aronofsky

Hi all, I want to get a feel for what you think my chances are of getting into some of the "top" IR programs. Candid feedback/comments are encouraged and greatly appreciated. Thank you! Schools: Georgetown SFS, Johns Hopkins SAIS, Princeton WWS, HKS, Tufts Fletcher, Yale Jackson, GW Elliott Career goals: State Department in foreign policy related role. Institution: Large public university. Major: Major in Spanish (Interpretation, Translation), minors in Portuguese, Italian GPA: 3.45 (major upward trajectory, was below 2.0 after sophomore year) GRE score: 168 Verbal 160 Quant, 5.0 writing. Work experience: Fulbright ETA/policy internships in EU country, two years for northeastern consultancy, one year working with energy tech ngo in Eurasian country. Coursework: Micro Economics, Macro Economics, Intro to Stats (all A) Language skills: Near-native Spanish and Portuguese, fluent in Russian, proficient in Persian (Dari) and Italian. OTHER: Miscellaneous internships during undergraduate, including with (D) rep from my state. A few undergraduate awards for top senior in my area of studies. Overseas experience (work, study and teaching): One year in Chile, one summer in Honduras at US embassy, another in Mexico. Year working in Central Asia. Statement of Purpose: My background has been unusual, so I believe this area will be strong once tied all together and explained. Extra Essays: Policy memos for Harvard and Princeton that I'm not thrilled to write, and I believe one for Columbia as well. Letters of Recommendation: These will be very strong. Concerns: Undergraduate GPA + multiple geographic areas of focus on one hand, potential lack of "service" requirements for WWS, which is my number one choice. Thanks again!

Can someone send me the information for the facebook group/listserv?

Got the Spain ETA!!! Email titled Fulbright Application Status received at 6:21 a.m. PST.

Well then, we can suffer together.

Are there any other Spain ETAs still waiting?

Anyone else receive news? Still waiting for Spain ETA. This is torture!

Would any of the other ETA people be interested in sharing essays/background information?

Spain ETA "should be sent out in the next few days." Congrats to everyone already accepted for their countries!

When did you hear this??

Are you a full or ETA finalist? And have you called recently?

Thank you! Best of luck to you all.

Lagio, were you just now notified? As in within the last hour?

You could always place a call to or email the Spain Fulbright Commission. So far I've made a pair of calls to Rachel's office, so I'm hoping someone else will step up and find out something for all of us.

Update on Spain: "We haven't heard anything from the Spain Commission but we hope it will be within the next two weeks." I guess all previous estimates were pure guess work. Trying to stay positive!

Thank you for calling. That's essentially what she told me last week when I gave her a ring. I think for my nerves' sake, it'd be better for me not to read anyone else's essay. I would be willing to send you mine, if you'd like.

Just out of curiosity, which country were you listed as a Fulbright alternate for?

I talked to Rachel today. She made me stipulate if I was a finalist for ETA or Full to Spain, at which point she told me "between one and two weeks." I hope to God that the protests don't continue much longer/turn violent.

If anyone else is interested in knowing, I'm willing to call Rachel tomorrow to inquire into the status of the Spain ETAs. That is, unless someone already received an indication of when to be expecting notification?? Anyone?

Yo también lo espero. Eres el primer finalista para la región de Cantabria que he visto por estos lados. Espero que te salga todo bien.

I am too. Would you mind if I asked which region you're a finalist for?

Are there any other Spain ETA finalists here?? This wait is driving me insane!

Also recommended for Spain. The waiting is awful but hopefully it'll pay off when we find out in (I hope) early-mid April. Best of luck to you.

Thank you, both of you, for your replies; they've been most helpful. Once I get my GRE scores back (November since I'm taking the revised test) I'll post a complete "profile", if you will, to give you a more complete idea of what I'm working with. Thanks again.

Thanks for the response - the work experience issue has me a bit concerned as well; the program I went with to Chile was more or less a work/study program - the first semester was designed to give us a professional knowledge of Spanish that was then tested at the end of the program. If the student was deemed appropriately fluent, he/she was then placed in a different Chilean university to take more advanced classes with Chilean students, whilst simultaneously carrying out a role in the organization of events for other international students with a lesser knowledge of Spanish throughout the semester. I've also helped plan and run a monthly medical clinic in Mexico, have served as a volunteer/paid interpreter in Costa Rica and Honduras, and will be interning later this month until mid part of august in Madrid, Spain in an international banking firm. Campus wise, I'm one of five students in charge of coordinating essentially everything related to all the foreign exchange students coming to the university this coming year, and contribute to the only bilingual Model United Nations conference as an interpreter/translator, and by giving speeches on internationally relevant topics in Spanish. I suppose that's nothing in comparison to the peace corps or working for the U.N., but it's at least something.

Hello everyone, I'm a student at the University of Arizona set to graduate May of 2012 with a B.A. in Spanish Translation & Interpretation, with minors in Portuguese and Italian. I plan to take the revised GRE in august and subsequently apply for various foreign affairs programs, with The Elliott School's Latin American and Hemispheric Studies M.A. being my number one choice. That being said, is either my lack of a degree in Political Science/International Relations or my not having taken economics going to severely hinder me? According to the LAHS's background preparation page, the only requirements outside of the standard M.A. requirements are four semesters of either Spanish or Portuguese, so there are no economic prerequisites, per say. I spent a year in Chile studying Latin American culture and Political Science, and am quite active in terms of internationally-relevant jobs and organizations on campus, but I'm curious as to whether a humanities degree might serve as a deterrent. Thank you in advance, I appreciate any advice/recommendations that you all may have.