irgraduatedr

Previous Schools (Name, type, or tier): University of Pennsylvania Previous Degrees and GPA's: BA Honors in International Relations and Political Science (GPA 3.75) GRE Scores (Verbal/Quantitative/Analytical Writing): V 730 Q 750 AW 5.5 Previous Work Experience (Years, Type): 6 months working in government, 5 months interning for OAS, about a year interning for think-tanks directly related to my field of study Math/Econ Background: Intro to Calculus, Micro and Macro, Intro to Statistics (Bs and B+s) Foreign Language Background: Spanish (native), English (fluent), and Portuguese (advanced) Intended Field of Study in Grad School: Development Economics & Latin American Studies Long Term Professional Goals: Work for the World Bank, IMF, IDB etc. and/or go into development or management consulting Schools Applied to & Results: Applied to SAIS (Johns Hopkins), SIPA (Columbia) and SFS (Georgetown) Admitted: SAIS (with fellowship), SIPA (no funding) and SFS (no funding) Ultimate Decision & Why: Going to SAIS. Was my top choice from the beginning and they gave me some funding to sweeten the deal. Probably best place to go of the places I applied for the careers I am most interested in. I also love the rigorous econ training that is required there. It was ultimately either going to be SAIS or SFS. I am happy with my choice.

Hi to the above poster... The area around AU is pretty suburban and it can be a bit of a hassle to get to downtown from there. I don't know what you are looking for in terms of affordability though. What's your price range? If you are going to AU you are probably better off living somewhere on the red metro line. If you want the "city life" in DC you want to be as close as possible to the whole Dupont Circle/Adams Morgan/ U Street area of the city. Try to find something in Cleveland Park and Woodley Park areas to be at least somewhere between AU and the fun parts of DC. As far as getting a roommate goes, I would check to see if facebook has a AU SIS Class of 2011 group. That would be the best first place to look for prospective roommates that are probably not insane and are in more or less the same situation as you. After that I would guess going on craigslist would be your other option. Hope this helps

I am in the same boat in terms of deciding between Georgetown and SAIS. I can't make up my mind until I get the official packet that tells me whether I have funding at either school. Probably the biggest difference between both schools is the very heavy econ requirements at SAIS, especially compared to the more broad-based approach that SFS has. I am leaning toward SAIS. Mostly it is about where I would like to work after my studies. I'd like to work at the World Bank, IDB etc. or possibly take up consulting (either development or management). I think is probably better to go to SAIS for that kind of career. If you are thinking of joining the foreign service, or anything related pretty directly with American fp then you should go to SFS. If you want to possibly get into the private sector (possibly) definitely consider doing the certificate in international business diplomacy.

Got into Georgetown MSFS! Got sent an email. Supposedly everybody will get their official decisions by the end of the work week. If you don't receive the admissions packet by the end of the week you can email them to find out. Good luck!

Funding info will definitely come with your acceptance packet. I remember reading in the SAIS chat that the reason why they waited so long to send out the decision was so that they could include the financial aid package with them. Seems like people complained about finding out about funding weeks after they were accepted. So I guess just check your mail everyday.

Math is probably the biggest concern for me, but at least most of the schools where I got in have math tutorials to do over the summer. I will be brushing up on my portuguese too, as well as rereading my principles of econ textbooks and statistics too.

The only thing that worries me about SAIS. at least in comparison with programs like Columbia, Georgetown and especially Harvard, is that Johns Hopkins does not really have a lot of prestige outside the U.S. If you are an international student (like me) that could be a major downside of going to SAIS instead of one of these other programs if you actually want to go back to your country to work. Even so, SAIS is still the school I most want to attend, at least unless Georgetown comes through with some decent funding (and SAIS doesn't).

I guess I am going to have to wait a few more days before it gets to me here in my country. Hopefully I will get an answer from SFS soon...

I had to deal with this insanity for a week. I can't imagine having to wait two weeks. That's just plain wrong! Hopefully you guys get in and get some funding for all your worrying. Good luck!

I just emailed them at msfsinfo@georgetown.edu to find out how we are going to be notified of admissions or rejections... I can't wait to hear from them!

"Decisions will be communicated via postal mail, and we plan to send out notifications on or before March 20th" Ummm, does notification mean we will be told by today whether we got in or not? I didn't even notice this last part until i went to the results page. WTF~!?

GPA 3.75 from Ivy League Uni Majors IR and Poli Sci GRE Verbal 730 Math 750 AW 5.5 WE: about 2 years. Internships in DC for international organization and think-tanks closely related to field of study. Working for the government in a developing country