HopefulIR

Thanks for the clarification. Can a language course be included as an elective? Although I'd like to do all my electives in graduate courses, will taking an undergrad lang course suffice to fulfill one elective slot? I'd really prefer an a "face to face" review instead of talking to my computer with Rosetta Stone

Just speaking though? What about reading and writing? I can speak Chinese at home with my parents but I'd say I'm hardly qualified to translate a newspaper/scholarly article (Chinese chars are hardddd.) On a separate note, is it possible for students to "audit" a language course just to learn/review? I'll probably end up taking the Japanese exam instead because I can read/write in it, but having a review course would be nice beforehand. I'd also like to learn some formal Chinese as well (as a critical language in job application.)

I figure I'll put in my two cents (even though I never worked in adcomms.) They'll put the applicants in three piles first. Ones that are incredibly qualified (they send them acceptances), ones that are grossly unqualified (rejections), and then ones they want to examine further. With the ones they want to examine further they would weed out the ones they feel make the cut (second round of acceptances) and then others that they are still on the fence about (pseudo waitlist). Some time passes and they see how many applicants decide to enroll. If this number meets their class size for the semester/year, then they send rejection letters to the pseudo waitlist. If it doesn't, then the psuedo waitlist is activiated. Now, idk where you applied to exactly, but on most of my apps they asked where else I was applying to. Places like Georgetown and SAIS will always have overlapping candidates, and of course they'll try to fight for the best ones. However, if they know "they're the shit" (like georgetown and sais), and they see that you only applied to their program and none of their competitors, they might be more apt to make decisions later knowing they're the dream school for you. This is just my theory of course, I know NOTHING.

I'd like the interject here; if he/she will take the Japanese exam, you will be able to look up words in the dictionary because the Japanese "alphabet" is only like 46 different characters... double the amount with katakana. Totally look-upable... just sayin. And if it starts with a Chinese char, I think they put the hiragana right next to it. That being said, I'd probably take the Japanese one myself as well

Ah sorry I overlooked this post. Yeah actually the prof I'm working for now is retired from NYU. He told me to apply to CUNY for dirt cheap tuition, compared to NYU's. However, my main goal is a professional degree rather than an academic one. I applied to Columbia simply because if I pursued a MA there, there might be some cross-listing for SIPA IR courses. For CUNY, this would not be the case. Although it still beats Plan C: start working out hardcore and prepare for OCS in one of the military branches.

I believe I'm a tad under the median. But seeing their list of where their students have interned/work in... World Bank, UN, State Dept, I have none of that. Just some lousy private work that has nothing to do with IR. And I only started research this summer. Seeing all those big names makes me feel wholly inadequate.

SFS really? Either way as in 50/50? I was thinking 5/95. My quantitative score is kinda low and so is my writing score for that matter. By the by, SFS still hasn't received one of my transcripts. I talked to a guy 3 weeks ago and told me that if it didn't turn up in 2 weeks, I should resend it. To make a long story short, I sent a request for another one last week and called today to check the status: the lady tells me they were out most of the week because of the snow (reasonable I suppose, can't blame em.) I told her I was freaking out because the deadline was a month ago and I was afraid that I'm being kept out of deliberations because of an unfinished file (I paid my app fee I think I deserve at least a glancing over before they reject me.) And then she tells me: "Don't worry about that, the lady that handles admissions for security studies hasn't picked up any apps from the office (as in she haven't started reading them.) Am I being bs'd here? Know anyone that got a decision already?

Where I applied in no particular order: Korbel, Maxwell, SFS, GSPIA, BostonU, Columbia (regular MA in comparative not SIPA), CUNY MA (safety.) GPA: 3.59 cumulative (they wouldn't give me that 0.01 for magna cum laude) and major gpa 3.62 (Government with special emphasis on Comparative/IR- Europe,Africa,Latin-America,Diplomacy) GRE: 630V, 660Q, 4.5AW (I honestly don't know why the writing is low. I did exactly what the review books told me to do. Whatever.) During my undergraduate career, I worked full time for a year and a half; also did internships/part time... I'll round it to say 2 1/2 years of full time work exp. All of it in journalism, as a copy editor and reporter. I graduated in the spring 2009 and while I panicked for a month trying to find a job, I reached out to a former professor that introduced me to a retired colleague of his that still publishes. So presently, I'm working as a research assistant for this prof emeritus that specializes in comparative/political theory. I was lucky in the fact that he was working a half-finished manuscript when I hopped in and it'll probably be done soon after some editing/rewriting introduction. So as he's putting his last word on our first piece, he's given me a 2nd manuscript he's written a long time ago to criticize/edit. Hopefully we'll be done before the fall starts; he said he would include me in the publication/share of royalties. I know many successful IR applicants have done study-abroad/international experience; I have absolutely 0. I have not traveled outside the US since I was 12. However, I don't know if this makes up for it or not, but I am of Chinese/Cambodian descent, with semi-fluency in two different Chinese dialects along with some high school/college Japanese. (I have no idea why I took Japanese, I think it's because we had sushi fieldtrips in high school.) Now that I have told you my life's story, will someone please put a end to my misery by telling me I'll get rejected from every single school but CUNY?