DualCitizenIR

This reminds me of when I learned that this was a leap year and that there was another day until March...

I have been thinking about my lack of full time international experience a lot lately... and I think this is making me lean towards the Map Your Future MALD program at Fletcher. They won't notify me until as late as July as I missed the early deadline, but it would be my only chance at getting a couple or 3 years of experience before my masters. Plus it is the highest ranked/most well known program in the US that I am applying for. I got into Korbel, which is a great program, but it would leave me with a lot of debt. Any thoughts on my situation?

I just have to say that that is just horrible... You said you have a masters degree in the same field, right? That just doesn't seem right to me. Isn't that the place of the masters program to not admit you if you don't have enough courses in UG? I don't know if anything anyone says can make you feel any better, but just keep your chin up. At least you have some other choices. It would have been catastrophically worse if you notified the other programs that you were declining before hearing this... Is the graduate college's word final and absolute over the department (which I assume wanted you)? Any chance of appeal or conditional/deferred admission? Best of luck, keep us posted.

positive reaction

I am interested in hearing about the same kind of thing. I applied to SOAS, Oxbridge, LSE, and Durham for International Relations and/or Middle Eastern Studies (all taught masters).

sweet success

home court

swiss cheese

I wish I was in the same boat, but I applied for the May deadline of Map Your Future (MALD) so I have to wait until as late as July 1st for a decision. That is of course way later than the April 20th deadline for accepting or declining my only offer so far (Korbel), so that leaves me dilemma of sorts.

master mind

Note the use of the word "relative". Here I get to check my email anytime with mobile data and wifi at home. While visiting your lovely city, I'll only be able to check once or twice a day.

master bedroom

Same here. Turning 21 in July. I graduated 1.5 years early thanks to community college classes during high school. The problem is I am applying for a bunch of more professional IR masters programs and a lot of them want years of full time work experience that I don't have. I got into one great program with partial funding but am waiting to see the full extent of my options.

Just when I thought February would never end, we got the 29th! Oh well, the month of destiny is just about 12 hours away. I am going on a trip to London around mid-to-late-March, and I am going to be freaking out over the (relative) lack of internet access for sure!

hay maker

Just got confirmation email from GWU Elliott confirming the dates and procedure of notification: The Elliott School admissions committees are meeting and decisions will be announced in mid March. You will receive an email to let you know when decisions are available. To view your decision letter, you will log into your secure online appication.

Yup I just saw my first rejection from IHEID, my top choice. I had put so much hope on getting in there. They didn't send me an email, but I expect they'll send a letter. I can't imagine how I'd feel now if I didn't have that one acceptance already. Good luck to everybody.

Yup I got my notification via follow-up: Refused. Oh well, there goes the top choice. Good luck and congratulations to everyone else.

pillow fight

I am constantly amazed with how little they use snailmail in Turkey... I tried sending a postcard once when I was there and none of the postcard vendors had a clue about the proper way of addressing one. I even had trouble finding out at a huge Ottoman-era post office in Istanbul.

I totally agree, charlotte_asia. I think the best way would be for the programs to notify by email/online as well as by snail mail if they want to be traditional. Just waiting the extra few days in the US is tough, but waiting weeks more around the world is just ridiculous. I remember my friend in Istanbul waiting so long for a top US program to send him a letter, which naturally was a thin, small and disappointing one. Some of these programs don't seem to care about the making the application or decision process any easier for applicants. Another similar issue is that of schools that want official transcripts mailed when there is the possibility of scanning unofficial transcripts. I was lucky that most of my programs wanted scans, but I don't know if that is the trend in general.

Still no email for me yet... Hopeful that I will get one very soon though, now that others are receiving them.

I am with you lecorbeau. It is probably my top choice as well because of the location. I think the IHEID admissions representative I met with at the LA APSIA fair really convinced me, especially because of the high levels of funding they seem to give out. Even though I got an $18,000/yr scholarship from my only response so far, Korbel, it would still cost about $20K more over the two years than being unfunded at IHEID. (I included estimated living costs/accommodation for both schools.) I hope the MIA admissions people update the follow up page soon! It has been stuck at "En évaluation" for (seemingly) too long now.

Roughly half of my applications are in Europe (5 US, 5 UK, 1 SUI). I am most excited about the possibility of IHEID if I can get fully funded, although it would still be cheaper unfunded including room and board than the one admit I have (Korbel w/18K a year). It seems like a good program that is well regarded in Europe at least, and I got a great vibe of the school from its representative at an APSIA fair I went to. Plus I like the location a lot for experience opportunities available. SOAS is another interesting prospect for Middle Eastern studies. I am not so sure about attending LSE, Oxbridge, or Durham for various reasons like poor fit, a question of reputation vs. quality, and low name recognition, respectively.

I am having trouble ranking them with numbers, so here are some groups: IHEID (MIA) Fletcher (MALD/MYF), Korbel (MAIS) SOAS (MES), American SIS (CRS), Elliott (MES) LSE (taught IR), Oxford (MPhil IR), Cambridge (MPhil IR) Durham (IR MidEast), BU (IR & Religion) All depends on the funding though...