beefmaster

1) What organs have you had to sell so far to afford tuition/living expenses?
 
2) Can you tell that I'm jealous?

You probably won't get in. 

Good luck getting a job in ID with no work experience.
 
Years of experience evaluating/hiring (or not hiring) people with master's degrees in public policy who went to these schools straight from undergrad. with zero work experience tells me a different story. Most people who go straight from undergrad. to a public policy/international affairs master's program will be in the same position as an undergrad vying for entry level positions, most especially in ID. That's why so many of these master's students end up in entry level positions meant for people with only BAs. That is why federal internships meant for college kids are going to grad. students from GWU, American, SAIS, and more. Grad. school in this field is a false facsimile for real work experience. There are too many people with master's degrees from these schools and too little demand, especially in development. 
 
Want to get into development? Get work experience, even if it's in a non-development related field. Get that experience abroad if possible; you can even volunteer or teach abroad. Start learning a language. Then go to grad. school. It's not impossible or even hard depending on what region you want to work in (sometimes demand outstrips supply, especially with English teaching--although it's not as high as it used to be). I did this and everyone I know in development got started that way.
 
From a hiring standpoint, you are going immediately to the slush pile regardless of what your degree is in if you have a master's with no work experience. There are too many other better qualified people with that experience and with a master's degree to make it worth a glance.

Let me guess: you have zero work experience.

Get work experience. 

Previous Schools: A university in DC (top 10 IR school)
Previous Degrees and GPAs: BA in International Studies and Economics, 3.90 GPA
GRE Scores: 169V, 154Q, 5.0W
Previous Work Experience: Military leadership experience from my home country (in Europe); four internships in DC (two of them from the field I'm interested in - int'l trade); last internship turned into a research assistant job at a well-known research organization in DC and there 0.5. years of work experience after graduation
Math/Econ Background: BA in Econ but without econometrics, no serious math background (no calc classes etc.)
Foreign Language Background: Four semesters of Spanish, fluent in a European language, intermediate skills in Swedish and German
Intended Field of Study in Grad School: International economic policy (especially international trade) & International Political Economy
Long Term Professional Goals: Working for one of the multilateral organizations, preferably something that allows me to do policy analysis
Schools Applied to & Results: Josef Korbel (full tuition + RA), SIS (full tuition + RA: $12k), Elliott ($15k), SAIS Bologna/DC ($20k), Fletcher ($5k), Georgetown/MSFS ($0k), SIPA (waitlisted), HKS (rejected)
Ultimate Decision & Why: SAIS. The curriculum is excellent for my interests, the school's reputation and alumni network are great, and it allows me to study a year in Italy (which for someone like me with European interests is a solid bonus). They also gave me a nice scholarship package. The decision came down to choosing between AU (full ride) and SAIS, so it was basically money vs. everything else. In the end I felt SAIS is definitely worth the extra cost.
Advice for Future Applicants: Sadly I feel like I've forgot most of the useful tips/details I had in mind a few months ago when everything was happening, and others in this thread have said many of the things I wanted to say as well. Especially the "do not freak out" advice is golden. I freaked out after I got my GRE score because of my "low" quant score. It is not the best by any means but I let it completely depress me, because I felt it disqualified me from the top programs and definitely meant I wouldn't get any money. I couldn't have been more wrong. Don't get me wrong, take the GRE very seriously (like I did, maybe a little too much), but it's only a small piece of the puzzle and even though I had read that on forums like this, in my heart I didn't believe it. So don't lose hope.
 
Same goes with work experience - I was sure I wouldn't get into the top programs (such as SAIS, Fletcher, and Gtown) because I did not have a lot of full time work experience. In my circumstances getting an MA is a must (very hard to get a visa sponsor in the US as a foreigner, in Europe just a BA is worthless and everyone completes an MA right after their BA) but I felt I was somehow doomed to fail because of my lack of full time work experience. Again, I was wrong. The application truly seems to be evaluated holistically so if you lack in some areas, you can improve in others and make up for it. If I was a 22-year old American, I would definitely try to work for a few years, but everyone's situation is different and you have to keep that in mind when applying. It's all about coming across as someone who knows what they want out of grad school and as someone who is competent and qualified. So obviously the personal essay and letters of recommendation are extremely important in that regard. You might not have "a perfect" application and stats (only a few truly do, no matter how depressing it can sometimes be reading people's stats online and thinking everyone is a genius) but if you are a competent candidate, you have many ways to show that in your application.
 
So I guess what I'm trying to say is this: try not to despair. I know it can be difficult - my experience is that things can get blown out of proportion in your head quite easily, especially when it comes to something as important as graduate school. But all you can do is try to get the right people to write your LORs, to really nail the personal essay, to go take a few classes (econ, math) if you feel that would make your application is stronger etc. Much of it is still in your own hands and even if the GRE doesn't go perfectly or you feel some other aspect of your application is not the best it could be, you probably still have a better chance of getting into the schools you want than you realize.
 
Forums like GradCafe are excellent resources but they can also cause a lot of anxiety especially when completing your applications and comparing yourself to others. At that point just keep your head down and do the best you can. I felt that after the decisions started rolling in, I was able to get much more out of the forums because I was dealing with facts instead of just speculating what MIGHT happen.
 
Thanks all for the great advice and discussions in the last few months. Congrats to everyone once again, I'm sure there's a good chance we will meet one day professionally (although I'm sure we have no idea we were on this forum at the same time). I doubt that I will be coming here much more now that everything is pretty much settled and the forum is dying down so I just wanted to thank all you guys and I hope you have a great two years at whichever school you chose!
 

I applied to 5 policy schools: HKS, SIPA, Fletcher, Georgetown, and SAIS. All East Coast, sorry, hehe.
 
I was also considering MBA programs, but then did not go through with it (maybe later for Executive MBA).
 
I ended up withdrawing all my apps except for HKS. I realized (I admit a bit late) that as a mid-career the only school I would be prepared to resign and leave my (good and safe) job for is actually HKS.
 
I know it's a risk but at my age and career stage can't afford to make an ambigious choice.

Just read an interesting Twitter post from Harris admissions:
 
"AppTip#11: Apply to places where you want to live. Your life goes on even when you're in graduate school, you should enjoy it."
 
That's why I ended up not applying there and WWS, etc. Hehe..

Great initiative from them to tweet about admissions..Wish HKS and others would jump on the Twitter wagon too..

Thanks for the input. I'm well aware that grad school "isn't going anywhere." I am quite sure that I know what I want to do in/after grad school and the advantages of working another year or two are pretty apparent to me. My choice is between doing work that I am kind of "meh" about or going to grad school so that I can begin a career that really interests me. This is really the reason why I will likely apply this year rather than next year. If I were doing something that really interested me (it seems like you assumed that this is the case) then the prospect of spending a few more years doing the kind of work I am doing now might be more compelling, but unfortunately that's not what I'm dealing with.

Again I appreciate the advice, but my decision about when to go to grad school isn't about figuring out what I want to do or saving money (saving money is hard to do on an AmeriCorps stipend).

anyone?

No you're not competitive at all. Why didn't you get a 4.0 GPA and and 800 on the verbal and at least a 6 on W. Probably need to speak 10 more languages and shoot fire out of your ass to be competitive.

I hate to do this because it makes it look like I'm beating up on the OP (who would be a great candidate after getting some WE and taking some classes to show academic improvement), but this is just too stupid to let pass.



You are arguing that an IR adcom trying to assess OP's ability to thrive in an professional graduate program isn't going to factor in his previous experience in a professional graduate program?

That they will ignore or look kindly upon a downward trend in academic performance from undergrad to grad school?

Both of those make no sense and go against common admission practices. Talk to any ad rep and they will tell you all post high-school academic experience is fair game, and that showing a positive progression is extremely important.




Reading comprehension fail.

Look at my post again. I said no one is going to get admitted at an elite school with "BOTH a sub 3.0 GPA and no IR work experience." Your anecdote about your friend is irrelevant - he clearly has great international work experience that compensates for his low grades. Similarly, there are plenty of kids fresh out of college with amazing grades but little professional experience getting elite admits. I stressed the both part because you absolutely can make up for weakness in one area with strength in another. But no one is getting into an elite school with poor grades and zero IR-relevant work experience, which is OP's situation.




This is just funny. I know AUB, and it is a good school for people looking to study in the Middle East. But you are talking about it like it's some insane global powerhouse, which it isn't. Even if it was, there is no school so prestigious that it overcomes bad grades, negative progression, and a total lack of applicable work experience. You could Borg meld all the Ivy Leagues into a shining paragon of academe, and it still wouldn't.

Nevermind, I forgot my opinion is invalid because I wasn't "their" in 2006.

Personally I would go wherever the money is. All the schools you have been accepted to are fantastic. One has given you full tuition. For me this would be financially impossible to turn down. Even if you do have the money / willingness to take loans, imagine how much less pressure there will be on you post graduation if you can really take the time to pick a career based on what you want to do rather than what you are financially obliged to do.

Personally I would go wherever the money is. All the schools you have been accepted to are fantastic. One has given you full tuition. For me this would be financially impossible to turn down. Even if you do have the money / willingness to take loans, imagine how much less pressure there will be on you post graduation if you can really take the time to pick a career based on what you want to do rather than what you are financially obliged to do.

Accepted by Elliott (MA International Affairs). Was a bit nervous when I got the email, as my previous acceptances (Maxwell and LBJ) sent emails announcing the decision and Elliott's just told me to log into my account. Anyway, got the result that I had hoped for and now I have at least one option in DC.

Congrats to everybody else too!

Thanks to fishpoo for telling me that. I actually just got accepted into CMU's DC-track today. Its my first choice so unless Chicago throws me a lot of money I will be attending. I appreciate the advice.

to the prick who said that because I went to a third tier law school I have no shot at going to a decent grad program. Im going to a decent grad program. Thanks so much.

I don't know who you talked to but I am in contact with a CURRENT student on the international security programme. There has been a HUGE influx of new students in the past year and I assure you that it is 100% true.

A quote from the CURRENT student.

"The PSIA program at Sciences Po is very new for that reason they are not very organized so this can add more frustration. First semester classes are huge I mean 100 + in most classes and the biggest I had was 595 (yes almost 600 students... I never went)"

take what i have to say with a grain of salt as i didn't do a masters at sciences po paris, but i was a year-long exchange student there for the premier cycle in 2007-08. although i can't comment on the masters program, i'm inclined to agree with beefmaster about library inadequacy and poor student support from the administration.

the library system at sciences po suffers from a lack of space. the overall collection is modest and spread across multiple buildings. even if you find a book you want, you'll likely have to face long wait-times in the inter-library lending process. the sciences po library and i did not get along, but i'll also admit that i was spoiled by my home university's much vaster store. on the flipside, it's not difficult to get membership at france's ginormous national library.

maybe sciences po its grad students differently, but i found myself consistently frustrated with the student services. they've perhaps changed in the past five years, but back then important things like transcripts or comprehensive schedules were not digitized. the server for the course sign-up system crashed more often then not. internal messages about things like class cancellations, classroom changes, etc. were not sent in a timely manner if at all. subsequently seeking help from the staff didn't prove to be much better.

a lot of the mandatory administrative tasks like student registration were simple enough (if you were even informed about them!) and i managed to scrape by. but i often felt like i was blindly feeling my way around without clear instructions. maybe i alone was unlucky or just dumb. but i do not have a favorable opinion of the school's administrative services.

that said, i really enjoyed my experience at sciences po, for better or worse. i was impressed with the quality of the faculty, program rigor, and international student body. extremely helpful in boosting my french to academic/professional proficiency, too.

ultimately, french pedagogy is not my thing. swhy i've applied to schools in the states, despite the much, much higher tuition.

I don't know who you talked to but I am in contact with a CURRENT student on the international security programme. There has been a HUGE influx of new students in the past year and I assure you that it is 100% true.

A quote from the CURRENT student.

"The PSIA program at Sciences Po is very new for that reason they are not very organized so this can add more frustration. First semester classes are huge I mean 100 + in most classes and the biggest I had was 595 (yes almost 600 students... I never went)"

Yeah, I'll check out SAIS, thanks for the advice.

E: re others reactions to the "neo-con" statement, I was a little premature on that, they have large faculty with many different focuses. However, I still think their senior leadership (Wolfowitz, Cohen) and students (Karlin) has advocated and planned some seriously terrible Mid-East FP over the years, but granted will not really affect anything I'm going to study and represents a minority.

It might not be what you need, but the admissions committees will need to see it. You can't just say "my dad worked for USAID for 40 years"

I actually think CaptainCrunk is a visionary exposing the unknowable nature of the universe, and irrelevance of material attachments. He is so committed to working in int-dev that he doesn't even need experience in int-dev to show the degree of his commitment to int-dev. That whooshing noise we're all hearing? That's the sound of a Buddhist koan flying directly over our unenlightened heads. Open up baby birds, mama's about to drop some wisdom.

It might not be what you need, but the admissions committees will need to see it. You can't just say "my dad worked for USAID for 40 years"

It might not be what you need, but the admissions committees will need to see it. You can't just say "my dad worked for USAID for 40 years"

It might not be what you need, but the admissions committees will need to see it. You can't just say "my dad worked for USAID for 40 years"