JAubrey

I am of the same mind, didn't go to UVA but have a number of friends from prep school who did and loved UVA when I stayed with them. And personally, I know I am going to end up in DC, but wouldn't mind being outside the beltway for my MPP...

Just came across this, it is a very young program, but sounds extremely interesting and sounds like it certainly has the money behind it. Does anyone know anyone who has done this? Is it mainly UVa alumni who've done it? Any thoughts on it? http://batten.virginia.edu/

I cannot applaud this sentiment enough. I have recently done the exact same thing and will be starting my new position soon, giving up higher pay and prospects to do a job I have a strong passion for and that my academic career prepared me for before I aimed for banking.

Wow. Just wow. This is the worst reasoned nonsense I have had the displeasure of reading. The MPP at Harvard is a fantastic degree, for more recent graduates and having met quite a few of them, they are exceptionally bright and thus far are doing well for themselves. As for MPA graduates looking down on them? Utter nonsense and shows you have positively no idea what you are talking about. Go back to your hole.

Short answer: Elliott (GW) by a long shot. Elliott boasts a better location in the heart of DC, greater access to the city / internship opportunities, and has a far better reputation. AU SIS is a fine school, however is a distant fourth in the DC area behind Walsh (GTown), SAIS (JHU), and Elliott (GW). AU also tends to have a much younger crowd, whereas Elliott has more people with work experience which allows for better networking not to mention what you can learn from them in the classroom.

I am looking at applying this Autumn at Stanford IPS, Yale Jackson, HKS, Georgetown MSFS, Columbia SIPA, and Princeton WWS, however I am a bit concerned age-wise, which programs skew younger and which older? I will be 29 when I would matriculate... Anyone have any thoughts on this? Similar concerns?

Neither university is that good. If you are truly interested in IR, Sciences-Po (Paris) is the only worthwhile option (every French President and Prime Minister in the 5th Republic has been educated there), and scholars from Sciences-Po are responsible for founding the LSE. Regarding the American Graduate School, I spoke there a number of years ago during my master's and was subsequently offered the chance to do a PhD with them, but at the time they lacked accreditation. Though the people were extremely friendly and some of the master's students were not unimpressive (mainly from middle of the road US undergraduate universities, I recall one from Temple and another from the University of Kentucky). I would largely say, avoid this programme unless it is your only option.

Fluffmeister, would you mind sharing your stats / background?

So this will be your third master's? No offence mate, but that is kinda taking the piss just a bit. What on Earth were your other master's in?

King's prides itself on its War Studies programme, and indeed nominally it is well regarded in the UK in some narrow fields. However the university is frankly extremely poorly regarded by private companies in the UK (nicknamed "the Strand Polytechnic" in the UK, Poly's were the UK equivalent of US community colleges / bad state schools up until the 1990s) and not known much at all abroad. In the UK obviously Oxbridge carries the most name recognition back to the United States, followed closely by LSE. After that Edinburgh and St Andrews are fairly well known on the East Coast, due to the number of elite prep schools (Andover, Exeter, Groton, etc.) who send their graduates abroad. Aside from that within politics other strong programmes like Warwick or UCl, aren't well recognised at all in the US, and I would put King's on a rung below them. If you are looking at UK master's for work in the US I would say Oxbridge, LSE, followed by Edinburgh and St Andrews, with maybe UCl tacked on to the end, don't bother with anything after that if you are counting on much name recognition in the world of policy / politics.

I took Macro- and Micro- Economics back during undergraduate (Received a B+ and a B, respectively if I recall correctly), as well as a Business Statistics course (B or B+, also during my BA), and did Pre-Calc at prep school. Is it worthwhile resiting these, taking more advanced econ courses, or perhaps doing IR / Government courses instead (I derived the latter idea from the WWS website)? Also where I live there are loads of community colleges, one big middle of the road state school, and a top 150 or maybe 125 private school. Is it better to attend these courses in person or to instead say take a course online through Harvard Extension or Berkeley Extension? Basically is the name of the latter worth prioritising over attending local universities in person? Of the elite IR / MPA universities that have been discussed here (SIPA / Jackson - Yale / WWS - Princeton / Harvard KS), do any of them particularly value you work experience and / or GRE above GPA?

What do people think of building an alternate transcript (IE taking a few courses in IR / Econ now, to provide evidence of academic ability / maturity), it is quite a common concept for MBA applicants but do you think it works for MPAs / MA IRs?

Schools Applying To: WWS - Princeton (MPA), SIPA - Columbia (MIA), Jackson - Yale (MA International Relations) Undergraduate institution: Top 10 IR program on the East Coast Undergraduate GPA: 3.1 (Major 3.55) Undergraduate Major: International Relations Master's: Top 5 UK University (International Politics - with a focus on security) GRE Quantitative Score: 750 GRE Verbal Score: 710 GRE AW Score: 5 Years Out of Undergrad (if applicable): 6 at time of application Years of Work Experience: 1 year in the Civil Service (domestic policy), 1.5 management consultancy, 2 years as an officer for an Intelligence Community agency Foreign Languages: Farsi (Basic - only recently started), French (near fluent), English - Native, One semester of Arabic, One semester of Italian Will (very) relevant work experience, and an above average GRE, along with some distance between undergrad and applying be enough to make me a competitive candidate at WWS / SIPA / Yale? Also I haven't seen much on Yale's MA in IR, anyone have experience with the program?

Hi, I am in my mid-20s and I am considering a master's in international relations (Yale) / MPA (IR focus) (Princeton WWS) / MIA (SIPA) My query is thus, I earned my BA in International Relations from a top 10 IR program on the East Coast, however only achieved a 3.0 GPA (3.5 major), mainly down to two bad grades and working 20 hours a week as an intern during term time. Subsequently I earned a one year MSc at a top 5 UK university in international politics. Since then I have worked in the Civil Service in domestic policy and as a consultant within the public / defense sector and now as an officer within an Intelligence Community (IC) agency. I test extremely well and in a practice GRE with no preparation scored in the high 700s, would a high GRE, strong work experience especially within an IC agency, be enough to off set my relatively low undergraduate GPA?) Cheers