Nico Corr

Thank you for this, @PublicPolicyHiring. I didn't mean to come off as having a "lack of exposure or imagination". I realize positions in State, much less as an FSO are extremely difficult to come by. I in all honesty wouldn't mind doing IR related work in the private, NGO or non-profit sectors. In fact, I have been reading a lot in regards to country risk management, and that has piqued my interest. Even getting a position with DHS or one of the other three-letter agencies would interest me. I just took issue with the sentiment of the OP whose post I quoted. I took what the OP of the quote was saying as "If you don't have any of these four things going for you, don't bother trying to get in to the field".

You can count me as an applicant to some of these programs who do not have any of these credentials. I know a few people personally who have careers in the Foreign Service (FSO is my desired career post grad school graduation) but I would hardly consider them "connections" capable of snagging me a job. I have wanted to start a career in international relations since I was 15. Life however had other plans for me, and I was not able to take on the internship experiences, do peace corps, or pursue other enterprises that would directly lead me to that field of work. It's virtually impossible to get a career in IR without connections, or at minimum a degree. What do you propose people like myself do? Give up, find another line of work we will all but certainly hate?

_kita, thanks for the input. Quick question; for Khan academy, which subject did you work most with? I am confident that with hard work, you will be able to to reach your 20 point improvement goal. Best of luck and thank you : )

I've never heard of Preped. I'll have to check it out.

Thanks for the response. My "experience" with the type of math covered in the GRE doesn't go back much further than high school. Math has always been my Achilles heal. It took me four tries to pass basic math requirements in undergrad. I have already spent about $400 on the actual test and test prep materials, and didn't want to spend much more, but I think I will cough up the $ for Magoosh. Iv'e heard nothing but great things about it, and have done the tutorial videos. I think it could help my scores substantially.

Thanks, this was helpful. I've pinpointed 2 professors who seem to have similar research interests as myself. I'll come up with some thoughtful questions to ask them.

I went to a grad school info session for a program in International Relations last week, and everyone attending was encouraged to "cold-call and email" prospective professors. We were told they love to get queries from prospective students. I'd like to do this, but I'm not sure which specific professor to contact, exactly what I should say or what kind of response I should expect to get. Is it okay to contact more than 1 professor at the same school? Does it matter specifically what concentration they are in? Will it necessarily translate into an improved probability of getting in?

I took the GRE in June, and got a really good verbal score of 158, and not so great quant score of 140. I used Princeton review to prepare for my first attempt, and found it somewhat helpful, but found it wanting in depth of explaining certain concepts. I heard a lot about Manhattan Prep, specifically its " 5 pounder" book, but found it disappointing as it doesn't seem to explain the concepts before giving you problems to work out. My quant scores are probably the weakest aspect of my application, and I'm going to take the exam again in December just before admissions deadlines to try to raise my score up to at least a 150. What has everyone else used as far as prep materials? What did you find helpful?

Keep in mind, GRE scores for most programs only play a small part in whether you get in to the program or not. Most adcoms will give you the same BS about taking a "holistic" approach to reviewing applications, but they aren't necessarily lying to you. I don't know much about psychology, or how adcoms gauge who is a good candidate or not, but your numbers don't seem all that bad. I got a 158 V, and 140 Q and am stressing about my quant scores. I think the quantitative stuff is a bit easier to prepare for than verbal questions, because you have a general idea of what you'll be tested on, and there's formulas you can memorize to solve those problems. Verbal Q's are pretty much just testing your knowledge of words that no one uses in the real world and how they are used in sentences. I got the Manhattan prep book, and do quant questions on it, and I got a copy of Barron's verbal guide.

Totally understandable. Considering you are looking at schools in the South and Midwest, I'd take a serious look at Duke, Minnesota and Carnegie Mellon, of the ones you listed. I had a professor who did his PhD at Humphrey and said it was particularly strong in policy analysis and finance. You may want to look at Michigan's Ford school of Public Policy, as it get's ranked pretty high across disciplines. Pittsburgh's GSPIA also is ranked pretty high.

I personally would look at employment outcomes, along with program fit to determine which programs to target. May I ask why you wouldn't want to go to school in the DC area? There are some great public policy programs in the DC area (GW Trachtenberg, GM Schar, Georgetown McCourt).

I am going to apply to graduate schools for International Affairs, and I am currently in the Education field. It's interesting you post this, because Law School is something I have been considering as well! There are many people in my school system, and surrounding school systems that hold law degrees in administrative positions. I'm not aware of any teachers with law degrees, but their are plenty of principals, superintendents, and in house counselors who have law degrees. Do you have any kind of experience as a teacher's assistant in Law school? Have you tutored or mentored younger students? That sort of thing could help you gain Education experience .

Great story, thanks for sharing. I personally got a 2.5 in community college before transferring to a top 3 state school, and leaving with a 3.7 gpa. My verbal, and analytical writing scores are above average, but my quant score is horrendous. I have very little relevant experience in the field, so I will have to go the extra mile to get into the programs I want.

I will be applying to three programs in D.C, which I suspect house your "IR/MPP" program. I enter this process knowing full well nothing is promised to me once I graduate. I know someone who got admitted to one of these programs, and in the middle of his second semester had the epiphany you had, and transferred to a much cheaper online program. Graduate school is almost just as big a commitment financially and time wise as Law or Business school. You should go in with the understanding that there is a 50/50 chance you will be taking on considerable debt, and your career prospects will be at the mercy of the job market. That's fine by me, and I have accepted the fact that I will have to take on at least a good 70-80K in debt to complete my degree. As far as the living in DC, I have lived in the DC area all of my life, and it is much more urbane than you make it out to be. I am sorry that you haven't gotten the career outcomes that you were hoping for right away. I can only hope that I can get into the IR program in DC that I want, and that worst case, I have the same regrets you do!

You are most likely correct. I have submitted a paper to a research journal, but i'm not confident it will get published. I will certainly mention my article in my SOPs.

I'm going to apply to a couple International Relations grad school programs for Fall of 2018 and wanted to compensate for my lack of internship, and general IR experience. I've taken a few classes on the subject ( US Foreign Policy, US-Russia Relations, Etc.) but majored in Sociology. One of my professors has his own IR website, and allowed me to write 2 articles to post on it. I know having published work can be a boon to ones application, but do my website articles count as "publications"?

Good points. Thanks, _Kita. I'm going to invest in the Manhattan Prepbook to up my quant scores.

I am looking to apply to three or four graduate programs in International Relations for Fall of 2018 this winter. I took the GRE for the first time this June, and got scores of V:158, Q:140 and writing: 4. My verbal score is average or above average for the programs I hope to apply to, and my analytical writing score is more or less average. My Quant score however is of worry to me as the average score for those admitted to the programs I want into is around 150-155. I plan on taking the GRE again in Dec/Jan, just before most application deadlines, and plan to do a lot of studying to pick my scores up. Math has never been my strong suit, and I am worried I won't be able to pick it up more than a couple points, if at all. Assuming I'm not able to dramatically improve my quant scores, would such a low score keep me out of programs on its own? Just for some background: I don't have much experience in the field, other than a few courses (I'm a sociology major), and writing articles for a professor's IR blog. I have over ten years work experience in Education. I can get somewhere between decent-great LORS.

It's free. I just need to make sign up, and show up.

I have been planning on going to grad school since my second year of college. I went to the APSIA graduate school fair during the fall semester of my 3rd year to get an idea what programs offered degrees in International Relations and Security Studies. I took some brochures, talked to some of the representatives and continued my research. I intended to apply to grad schools in the fall of 2016, but because of work and family commitments, I could not dedicate the time needed to fill out applications and take the GRE. I done a couple online webinars, but that's about it. Fast forward two years later, and I am gearing up to finally apply for grad schools. I have taken the GRE once, and plan on taking it a second time before admissions deadlines to get better quant scores. I found out the same grad school fair is taking place in a month. Even though I have most of the information I need to apply, should I go back to the grad school fair to get face time with representatives and get any new information?

My recommendees are mostly adjunct professors who also work in their fields during the day, so not much room for that. If I have to I will think of something. One other school I was thinking of applying to has a deadline of February 1st but advises not to take the test any later than mid December.

Thanks for the reply. That is the direction I am leaning towards. This could also give me time to fulfill the econ pre-reqs I have yet to take. The only concerns I have about holding off applying is the fact that as a non-traditional student in a non-traditional program, I have very little interaction with any of my professors who I would like to write my LORs. I have one in mind that I have worked closely with write my thesis, but other than that, I have sparse communication with the rest, and by holding off, I'm afraid their will be a disconnect.

Spoke to someone in the admissions office, and liked what I heard. They are very specialized indeed. Law school is another avenue I am exploring. International Law is something that especially interests me, but I don't know if I am ready to undertake the financial burden necessary for that : )

I am a non-traditional student who just graduated. I decided about 2 years ago that I wanted to go to graduate school to study international relations and conflict resolution, and started researching different grad programs that would suit my interests and that I would have realistic chances of getting into. I narrowed it down to about five schools, and went to as many webinars and open houses as I could in between working full time and going to school full time. I originally had planned to apply to attend classes in the Fall of 2017, but with a promotion at work, and a thesis paper I had to complete on top of my course work, I haven't found any time to take the GRE. Application deadlines for most of the schools I wish to apply to are in the beginning of January, and I know I need to allow enough time for these scores to get in by the deadline. I also haven't had any time to study for the exam and fear a month's time isn't enough as I am hearing people say you need at least a good three months to prepare. I'm also worried the professors I want to get LORs from won't have enough time to get them in. Should I just hold off until next year to apply?

I am looking to attend grad school next fall, pursuing a degree in international affairs, specifically diplomacy/conflict resolution. I plan on applying to the GW Elliott School, SIS, SAIS and Maxwell, but considering my major (sociology), and my dearth of experience abroad, internships or research I don't think I'd get in. A classmate of mine said they had heard of a school called the Institute of World Affairs (IWP) and said it despite its small size, lack of name recognition and no ranking it had experienced faculty and was focused solely practicing International relations rather than academics. Does anyone know anything about this school?