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yo_yo and IRLion, thank you guys for sharing. this is my expression too about the SIPA, that I got from this forum. I think SIPA mostly depends on the Columbia name and the advantage of NYC, so does not feel obliged towards the students. SAIS provides more attention and intimacy.

I think there is a huge meteorite coming towards the world and SIPA ad-com is trying to select the astronauts that will destroy it. that's why it is so difficult to choose. yeah, that makes sense...

That's good advice for current undergrads and people not applying this cycle, but it's incredibly obvious and has little to do with the questions of the OP. Of course you should work your ass off to get the best applications possible. I think the better question for discussion is, assuming you have done that, what is an acceptable level of debt for a given program? Should you really go into $60k of debt for this program or that program, or should you take the money and some other program?

Hi all, I just thought it would be a good idea to start a thread and chronicle any insight offered by applicants, current students, and those who have already graduated/well into their careers about decision-making when deciding to take out loans, the psychology and process of going into debt, and the practicalities of living day-to-day with a decade or more of repayment in a field where salaries rarely go into six digits. I hope this can be a substantive, meaningful thread that will serve as a guide for those currently weighing their options, as well as future applicants. At the very least, it might help out the few people I've seen casually mentioning the $120,000+ in loans they'll be incurring.

My story: I was accepted to all of the schools I applied to, which is obviously great. But I know deep down that sometime in the next few weeks I'll have to face the facts: I will have to turn down my #1 choice (dream school since 2004, believe it or not) and opt for the school that I know will be financially much less burdensome in the long-run (compare, at least according to rough calculations and allowing for wide margins of error the cost for two years' tuition/living expenses-- Dream School: $65-80,000 no possibility of part-time job vs Other School: $15-25,000 w/PT job $35-45,000 w/o PT job). It is of course an adult and wise decision to make, but that doesn't make me feel any better about it.

Naturally I'll survive and don't get me wrong, I feel so fortunate to be in such a privileged position (I'm not sulking around the house all day or anything!). But I still wanted to solicit the opinions of the GradCafe govt/IR/MPA/etc. community about your personal stories, rationales behind taking on your loan commitments, debt in general for degrees in this field, living with repayment, pros/cons, anything---whether you're applying to schools, currently enrolled, or even paying off your loans as we speak! Thank you!

@BendRnBender I am surprised to hear that the rankings are reputation based. Do you think this really explains why Kansas is at the top tier?

You would do well to drop the "insider", "those of us in the know" routine. You clearly work in academia, and perhaps in the ivory tower, USNWR rankings actually correspond with general reputation. But among DC professionals (at least in my experience), equating Kansas or Indiana or whatever with WWS, HKS, etc. will get you laughed at. A school's reputation in the academic tribe =/= reputation in the working world.

The fact that you included "faculty that are publishing in the major journals" as a major criterion of school quality is telling. I personally don't give 2 hoots whether, say, Madeleine Albright or Paul Pillar get published in the major academic journals, since their professional accomplishments speak for themselves.

That viewpoint isn't inherently any better or worse than yours, but I am quite sure it is one more commonly held on this forum, and among people who actually practice public policy. And by that perspective USNWR rankings are laughable - find me multiple Cabinet members, World Bank execs, think tank heads, etc. who went to Kansas or Indiana, and then I'll start believing they are ranked correctly.

Sorry I wasn't too clear, I'm going for an MPP in Policy Analysis not IR. Thanks for the advice though, I'll look at the other programs and try to get some decent letters of recommendation. I am not going for IR b/c I don't think the quantitative analysis is too strong, but if you know of programs that do have strong quant programs I'd appreciate any pointers. I'm really not into SAIS b/c of the neo-con faculty, but I haven't heard any specifics about the program beyond that.

Hey Stefania!

Doing poorly on the GRE is never good, but as you correctly identified, the damage can be mitigated by composing a really awesome statement of purpose, writing sample, etc. I recommending having a professor who is a native speaker of English (more accurately, is a native speaker of IvoryTower-ese) look over all your stuff, because going solely off your post I can see why you got a 2.5 on the AWA. Forgive me if that is harsh, since you clearly do speak English at a quite good level (and far better than I can speak Italian), but there are a number of grammatical errors and awkward constructions. If these mistakes were also present on the GRE, then the 2.5 was honestly earned. Luckily, for writing samples and SOPs you have the advantage of time for revision. Getting some quality editing from an educated native speaker, if you haven't already, will hopefully smooth out the linguistic bumps and let your actual ideas shine through.

PS - the GRE AWA is not graded solely by a computer. There are always at least two human graders as well.
Source: http://www.ets.org/g...ral/scores/how/