went_away

Just asking that question hurts you. It's like asking if you should get a two master's degrees, one in international relations and the other in international affairs.

Didn't rank it as their program tends to be geared toward academic and pure economist types and not as much at those aiming for policy and private sector careers. I also don't know as much about it and have never run into one of their grads among the government and industry circles I frequent in DC and NYC. I do know they have made some serious moves in recent years to stock up on top teaching talent and being Chicago they have quite a lot of money. Just not sure how much of that translates to significant scholarship support or powerful career impact. Having said all that, Chicago would certainly make top 6 in my list above.

It's a very flawed and very lazy ranking but a real shame if they've discontinued it as it was about the only source for accountability regarding school quality and outcomes.

This is one of the major reason why I say there's really no competition between the Wilson School and other graduate schools of Public and International Affairs. Princeton is in a category of its own. Besides, career opportunities are superb and the scholarship results in an even more competitive cohort.

Reported (and a baseless, personal attack as a quick search of my post history will confirm).

What is your problem? Please stop following me around on these boards.

Good enough to get in, probably not good enough to get a scholarship. You'll have to decide it it's worth it. I would say no if you can't get at least 1/3 knocked off the tuition of any of the US schools you list. You clearly have not given this future career enough thought and need to make your future goals statement much more sophisticated and cohesive - you're way, way WAY too high-level "I want to end war and save the world and immigration and law and violence and state identity and migration...." right now. Tighten it up, have a couple people in the field read your essays, do some substantive revisions, and you might have a shot at a relatively decent scholarship. I would strongly suggest dropping Boston from your list and adding (roughly in order of preference) Fletcher MALD (decent shot at a scholarship), Georgetown School of Security Studies (almost no shot at a scholarship), GW Elliot (would need to network and intern like mad; scholarship chance I don't know), and NYU (they have decent, under the radar international affairs program; worthless without a scholarship, though).

Strong endorsement of this post with one disagreement: I've had tons of adventurous opps as a result of my Fletcher education and expect these to continue.

Meant cachet of the MSFS is rapidly fading due to the awful government job market (which has been their bread and butter), G'town's disgraceful lack of funding opportunities, and the emergence of strong alternatives like the Yale Jackson School.

Nowhere near enough information to make a judgement on your suitability for an HKS degree. At first glance, yes you would be very competitive, but the immediate question would be why the heck would you want this degree?

If your education and work experience are as impressive as you make them out to be you should be able to land a respectable/good/elite entry-level job in public policy in India or abroad (Europe, etc). I would therefore *strongly* encourage you to do that and work for 1-3 years before applying to the Kennedy school. In addition, I would strongly recommend you also apply to Princeton and Oxford. Good luck.

Ahh, good point. Maybe rank their MPA/ID program a couple ticks below Yale Jackson because of the Kennedy School's dearth of scholarship money.

Good point, my breakout assumes the full-time degree associated with International Affairs for each school - I only specified it for Georgetown, because the MSFS is so different from any other degree in their School of Foreign Service (they care about it much more and invest much more in the students). So for Fletcher that would be the MALD and for SIPA it would be the International Affairs degree (though I always thought the MPA/MIA distinction at SIPA was largely superficial, sounds like I was mistaken).

Sadly, we don't get enough data or rankings on the success or otherwise of graduate schools of international affairs. So below I present my unscientific and personal rankings, based on the amount and quality of career options afforded to students, the academic experience, resources devoted to education (including scholarships), and general calibre of the program. Also based on the notorious William and Mary rankings, US News and World Report rankings of the overall university (it has a halo effect on every school), my visits to schools, endowment size per student, LinkedIn research, personal interactions with grads at work functions, and happy hour mixers in DC/NYC. I really wish international and public affairs schools had the same scrutiny placed on them as law schools and business schools do (Poets and Quants does a GREAT job of analyzing biz school performance). Accountability is long overdue in so much of higher education, especially professional schools. 1. Princeton Wilson (scholarship money for everybody!! super shady insider deals with elite government agencies to place students!! fast track to PMF positions! Big 3 consulting gigs normally only open to MBAs!!!!) 2. Yale Jackson (scholarship money for nearly everybody!! super rich parent university! elite connections galore!) 3. Georgetown (only the MSFS degree) (scholarship money for nearly nobody! best reputation of the bunch in this specialty. strong network throughout the US government, fading fast) 4. Fletcher - SIPA - SAIS (tie) (YMMV, great schools, these 3 generally set the standard for what an MA in International Affairs should be, WAY too expensive, generally overrated for what they can actually do for your career) 7. GW Elliot (HUGE variance in student quality and outcomes, evening program, doesn't have the community or elite cachet of any of the above, still a good program with many resources) 8. American SIS (those who hustle here can do just as well as grads of the elite programs) 9. Denver Korbel (ditto American, but tough to hustle in Denver) 10. Pittsburgh GSPIA (very impressed with what I've seen of this school) Unranked: Kennedy School (not enough of their grads or program seems focused on international affairs vs domestic policy. If I did rank, I'd probably put it in third place between Yale and Georgetown). Thoughts?

IMHO, all of the grad schools you listed are less prestigious and competitive to get into than UCLA undergrad.

No clue, but sounds like a thoroughly terrible idea. The type of student G-town wants in their MSFS is not interested in a dual regional studies degree.

Ehh, I don't know. You have a great GPA and went to an amazing undergrad. Sounds more like you should get serious about life and try to find and keep a grown up job before jetting off to some lesser, but expensive grad school program. You are a far more attractive job applicant right now than you will be 3 years from now when you are 3 years older and graduating from that expensive, lesser grad school program.

As I always tell people...the following factors matter much, much more than a fancy master's degree: veteran's preference, security clearance, cyber skills, industry experience/credibility, your fraternity brothers/sorority sisters. Also, expected salaries are WAY out of whack with full-freight tuition at top schools. Nobody should be paying the outrageous sticker price for the shimmering, hazy dream sold by schools. So sure, go to the fancy school (with a scholarship of some kind!). But also do the following...gain experience and credibility in a particular industry. Get a security clearance. Build your network. Pick up a side skill or three along the way (cyber, bio-security, PMP, training). Be willing to change jobs, and often. Play hard ball in salary negotiations. Build in side gigs. Consider going into business for yourself. On leaving DC....well, I would say NYC is an even better market, but it's true that these degrees don't carry much weight away from the east coast. I would suggest making the move once one is a little more established and with a more recognizable/traditional sounding job title.

A quick read of my post history will confirm that's not the case. You appear to know little to nothing about this field.

Very strong profile. Go to the Kennedy School and don't look back. I suggest you tap into their network in Colombia before applying. They have a lot of very well placed grads in key public sector positions.

That has not been my experience as an established professional in this field. I would be curious what research or experience you have that brought you to that conclusion.

Make Washington state the strongest, richest, happiest state in the country/world.

I would put Fletcher's MALD program with a security focus as #2 in the world (after Georgetown) so would definitely add them to your list. You might also add SIPA to your list. Just remember, having a clearance, veteran's preference, cyber skills, and industry experience are all factors that matter far, far more than any MA in Security Studies.

Dude, this process could take more than a year. Forget about the government job and live your life.

You'll be fine. They'll probably admit you provisionally on probation with requirements to keep your GPA at a certain level.