kasbah

Did you all read through the admitted students' portal? It recommends against using a Mac. Has anyone talked to current students or alumni about this? I would hate to have to go buy a new computer.

I would advise against doing your Master's and immediately joining Peace Corps. I think you will lose a lot of the momentum and networking that you will have coming out of a graduate degree program. Your Peace Corps service will undoubtedly have a slow start -- between staging, pre-service training, and those first few awkward months in site, everyone's does. I'm a current PCV now, and I just think it would be hard psychologically to handle that. As far as the electives you want to take, you can definitely learn "Proposal Writing and Project Management" and "Qualitative and Quantitative Research Design Techniques" on the job in the Peace Corps. I would recommend either doing the MI or doing Peace Corps first and go to a grad school afterwards on a Coverdell Fellowship. Does Antioch have a Coverdell program?

Y'all. I cannot handle this waiting anymore. Release your decisions, adcoms! Release!

Way to go! I hope you get the scholarship!

Cool, I've heard good things about Pittsburgh but nothing really much more than "it's cooler than you think." I have good friends in Austin, so after I got my acceptance at LBJ, I started to get my heart set on moving down there. However I feel like I'd be a fool to pass on CMU after I read the funding offer, so I think CMU is now in first place. I'm a little concerned that it's more domestic-oriented than I'd prefer though.

I got a lovely email yesterday welcoming into the program with a very generous funding offer! I am on the 3 semester track. I have never been to Pittsburgh. Anyone have any opinions on the city? How is the scene?

@LLCoolJ1585 Here is Foreign Policy's ranking, which I took as a starting place to research graduate programs, not a firm list. It was ranked by IR scholars, not by employment outcomes or other metrics, so I don't think anyone should consider it a definitive ranking when looking into professional masters degrees.

I certainly am not qualified to be ranking schools, but I just wanted to note that the US News list that you linked to ranks NAPSAA schools (public policy & administration) not APSIA schools (international affairs). So by Georgetown, they probably mean McCourt, not SFS. That's also why Fletcher is not on the list.

I submitted mine on Jan 10, and yes, I applied for MALD. Check your spam folder, just in case!

I hope it was a *wink wink*, but I also feel like they might have just sent those to everybody. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Yay! Congrats!

Oops! I posted this in another thread before I read this one, but I just heard from LBJ and I had applied by their fellowship deadline.

I just received an email that I was accepted to the LBJ MGPS-DC program! This is my first admissions letter, and I'm so excited. LBJ was the first application I sent in, and probably the least polished of all my personal statements, so it feels good to be in.

Samesies!

Submitted all my applications. Now the wait begins!

Haha, okay that's pretty hilarious. Ahh, this application season is just so stressful. This was for one of the programs I really liked too.

Everyone's worst nightmare - I reopened my statement of purpose for a program I applied to two days ago, and I noticed a small typo (there should have been an "-ly" at the end of one word.) Can I contact admissions and politely ask if I can resubmit my statement of purpose, or should I just cross my fingers and hope they don't notice?

Ah, never mind. It looks like the only Skype interview date they have left is when I'll be traveling. Oh well, I guess I'll just have to rely on the rest of my application to make a good impression!

Anyone do the Fletcher evaluative interview or will be doing it? What is it like? Do you recommend it?

I think that really depends on who is "everyone". Lebanon is a cool place. Try to keep an open mind

I'm not a Lebanon expert, but I've been there, and I think you might be overthinking this a bit. I doubt anyone involved in the admissions process at a Lebanese university is going to deny you admission because you've spent time in Israel. I doubt even more that they would inform any border security that you've been there. Beirut is a cosmopolitan place, and people are extremely friendly. No one is going to chase you out of town . If you are truly worried about any backlash with colleagues, maybe try to emphasize any experiences you've had in Palestine (I don't know, I'm just shooting from the hip here), but I would give people the benefit of the doubt and be honest with them. Border security are going to be the only people who care that you've been to Israel. Get a new passport. Speak English at the airport. Also, this is a forum for professional programs, so you might get better advice from people who have been in your shoes on the Interdisciplinary Studies or Political Science forums.

Bump bump bump. Since I can't go back in time and get a better GPA, what is the best strategy moving forward for increasing competitiveness: a higher GRE or a retaking courses?

I want to make a list of the best policy programs for students interested in migration research and policy. These are the schools I could find that had migration research centers: MSFS: Institute for Study of International MigrationUCSD: Centre for Comparative Immigration Studies. GIIDS: Global Migration Centre + proximity to IOM Who else should be added? Any schools with particular distinguished faculty in this subject area or special relationships with NGOs and IGOs working in this field?

I'm pretty sure my quantitative background is the weakest part of my application. I got a B- in Statistics in undergrad and my GRE quant score is decent, but not amazing. Which will boost my application more -- retaking statistics or retaking the GRE? I'm leaning towards retaking statistics online because I'm still in the Peace Corps and retaking the GRE means leaving the country (ugh). Any thoughts? These are my stats, btw: GPA: 3.396* GRE: 162 V/156 Q/4.5 AW Major: International Relations/Middle Eastern Studies Undergrad: Top public school Work Experience: 6 months with a political organization in DC, and 3 years with Peace Corps. Overseas Experience: Semester abroad in Cairo, studying and volunteering. Then three years in Peace Corps Coursework: IR & CP, Arabic, some econ, history and sociology as well. Languages: Arabic Applying to: CMU Heinz, IPED Fordham, AU SIS, Elliot GWU, (maybe) SIPA, Fletcher, and HKS * Also, do I round up a 3.396 to a 3.4???