bensaul

Thank you! Wishing you the best of luck.

Hi, I was admitted and accepted the offer of admission.

Hi, thank you and likewise best of luck! I had a similar experience, it was a really nice chat and I really enjoyed it. Just wish Feb 24th would roll around sooner haha.

Hello, I have an informational interview with RAND in a couple of days, and have a few questions that I'd be grateful for guidance on: Q1) I've been scheduled to speak with a faculty member rather than an alumnus of the program. Can someone who's previously interviewed with faculty or admissions at RAND share their experience and any advice on how to proceed? Looking through this forum, I found a few replies discussing their experiences of interviews with alumni, but not with others. Q2) Since the interview is with faculty, what sort of questions may be asked? For instance, I'm applying for the Tech stream and mentioned in my essays that I was interested in exploring topics in AI and Machine Learning during the Tech Lab residency. Might the interviewer try to probe my knowledge of the area, or just ask about how it relates to my interests, goals etc.? Q3) Does the interview have any impact on decisions? The emails I've received in reference to this were pretty emphatic that this is voluntary and that applications are being reviewed with decisions being released by Feb 24. Thank you.

Understood. I've contacted an academic in one of the local thinktanks who used to teach at my university for his thoughts on the local ecosystem but taking your comments into account, I think it would be more feasible to apply next year then. Could you provide some suggestions please on what I could do to make myself competitive for funding in 2022 or 2023?

Thank you for your feedback. A) Thank you, I'll pursue that route. I do agree it's a gamble but after discussing the matter with friends and former university fellows who are already in the US or going this fall, I'm willing to take the shot. My main concern is with internship or job opportunities though, since from what I've researched, a large proportion of security interns and grads tend to take roles requiring security clearance, which I will be ineligible for. So I'm concerned about competing for a very small number of roles, especially since non-STEM OPT authorization is only for 1 year. B-F) I understand. Actually, my main interest is in security and the programs mentioned in the first list above. I was thinking of using Data Science/Analytics as a way to bridge the gap between STEM and Security given my limited background, but if background isn't an issue and Public Policy Data Science won't be relevant much anyways, I can focus on the security side now and maybe just get an analytics certification later to round myself out. Still, in your opinion, is this a competitive enough profile to get into the security programs I'm looking at, particularly with funding/assistance, or should I improve my credentials before applying? And if the latter, what options would you suggest for making my profile more competitive?

Hi everyone. Brief background before my profile because I think it may be relevant. I've been interested in international affairs and security topics since high school, but I'm a STEM major, graduated in 2017 and worked in my field till 2019. Left my job in mid-2019 to prepare full-time for a competitive public service exam to join the Foreign Service of Pakistan. I didn't qualify the exam, but I'm still committed to public service and the 8 months or so of studying IR, International Law, World Affairs etc. piqued my interest sufficiently to consider switching to Security studies, perhaps with a stepping stone in a public policy data science program. Considering applying to: Security Studies: Georgetown Walsh, GWU Elliott, UofDenver Korbel, Boston Pardee , Pittsburgh GSPIA Data Science/Analytics: Georgetown McCourt, UChicago Harris, AU SPA, USC Viterbi, Northeastern CoE, Vanderbilt, Tufts Undergrad Institution: Top-ranked in Pakistan, ranked 300-400 globally Undergrad Major: Chemical Engineering Years out of undergrad: 3 GPA: 3.34/4.0 (3.5+ in last two semesters) GRE: 340/340, AW 5.5/6 Quant Background: Calculus I and II, Differential Equations, Numerical Analysis. Middling grades, Bs and Cs. Programming Background: Computer Programming course in C during 2nd semester. Now learning Python through Coursera, self-study etc. Relevant Work Experience: None relevant to security. Otherwise, 20 months as an Operations Engineer for a large fertilizer company in Pakistan which featured a limited amount of interaction with data analysis in Excel Relevant Volunteer Experience: Limited. Moderated r/syriancivilwar, a subreddit of ~50,000 subscribers focused on the Syrian Civil War, for a year. I was also a contributor to an online publication that stemmed from the subreddit, the Syrian Civil War Week in Review, (now the International Review) during 2016-2017. Also served as President of my university's debating society and initiated a fortnightly debating forum based on the Oxford model, with the theme being domestic and international affairs. Languages: Native speaker of Pashto and Urdu. Near-native fluency in English, expecting high score on TOEFL/Duolingo International experience: No experience outside my home country. Strength of LOR: Expecting strong recommendation from a former supervisor at work, and middle to strong recommendations from two of my undergrad professors I do realize that I'm applying to pretty competitive programs, and am aware that my GPA isn't the greatest and that I have no professional or academic experience in the field (my engineering program had a pre-set curriculum plan with no student choice in terms of course selection). I'm just hoping for an honest assessment of my current chances and advice on how to improve my credentials if I should wait to apply. I'd also be very appreciative of some feedback regarding the internship and short-term opportunities in the US for an international graduate in security studies. My goal is to return home to join one of the strategic think tanks in a policy role, but I would definitely be interested in internships and associate/research positions to learn and network before returning or pursuing further studies. Thank you in advance for any feedback, cheers!