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chojnacm

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Everything posted by chojnacm

  1. GSPIA gave me the best offer as well, at least monetary wise over the DC schools. I'm going to the Open House this coming week. Anybody else going? Coming straight from undergrad, I'm not sure yet about my future plans, but I def. want to work for a few years in the public or private sector in DC or New York. Then, I might go back to school to get that law degree or maybe complete a doctorate, but that's too far away for me to even seriously contemplate.
  2. Yep, I will be there. I just registered today. I don't know about the study abroad, but as I said the Brussels program looks pretty neat. I have been on a number of study abroads during my junior year. I actually went to the Balkans in the fall of 09 and to Germany in the spring of 2010. I think Brussels would really nicely compliment my prior experiences. And I fully agree with you about the individualized attention. I have a feeling that at SIS and GWU, it would be much more impersonal. As I understand, American is the biggest IA school in the country, and so their classes must be bigger than GSPIA's which has a faculty-student ratio of 1:12.
  3. Hey, I am in a similar situation. Like you, I too received a merit fellowship at GSPIA, and after much contemplation, I have made my decision to go to Pitt. GSPIA is offering me basically a free degree (at the most, I will have to take loans out for housing and living expenses, which amount to half of those in DC), while at SIS and GWU, I'm getting no funding. I think that GSPIA's MPIA looks really interesting, and like you said, ratings don't mean that much, as they are largely the product of institutional biases and politics. I have a feeling that if GSPIA would be located in the heart of DC, their ratings would be right below, if not match GWU and SIS. In any case, before I made my final decision, I spoke with my academic advisors and parents who are both in the higher education business as well as students and administrators at the two aforementioned schools, and so far, the general consensus is that I should "take the money and run." Indeed, I feel that GSPIA is doing everything to attract me, while the other schools, especially GWU seem to only highlight "how wonderful they are," in light of their DC location and better ratings. Indeed, location and better ratings might be a plus, but ultimately you have to ask yourself whether your education will be significantly better. My conclusion is no. Not to sound cliche, but I think that I could really thrive at GSPIA, as they recognized my potential and gave me money. At SIS and GWU, I would have a financial noose over my neck, as I would have to worry everyday about how I would pay off my skyrocketing debt in the aftermath of graduation. As people much wiser than me said, graduate school is just as much about making smart financial decisions as it is about improving your credentials and expanding you intellectual premise. Ultimately, I feel that at GSPIA I have nothing to lose if they are offering me money, while at GWU and SIS, I would have to be working part-time/full time to defray the massive burdens of tuition, with no guarantee that I would land a better job in the end. I'm just graduating from undergrad this May, and the prospect of my undergrad debt combined with graduate loans seems like a terrible, financial cost to bear, only for me to say that I went to the "higher-rated" school. By going to GSPIA, I will remain financially solvent, while at the same time keeping my options open, especially if I want to pursue other degrees in the future whether that would be going onto a PhD or a law degree. Furthermore, GSPIA, in connection with Korbel and Maxwell, runs the DC center in Washington, where you can take classes in the fall of your second year, get a great internship, and expand your network. You must remember that half of GSPIA's alumni live in DC, and many of them work for the exact same institutions that GWU and SIS graduates work at. Study abroad wise, I can, for example, go to Brussels in the summer to research the EU and intern or utilize any other of GSPIA's partnerships to expand upon my degree. Whatever I do, GSPIA seems to be offering me many possibilities, a lot of which don't differ from the opportunities of GWU and SIS. At the same time, I am financially secure, to an extent at least that I'm expanding my skills and avoiding the terrible job market for the next two years, without piling up mountains of debt. This is as best of a package as I could have asked for, and I think it would be pretty foolish on my part to pass it up. Anyway, I'm speaking from my point of view. If finances are less of an issue for you, then perhaps you can weigh your options differently, but from your description, GSPIA seems like the best deal for you as well.
  4. Yep, I think the foreign service would be great. After graduation, I basically want to go either into the public or private sector. So, State Department, Department of Defense or if I get my PhD work for a think tank such as the Rand Corporation.
  5. Hey guys, I got into GSPIA and Elliott. I'm going for an MPIA in security and intelligence studies at GSPIA or for an MIA in international security and U.S. foreign policy at Elliott. GSPIA gave me a full tuition grant. I'm also listed as an "alternate" for Pitt's Foreign Language and Area Studies (FLAS) fellowship ($12,000), which I could get if somebody would reject their admissions offer. Elliott, on the other hand, is giving me no money. I hear that they are very stringent with fellowships. I am graduating from undergrad this May; so as of yet, I have not payed off any of my student loans, which are significant ($50,000). If I would go to Pitt, I would only pay for housing, books, and misc. expenses, and if I were to receive the FLAS scholarship or any additional grant money, I would get my MA for free. At Elliott, however, I would be mired in debt ($90,000 in loans to pay for tuition and cost of living in DC). That's a somewhat frightening number in my mind, given my undergrad. debt and this terrible economy. Elliott though has the better program, being in the heart of D.C.. Their network of alumni is vast, and I would be certainly on a great career path if I were to graduate from there. So, for academics and professional experience, it remains my top choice. Furthermore, Elliott is in the top ten in the nation and GSPIA is in the top twenty. Nevertheless, one of the big pros of GSPIA is that after completing my MPIA, I could transfer to the PhD there, having already advanced standing due to the MPIA. That means that four years from now, I could have my PhD. Another possibility would be to go into the work force for two-three years after getting my MA, and apply afterwards to some of the really prestigious PhD programs in IA (SAIS, Fletcher, American, Georgetown, Columbia, etc). I was rejected from SAIS, Fletcher, and SIPA this time around, due to my lack of "relevant, full time, professional work experience," but I think I would have a great shot at a PhD from those schools once I have work experience and an MA. If I were to go to Elliott, I would have to put my PhD dreams on hold for a while to pay off all my debt. At GSPIA, I could also study for a semester in DC due to their "washington connection," and during my time there, network as well. Anyway, I am heavily leaning towards GSPIA. It seems illogical to give up so much free money to go to only a somewhat more prestigious school with the better name. However, I want to get your guys' opinion. Is Elliott really worth that debt or is it a "cash cow?" I personally think that rankings don't mean all that much, and that at Elliott I would be paying more for the name than anything else. All these IA schools seem to have similar programs of study and really the only realistic difference between Elliott and GSPIA seems to be the location and networking opportunities in DC. The big pro for Elliott though is that I would be grounded already in the nation's capital, where I want to live and pursue my career. I also know D.C. very well, but I have never been to Pitt yet. So, what's your advice? Any of you who are currently attending Elliot or GSPIA your opinions would be really helpful! Thanks! PS: Also I applied for the Pickering Fellowship. I figure it's a long shot, but for those of you who have applied, do you know when we hear back? If I would get the Pickering, I could pay off Elliott easily.
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