SaraDC

I'm working on a pro/con document that I'll be happy to share when it's a bit more complete (SIPA will also be included). Out of curiosity, are any of you planning on attending the admitted students' day at any of the schools in April? I'm expecting to learn a lot there - even though it's going to be a crazy week.

No problem - you hit on something I've been thinking a lot about recently I don't think BC/DC makes a difference, but I'll PM you the contact info for the person at SAIS who can answer. As for Georgetown, I don't have that contact info - but I'm sure someone does. Maybe ask admissions or on the facebook page? My guess is, if they can give you the person to talk to, and if that person is willing to discuss it, you'll have to make the case for why you want to be at SFS and why you need JD from ___ (Berkeley or Michigan). But you're right about the international/domestic front. That's probably what you need to decide on before you pick on a school - can you go to the open house days? It might be helpful to talk to people there. Also, this is probably something you've already though about, be sure you really need the JD before going down that road. 2 extra years is a lot of school and lost earnings/experience for a degree if it isn't integral to what you want to do in the future. good luck!

I'm hoping for a dual degree MA/MBA - and I've been frustrated with the limitations at both Columbia and Georgetown. But SAIS on the other hand is really great at mixing and matching programs. I'm not sure how this works for a JD, but for the MA/MBA program you'd go from 4 year's worth of school to 3 years because both programs agree to waive a semester's worth of overlapping credits. SAIS will waive the semester for the majority of reputable MBA programs, so that puts you at 3.5 years. If you can get the business school to do the same, you're down to 3. I wonder if this is similar for JD. Having said all this, I'm under the impression that both Georgetown and Columbia used to be more flexible with their joint/dual degree policies - I know of people (a bit older) with joint degrees from both schools + SAIS. But according to the contact I've talked to at SAIS in charge of joint degrees, both schools have become more restrictive in recent years. I don't know for certain that you can't try an individual appeal (combining SIPA and GT MBA for example) - that's why I was curious if you'd tried it yet with Georgetown. (if you make that work - please let me know) As far as HKS MPP/GT MSFS - that might actually be sort of redundant. But if you're serious about the Masters+JD, take another look at SAIS. I bet they'd be willing to consider your JD options. If you're concerned about taking a step "down" by picking SAIS of SFS - I definitely don't think that's the case. Georgetown has the top IR undergrad program, but their grad program has competition (WWS, SAIS, SIPA - and I'm not as familiar with it, but probably Tufts too). I think it comes down to specialty. For example, SFS has the Middle East market cornered, but when it comes to professional econ programs - I think that title goes to SAIS.

I'm not sure I'd label SFS as the best IR program in the world. It's a great school, but it definitely has some strong competition for that title. I'm curious about your dual degree. My understanding is that if you attend SFS as part of a joint/dual degree your only JD option is Georgetown Law. Has Georgetown given you the okay to combine with Berkeley or Michigan?

If you've tried to calling the Fin Aid office since the emails were sent, you've probably noticed it goes straight to voicemail. Fortunately, the office has been fairly responsive via email - although they won't give out any details over email or phone (my undergrad instance in the online system is preventing me from accessing any award info). However, according to one of the email responses I received, information about fin aid specifics will also be included in a soon-to-be-received hard copy acceptance package. Maybe that will clear things up? Shorty - you might consider sending them an email to see if they have an easy answer for you about the loans.

So true.

Nothing's changed on the applyyourself page so far. I'm pretty familiar with it given that I've logged in and out at least 200 times over the past 48 hours. Looks like that effort was all for naught - but I'm not complaining.

Just got the acceptance email! Amazing - I had just finished convincing myself that I was going to have to wait for a letter in April. Thank goodness. Details from the letter: -Nearly 1,000 applicants this year (class size of less than 100) -Open house Thursday April 14 (2 days after SIPA, and one day after SAIS - that's going to be a crazy week) -No mention of funding (for me at least - anyone else?) So excited - I finally have a MA/MBA combo possibility. Congrats to everyone!

Agreed, in fact - there are responses on the results page for all the other SFS programs (security studies, arab studies, latin america, etc.) - some snail mail some email. I guess the MSFS go out last?

I wonder if they would be more open to pushing it back - starting fall 2012? The major downside to a spring start date is that you'd be on a different schedule than the rest of your class. Not only would everyone already know each other, but you'd graduate at different times (which actually could be a good thing for the the job search...).

I tend to agree. Some students find internships (part time) around DC - but the ones who interned in my office needed to maintain very flexible work schedules to accommodate exams and other mandatory activities. I know some people that worked on campus too - in the library or as a teaching assistant. I'm not sure if one of those jobs would be enough to make ends meet though - probably depends on your family situation.

Yeah - reading through it seems to me like admissions was less than forthcoming about the results. Everyone admitted got an email earlier than expected, but whenever anyone who hadn't received an email called - admissions told them that their letters were in the mail or set to be mailed (never acknowledging that the admitted students had already been notified). I'm sure it would be nice to get a hard copy confirmation of an acceptance, but I'll trade that satisfaction for an earlier notification. I really hope we avoid the uncertainty that people went through last year - and it seems like email notifications are the best way to accomplish that.

It looks like last year all admits received an email on the evening of 3/15 - they also received a paper letter a few days later. I don't have any reason to think admissions will do the same thing again, just hoping I guess.

Any guesses (informed or otherwise) about when we'll hear? I was hoping for tonight- but hope is fading.

That's definitely awesome - congrats to all of those who got funding. Waiting until tomorrow is going to be tough. Georgetown - hurry up and post something tonight!

Thank you for the specifics. I get an error on the first step: * the ISIS ID you entered isn't valid * this ID already has an account created. Click the 'Already a user?' link below to sign in. Frustratingly, it might be because I have a JHED ID from my undergrad (which I think I no longer have access to...). If I can't find a way around this I'll just have to call tomorrow when they are back in the office. Oh waiting...

Would you mind clarifying how you were able to login. When I put the userid in the "Welcome to ISIS" screen - I get an error message.

I just got an email that indicated I've been awarded finaid. I'm definitely having trouble accessing the system to see it though... anyone else?

Okay, for those of us who were concerned about not sending in the right forms to be considered for fin aid (as discussed on ) - I just received an email from SAIS Fin Aid office: Sounds like we're in the clear. Here's hoping for an email!

Did you try a different browser? I have to use firefox with applyyourself.

This is very true - not that the federal government doesn't need new people, it's that the hiring process is insanely burdensome and slow. One of the programs put in place to hire new grads was just done away with (some agencies were accused of abusing it). But when Obama came into office he pledged to streamline the process (no more KSA's, much shorter turn around) - but who knows when this will come into effect.

Just got a call from the MBA program - I'm in. Now I'm really nervous about the SFS program... ohpleasepleaseplease. Wait, begging doesn't help does it?

I guess "military-ish" probably isn't the best word to describe it. What I meant to convey is that it's very structured. You go to country X for 3 years and stamp passports (yes, everyone has to do it), then you go to country y for 3 years, then country z, etc. Many foreign service officers have spouses that either a) don't work or have very flexible lifestyles. Or they are married to other foreign service officers. Again, not necessarily a bad thing. But it's a very defined career path. I've also heard a number of my FS friends express frustration that they felt very removed from policy making decisions. You can send back your reports to DC, but the decisions about policy are made in DC, not at the embassy. You also have to be the face of the US (and US policy) - which isn't all that bad if you're in India during the Obama administration. But if you're stationed in the Middle East during the Bush administration - you either support the administration's policy agenda or you resign. There isn't a lot of middle ground (which is just to say it's a political job, like many in DC). If you're serious about finding out more, the best person to talk to is someone in the foreign service. I'm sure there are a lot of positives that I'm not focusing on in this post.

Not vague at all actually. Part of working for the government is the fact that for 9 jobs out of 10, everyone knows what you're making (it's a transparency thing). Most federal workers are on the general service (GS) pay scale (unless you're military, a political appointee, or foreign service at the state department*). You can get a good sense of what jobs you might be interested in, and what the associated pay grades are at usajobs and opm.gov. With a graduate degree, you'll most likely start at a GS-11 or GS12 (this is pretty much the same across the board: State, Treasury, USaid, Commerce, etc.), but you'll also be living in DC. This means you'll be getting locality pay as well (a certain percentage tacked on top of the pay grade to account for cost of living expenses). You can check here to see what those salaries look like, remember that you'll probably be starting at GS 11, step 1. Foreign Service (FS) is a different pay scale, and I'm not quite as familiar with it. I believe the pay is somewhat comparable to the GS scale, but there are tax/savings advantages for living abroad at an embassy. Foreign service is definitely an attraction for some people, but it's a little too military-ish for me. If you commit to a foreign service career track, you're committing to moving around from embassy to embassy every 2-4 years. Based the description of your lifestyle you gave earlier (single, flexible) - foreign service is definitely something you might consider. Anyway, this was probably more info than you were asking about. The point I was trying to get at, is that there are a subset of jobs that do pay less than 65k a year. Generally these are the sorts of jobs you find on idealist.org. In other words, you're exchanging salary for something really rewarding. If you suspect (maybe based on your previous work experience) that you're going to be drawn to those types of opportunities, I'd stay away from saddling yourself with huge amounts of debt. But if you want to work in the federal government, you at least have a sense of what you'll be earning. I'm still not saying go for the debt, just trying to give you more data points.

I agree with the previous poster - I think the SAIS fin aid info is coming out at the end of this week. Can you be a little more specific with your career goals? Are you thinking more along the lines of non profit work in the developing world, or are you talking about working for the government?