pros and cons of its size. It is only one building and the intake is rather small, students know each other. The teaching methods are flexible with lecture, case study, group project, capstone with Berlin based organisations. Good mix of theory and problem solving practice. Some international students confirmed Hertie's academic rigour with US schools. A prof is even on sabbatical to run a major German think tank. On the other hand, Hertie has some shortcomings in terms of small library stocks and opening hours. Few student run clubs and events. Some room of improvement for professional development workshops and career service. Hertie is an English taught programme, but one needs some German to leverage internships, capstone, networking and manage German bureaucracy. You are correct that tuition is prohibitive by German standard, but there are not many MPP programmes in Germany. I guess Hertie's tuition is set in same bracket as other top European programmes at LSE and Sciences Po. Good luck.

This is an interesting review of UoT MPP. I looked at this programme and there were some question marks over syllabus design, student satisfaction, poor cost/benefit and concentrations. It looked too much like a cash cow and markets itself to gullible international students under the UoT brand.

jackson is IR and Global Affairs focused, interdisciplinary to all background and jackson has better funding. IDE is development, more technical and requires pre econ knowledge, narrower syllabus. Sanford is more established and has some high profile profs, emphasis on work experience, good balance btw rigorous theory and practice. It is known for fair funding and international exchange option. attracts strong applicants. Sanford's concentrations have a clear profile. I hear positive feedback from current students. Fels: Yes, mostly domestic and Northeast. Close relationship with local government, small and friendly class, loyal alumni

Different focus. Lauder is international business, intercultural management, obligatory study abroad, area studies and business language training to conduct business abroad. Fels: local government, strong relationship to Philadelphia public organizations, balance btw problem solving and theory, small class intake, more New England catchment area with fewer internationals. Fels gets less publicity as it does not feed into federal /international organizations and small class compared to SIPA, SAIS. But if you want a small, friendly and excellent program with easy access to profs, quant policy analysis and inter-departmental opportunities (electives at Wharton B-School), Fels would be a great choice. Many alumni work in senior positions in City of Philadelphia and state government. Good opps to do internships or capstone project guided by Fels alumni. I would think Fels is more selective than some higher profile schools on this board such as GWU or NYU.

Your prof is correct. Better to have 2 LoR from profs OR 1 academic and 1 professional from your supervisor/manager who can assess your impact and quality. Avoid LR from clients and coworker, adcoms frown upon it.

Prof Chris Blattman at SIPA has a well written blog from a professor's perspective. Some schools have a student blog section.

How peculiar of Fulbright to allow only one prestigious programme. I think you represented your position well and it is a matter of negotiation. To be fair, SAIS is a top programme for International Relations/Dev. Imho, out of her four (Georgia Tech, Penn State, UW, Syracuse), I would favour Syracuse for depth. Do you prefer GWU or AU?

I think you are on the right track with your shortlist. I agree with your top choices though I may not favour NYU & Uni of Washington due to my fit. I checked on the Fulbright website in my country and most students pick the usual top 10 programs. A few applicants attended a safety school on your list over the years. Syracuse, American, Denver, UCSD, UT Austin, TAMU, Pitt. GA Tech is a good uni, but the MA Int Relations is not as strong as the aforementioned.