GomSaem (Bear Teacher)

I've completed an IPE MSc at the LSE and I am completing the IR/PS MPIA program. 1. If you want to work in the US, a US school is usually better. 2. The IR/PS program offers more quantitative training, and those hard skills will help you land a better job. I enjoyed my time at the LSE more. The seminars are smaller and the workload is reasonable. IR/PS is a professional degree mill with large classes, but it gives non-quant background students quant skills and gets them out into the workforce. If I had to do it over again, I would skip LSE (unless it was for the econometrics degree). I hope this helps.

Yes.

I just spoke with a friend that was admitted at Minnesota. He thinks that "Decision Made" without an email from the dept. already is likely a rejection. Of course we won't be certain until tomorrow.

Yes, the email included funding information. Not sure about your second question. I'm IR.

Yes. Unless you already have a job that you will go back to after graduating, I don't recommend getting a degree overseas. I have an MSc from the LSE and it was almost worthless for getting a job back home in the US. The career services could not offer any advice and the LSE discontinued their DC job fair the year I was there.

I don't know the order for notifying people, but I got my notification yesterday after emailing them. Don't lose hope yet. This has been a rough cycle for me, so I certainly empathize with assuming the worst.

The most recent newsletter (Feb. 28th) stated that, "If you applied by the second deadline (January 15), you should hear back from the Admissions Committee within two weeks." But given that the admitted students 'online chat' is on March 7th, I would figure decisions should be out before then. I also was emailed by the Director of Enrollment, letting me know that funding decisions would come out by the end of the second week of March.

I can only speak to what the LSE offers. I completed a MSc in IPE there a few years ago. You would certainly have opportunities to discuss and research regional topics (The system for meeting with professors allows you to sign up and meet with any of the professors at the school, regardless of the department), but I don't see how you would be able to spend much time improving upon a second language.The programs there are incredibly time consuming and you will be pressed to simply keep up with the reading and formative tasks. In terms of preparing and assisting you to find employment in the UK, the LSE has an excellent track record. The school is often ranked higher with employers than it is academically (although some argue that the lower academic rankings are due to ranking systems that discriminate against schools that only have social science programs). All of my classmates that wanted to stay to work in the UK found jobs (even the US citizens).

Of course you would quote Ba Chin. But seriously, 'Family' was a good read, but horribly depressing.

My interaction with the three giants of NE Asia has been a bit of a roller coaster. I spent most of my undergraduate years studying Japanese politics and spending summers in Nagano. Then I ended up taking a job in Seoul and switching my focus to include both Japan and the ROK. While I thought i was all set from here I ended up meeting a girl back in the states (who is now my wife) that is an engineer from Tianjin, again altering my focus. I ended up writing a comparative institutional analysis on Japan and the ROK to explain trade patterns with China for my MSc dissertation at the LSE. So now on my third language (rapidly forgetting the other two...), I am hoping the whole marriage thing means I can stick with Chinese for the long haul. Where in China were you living blackcoffee64? I expect to spend a couple months in Beijing this summer.

Comparative IPE, With a focus on NE Asian trade and development policies.

I don't claim to have insider knowledge, but I saw that Stanford's semester started a week later than the last two years. Also the visit weekend is later than normal. This leads me to believe Stanford will be a week or so later than the last two years on decisions, but of course anything could happen.