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undergraduate major doesn't matter at all, especially you have been working for a few years already. i knew people studied English and got in SAIS.

ir school normally does not care your previous coursework on IR, so don't worry about this. given your experience, i think you totally have a chance to get in Georgetown SFS, their middle eastern studies is quite good. im a current SAIS student, but i don't recommend you study ME at SAIS if you got the chance to go SFS.

very few finance or consulting firms make recruitment event at SAIS. but SAIS has a large alumni network in these areas, so there is still advantage for SAIS students.

1. i heard(forget know from where) that bologna is easier to get in. but no one knows if it is true, since you cannot really compare the current student and say one was better than the other. 2.first year is super busy so almost no one intern in dc. but you can definitely build up your network in dc. but the same thing can also be done in bologna. 3.i did liberal arts for undergrad and i have micro/macro in progress during my application. but i know someone did not have any econ coursework and did the summer online econ after being accepted. i would recommend you at least to do online micro/macro during application, which shows your commitment a little bit. my gre score was V700/Q800/AW3.0. so you don't have to worry about AW if you got a super low score. 4.the point of my sop was just basically saying there are something at SAIS that I specifically want to learn. i would care more about the "fit" side rather than qualification. i did not have any work experience and the average age for MA students is 27, not super old. so you will be fine by having a few interns done.

in terms of ranking, cipa is way lower than elliott if you look at the ranking for the school but not the university

i am a DC saiser but i have heard something from the Bologna students. in terms of available coursework, you should definitely check with the sais website or registration office. another thing is that some Bologna professors are also holding professional positions somewhere else, so some of Bologna course might meet biweekly rather than weekly.

I'm a current student but I don't have time for individual question(maybe you already knew how intensive the study at sais is). But if anyone post any questions here, I'll be happy to answer anything I know.

i mean the mpp there

your argument makes sense only for people straight out of undergraduate. However, as everybody knows, WWS requires 7 years work experience, and people who with 7 year work experience do not really need that much internship opportunities that undergrads need.

+1 But I agree with IR_Lion JHU might not be much famous in HK or China, but at least in the IR field SAIS has a great reputation even in HK, Taiwan or China.

6 actually, you omitted English

my undergraduate degree was from the US so I did not use TOEFL. But I believe you have take that placement exam even after TOEFL. Maybe you can ask the admission office about this.

just a reminder for all those international students As long as your high school was not taught in English, you will have to take english placement test even if your undergraduate degree was taught in English

I will be happy to be quoted. I just checked the blog, and there is a Taiwan election trip. Probably this is one of those free trips. However, since you expect those "extracurricular activities and opportunities outside of the classroom", I think georgetown is also a good choice since they have the whole University there, even though that will be much less for IR program if you are comparing with SAIS

I got accepted by the Conflict Resolution at Georgetown, and I am going to SAIS since those are totally different programs, one academic one professional. In fact, I got rejected by SFS recently, so I think the selectivity between Government Dept and SFS is totally different. Also, there are academic programs, such as Asian studies, in SFS that is easy to get in. Anyways, I think the main concern is whether you wanna go PHD or job after graduation. By the way, what do you mean free international trips?

Any international student got financial aids? (i haven't head anything yet)

just got rejected...reason is i don't have enough work experience since i am straight out of undergrad got in sais yesterday though.. thought sais is more selective and should be able to get in sipa

msn I actually have a very close goal as you do. I want to promote religious freedom in China, and of course also the human rights of those religious minorities. I am also an undergraduate without work experience. But my situation is worse than you. My undergraduate major is religious studies, I could not even get an unpaid internship, which I have only a year to find one since I am an international student that only allowed to work in the US for a year after graduation. If I wanna work in this field, I have to get into a grad school next fall, which provides me with professional networks. Thank you for the comments above, I think the only thing I can do is to narrow down and specify my career goal.

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would you mind telling me when did you apply and when did Columbia gave you decision? I applied the same thing as you around March 20 and stilling waiting now.