globalsun

Not worth it. SIPA is a notorious degree mill with relatively low application standards and paltry financial support for most of its students.

Yale's program is definitely more ideal if you want to go the academic track since its very big on theory. I know a professors at Stanford who used that route as a buffer to get a PhD. Go for IPS if you want more multidisciplinary learning as it mixes a MPP curriculum with the low-theory IR coursework. Stanford also has superior graduate programs in nearly all the important sectors with only Law being the close exception. Still, overall I think these two smaller programs are a better bet than the larger IR schools (SAIS, Fletcher, SIPA) due to overall intimacy and better brand name world wide.

Yale's program is definitely more ideal if you want to go the academic track since its very big on theory. I know a professors at Stanford who used that route as a buffer to get a PhD. Go for IPS if you want more multidisciplinary learning as it mixes a MPP curriculum with the low-theory IR coursework. Stanford also has superior graduate programs in nearly all the important sectors with only Law being the close exception. Still, overall I think these two smaller programs are a better bet than the larger IR schools (SAIS, Fletcher, SIPA) due to overall intimacy and better brand name world wide.

I was deciding on studying energy policy at SIPA and SAIS last year, but ultimately concluded that both are relative weak in terms of energy. SAIS lacks credibility in this area because its totally disconnected from the hard sciences departments at JHU. Any school that does not have an integrated science program cannot be serious about energy policy today. Meanwhile SIPA's energy curriculum focuses mainly on traditional energy sources instead of the burgeoning clean tech sector. For these reason, I decided to attend Stanford's International Policy Studies program concentrating on Energy. Having world class science/engineering faculty here along the vibrant venture capital industry really makes a difference if you want to figure out the future of energy.

Hi, As an IPS student, I want to clarify some things. IPS is not purely directed at work in think thanks as many of us are planning work in the private sector or multilateral organizations. As for alumni network, while not as large as SAIS, there are large number of alumni from the former one year IPS program plus other professional schools at Stanford (Law, GSB) who you can rely upon for jobs and advice. Thanks.

Hi, I was admitted to the IPS program and I did completed all the requirements as an undergraduate. I conducted research abroad during my senior year along with a thesis. I worked several years in the U.S. and Asia in the business sector. Hope that helps.

Jaymerchi, I would have to emphasize that from my experience, IPS's shares far more applicants with the East Coast IR establishment (SAIS, SIPA, and Fletcher) than with the MPP programs, so my relative comparisons will remain with the IR programs I've been accepted to and understand well. In respects to the "seriousness" of the program, I can assure you that its a red herring issue. Most of the core IPS courses are exclusively reserved for IPS and internal Stanford MPP masters students. Given the small size of the program, there is no chance of overbooked or overcrowded classrooms for the core curriculum. In comparison, students at more established IR schools like SIPA and SAIS often have to deal with quotas and huge impersonal core class sizes, even if the resources are not pooled from other programs. Each IPS student is also given a fully tenured Stanford professor to serve as their dedicated advisors. Very few masters programs can command that level of attention. The interdisciplinary nature of the program also ensures that you do have the option to take courses at Stanford's world renowned Law, Business, and Engineering schools. Stanford is one of the few universities that can claim the majority of their graduate programs are ranked in the top 10, so the pooling collective university resources available at IPS will only serve to expand your intellectual horizons. I had many of the same concerns initially, but most of them are due to the relatively weak salesmanship on the part of IPS. Once you dig more into the program, you will know why so many chose this younger program over many more "reputable" IR schools. Finally, initial rejection followed by greater WE cannot hurt your chances so do not worry.

As an incoming IPS student, I have to contest the notion that it is a purely academic program. To find that you would have to look at Yale's or U Chicago's IR programs. Having high standards in terms of economics/quantitate training does equate to lowering the years of work experience. While several incoming students are recent graduates, the overwhelming majority of this year's cohort have several years plus of experience in very high profile corporate, government, and multilateral organizations. A better description for IPS would be an highly interdisciplinary professional program that fills the void between leading IR schools like SAIS and top policy programs like WWS.

Previous Schools (Name, type, or tier): One of the smaller campuses in the University of California system. Previous Degrees and GPA's: International Economics with College and Major Honors (3.84 GPA) GRE Scores (Verbal/Quantitative/Analytical Writing): 690/740/4.5 Previous Work Experience (Years, Type): 6 months in Global Human Resource Management (China), 1.5 years in Global Marketing (U.S., India, Vietnam, Germany), Obama Campaign IT support. Math/Econ Background: 16 Economics Classes with intro statistics and business Calculus Foreign Language Background: Fluency in Mandarin. Intended Field of Study in Grad School: International Political Economy Long Term Professional Goals: Management consulting in Mckinsey, Boston Consulting Group, or Bain. Then venture capital.... Schools Applied to & Results Accepted: Johns Hopkins SAIS - International policy concentration with choice first year in Bologna ($0) Stanford IPS - ($0) SIPA MIA - ($0) Tufts Fletcher - MALD (9k/year) U Chicago CIR - 1/3 Tuition UCSD IRPS - ($0) Wait-listed Georgetown Walsh - MSFS UC Berkeley GSPP - Failed to make it off the waitlist Rejected: Princeton WWS - MPA Harvard KSG - MPP Oxford MPhil IR Cambridge MPhil IR MIT Political Science MA (One Year) Yale MA IR LSE/Peking University Ultimate Decision & Why: Stanford IPS A difficult choice given that both SAIS and SIPA were my dream schools before, but here are 10 reasons for Stanford. 1. A intimate experience - at most 30 students per entering class 2. One of the few schools that elite management consulting firms will recruit from 3. A rigorous quantitative and interdisciplinary curriculum shared with Stanford's many top tier programs (LAW, MBA, PS, EE) 4. Guaranteed on campus housing for entering students 5. A challenging Practicum project with a real world client 6. Less competition to get RA and TA work in the 2nd year that offer full tuition waivers and large stipends 7. You get an adviser that is a fully tenured professor that will use their network to get you internships 8. 2 week global study trips that are organized by the students but are paid for by the school 9. Generous summer internship stipend 10. Unbeatable weather and a relaxed, collaborative environment

I was very impressed by the open house presentation on Monday. After seeing huge impersonal nature of both SAIS and SIPA in the last few days, I absolutely love the fact that the entering IPS class will be under 30 students. The small class size I discovered not only gives students a greater voice on the curriculum, it also makes accessibility to second year TA and RA positions much easier than SAIS and SAIS. The RA and TA compensation is also much better than the other two programs since for each quarter of work done, full tuition is waived AND a very generous (7k+) stipend is provided for. Also unlike SIPA or SAIS, there is guaranteed first year on campus housing... That along with internship stipends plus subsidized international study trips, makes IPS the best deal this side of WWS. And did I mention each student was had a full tenured professor as advisers, instead of "Academic Deans" in other programs and has better econ classes than SAIS? Thanks to the current IPS students for showing me such a great welcome! P.S.: The SIPA 2nd year fellowship is not a real fellowship. Its merely administrative work for most or a TA position for the lucky few.

I think International Political Economy could possibly qualify if it broadly dealt with matters of trade, development and finance, but you should check with the administration to be sure. My course in International Economics was a broad overview of various important international economic issues, not a specific quant heavy class. As for the prerequisite courses, the first page of the pdf you linked will show the four courses I mentioned. What I was trying to say was that IPS had more demanding prerequisite Econ coursework vs SAIS or GSPP. Despite initially having less stringent economic requirements, SAIS does require you to eventually finish a series of pretty advanced International Economic courses, making it unique among the programs out there. At GSPP, while there is not a CORE economic emphasis, a lot of the 1st year core courses are quant heavy by nature. This is all based from looking at the syllabi.

It definitely has more quant requirements even compared to SAIS or other MPP programs. Before your first day of class you are required to have taken Macro, Micro, International Econ, and a post calculus Statistics course like a Econometrics. The course work shows IPS to be a hybrid of a IR and Public Policy, making up for the lack of global focus in most MPP programs while requiring the advance policy analysis component absent from most IR programs. I do not know the exact level of quantitative skills required for the CORE Research and Design courses, but I expect them to be of a similar caliber to the Berkeley GSPP, which is reputed to have one of the most quant heavy curriculums in the MPP world. The event with the cofounder of Kiva was basically a high level presentation followed by an in depth discussion, so now I think it was the weekly colloquium or lecture, not the final group practicum. Kiva's founder (a Stanford alum too) was invited by the students themselves.

Yeah I totally agree with you on SIPA. They do give relative generous second year funding it seems. I will have to interview students and faculty my self to be 100% sure though. I've lived most of my life in California but it was my year studying and working in China that really helped my personal and career development. In my mind going outside the comfortable confines of Northern California for the East Coast will have the same effect... or so I hope. But then again, I've always wanted to a Stanford student.

Well I guess we could run into each other during Fletcher open house. When is the HKS open house? Also why is SIPA out of the picture for you? Californians are definitely hard to come by on this forum.

I do have an urge to get out, though I can only be sure next month when I visit the cities and schools. What schools will you be visiting other than Yale?

I went to UC Santa Cruz and studied Global Economics there. I also studied abroad in Fudan and East China Normal University. Interested Africa too? I was actually planning on doing research concerning the resource trade between Africa and China and its effects on each others development. Right now I am just doing consulting work with a Germany company on web design, and work actively with their offshore Vietnamese offices.

I originally wanted to work in the China clean energy sector since I saw my friends success in the field. Plus the fact that I did considerable academic research on the subject matter, it made sense. But I have concerns now that the field is reaching saturation point. This was clearly illustrated to me when SAIS's International Policy track was capped, forcing SAIS to put me either study it in Bologna for a year or change my concentration to China studies. And after realizing the massive student loan bill that is coming, I am becoming more open to jump to the dark side and work in the management consulting. As for my ideal, it would be a school with Stanford's brand power, interdisciplinary strength, and it innovative curriculum with SAIS's world wide campuses, vast alumni network and its reputation as the best terminal international relations masters program.... As you can see, I'm still undecided. If you are going on the Fletcher, SIPA, and SAIS open house express, it would be great to meet you. P.S.: I noticed that you live in Fremont. That is where I used to work! I live in San Jose btw. What field are you currently working in?

Hi Yuhoolio, I have not decided yet given that I want to be at each open house presentation. From what I have seen there have been quiet a few IPS alums that have gone to multilateral organizations. If you emphasis your economics, you will be as prepared as any SAIS graduate for World Bank positions. With the UN though, be aware of caps based on nationality. From what I have heard that definitely disfavors US citizens. You are still in a great position Yuhoolio. Even if the Harvard curriculum might not be as interesting as some other programs, the Harvard name of the school will open many doors. The same of course is true for Yale or Stanford. As for me, I'm still a little conflicted between IPS and SAIS/SIPA (or even Fletcher for that matter), namely because of my interest to live on the east coast. I love the innovative curriculum at IPS but the chance to spend a year in SAIS Bologna is tantalizing. Also I simply do not know if I would be happier among hundreds of IR students or in a small cohort enclosed in a larger more diverse graduate education system. Hopefully by April 15th, I will know better.

Thanks for the info policywonkette! I am not obsessing about DC since I want to work overseas like I have been for most of my career. What would you say the overall atmosphere is like for such a small and new program? And what is your impression of your fellow students and faculty? Thanks

Hey Yuhoolio, I unfortunately didn't get into Yale's MA IR program. I only applied to three MPP/MPA programs because they either had either a significant IR component like WWS, a name brand like KSG, or just amazing faculty/instate tuition like GSPP. Given that I was either wait-listed or rejected from those programs, I am very keen on going to the dedicate IR programs like SAIS, SIPA's and IPS. They are probably a better fit given my previous international experience and interest in both the public and private sectors abroad. How about you?

Did anyone else kicked out the International Policy at SAIS get an email regarding the Bologna option? I was told this was the only way I could get into the capped Policy track.

I didn't get in unfortunately. The program is very theoretical unlike most US IR programs and best suited for people aiming for an eventual Law or Phd program. The Oxford name helps a lot, but be forewarned that the most Americans in the program are probably of snooty Rhodes Scholars.

Fortunately I was an international economics major and was able to complete the equivalent of these courses. For econ majors, econometrics should count as calc based stats. I think you have to ask the university personally about these courses, but most community colleges would not offer international economics or an econometric type class. I've only seen full 4 year undergraduate universities offer these course. And if the CC did offer them, I wonder how Stanford would take it seriously. Given the curriculum seems to be a heavy mix of international relations and public policy like most IR and MPP programs, they require at least a few years of real world experience. Academically Stanford wants students who score in the 90% of the GRE and display a talent for analytic writing by requiring a 10-15 page writing sample.

Count me as in. I might head to DC first and move up the coastline to New York, before I reach Fletcher on the 13th. One day in each city is just too short I think.

I think the APSIA membership is only a rough indicator of quality and they have not been transparent about all the requirements a school needs to become a full member. There are of programs that seem far inferior to what Chicago can offer, but get membership status for probably their independence from main university. Its also inconsistent given that a famous school like LSE is a full member even though its a purely academic one year program. I think you can craft the curriculum in Chicago around your interests given the variety of courses offered there. You always have an option of extending it to two years if you feel there is a need and get a summer internship. In the end I really do think a U Chicago degree trumps DU given its academic rigor, even though it falls short of the heavy weight IR schools like SAIS, SIPA, WWS, and KGS.