mv0027

I've got another innocuous question. If you get in, is it true that you get a phone call? I screen calls and usually don't pick up numbers I do not know. I guess I will come February. I guess people still obsessively check website in case they update first? Honestly, I would prefer an e-mail.

Ha. I like all the (semi?) serious responses. I didn't read them all, but I did a couple of mental exercises when I was deciding on schools. First, I just calculated my expected return on these applications (using the average admission rate). Since for most schools that's about 20%, I decided to apply to at least 5 schools (no chance I will not get into one, right?!?!?). I spent two years working at a think tank (a pretty good one, too). Those places are the best guesstimators in the world, it is pretty much what they do. So, I would just make some subjective modifications to the calculations above. For my mental exercises, I looked at average GPAs and GREs scores AND their standard deviation (when provided), and I came up with what I thought was my individual chances at each school. Re-calculate your expected return with those probabilities, and I feel that will give you a decent sense. Side note - I wish more schools provided standard deviation, that tells soooo much more about how they value GPA and GREs.

Sure. But if it goes in the other direction, it would make a big difference. For example, Harvard wants just 10 and gets 600 applicants while Michigan wants 30 but only gets 400 applicants. I'm inclined to think it matters and I should have thought about it more! You are probably right though, and hopefully it is a wash if you applied to lots of schools. No joke about how killer the wait is....

Hello World. I've lurkered on these forums a few years now. Super proud of myself for submitted 6 applications these year! Forums like these certainly helped (with advise, not so much with morale). Thanks! How do you figure out the size of programs? I know you can piece it together from FAQ and a department's website, but generally, what is a "big" program and what is a "small" program? I consider myself a fairly informed applicant (since I'm older and got a masters from a university to which I am currently applying to), but I didn't really think about size much in selected my schools. Having said that, 4 of 6 applications were at public schools, so my guess is that I applied mostly to "big" programs. All things equal, that has to make your chances better, right? From the numbers I've seen, it does not seem that smaller programs get equally smaller number of total applicants! Cheers!

"Lots of other places to do IR. " That's helpful.

your kidding right? Apply to the 2-3 tops schools. If your profile is what you say it is, there is no way you will get in to at least one, likely all of them. Student profiles are super over-inflated. I've worked with plenty of WWS graduates. On paper they tend to be pretty impressive, but there is nothing special about them. Just people that have been crossing every T and dotting every i their whole life...which, in my book, sounds kinda lame.

Sure. Two schools (one of which is an entirely different discipline) mention that they are ok with more than one-page. There are exceptions to every rule. The point on resumes being different for grad school than they are for work is well taken. But again, "professional" schools tend to focus on being very career-focused. A good resume coming in means a good resume upon graduation (admissions know that). More generally, congrats to hgd12. This was a weird moment in my life, but it sounds like you have gotten to that place in life when you have lots of experiences that make you a strong candidate for a variety of jobs. As such, you we need to learn how to highly-customize your resume accordingly. When I was in graduate school, I had different resumes for research jobs, consulting jobs, non-profit jobs, jobs-abroad, etc. Cutting things out feels weird at first, but learning to create a super-baller one-page resume is an important skill in life. A resume is like a first date in my opinion. First you have to get past the cheesy pickup line (i.e. elevator pitch). On the first date you want to give all the major highpoints, while still leaving them curious about all the details that fill in the cracks and make you awesome. In which case, they'll be dying to go out with you again (or call you for an interview). Can't be too sure, but my guess is drop the volunteer work (unless is was something MAJOR like the peace corps, serious development project, etc). Everyone applying to SAIS has spent a week in Latin America building [insert any public good here]. Tighten up the education section. Only things worth mentioning are the institution, degree, honors, and anything DIRECTLY related to your interests in SAIS. Student council appointments, clubs, etc should be dropped. Jobs bullet points should only be about 2 lines per year of employment. good luck!

I've meet CEOs and the like that manage to keep their resume to one page. If you are applying to masters program and presumably only have a bachelors and a couple years of work experience, there is no reason you can't keep it to one page. You are either being too wordy or trumping up experience that isn't that great. It is standard practice in all industries (outside academia) to keep resumes to one-page. Thinking you are different will, appropriately, illicit a negative response.

I work at a think-tank and disagree! I've tried to get people's opinion on here before about it, and I got back mixed thoughts. Most professors I've talk to say think tank experience is a plus. Sure, it isn't the exact same thing, but it shows you have a general idea of what research is and that it is something you are interested in. Fellows at think-tanks are usually move back and forth between universities, so I'm not sure why people don't think it is helpful. Esp, if it a reputable think tank that isn't super ideological. So yeah, heritage institute isn't going to help, but a Brookings or Carnegie certainly are...

Yes. That would be enough. Some people on here might disagree, but haters gonna hate, you know?

As long as they are second years and not gonna be around when you get there, who cares right? I'm sure some will reply and some won't. I was part of student government and we sent a letter at my school to all the admits with our e-mails telling them they were free to. I mean, if students get upset about having to ignore an e-mail, that isn't the kind of place you want to be. If you reach out to students that will be there when you are there, that could be a little annoying. You'll seem like an over-achiever.

Oh. In that case, the more professional the better.

Wait, I don't use LaTex much, but I'm gonna go out on a limb and say, yes, adcoms would think that is weird. are you talking about sending your SOP in like a file that is written in LaTex over a word or PDF doc? From what I understand of LaTex, you use it to make the lives of document editors easier. I don't anyone on the university's end is gonna convert your file into a easy read file. So, the adcom would be looking at your raw text file? Wouldn't they rather just see it in PDF, which is much easier to read? Sending it over like that, in my opinion, shows you don't really understand who does what in the world of publications. Again, I don't know the software well though, so feel free to enlighten me. I would recommend sending it PDF while mentioning in your CV your knowledge of LaTex.

The IR/PS PhD program isn't really taking in new students. If that is your goal, apply to the pol sci PhD program. Get to know IR/PS faculty and transfer in during your second or third year. Again, it is my understanding that they aren't accepting any new applicants anyway.

There are others at IR/PS! Miles Kahler surely fits the bill as a "senior scholar." He isn't solely focused on SE asia but certainly knows the region well. There are also many economist that cover the region that are open to working with pol sci students (not sure if that helps with elections but maybe development politics). Plus, if you are interested in elections, Shugart is at UCSD....that man is brilliant! If you are interested in SE asia I agree that UCSD is a great choice! I'm baised I went there....

I've seen a few online MBA programs from top schools...those might be ok. As far as I know, none of the IR schools have adopted this model.

Are there any good online programs for any degree?

sounds like you already made up your mind that you want to work at the UN or WB - which is far from guaranteed regardless of what school you go to - but based off my experiences, SAIS or WWS are the best way to go. WWS, well, because it is the best and SAIS because they have crazy connections in DC. I would say SIPA is good, but it is gonna cost you way too much.

I think these forums only talk about talking about pol sci, not actually talk about pol sci.

@mocha. I agree that you need to think about the long-term.....that is the only reason I live in DC now!

Shouldn't knock someone for not wanting to live somewhere. Career isn't everything for everyone. When I apply, I'll have a huge preference for west coast schools!

eh. I think people tend to underestimate that adcoms are filled with pretty smart people that understand that applicants should be viewed holistically. If you application gives the overall vibe that you can't handle quant, then, yeah, you are kinda screwed. But if the applicant is strong, but it seems like you had an off moment on the GRE quant, it shouldn't be a deal breaker. If you applying to programs that aren't super quanty, I don't think it will be that bad. Not to mention, your verbal is pretty impressive. I wouldn't let it hold you back from applying to whatever school you want to go to. I don't know what you mean by a research publication in a "top journal" but if that it true, that means a lot to them. Good luck.

How is your quant experience otherwise? Have you done well in (or even taken) math courses, did you publication include any data crunching, etc....

this is for MPA right? Not PhD? I disagree. Work experience is important. These schools will appreciate an American that got a job in Europe, assuming the company is legit and more or less reputable. Professional schools need applicants and money. They inflate the admission figures on their websites significantly. I think you have a good chance at getting into all these schools, minus HKS. Also depends on why your GPA was low. If it is based off your freshman and soph years, just be sure to explain that and tell them your GPA from your last two years.

@ understatement700. Yes, tuition has gone up significantly in the past few years. Overall, it is really said to see the cuts that the University of California (the best public education institution in the world) is having to undergo. IR/PS itself is growing. They continue to hire faculty from top schools (in the past two years hired freshly minted PhDs from Harvard and Stanford, and stole a professor from stanford law and princeton WWS). They are planning on increasing enrollment by 10-20% each year for the next few years. I don't think graduate tuition has gone up at all in the UCs. However, since UCSD is giving less money to IR/PS every year, the school has had to raise its "professional fees" to make up for the loss. So what a IR/PS student pays has gone up. Keep in mind, however, tuition at the big east coast schools is also going up, though I don't know if at the same rate. You do not NEED a car in San diego. Many of my classmates did not have one. However, SD is harder to get around without than DC or NYC, so a lot of people want a car. Rent in SD is significantly less than those cities though. Overall, I would still guess that an IR/PS degree will cost about 60% of a degree from SAIS, Gtown, or Tufts and likely 50% of a degree from SIPA. My understanding is that those schools charge 40K in tuition alone. @msn. On professors - huge plus for IR/PS in my opinion. I believe the utility that students get from professors in normally distributed. Meaning, unknown professors with no connections and no publication record are usually willing to talk to you for hours about your background, goals, and aspirations. On the other end, you can go to WWS, but you aren't going to share an office with Paul Krugman for two years. IR/PS lands somewhere in the middle I think (where utility is highest!). Professors are busy because they work with a variety of institutions and have to worry about publishing. However, they realize that the success of the school depends on the success of the students as well. So, they are willing to work with/help/guide students, so long as you aren't wasting their time, just telling them about yourself, and demonstrate that you are serious and willing to put in the work. Also, several of them are very social and enjoy just hanging out and chatting with students are the school's events. On debt - yup, you will have some, but, again, probably less than from other similarly ranked programs. On financial aid - there is some. there are also teaching/research/admin positions that provide additional help. These are quasi-competitive though so you have to be active and involved to get them. On jobs - this highly depends on you. I was EXTREMELY proactive in looking for a job and I had two years of solid work experience before grad school. I landed my dream job. Even if I wouldn't have gotten this job, I had several other good leads I stop pursuing after my first offer. Other students haven't been so lucky. I do know of some classmates that are still "looking" for work. I think it is largely their own fault though for not putting in the leg work (e-mailing alumni, polishing resume, etc). Speaking of jobs, I should get back to mine!