meichen_l

Previous Schools (Name, type, or tier): 50 LAC Previous Degrees and GPAs: B.A., GPA: 3.67 GRE Scores (Verbal/Quantitative/Analytical Writing): v710, M780, AW4.5 Previous Work Experience (Years, Type): 0 Math/Econ Background: intermediate level economics courses, high level statistics courses, entry level math (Calculus) Foreign Language Background (if applicable to your program): Chinese (native), French( intermediate) Intended Field of Study in Grad School: International Relations (Intl law/human rights) Long Term Professional Goals: PHD in IR and then IGO work Schools Applied to & Results: Tufts Fletcher (Rej), HKS(Rej), Yale Jackson(Rej), Stanford IPS(Rej), Chicago CIR (Ad), Columbia SIPA(Ad), JHU SAIS(WL), Syracuse Maxwell(Ad), GWU elliott(Ad) Ultimate Decision & Why:Chicago CIR. It was an ultimate choice between CIR (academic track) and SIPA ( professional track). Given that I do want a PHD and the fact that I want to work in China (where the program you studied does not matter, what matters is the name of school), I chose Chicago as it definitely has a good reputation in academia/strong phd placement/ high ranking (for Chinese taste), and ultimately, cheaper than SIPA (CIR is one yr program)... Advice for Future Applicants: Professional work experience does matter... I'm still confused as why SIPA admitted me..HKS and Fletcher made it pretty clear that they do not want ppl with no professional work experience...

this morning...

in, but probably choose cir over sipa...

waiting list... guess i can only wait for sipa then

rejected by fletcher, any idea if that means i will get rejected by SAIS too?????

reject, as expected

i know some admitted students (10+) are very likely not going to accept the offer.. so i'd say your chance to get rid of WL is fairly big

mine said Funding info will come next week....

last year the first one came out on Mar 8th... and it last to 12...

in elliot...probably not going though

i think last couple of years they sent our in early march.. march 8th, more specifically.. though no idea if they will stick with this schedule this year

yep, really depends where you come from... i can assure you chinese students rarely get more than 15k funds nowadays.... sigh

got in univ of chicago, committee for intl relations... top school but pro-academic program .... hah i'm happy with it but i'm gonna to wait for more...

to jflorezi as mentioned by some of the posts above, the schools you mentioned are not generous about FA, and I heard this is especially true for international students... I'm from China and honestly from the admission record I have seen for the last three years, most of chinese students who got in SIPA, SAIS, and other "elite" IR schools got less than 10k/year. There are rumors ( and yes rumors! ) in intl student circle that if you request FA, your chances of admission would be lower... (again this is just rumor.. you will figure it out soon LOL...) anyway... the GOOD NEWS for you, though, is that judging from previous admission records, "elite" IR schools seem to be more lenient to intl students in terms of professional work exp.. so i think your lack for work exp (which is FATAL for domestic applicants) may not damage you as much as some above posts had suggested. Anyway, GOOD LUCK with admission and FA

got in my safe maxwell IR ma.... it's really a relief.... cause i have 0 work exp I thought i would end up get rejected by all.....anyway still waiting for 8 more schools....

not sure about ur gre/ ps, but your gpa /work exp are definitely solid.

to Nobama: not sure about the admission rate, but this is a small program.. around 25-30 students/yr to Grad-Nov, haha it's internet so people dont' really have a life.. but anyway, i think you are right, that Yale probably would look to work exp now... i also heard about their new policy-oriented course blablabla... actually what surprised me is that everyone I know admitted from China has 0 work exp, and everyone i know admitted from U.S have a tons of work exp.. so i'm confused about what's exactly is the school's policy ...

yes, i think nowadays most of app. for IR have some work exp. but still yale's program is relatively academic and my disadvantage in work exp won't hurt me as much as, say, in SIPA or HKS anyway, Yale is just one of the reach, so see if I get lucky. Also, it seems to me that intl students (especially those from China) have little work exp when they are admitted to IR programs.. so maybe there is different standard??

just made up my mind to apply for Jackson last week... their deadline is Jan. right? I guess i still have time LOL... i'm an international student though, so probably not in the same pool with you guys... Yale is super competitive and i doubt it I have a chance:p, but it's worthwhile to try anyway... also it's a pretty academic program.. and i have 0 professional work-exp, so i guess at least the work-exp won't drag me down in Yale's app.. good luck guys!

en, because i'm an international student, and it's extremely hard for an intl student to find a job in U.S. at this moment ( and my plan is to work in U.S or Europe for 2-3 yrs before I go back to china). I think if I get into a top MA degree right after college I may be able to either have a better chance of getting a IR related job, or I can just go back to China and find a job there right after I finish my Graduate school.... ( because they don't really recognize LAC undergraduate degree in China...)

i know all of those programs admit about 10-20% undergrad applicants... so hopefully i can make to that range with my gpa/gre... though I highly doubt that... in addition, anyone know if i will be evaluated with other international students or with American students? i'm given the understanding that there is difference in terms of evaluation criteria.. though i'm not 100% sure..

thanks for the reply guys... guess i need to start to look for job after the application

haha yes i'm chinese thanks for the reply! i will seriously consider that. I do realize that my lack of work exp will be probably my fatal weakness (especially given the fact that all schools i'm apply are very good schools). When i chose program, I tried to look for program that requires few yrs of work exp... haha i guess when they say "strongly recommend" , what they mean is "require" LOL guess i will have to look for job+doing application then. Thx~ and for the FA, i stand ready to pay it myself ......

Program Applied To: IR, MPP (only for HSG) Schools Applied To:HKS(mpp), Tufts(Fletcher's, MALD), Gtown (MA of international law and security) , GWU (elliot, IR) , Syracuse (Maxwell, IR), Stanford (Intl policy studies), SIPA (MIA), U Chicago (CIR, IR), Southern CA, JHU (SAIS, MA) Undergraduate institution: top 50 LAC ( as an international student) Undergraduate GPA: 3.66 (major 3.77/4.0) Undergraduate Major: Poli-sci + statistic GRE Quantitative Score: 780 (163 for new g) GRE Verbal Score: 710( 167 ) GRE AW Score: 4.5 Years Out of Undergrad (if applicable): 0 directly apply as a senior Years of Work Experience: 0, only two internship outside U.S Describe Relevant Work Experience: No full-time working experince, but have two internships in China, in one large national engineer company, office assistant, and legal assistant in a famous local law firm. Did interns during the summer back home:p Strength of SOP (be honest, describe the process, etc): talk about extensive study aboard exp, been to around 10 countries and study in U.S., strong stat. background, decent econ background (micro/marco) can speak Chinese/English/French, plan to work in International humanitarian org, (UNHCR, ICRC), interested in international law, more specifically, international humanitarian law. Strength of LOR (be honest, describe the process, etc): all from my poli-sci profs. took at least two courses with each of them.. Questions: 1. do I aim for too high? I mean my prof. recommend those school for me, but all of the 10 schools are top schools in the field ( except USC i guess?). I'm worried if I will be rejected by all of them... should I apply for more safe schools? 2. I'm currently an international student in undergrad, and I'm wondering if i will be considered as intl applicants in grad application or not? My nationality is not U.S but i will get BA from U.S college... awkward~ .... thx a ton!

hi guys I'm a international student from a U.S liberal arts college, I'm applying for IR master degree for 2012, can you guys help me to decide if I need to apply for more SAFE schools?? Most of program I apply for are professional IR/IA master program, and I choose those programs that are NOT designed for mid-careers. Though most of them "recommend " 1-2yr work exp, which I don't have... Here is my information: Program Applied To: IR, MPP (only for HSG) Schools Applied To:HKS(mpp), Tufts(Fletcher's, MALD), Gtown (MA of international law and security) , GWU (elliot, IR) , Syracuse (Maxwell, IR), Stanford (Intl policy studies), SIPA (MIA), U Chicago (CIR, IR), Southern CA, JHU (SAIS, MA) Undergraduate institution: top 50 LAC ( as an international student) Undergraduate GPA: 3.66 (major 3.77/4.0) Undergraduate Major: Poli-sci + statistic GRE Quantitative Score: 780 (163 for new g) GRE Verbal Score: 710( 167 ) GRE AW Score: 4.5 Years Out of Undergrad (if applicable): 0 directly apply as a senior univ student Years of Work Experience: 0, only two internship outside U.S Describe Relevant Work Experience: No full-time working experince, but have two internships in China, in one large national engineer company, office assistant, and legal assistant in a famous local law firm. Did interns during the summer back home:p Strength of SOP (be honest, describe the process, etc): talk about extensive study aboard exp, been to around 10 countries and study in U.S., strong stat. background, decent econ background (micro/marco) can speak Chinese/English/French, plan to work in International humanitarian org, (UNHCR, ICRC), interested in international law, more specifically, international humanitarian law. Strength of LOR (be honest, describe the process, etc): all from my poli-sci profs. took at least two courses with each of them.. Questions: 1. do I aim for too high? I mean my prof. recommend those school for me, but all of the 10 schools are top schools in the field ( except USC i guess?). I'm worried if I will be rejected by all of them... should I apply for more safe schools? 2. I'm currently an international student in undergrad, and I'm wondering if i will be considered as intl applicants in grad application or not? My nationality is not U.S but i will get BA from U.S college... awkward~ .... thx a ton!