washdc

Go down to part-time status, get a regular (meaning non-academia) job, maybe admin or something.. so you can cushion your savings and then take a loan if within a year or so they can't get you funded again? And in the meantime you can apply to scholarships and grants, and other sources for exterior funding.

4K per year?! What program did you apply to exactly? Did you check with your home country for funding opportunities? I'm sure there are many for students who want to study in the US.

Did you apply to the MA program in Madrid? I am also waiting to hear.. in the interview they said decisions would be made next week (which was last week). Didn't get anything. ?!

It seems like you are set on going to NYU, so are you trying to get people to reinforce your decision? Because GWU is the better program, so I think you'll find everyone saying you should go to GWU not NYU.

Only speaking from experience at AU.. but being in the military is a really good thing. Lots of individuals in my classes are former or current military. No one that I know of is/was an officer.. everyone was enlisted.

You can go to usajobs.gov or each department's website. I believe State for the Fall is still open and accepting applications, however you need to be an enrolled student for all of these internship opportunities. So the sooner you accept whichever school you're going to, then get a letter from them to state you will be attending in the Fall, the sooner you can start applying for internships. Most government internships you'll be applying 6 - 12 months in advance of the start date. For instance NATO takes about a year.. CIA takes 9 months to a year, depending on how fast your clearance can be obtained.

You know, you can do State and DoD internships outside of DC.. even abroad. You probably will most likely not get a White House internship with your stats. Either way, all of these internships require good stats as though you're applying to grad school all over again. I think they said of 4000+ applications this past summer, only 350 people were admitted as UN interns this past summer. Like someone else mentioned, you need to start somewhere.. what would you do in this gap year? Did you land a fellowship or internship that will boost your resume? Are you going to take more classes to boost your GPA? If you don't have a plan solidified now, another year will just look like an empty year where you had no solid plan.

It's so funny you mention this. Originally I thought it was super important to be in DC for internships, and then I ended up interning at the UN headquarters in NYC.. which was the sole reason I didn't apply anywhere outside of DC (internship purposes). So, I don't think in terms of internship DC should be your sole factor (which unfortunately I learned late in the game). However I think if you want to have work experience on your resume for abroad purposes, Washington DC looks excellent.. I'm not sure which region you're focusing on (which region is your focus by the way?) but everyone knows DC. It's the capital of the US.. so, it looks better on your resume than Chicago would.. for instance. Where exactly are you looking to work in the future? Latin America is my background, so most of my friends are Latin American, etc. if you need help from that perspective, I can help you.. one of my best friends went to Georgetown for development, worked at OAS and now the World Bank. If it's any other region, I'm not so experienced. But let me know, if I know of anyone, I can connect you.

Unfortunately I don't know anyone in the ID program here at AU.. I'm an IP student :/ However try calling AU and asking if someone can put you in touch with some current students.

Fulbright.. more prestigious, pays your fees, you can develop your Vietnamese further, shows you've lived abroad a year, and you can still say you're proficient on your resume in Chinese if you're at advanced level.

AU. Higher ranked program, internship/work experience + study abroad ability during the two year program, and a great location for networking.

It's basically free for me (outside scholarship + stipend + books) but I have to use it before I'm 26 or it just disappears.. I still won't have used all the months even after three years of schooling. Since PhDs are generally full funded + stipend I didn't need to use it for that.. which is why I decided against a PhD, plus I would like to work a few years before applying to PhD programs. So this is my IR grad degree, and my second degree is more of a speciality degree. I applied, for instance, to NYU but the program is in Madrid and it's for Spanish Linguistics; so I would solidify my Spanish speaking abilities and learn translation etc. Hamburg, bf lives there.. I would get my German proficiency down pat, since like I said it was one of the last languages I learned a few years ago and I am really rusty. Columbia because I am branching out from being a Latin American specialist to include Europe as well. If I have more than just Latin America under my belt I'll be more competitive for jobs in say, the State Dept.. or really, I will probably be applying in the intelligence field. tl;dr: Free degree, 2nd Master's on my resume for job prospects/Chance to gain better fluency in languages. Does that semi make sense? I get this question a lot.

Well, the reason I am applying to Hamburg is solely because my boyfriend works in Hamburg as a consultant (following love, this could either be an 'aww' moment or a 'what are you thinking?!' moment, haha)... and so if I go to Europe I want to be with him. I don't really need the prestige as I knocked out my first MA from a top 10 IR program here in the US. But! If I get accepted to Columbia it will be really hard to say no, so I guess I have to wait and see :/

Haha. This made me laugh. I lived in Hawaii for 5 years. Poi!

Godless, I actually haven't started the job process as I'm going through apps for a second Master's. However I have gone to the Career Center, which I felt didn't really help me, or offer any helpful pointers for myself (I've spoken with a couple of other students in my program who feel the same.. some have even tried going in two or three times).. I would say that as a graduate student you're expected to really be on your A game and find jobs/internships on your own. I know I hardly ever receive email blasts or information on incoming headhunters to campus.. I generally check the websites myself to see when their campus visit days are. However if you sign up for usajobs.gov or sign up for various job fairs throughout the city, you'll be good to go. I've never had issues with picking up internships on my own. Negatives.. I would say the biggest negative for me, coming from a small LAC is that, because the program is one of the larger IR programs in the DC area, you kind of feel like just another number.. I didn't get to know my professors really well outside of the class room. They encourage you to come to office hours, yet the times I've tried to go, there are several students already waiting outside to get face time as well. The easiest way I've reached out to professors is via email. In addition I am doing the SRP this semester, and it was EXTREMELY difficult for me to find a professor to be my advisor because there were only 8 professors designated to be SRP advisors this semester, each is given a quota of 5 students. Naturally the IP program is very large, and I imagine more than 40 students are trying to graduate and write SRPs this semester.. as a result every professor I went to was double their quota, I even went outside of my program. I've never met with my faculty advisor in person.. he's either always on vacation, out of office ,not in his office during office hours, responds to emails once a week or every other week, or doesn't return phone calls. I've tried changing advisors, but the Dean of the school didn't really go for that idea (I think because they have so few faculty advisors for each student, that it's relatively difficult to change once you've been assigned one). Like I said, I've spoken with my program director, who's actually really nice.. and we have a new Dean of SIS now.. they have done a ton of studies and are overhauling a lot of the issues I've had to go through for the incoming Fall class. One of the items they're changing are the grad requirements because again, it's difficult to complete them when every professor is saying "no" because they're quotas are full. So they're going to have more options for students, and more workshops available for students to attend to get started. Between students.. Everyone I've met has been really great. You're of course going to encounter individuals who make you roll your eyes.. there's always one person per class who talks so much you can barely get a word in; however students really work together well on group projects. Most people I've met are really great and nice and willing to network with you if they're working at an organization where you'd like your resume to be passed along, etc. You probably won't have many classes with people more than once though, due to the size of the class.. So it's a little difficult to make friends in that sense. Some positives: Very good price. Excellent location.. even though I did my internship in NYC (ha). You can have professors that are currently in the CIA, DHS, etc. So it's great for networking. One of my professors was really cool, and I recommend him, he worked for the CIA and now works for the DIA.. he brought in a lot of higher ups in the Intelligence field. Another professor I had works for the DoD as a nuclear engineer and also brought in a lot of excellent speakers.

Jasmineflower, actually I've heard about this a lot- people who value math/science-based careers over the humanities. I don't understand why people value money so much over personal happiness. I have friends who HATE what they're doing, but they're going to be a pharmacist or an engineer because it makes money. That's it. That's all. Anthrodork, interesting question.. for me I am half Black/White, so the idea that being married/having children is the total embodiment of success as a female (and what I should aspire to) comes from my Black side of the family (they are very Southern, very religious, very old fashioned). I am considered the unsuccessful grandchild because I apparently can't keep a boyfriend longer than a year, and I'm constantly moving, not living near family, I don't call anyone enough, and I have no plans to settle down anytime soon (oh and I also wear apparently very risque clothing and never attend church). The horror. Haha. It's hard to even explain to them sometimes that I don't call because I'm in Europe, and it's not possible, or it's ridiculously expensive. They don't have skype, or even computers. Or actually even phones that aren't attached to cords.

It's ranked 10th: http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2012/01/03/top_ten_international_relations_masters_programs?page=0,0 If you end up going there puhlease take a class with Mearsheimer. So cool.

That link is sorely mistaken on its rankings.. Georgetown is just considered "another great IR school" but not top tier? Ha. Right..

For job prospects or PhD prospects?

I agree. It's not that I want to be coddled, and spoon-fed, it's just that I want some understanding.. so the very rare and few times that my problems affect my schoolwork I am not deemed to be a "bad" student, but rather that I am have a minor setback. I can't tell you how many times I've received emails from various random faculty members stating how my late registration paper work (I've never in my whole life turned an assignment in late for class, but sometimes I mess up on registering for courses, etc.) has created a HUGE inconvenience for them. Sometimes I just want to say, is signing the paperwork REALLY that big of a deal for you? I mean, if only you knew what I was going through.. how difficult it is, and how I am generally a "good" student 95% of the time. I don't even want to get started on illness where it's not visible outwardly.. I have struggled so many times with autoimmune deficiency and blood issues. Apparently unless you show up with half a limb missing, no one thinks it's a big deal. On another note, have you talked to your doctors about it? One thing I did was go to my doctors and ask for notes, and then I presented it to the Dean of my school and said- listen, I need some help here.. here you can see my doctors are saying this is a debilitating medical issue, can you please just make a note of it in case I need future support for whatever reason (missing class, late school work, etc.); they documented it for me. It would be a good idea to have it on your record, just in case. And I wish you well with your medical issues. It's comforting to hear of others going through the same problems and know we're not alone!

Jasmineflower, Out of curiosity are your family members generally lower-educated individuals? Such as only having obtained a BA or less? That's really the only way I can see them viewing you as "stupid" for getting into/going to a PHD program. For my part, 99% of my family is either high school, GED or community college (at the most) educated, so they don't even really understand the concept of a "Master's degree" let alone a "PhD" -- as such they also see me as the "black sheep" of the family because having a job is considering more successful (also getting married and having children would be considered "as successful" as having a job).. During the summer when I have internships is generally the only time I receive praise from them, because they think "Finally! She's working! And making money! Since she's not getting married anytime soon.." I just try to not let it bother me :/

I agree. Also I think more than anything it shows that you had a generic SOP and just filled in the blanks for the correct university name/POI/department/program etc, instead of writing a custom SOP per school. Which is also why I agree with everyone else who said you should contact the admin office and send an updated version and just mention that you mistakenly sent the wrong SOP, rather than just sitting on the mistake and hoping they don't notice. Better to be proactive!

I think with your work experience you just might. However, I would advise applying to more lower-tier schools as good fits (I googled all MA IR programs in the US and abroad, 400+ universities came up): New England College, American Public University (online), American Military University (online), Indiana University, Alliant International University, Cal State schools (like Fullerton), San Fran State University, Virginia Tech, etc. For European schools try Universities that offer programs solely in English; they tend to be a little less stringent in their GPA requirements (again not the top tier schools like LSE, but perhaps somewhere like Alice Salomon Hochschule in Germany, etc.) If you cast a wide net, I am very sure you will land something. Your work experience really makes up for the lack of GPA. Have you taken the GRE yet? Do you know your scores? Do you have publications? If you make up for the GPA in other areas, you'll be a stronger candidate. The GPA is just one portion of your overall application.

I agree with everything the three above me wrote ^

I think you're jumping to conclusions re: the I've been wait-listed/accepted notion. They have to evaluate your application as it was just moved over from the summer pile to the year pile.. I'm going to assume they didn't even bother looking at it before they moved it over. I also think you should wait to email.. until at least a week after their formal evaluation period.