Mulberry24

It's 36 credits, or 12 three-credit courses. The website says that most full-time students finish it in 3 semesters; part-timers have up to 3 years. The SSP course list (http://cpass.georgetown.edu/ssp/current/courses/) is mostly made up of SSP-specific courses, although it looks like here and there there are some courses from other departments, i.e. MSFS, Arab Studies, etc. You also have to take an "SSP-approved elective," which I guess can be in any department as long as they approve it...

Previous Schools (Name, type, or tier): Duke University Previous Degrees and GPA's: BA with Distinction in Political Science/English (2008), 3.68 GPA GRE Scores (Verbal/Quantitative/Analytical Writing): 800V, 720Q, 6.0AW Previous Work Experience (Years, Type): 1 year at consulting company, 2 summer internships at NGOs Math/Econ Background: pretty much nonexistent - 1 semester of calculus in university that I scraped through Foreign Language Background: fluent in French, can read Spanish Intended Field of Study in Grad School: Security Studies Long Term Professional Goals: returning to the think-tank world with an eye toward eventually getting a PhD and teaching at the university level Schools Applied to & Results: Yale MA IR - accepted, no funding (on waitlist for fellowship); Fletcher MALD - accepted with $12K; Pittsburgh GSPIA MPIA - accepted, no funding; Columbia SIPA MIA - rejected; Georgetown MSFS - rejected; Georgetown SSP - accepted with 50% tuition; Monterey Institute - accepted, no funding Ultimate Decision & Why: Still choosing between Fletcher and SSP, but currently leaning toward Fletcher. Pittsburgh isn't on the same level as the others, at least for security studies, and Monterey is too small and too far away. I wouldn't have minded the academic bent at Yale, but that's a hefty price tag. Leaning toward Fletcher for a number of reasons: first, I love the way the alumni and faculty really seem to look out for each other; second, I like the somewhat more flexible curriculum; third, the MALD thesis requirement seems much more substantial than SSP's and seems like it would be a better jumping-off point for a future PhD thesis; and fourth, even with a bigger scholarship at Georgetown, the chance to live on-campus at Fletcher means that its cost is actually substantially lower. On the other hand, I really would like to study with Bruce Hoffman and Paul Pillar, so I haven't made a final decision yet.

The same thing happened to me - the amount quoted in the first paragraph was different from the amount in the terms and conditions. I emailed Tiffany Swanson and she clarified the offer and sent me a revised letter this morning. Turned out to be the lower amount, grr.

Also don't overlook the fact that MIIS has its own DC connections. I don't know what your interests are, but the Center for Nonproliferation Studies has an office in Washington as well as in CA. While that's the only research center with its own outpost in DC, I know that plenty of people from Monterey's East Asian and Russian/Eurasian Studies centers float through the DC office.