matthewskros

Hi all, Was wondering if anyone can offer advice on how graduate schools view AmeriCorps and Peace Corps service? Do they tend to offer scholarship money to students who have completed service programs like this, or do they really factor more into admission rather than scholarships? Backstory on me: I am 25 and am looking at applying for a master's in a foreign affairs-related topic. Right now, my top three graduate schools for this are Georgetown (either the MSFS program or the MSS program), Johns Hopkins SAIS (MAIR program), or George Washington's Elliot School (Masters in International Relations). SFS and SAIS are my top two because of their ranking and the fact that I like their course of study (especially their foreign language emphasis). I know I have decent chances of getting accepted to all three. My undergraduate GPA was 3.62 and I know I'll score well on the verbal and writing portions of the GRE. Scholarships are my main concern right now. My question is: do graduate schools tend to offer good money to those who have performed national service? I have done AmeriCorps twice and was also briefly a Peace Corps Volunteer before the pandemic. Georgetown, I have heard, can be stingy at times, but I have heard good things about packages from GW and SAIS. Thanks for any advice you can offer!