grtheman

Somebody should start a SAIS '14 Facebook group. Especially next week after everybody has sent in their deposits.

Has anyone else sent in their deposit yet? Looking forward to meeting fellow SAIS 14'ers.

For those about to attend SAIS, what program of study are you choosing? I'm currently torn between China Studies and ERE.

Just turned down Georgetown today, purely out of financial considerations, though. I also get the sense that SAIS is much stronger when it comes to Asia studies.

I was awarded the same amount of funding as you. After two years of volunteering abroad for practically nothing, I'm loathing the prospect of borrowing money for living expenses on top of the federal loans. That's a good point you make of using a deferral year to apply for more outside fellowships, are you thinking about anything in particular at this point like Rangel and Pickering (I dropped the ball on those last year...)? At the very least, because I know I want to go to SAIS this year or next no matter what, I'll be sending in my $500 deposit in the next week or so, soon after I solidify my thinking on which program to pick. I'm amazed that you can speak/read 5 languages, I'm only bilingual with Mandarin. Let's share information on this forum as we learn more about the deferral process, and more specifically, how likely it is that we can preserve our fellowship if we put enrollment off for a year!

IR Toni: Do you mind sharing if you were awarded aid? I'm nervous about risking any of my fellowship money so I'm hesitating on even pursuing deferral as an option. Not sure about your last two questions. I'll be interested to know how your chat with admissions goes.

Just got off the phone with admissions. Deferring for financial reasons is not really permitted, one needs to have a new, career-relevant job offer or project arise, or a family emergency, etc. You have until May 1st to apply for deferral (once you've paid your deposit and everything). Also, funding is generally offered at the same level, though they don't guarantee anything. http://www.sais-jhu.edu/admissions/apply/deferrals.htm

I'm wondering the same myself. I have literally 0 savings after volunteering abroad for 2 years. SAIS is offering me 20k a year, so naturally I'm wondering about how the deferral process impacts my fellowship. Will they offer me the fellowship if I put off enrollment for a year? I think I'm going to call them soon about this...

I'm getting there... It was amongst my top choices at the outset and they are offering a generous amount funding. I'm still trying to figure out how I'm going to afford to live in D.C. with no savings or salary, that's kind of boggling my mind, but other than that it seems a sure thing I will be in D.C. by the summer time. I also haven't decided which program to enroll into yet.

I talked with a current FSO (a career track I'm very interested in, for the decade after grad school anyways), and he said that he took out about $40,000 in loans, and that that was an appropriate amount for his career path, even saying that he would have been comfortable with a little more. That put me at ease, because I am looking at a similar debt burden. My biggest worry right now is trying to figure out how not to borrow too much for living expenses in DC. I feel bad asking my parents to support me for 2 years at my age, but they could likely offer a lower interest rate than a commercial bank!

Emailed admissions and they confirmed that I indeed didn't receive scholarship funding (they said... yet?). The $20,000 fellowship SAIS offered me is looking better and better...

I got accepted into MSFS, but no mention of funding or fellowships in the acceptance letter or initial email. I emailed them to clarify if this means I have received no merit-based aid.

I got the same merit aid-less admissions letter, which is a shame because I was really excited about Georgetown. Minutes after reading it and being disappointed I found out that SAIS offered me a 20K per year fellowship, which makes this decision pretty easy!

I got the same email at the same time as msal, also of note, I got a separate email earlier from MSFS adcom staff asking me to confirm my citizenship status (because I listed another citizenship as well), do you think that might be a hint as to any financial aid or scholarship? Maybe I'm just reading too much into it...

SAIS just popped... what a fucking morning. Accepted!!!!!!