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!!!!!!

Email literally just came from Fletcher.

Not on Embark, but on Gradprof. If it matters I applied early notification, then deferred, and now accepted.

In at Fletcher and Chicago, out at Princeton and Harvard, waiting on SAIS and Georgetown...

I can confirm that decisions are up. Accepted!

I got deferred. Any sense of how that process works?

I'm also waiting. We should be hearing back in only 2 weeks from what I hear.

Thanks for the vote of confidence. Judging by your stats I'd say you don't have too much to be worried about either. Any other opinions? I'm especially curious about how I might stack up specifically at various institutions. Should I definitely be looking to apply to "safer" schools like Michigan and Indiana? Just got logged into the Tufts Application Management System. It's hard to believe that we'll be accessing admissions decisions through this website in less than a month!

Hi all, I've been casually monitoring the boards for awhile now but this is my first post. I'm still very much in the middle of the applications process (writing essays, securing and following up with recommenders, sending off scores and transcripts, etc.), despite having just completed and sent in my Tufts application. I'm applying to MPP/MPA programs in addition to some of the most frequently mentioned IR programs on these boards. If possible, could anyone offer thoughts on my chances at Tufts and the other schools I'm applying to? I've noticed that the advice on these boards is usually quite insightful, as compared to say, the feedback I received on college confidential when applying to undergrad. Thanks in advance and good luck to you all throughout these semi-stressful next few months. Program Applied To: MPA/MPP/IR Schools Applied To: Tufts, Hopkins SAIS, HSK, Georgetown, UChicago Harris, WWS for sure. What do you think? I'm also considering applying to Michigan Ford, Berkeley Goldman, Columbia SIPA, and maybe Indiana. Undergraduate institution: A public ivy - Top 25 national university, according to U.S. News. But what do they know? Undergraduate GPA: 3.7 Undergraduate Major: Public Policy (Focus area of economics in the developing world) GRE Quantitative Score: 770 GRE Verbal Score: 680 GRE AW Score: 5 Years Out of Undergrad (if applicable): 2 years (both spent doing non-profit work abroad) Years of Work Experience:~3 years (including internships during college) Describe Relevant Work Experience: Part-time research assistant under a prominent journalist for the New Yorker Magazine 2-year Princeton in Asia Fellowship (volunteer-teaching in rural China) PR and Marketing work for a clean energy non-profit in Shanghai (summer internship) Grassroots organizing for a political campaign (summer internship) Other: Half of my life spent living abroad, traveled to more than 15 countries. Approaching oral fluency in Mandarin, with strong reading and writing ability as well. I think my LORs and SOP should be average to strong. Thoughts?