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Surfbordt

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  • Location
    Washington, D.C.
  • Application Season
    2017 Fall
  • Program
    MA in International Relations

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  1. Casually following this thread and thinking about how much debt I'll be in after I graduate from Fletcher (sighs).....
  2. I've read this forum constantly over the last few months so I thought that I'd participate for future grad students. Program/Schools Applied To: Yale Jackson, Columbia SIPA, Johns Hopkins SAIS, Georgetown MSFS, Tufts Fletcher Schools Admitted To: Columbia SIPA ($0), Johns Hopkins SAIS ($0), Tufts Fletcher ($40k) Schools Rejected From: Yale Jackson, Georgetown MSFS (someone reached out and recommended that I reapply w/ more work exp and better scores) Still Waiting: None Undergraduate institution: Big State School in the Midwest Undergraduate GPA: 3.3 Last 60 hours of Undergraduate GPA (if applicable): 3.75 Undergraduate Major: BA in Political Science and Middle East Studies GRE Quantitative Score: 152 GRE Verbal Score: 159 GRE AW Score: 4.5 Math/Econ Background: Macro in undergrad (C-), retook Macro and Micro this past fall and got an A in both. Years Out of Undergrad (if applicable): 2 Years of Work Experience: 2 Describe Relevant Work Experience: 1 year in total at two different think tanks (one internationally focused, one domestic), and will be 1 year at a software company by Fall 2017. Strength of SOP (be honest, describe the process, etc): I think that this was the best part of my application, since my GPA and test scores weren't so great I dedicated a lot of time and effort into these. I had my page edited by a "team" of friends that consisted of two Ph.D students, a law school grad, and my friends father who is an english professor at an Ivy league school. I think that I worked on it for 3 months on and off. Strength of LOR's (be honest, describe the process, etc): My boss from undergrad (my biggest cheerleader and I love her) who I'm sure wrote a glowing recommendation, the hardest professor that I had in undergrad but managed to get an A in (U.S. Foreign Policy), and another professor who I did an independent study with. I made them folders with my SoP, Resume, schools that I wanted to apply for etc, and asked them ~3 months in advance. Other: I help various positions in a service-oriented fraternity, full time internship experience at the DNC, fundraising fellowship at my state political party, Virtual Intern with the Virtual Student Foreign Service, and studied Farsi for 3 years culminating with participating in the Critical Language Scholarship. So clearly I should have retaken the GRE but I took it way too late (12/27) to retake it before application deadlines. I didn't study verbal at all and only worked on math, which I clearly didn't work on enough. I wish I could say that I was prepared for it, but my "studying" mostly consisted of doing a few problems and then watching an episode or 2 of Archer in between each. I decided to apply even with my low test scores because I had put so much work into my SoP's and I'm also bored to death at my job and need a change. I'm sure that my scores are why I didn't get any funding from SIPA or SAIS, and I assume Fletcher is offering my need-based aid, not merit haha. I come from a low-income background and I am a first-gen college graduate. While I am lucky to get accepted anywhere at all, looking at the price tag for these schools gives me second thoughts. I've always dreamed of working in the IR field but now that I am close to making the next step I am having doubts - to put it bluntly, I think that I want a little more autonomy in my career (i.e. being my own boss), and also financial stability (which I've literally never had). I am in the running for this great fellowship that would position me nicely for business school and if I get it I will accept that over going to grad school this cycle. I'm seriously considering getting an joint MBA/MA and if I wait to apply (and get better scores, etc), I will get more funding for grad school, and become a more competitive applicant for business school. If I don't get the fellowship, I will probably go to Tufts. I hope my low scores/successful-ish application cycle gives others hope!
  3. In! But with no funding (sighs). I never really paid attention to the cost of attendance until I got the acceptance, but after taking a look
  4. In! But with no funding.... Congrats everyone!
  5. I got an email from them about 20 minutes ago. Dinged. Good luck to everyone else!
  6. I applied to 5 schools (SAIS, SIPA, Fletcher, Georgetown MSFS, and Jackson) and Pickering. I also think that I won't get anywhere, but I'm kind of OK with waiting another year, which is why I only applied to schools that I'm sure I would attend if offered admission.
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