tingschu

SAIS has an admissions blog?! Oh my...this is the first time I heard of it. I am also looking forward to the facebook group for 2014 SAISers--will surely join when it is ready.

thank you for the re-assurance! Worst case scenario-I will cut short my summer vacation and fly to DC one month earlier.

Good luck with that... I confirmed my place, and sent in the deposit like two weeks ago, but I haven't heard from them ever since.

Yeah...GWU is better for you.

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Thank you IRToni! This is a brilliant idea. Considering the potential 9,000 USD that I can save, my grad school balance sheet can finally break even. This really means a lot for someone who is scratching her head for the past two weeks, thinking about every penny that she can potentially squeeze/save. This forum has been so helpful! Thanks again.

Dont worry about floating alone, if you attend SAIS, charlotte_asia. After taking a closer look at SAIS curriculum, I think i am also interested in ERE and China Studies, in addition to the IDEV program which I got into. So I am pretty sure there are still many out there who would be interested in courses from several other concentrations. I can foresee my coursework wont be a very focus one and that i will sit in classes from several concentrations. As far as job prospect is concerned, I heard as long as you have SAIS on your resume, which concentration you are in doesn't matter that much anyways. So it might be wise for me to just pick the courses that I like and try to devise a smart strategy to use up my bid points. I guess all i am saying is that, not everyone is as determined as you are--you are interested in democracy and government only, which might result in you having to take courses from several concentrations to fit in your interest, since SAIS doesn't have this concentration per se (actually i think IDEV has a sub-field dedicated to this topic). For people like me, even though I have a concentration, I dont have a strong preference for a fixed topic of courses, I might end up taking courses here and there anyways. I actually see it as an opportunity for me to make more friends. Just my two cents.

Thank you so much again Oregongal and Charlotte_asia! People on this forum are so helpful and upbeat. Searching for housing now indeed seems early, but it remains my biggest joy everyday at work, now that I have told my boss to start looking for my replacement, and that I pretty much dont have much to do (except for checking gradcafe every other hour)! The rational side of me though, tells me to work hard and try to get a good half-year bonus before I hop on a plane to DC. In that case I dont have to worry about housing budget like this. Oh well, who says human beings are rational creatures. Pre-school summer vacation officially starts for me!

Thank you charlotte_asia! It seems from your calculation, 1300 for room and board per month is unavoidable, if one wants to live in a relatively safe and nice neighbourhood, one that's comparable to Dupont Circle. Budget wise, the two options are similar, so the big decision becomes: communal bath vs. private bath, dorm vs. house, prepared meals vs. cooking by myself, walking to campus vs. taking trains. Each option has two wins and two lose--now I am back to square one, what a wonderful world... Thanks again for your help though!

Thank you charlotte_asia and dcenergygirl for your helpful local knowledge. I was wondering have you heard of "International House of Washington DC" near Dupont Circle? It seems they have an option of 1300-1400 per month per room including 13 meals per week. Does this sound like a good deal compared with a similar and nice neighborhood like 13th street and Woodley?

Thank you for the tip dcenergygirl! I just "google-walked" the 13th street, the neibourhood indeed looks very nice, albeit a little over my budget. It seems for someone with a $700 budget+utilities, who dosesn't mind longer commune time as long as it doens not involve public transport interchange (e.g. metro line orange interchange to metro line red, or bus interchange to metro), but prefer a quiet, safe, and nice neighbourhood with retail facilities, DC does not present much choice. I should probably start saving money...

Dear Classmate-soon-to-be, I can't agree with you more. I can't imagine how i could survive mid-march without the support from friends of this forum, even though the days that we refreshed our mailbox like crazy already seem far away. Oh well, I am sure we are not the first batch to go through this roller coaster mood, nor will we be the last. But the support and friendship we have all along will remain as a lasting memory. Good luck with all the gradcafers here. I am sure we will do great wherever we end up!

Second this. I am attending SAIS this fall as well, and am now looking at housing options. From it seems, the Woodley Park neighbourhood looks very nice and it is only one metro stop away from DuPont Circle. Any input from current SAIS/MSFS students would be tremendously helpful, especially for someone who is looking for a nice, safe, and quiet neighbout with lovely cafes where I can read.

I would say, go for it! Not everyone has a perfect portfolio to show to the adcom. In fact, most of us have bumps here or there. You will regret if you dont at least give it try. Cheers!

I did.

I had a similar situation as you this year when i was applying. Mine was expiring by the end of Oct 2011. So I sent the scores in by October when my score was still in ETS system, even though I hadn't completed my application at that time. But to be safe, I took the GRE again as well-just in casea and use their free quota to send in the new score. Turns out, all schools received my old score just fine, and I didn't really "have to" retake the test. They all seem treated my old score still valid, even though for some schools in their website, they said they wouldn't make this leaway for you, and that your score has to valid till at least the deadline. Oh well, it is your call whether you want to risk it or not. Since I had the same concern as you did, can't help replying your thread. Good luck!

I am leaning towards SAIS now--I am really impressed by their network with the Bank. How about you?

If you are interested in second-year aid, they award around 50-60% students, higher than first-year (25-30%), and the amount starts from 8k. And they wont re-consider first-year aid, as they are all basically out, except for a few named fellowships. If you are interested in working with the World Bank, they have 400 SAIS alumni now working there. Pre-term in DC is attended by 75%(?) of incoming class. If you are not accepted by IDEV, dont get upset. You can still attend all the classes, it is just that if the class were full, IDEV students have higher priority. You can still work out with your supervisor to come up with a curriculum that makes you competitive in the eyes of international development fields. They arrange career trips for graduating students each year all over the world (asia, europe, etc) to network with the 15,000 alumni world wide, but all the costs have to be born by the student.

@ IR Lion-- You were right, when I said HK people, I meant the majority middle class, not the elites. In fact, if you were talking about elites, I bet they not only know about JHU, some less well-known ones, like WUSTL would make the list as well, as this group of people are usually more connected and knowledgeable. In fact, most top HK government officials are Harvard-educated, instead of SAIS, but I bet there are SAIS alumni here working for the government as well. It is just that, it is less common to see SAIS grads active in high ranking government posts--no indication on the quality of SAIS, just purely the size of alumni base and brand name. (And HK indeed has this UK education bias thing going on for years, which I find upsetting myself.) @gzdzcca & nouveau.ukiyo - Thanks for reminding me of the reputation within IR sector. I guess when it comes to looking for the first ideal job after graduation, connections and reputation within the industry matters more than the overall brand name of a university. I will factor that in when I make a final decision. I am trying to ask SAIS admissions office to find me an IDEV MA candidate to talk to me. If any of you here go to SAIS open house, will you guys please share the information and impression that you have on SAIS? For those who are in the other end of the world, your first-hand impression is very valuable to us. As for me, I haven't made up my mind which school to attend yet, but if we all end up attending SAIS in DC this fall, we should at least have a gradcafe happy hour gathering, heheh. Cheers!

I have been following this thread and seldom talk, but this theme keeps coming out and I just have to voice out: "SAIS is famous in Asia, really?! really?!" I guess from what I saw here, "SAIS or even JHU is famous all over Asia", except for southern China, especially Hong Kong. I mean when I tell people that I got into JHU here in HK, they are like, " John what?!" This kinda convinces me to take the Chicago offer...at least they know Univ. of Chicago... so sad...

Honestly, I am in a similar situation with OP. Weighing between Harris and SAIS-IDEV, and am intersted in urban policy and development. Both programs have their pros and cons from an academic point of view. Financially, both gave me a similar amount of financial aid, around 10k each year, which is barely enough, but still better than nothing. If I were the OP, I would probably lean towards Harris vis-a-vis SAIS. One almost full ride, the other none, the difference is too big to ignor. But if you take into count that you want to be close to your SO, well i guess, love does conquer all, haha. There is not any question to answer here. BTW, why didn't you include Sipa into consideration? Just out of curiosity... p,s, I am also sticking with my firm till at least the end of July to save up some pocket money...no fun summer vacation before school after all.

Same dilemma here--was accepted to the IDEV program and plan on taking at least the intermed. microecon waiver exam, but not sure how difficult this can be. I would feel extremely stupid and embarassed if I fail the waiver exam, since I've got an Econ master's degree already. Are you guys sure that if we indeed flunk the exam, we can't take the pre-term anymore to make it up so that we can still successfully enroll in IDEV?

Congrats again loulou! Thanks for sharing your profile--you are definitely a strong candidate that can sweep all the offers from top schools to your pocket. Fingers crossed on our MIT applications.

It seems 3 options possible: My boss wrote me a recommendation letter. He knows I will quit sooner or later, so I keep him updated on my latest appliation status anyways. Nobody in my workplace knows i am applying for grad school this year, so I will wait till the last minute before I tell everyone. In-between? Exactly when then? I really don't know when to tell my boss that I am leaving the company...but it seems it is a moral thing to do it as soon as possible, to leave enough time for the company to find my replacement. Does it make sense?

Yeah, i think the "IDEV fellowship results first out" theory makes sense, if this can offer you peace of mind. But um...I am totally with you when it comes to checking mailbox every 5 seconds to see whether i have got mail. This week will be a torture and i should take sick leave all week!