alice1250

I had similar impressions from the open house as mustangsally. The faculty and professors certainly emphasize the interdisciplinary nature of their curriculum because of the importance of contextual factors in international affairs. After checking out their course catalog, many classes in one concentration are cross-listed with other concentrations, and many students don't seem to finalize their concentration choice until they've taken a few courses. That really makes me wonder if the concentrations we choose matters a whole lot for our future employment. The "SAIS Mafia" is definitely a huge plus in my book. I was at the ERE lunch and one of the first-year student is literally taking the internship position this summer that a second-year student had last summer. Other students I talked to are all interviewing/deciding on the jobs/internships they will be taking, they definitely do not seem to lack employment opportunities and choices. I hope someone here can offer me some insight/advice: In the case that they do grant this to me, I was really hoping to defer attending SAIS for a year so I can gain more work experience (albeit not at all relevant to international affairs) since I graduated last May and had only been working for a few months. Do you guys think I will be at a disadvantage, compared to other students, if I enter SAIS this fall? Although the SAIS network is big, I'm afraid that I won't be able to fully utilize it without the prior experiences that many others already have.