fso2k11

I'm in for Persian in Tajikistan!

Spreadsheet? Please... We'll be using a google form Which I may have already made...

So far Fellowship budget emails are in from China, Philippines, India and Tunisia. The nominating panels meet on the basis of global regions, so it may so far be limited to S & SE Asia, MENA, etc. EBuckner, mlg, and snowblossom2 (per our PM) also all got their emails at 9:17 PST, and Marci is an Arizona State student. So, only applicants from Arizona and further west have confirmed receiving a budget email so far. It is very possible that fellowship budget emails are rolling out in bulk by U.S. region, state, etc. Given the number of people viewing this thread, it seems unlikely that the east coast has received budget emails. If you are in ET or CT and received a budget email, please pipe up! Can you tell I don't have much to do tonight...

Fellowship applicants: Can I ask what time of the day you all got your budget emails? I'm just wondering if they're sending them in waves or if I got passed over....or if any lurkers applied for a fellowship in Tajikistan, let me know!

ebuckner, are you a scholarship or fellowship applicant then? I am personally a fellowship applicant. Any other fellowship applicants receive an email?

Does anyone recall if all fellowships received their budget update email at once? Or was there some lag time? If you received a budget update email, can you post the following in this thread please: 1) Fellowship or Scholarship? 2) Country & language? 3) How detailed was your budget (1 to 10)? briefly describe

Just poking fun: If the best predictor of future behavior is past behavior, I hope you didn't tell them that you used to know Mandarin and forgot it all

Just finished my Boren Fellowship app for Farsi Persian in Tajikistan. Anyone else apply for a Boren in Tajikistan?

I just heard back - passed the first-round review for a CLS in Persian. Anyone have any idea (or even just speculation) as to how many people pass the first round relative to the number of slots?

I applied for advanced beginning Persian. We'll see what happens! We're supposed to hear back by early March, right? Did last year's batch hear back any earlier than that?

Maxwell is a great choice - it's where I go. You may need to bump up your GRE scores. This is probably especially the case if you're coming right out of undergrad. To my knowledge, our current MPA class has < 6 folks who are RIGHT out of undergrad, and I think they all received virtually no cash financial assistance or assistantships with their packages. Not to discourage you, but definitely get your numbers up if you can. You have time to take the GRE twice if you need to, and I would spend that time practicing quant - it is easiest to teach yourself in a short period of time. I would strongly suggest you go do something for a year or two if you're coming out of UG.

The consulting firms seem to all ask for grades. D3loitte and LMI. Moodys might too.

70k isnt that much debt for a degree from SAIS (or any degree from DC). The difference in tuition among DC schools would be eclipsed by the much higher costs of living in DC. Although DC has the best IR programs, rent in Syracuse NY is $450/mo. Also, if you're going into non-profits for sure, look at the govt loan forgiveness program for non profit and govt work. I say go for it now, or get your degree somewhere else part time if you dont want to leave your job. Georgetown MSFS, SIS, etc. You have tons of choices.

Congrats! And that means your Maxwell scholarship is back in the funding pool

CC139, what school did you choose???

Hi! I've narrowed it down to Syracuse and Carnegie Mellon, and I would like to "crowd source" and ask for your opinion on my school choices. Here are some of the things I'm weighing: Carnegie Mellon offered me a pretty big scholarship, and Syracuse's Maxwell School offered me a smaller amount but they both even out to being about the same total cost of attendance, being that Syracuse is a 1 year program compared to 18 months at CMU. At Syracuse, I have a decent chance of getting more funding once I arrive via assistantship opportunities, but that is not guaranteed. Both are great programs, Syracuse is ranked #1 in Public Administration, and CMU is ranked #4 in Public Policy Analysis. I also think I would be happy at either school and at either city. CMU is known for its quantitative training, and has heavier "core" requirements in economics, stats, dealing with large data sets, which would all be helpful for my career interests in program management, federal employment or federal management consulting. Syracuse, on the other hand, is more focused on management, has less flexibility in its program and gives me fewer opportunities to take electives in courses that would support my career interests. While Carnegie Mellon has a very strong name worldwide, Syracuse's MPA program is better regarded in public affairs circles and its core curriculum seems comprehensive & well-rounded. One of Syracuse's biggest assets, though, is the Maxwell School's alumni network which is very strong and institutionalized. Having talked with a few alums and current students from both programs, I have a feeling that Syracuse's alumni network is a much bigger help in the job search than would be CMU's. Syracuse's professors also seem more accessible for academic and networking purposes. However, what about reputation for international work and with consulting firms? The vibe I'm getting is that CMU would be better for either...better name recognition among the ivory tower crowd who seem to dominate those fields.... Employers of interest - federal consulting firms, certain federal agencies, NGOs - seem to recruit & hire students from both programs well, however CMUs numbers are a little better for consulting. Carnegie Mellon's program would be 18 months long, and this is a longer program but it leaves me with an open summer for an internship to build more career experience. Right now I'm leaning towards Syracuse. Besides the Maxwell School's strong, active alumni network, it seems more like the professional school versus an academic school. But I have a tough decision to make, given that both programs cost roughly the same, are each 12-18 months long, and have very similar employment prospects. Please let me know what you think, or if you think I'm missing some big point, especially considering my desired career field in public/federal management, consulting and NGO work.

I found out today via the official channels and the answer is no. You have to be admitted to both and start at Tepper. Hypothetically you could add the Heinz MSPPM once you got to CMU, but definitely not the other away around. Heinz accepts Tepper credits for core courses, but Tepper does not accept Heinz credits for core courses. In my opinion, a graduate stats class is a graduate stats class, regardless of the building it is taught in. I guess I'm too millennial to understand this disconnect. Oh well. Now it is on to the decision...

MPPGal, I noticed just now that Heinz has a dual MSPPM/MBA with the Tepper school....am now interested in that program but I see that the traditional dual degree students take their first year almost entirely at Tepper. I am wondering if my late notice and late interest for this admissions cycle in getting an MBA would prevent me from doing the dual degree at Heinz/Tepper. Do you have any knowledge of students who came to CMU as MSPPMs and THEN added the MBA dual degree?

Cornell has a final project/writing requirement, and one of the options is a thesis. Most students don't do a thesis, but those with PHD aspirations do.

Just got my funding information for the joint MPA/MA-IR. $5,000/year for a total of $10,000 in assistance. It's not zero! But it also means I would be taking out a LOT of money in loans for the dual degree....makes me wonder if I could have received more funding if I'd just applied for one program or the other. This is going to be a tough decision.

Sorry! I didn't ask. She probably wouldn't know because I called the MPA office and they still have different phone numbers (although I think they're in the midst of combining offices literally right now)

ah! I stand corrected!

First - I have a tiny update from Maxwell because I got antsy and called them. Was told that the MPA funding opportunities have been released. Joint degree funding opportunities have not been released because "there was a hold up" but "they met about it today." Joint degree announcements should come out in the next few days, "and if not, then definitely before April 1". Question to any MPA-only candidates. Have you received an outright "unable to offer you funding" letter? I think it would make sense for them to wait right until April 1 to see if funded candidates withdraw their offers...but I'd like to know what to anticipate. I don't understand your question. You're saying you would get an IR degree at SAIS and an MPA at Syracuse? For starters, I don't think any of their credits transfer. Syracuse lets you transfer in 6 credits (but joint MPA/MA-IR cannot transfer, because the MPA counts 6 credits from the IR and vice versa) but then you're still looking at about 3 CALENDAR years for both degrees. Why put yourself through that? Is either school worth the added time and money when you already have the other degree? Might make more sense to see if SAIS does dual degrees with someone else in town in DC (or their own MPP, MBA, etc.). Conversely, I think you can add an MPA to your MA-IR admission once you enroll in Syracuse...but my advice is free and anonymous so treat it as such.

No new announcements today to be shaken out of the trees?

Will an MPA/MA-IR make you particularly competitive for Deloitte & biz consulting firms? I would think an MBA (i.e. Johns Hopkins' "Global MBA") would be better for that. Deloitte sure does recruit at Maxwell, but I think they only recruit for their federal consulting practice. I'm interested in federal consulting internationally, and I think consulting contracts like the ones Bearing Point used to get (think managing a water treatment project, or something else that an authoritarian/corrupt government REALLY can't afford to screw up) are in line with what you're thinking. If you're interested in biz consulting for private companies then you might be swimming against a hard current of MBAs who are trained in exactly that. I think good federal strategy & organization consulting jobs are competitive enough, but who knows. Maybe a consultant wants to chime in. I absolutely agree with that sentiment. If I don't get any funding, I may look into dropping the MA-IR and only going for the MPA...would make it a lot cheaper and still very relevant, and I get a great feeling from Maxwell. I didn't apply to the MSFS, my main concern was that I want to do public management with the MA-IR as a sidebar to help me do public management work abroad. Not sure that I could do that without an MPA/MPP, but I may be able to do it without an International Relations/International Affairs degree.