I got a full tuition scholarship at SAIS, which has me very close to accepting my offer there.
My only hesitation is that right now I don't see myself in a job related to finance/trade/banking or even economics in general. I freaked myself out a little after comparing the "Employment Outcomes" sheet for SAIS with the sheet from Georgetown and seeing a lot more financial institutions for SAIS grads.
I also have a contact who works on security issues at the State Department who told me that most SAIS grads at State work in Economic and Business Affairs or as Econ Desk Officers in the Political Bureau rather than on other issues.
I went to the open house last week where they made the case that you need to have a grasp on economics to fully understand any issue in international relations, which I think I buy to a certain extent.
Is SAIS still a strong program for people interested in issues (security, human rights, etc) that are not directly related to economics?
At present I have been offered much more funding from SAIS than Georgetown so I think it is probably worth sacrificing a bit of "fit" for a significant cost difference, but I also want to make sure that I am not limiting myself to one type of work.
Any insight on this would be very appreciated!