Ravine55

Congrats! I'll start an Elliott thread so we don't keep spamming this one.

Early admit here (December). I got my funding notice around 2 hours after I received my admission letter.

Applied to MSFS without the GRE. I expect to get in, but probably won't get any scholarship money.

Got my funding offer too: $15K per year. Was hoping for $5K more per year but this is great news nonetheless!

Got my official letter late last night for the MIA, but no word on funding. Did anyone else get notified about funding?

I submitted my video interview on 10/16. My last letter came in two weeks later.

I'm in! I just got the official letter from Jennifer. It said that funding decisions will go out sometime before 1/25.

Congrats! Do you mind sharing your stats/experience?

That's interesting, I was under the impression it would come later due to the fact that the financial aid app isn't due until January 7th. Regardless, that's good to hear.

Also just got in! MAIR in DC, no mention of funding. I believe that will come in March. Now I just need to apply to the Tsinghua part of the program.

I received a message from them this morning with a supplemental application for funding. This might be a good sign that decisions are coming soon. Did anyone else get that email?

Based on threads from previous years, I don't expect to hear anything until the 18th.

I get your problem with the MIPP. I'm avoiding one year programs for that reason too. As for the courses, it seemed to me that the admissions people at SAIS and similar schools didn't care about the prestige of the institution at which you take your econ/math prerequisites. You could do them at an NYC community college for a decent price. I should note that macro/micro are the baseline required courses for admission. I'm not sure if your 300-level course works for that, but you can check. A great GRE quant score will help too.

You should check out the MIPP program. It's for more experienced professionals like you and it's only one year. With the MAIR, you'd be paying for an extra year of tuition (ouch) and you'd be in class with people who are much younger, although I'm not sure if this matters to you. The average age of a SAIS MAIR student is 25-26. If your heart is really set on the MAIR, getting there is pretty straightforward: take micro and macroeconomics and get A's in both. If you don't have a statistics course on your undergrad transcript, do that too and get an A. If you got a good grade in your undergrad calculus course, that should suffice. I don't think there is any need to take econometrics, as it's not a requirement of the SAIS core and you can avoid it when you get to SAIS if it doesn't align with your interests.

Apologies for the lack of detail, as these forums tend to encourage brevity. More specifically, I'm focused on trade, with a secondary interest in defense and the political FSO track. Since I already have the critical language fluency (Chinese) needed to get a decent score on the State Department FSO register (after the written test and OA), I feel good about my chances there. I'm pursuing a graduate degree more to increase my quant/econ/analytical capabilities and to improve my area studies knowledge, so SAIS/MSFS are my top choices. If State doesn't work out (which is a very distinct possibility), I'd be open to opportunities through the PMF program with other agencies (DIA, DOD, etc). What I've gathered from people doing these jobs is that this is basically the only place where regional knowledge/language capability makes a difference. As for HKS, I'm not applying since, frankly, I really dislike Boston as a city and don't want to move back there. Princeton is out of reach, IMO. Singapore is an interesting option, as I spent a significant amount of time at NUS as an undergraduate, but what I've seen from the LKY School in webinars has been disappointing, to say the least. I'll probably still apply but it's not close to the top of my list. Anyways, thanks for the advice!

As I'm rounding out my list of schools, I'm curious if I've missed any IR/MPP/MPA programs that have a good track record with Asia-focused policy. Other than SIPA, the usual suspects in DC, and UCSD, are there any other schools that have a strong focus on China and Southeast Asian policy in particular? As background, I'm looking for programs that would lead to federal government roles, but I'm also interested in employment with intergovernmental organizations like ADB or even in the private sector. Thanks in advance for your suggestions.

You might find this webinar useful: https://applygrad.jhu.edu/register/DIA111920

I'm not trying to challenge you on this because I tend to agree, but how sure are you that this year will be "crazy competitive"? Do you have evidence besides MBA application numbers? Just trying to gauge what my chances are against the field. I have a suspicion that fewer people will apply because of the debt to salary ratio for grads of the typical IR/MPP/MPA program.

Congrats! Any news on financial aid with the acceptance? I applied to the Tsinghua-SAIS dual degree program for Fall 2021. They should have a decision ready by 12/18, but I'm hoping they get back to me sooner.

You have great qualifications, for sure. Even with those, the lack of full time work experience is a major problem for you. I know it's really hard to find relevant jobs this year, but this is a major hole in your credentials. Even if this year's pool of applicants is not as competitive as we think it will be (which is unlikely) and you get in to one of those programs, I doubt that you'll get any financial aid. Regardless, you still might have a chance at some of the programs with larger cohorts, like SIPA and SAIS. That being said, you'd probably be stuck paying full sticker price in tuition. If I were you, I'd tough it out and try to get 2 years of full time work experience. It's probably not what you wanted to hear, but doing this will put you in a better situation two years down the road and will likely lead to less debt. These programs are not worth $100K or more in debt.

Since the early notification deadline has now passed, I thought I'd create a thread for fellow SAIS hopefuls. Feel free to discuss the application or other related topics here!

I spoke with the admissions representatives at a recent online event. They told me that applications could be processed in as little as two weeks or in 4-6 weeks during particularly busy periods. Seeing as you applied literally two days after the application opened (why?), you're coming up on six weeks. My guess is they want more applications to pile up and that they'll start getting back to us in November, but I might be wrong. I'm submitting mine this week and prodding my letter writers to submit their letters within the next two weeks. Hopefully you'll hear back soon!