zourah

No Sciences Po for me. Oh well - it's been a good Friday, so it's hard to say I care very much. Good luck to you, IRbound...

No word here, either... though post-visit-day, I'm not sure I care anymore. Aren't you supposed to be on vacation?

Are you crazy? Deferring is like accepting; you should only do it at one school. I'm not sure there's a legal obstacle to deferring at two, but that's a lot of money down the drain, and it's certainly not how the system was designed to work. Deferring is a great way to follow up on an opportunity that arises after you've applied, or to gain a little more experience if you realize it's something you need, but using it to postpone the grad school choice is not really a great idea. It'd be much less expensive just to reapply (and if they took you once, they'll take you again... tweak the essays a bit, perhaps, but it shouldn't be that much effort, either).

Not too badly yet, but as national contributions to the UN budget shrink, the impact will eventually hit, I'm sure. As for those kinds of tracks, I thought this page might be useful: The current Professional pay scale at the UN You'd be coming in as a P-2, maybe P-3 from a Master's program. Moving up to P-4/P-5 will happen slowly, but there are incremental raises within pay grade for years of service, so it should offer a pretty good sense of things.

I'd like to second pretty much that entire list.

Still not sure. I really, really liked HKS too - and so far, SAIS is really making quite an impression as well. It's going to be a hard choice - but Fletcher really put on a welcoming day that really felt like coming home. There are other things that matter in a grad program, but I certainly felt comfortable there from the get-go (to the point of starting an accidental snark-war with a prof in class!) Went to SIPA yesterday, left at lunch after spending all morning in a room with EVERYONE else in all degree programs, all concentrations, hearing very generic introductions with not that much Q&A time. I'm going to stick with the "if you can't say anything nice," rule, but it's the one program I'm ready to rule out right now.

My notes from the morning sessions at SAIS are already up, thanks to their easily-accessed guest wi-fi. Points for technology.

My people aren't necessarily IR people either. They are people who work in international affairs, but their backgrounds are usually in other specialties - these are people who have ended up working internationally more by accident than by design. The Harvard brand is just that strong, I think... I personally have no thoughts on SFS - it was my first choice, but I can't take the stress of waiting 'til June to know what I'm doing, I think. I've been sufficiently pleased with these visit days that I intend to take an offer from one of my full admits and not look back. That said, it's another great program and I wish you luck in deciding. Also, my notes from the Fletcher visit day, for anyone who couldn't make it. To sum up: I think I'm in love.

Since this is the only HKS thread still active, really, I thought I'd link to a longish blog post covering some of the info from today's sessions. I'll offer my own impressions here when I get the time, though for now I'll just say I'm very tempted to come, though I am still going to go see Fletch, SIPA and SAIS next week.

I'm not an education policy person, but as someone with ties to the school, I know that the Washington University in St. Louis has a great program for this. I'd give them a look!

I'm doing something similar. As an Econ & Political Dev student at SIPA, I'd have 16 credits mandated in one way or another (some electives, but only from approved EPD courses, not "take anything!" courses). Fletcher, well, if you balance your breadth and depth requirements just so, you can get everything fulfilled in 7 or 8 classes. So Fletcher equals fewer courses but more academic freedom all in all...

I did notice, and I think it's simply a form of generosity on their part - if you really want to take out enough in loans to live very comfortably for your two years, well, they'll be enablers to that. The idea that my cost-of-living would be higher at KSG than at SIPA (SIPA!) is a bit ridiculous, but then again, I'd rather have them overestimate than underestimate...

I'm not in human rights, but I'm at the UN. I can tell you a few things that probably won't make your choice a lot easier... The UN is far from a monolithic entity, and so the ability for SIPA students to intern at agencies, funds, programmes or departments during the academic year is canceled by the downside that the major human rights organs are in Geneva (where, unless you end up with second-degree ties as a result of the wonderfully patchwork community, you make some kind of contact), you'll still be breaking in as an outsider. The summer, and how you spend it (field work!) will matter a great deal no matter which school you're at for the academic year, I think. I'm also looking at a slightly different track, so I don't know about the depth of the course catalogs at both programs, but a Fletcher student recommended trying to put together a first-year schedule at each school I'm considering, and doing so has really, really helped me look at my choices. If you feel like Kennedy's going to give you broader skills but SIPA lets you hone in on the area of expertise you already know you want, go with SIPA. When you're trying to get started (first job in the field only; not so much down the line), a resume that lists a capstone project on human trafficking in post-conflict situations is going to make you look a lot more viable for a post in such an environment than just an Int'l Affairs degree more generally. Which school will help you with such a project? Think about classes, and think about leaving in two years able to present yourself as an expert in some area of human rights. I have no idea if this is of any help, but I sincerely hope these things (I've been pondering the same question, with no answer yet - you should see my spreadsheet!) are of some small use to you.

Well, it tells us that 160 people have to turn down their offers before anyone else gets considered. Unfortunately, it still offers little information as to how many "we" are...

Thanks for the confirmation - that's reassuring. Also, just got the welcome phone call! Aww... very nice touch.

Loans, loans and loans. No surprise, but disappointment still.

That's the best laugh I've gotten in a long time. A couple of my own: -Dad: "SAIS is which one again?" -Soup-kitchen volunteers: "OMG, Harvard!" -Director at work: "What did you screw up with Georgetown?"

Hey, we've both made it this far; no reason to believe two of those single-digit slots can't be ours... I find myself deeply jealous of Hawaii. I mean, campus visits will be helpful...vacation-like, not so much. Maybe the sun and the calm will help you find the right choice, after all (or two choices, contingent upon the April 17 notification...)

Same story for me re: SAIS, no Int'l Policy, no money, not making much of an impression. Fletcher has been charming, and offered me a more-symbolic-than-financially-viable fellowship, but so far every time I've been tempted to throw all caution out the window and just DECIDE, it's been Fletcher I would be taking. The thesis offers me room to work, and I have at least one colleague whose major advice is to spend one year considering everything and the second writing one's way to a job - I think that Fletcher could really allow me to craft my own area of expertise in a unique way. SIPA, also no aid (didn't ask after the initial "no"). I'm on their message board asking questions and not really getting answers. I used to think their UN ties looked really good; now I'm less sure that they'd really bring any benefit (maybe for someone with no previous ties...) I do really like the project AND the possibility of sciences-po, so if they get back to me about that, I could well be swung to consider. The size is a bit intimidating and the debt (I know the cost of living in this city, and I think they're underestimating that, too) frankly terrifies me. What two concentrations are you considering at Fletcher? I'm looking at Human Security, maybe International Organizations... What's your French/Arabic background? I feel like the similarities in our paper profiles, at least, might be eerie... (I was a French & Euro Studies major, Spanish minor, lived 6 mos in Morocco working on MSA and picking up some basic darija). Finally, I've got a few additional messy unknowns. MSFS was my first choice going into all this, and I MIGHT take a spot on their waitlist after the visit days if I still think it's my favorite. Also, GW, while not my favorite, offered a really good fellowship - while I'm leaning towards turning it down, it makes looking at these other price tags all the more eye-popping. And finally, while funding info isn't even available yet and it wasn't the top of my list, I've got near-strangers telling me I'd be crazy not to go to Kennedy, so they're also still in the running, somewhere probably on par with SIPA and Fletcher. Whew - visit week will be busy, but I'm sure hoping it helps add some clarity to my decision process!

I don't think you're crazy, but I'm personally unsure that a project is superior to a thesis. On a topic of my choice, I can still "write my way to a job" by picking a topic highly relevant to the potential employer(s) I have in mind - the title will certainly be something to include on my resume, after all. Then again, if I want to get outside the box of what agencies are currently working on and start thinking up proposals that could lead to starting my own NGO, going in as a change-maker at an existing agency, etc, I have the freedom to do that. Projects are very practical, but they carry limitations based on whom, exactly, you're focused on.

I wouldn't apply for a PhD program in the department after dropping them in June, but schools aren't banks, and as far as I'm aware, it's considered standard practice. Hard feelings on the part of the "dumped" school, perhaps (though it's common enough I'd hope this isn't the case); long-term consequences, not so much.

Read the details page. That 30k includes board - in Paris, another notably not-cheap city. Stop and combine 42k tuition and maybe 12k rent in NYC and it's still pretty impressive, I think.

No idea how many of us there are, but I'm still considering taking my spot there just to see. Still, frane, I'll be accepting one of my other offers in the interim (if you read the details, you can still drop American for MSFS in June - you just lose your deposit money).

Most of the American universities with Int'l Relations programs know about international universities. They'll know what a 14 on your transcript means without "translating" it to our GPA system. As for Security Studies, I'd look up the pro/con threads running for Georgetown SSP, GW's Security Studies, Fletcher, and many more...it's not my area of expertise, but quite a few people here are looking and have posted plenty of info already.

Also, the sciences-po option, unless you start there, is still english-language study.