nouveau.ukiyo

Previous Schools: Small liberal arts university (poor ranking, not in any 'tier')
Previous Degrees and GPAs: MA Biology (3.2)
GRE Scores (Verbal/Quantitative/Analytical Writing): 160/157/4.5
Previous Work Experience (Years, Type): 4 years total; 1 year at a non-profit, NIH grant funded biotech; 3 years teaching English in Japan (1 year high school, 2 years elementary school)
Math/Econ Background: Principles of Microeconomics; Principles of Macroeconomics; Statistics
Foreign Language Background (if applicable to your program): Japanese
Intended Field of Study in Grad School: International business and government relations, especially between developed and developing nations.
Long Term Professional Goals: US Commercial Service; US Foreign Service; private sector (gotta keep my options open!)
Schools Applied to & Results: See my signature
Ultimate Decision & Why: Georgetown MSFS. It was tough choosing between MSFS and SAIS, especially since many people on this forum favor SAIS. It sometimes seemed liked I was the only person here seriously considering MSFS. To be honest, I don't think I could go wrong with either school. There are a few drawback to SAIS in my opinion. I don't want to do a pre-term. I also don't really want to go to Bologna for the first year. Both these things make the degree more expensive. I like MSFS for obvious reasons; smaller program, good reputation, real college campus, 2 years in DC ( = more internship opportunities; I'm making a big career change and want all kinds of different experiences to test the waters as it is). MSFS's International Commerce and Business concentration curriculum also seemed more practical to me vs. SAIS's economics/theory/regional studies curriculum. In the end, I think an MSFS degree can take me anywhere I want (geographic location, sector, etc.). I feel a degree at SAIS will send me straight to an investment bank or other dull private sector job, which is not my goal.
Advice for Future Applicants: The entire application matters! Many weak aspects of an application can be compensated by stronger aspects. My profile seems pathetic compared others on this forum (which makes me wonder why so many people come here to freak out, despite having 4.0 undergrad GPAs at Amazing University, perfect GREs, fluent in 10 languages and possess stellar work experience). I do not have a great GPA nor did I graduate from a prestigious school. But I think I had good recommendations (the president of my university plus my adviser, dean of graduate studies, and one professional recommendation). I also think my personal statement was good; I was very specific about where my life has taken me thus far, my goals, my readiness to enter graduate school and how graduate school can help me attain my goals. And lastly, I think I have good 'international experience' (biracial, dual citizen, fluent in Japanese, working knowledge of Spanish, Tagalog and Korean, plenty of world travel since infancy, experience living abroad).

I didn't get into all the schools I applied to. But I think my experience offers some hope to those who feel their chances of getting into a great school are low. My grad school application has taught me a lot, specifically that there is no universal rhyme or reason among grad school admission committees. American and UCSD were my safety schools. I didn't get into American. I also thought Tufts, SAIS and SIPA admission would decide my fate with a coin toss. I feel blessed to get into SAIS and lucky to not get flat out rejected at Tufts and SIPA. Georgetown I thought was a long shot, but I got in.

Advice: If you are a similar applicant to me, with a less than average application, try and compensate for weak parts of your application. Unfortunately, I made my undergrad college decision based solely on sports. I wasn't good enough for Division I, so I went to a Division III school because I thought I'd be more competitive. My major and career goals weren't really on the radar at the time. I though I'd become a doctor and it'd be simple. For the first 2 years of undergrad, I was doing well. During my 3rd year, my world crashed down around me and all hope of medical school was wiped out. That's when I really started to examine myself and discover what I really wanted to do with my life. I studied abroad my senior year and started to consider IR grad schools. But because I didn't go to a prestigious school and had a poor GPA, I knew I needed to do something to make myself a more competitive applicant. 5 years later, after working with stem cells, studying at a Japanese language school, working in Japan and plenty of travel, I'm heading to Georgetown.

Good luck to all of you!

Previous Schools: Small liberal arts university (poor ranking, not in any 'tier')
Previous Degrees and GPAs: MA Biology (3.2)
GRE Scores (Verbal/Quantitative/Analytical Writing): 160/157/4.5
Previous Work Experience (Years, Type): 4 years total; 1 year at a non-profit, NIH grant funded biotech; 3 years teaching English in Japan (1 year high school, 2 years elementary school)
Math/Econ Background: Principles of Microeconomics; Principles of Macroeconomics; Statistics
Foreign Language Background (if applicable to your program): Japanese
Intended Field of Study in Grad School: International business and government relations, especially between developed and developing nations.
Long Term Professional Goals: US Commercial Service; US Foreign Service; private sector (gotta keep my options open!)
Schools Applied to & Results: See my signature
Ultimate Decision & Why: Georgetown MSFS. It was tough choosing between MSFS and SAIS, especially since many people on this forum favor SAIS. It sometimes seemed liked I was the only person here seriously considering MSFS. To be honest, I don't think I could go wrong with either school. There are a few drawback to SAIS in my opinion. I don't want to do a pre-term. I also don't really want to go to Bologna for the first year. Both these things make the degree more expensive. I like MSFS for obvious reasons; smaller program, good reputation, real college campus, 2 years in DC ( = more internship opportunities; I'm making a big career change and want all kinds of different experiences to test the waters as it is). MSFS's International Commerce and Business concentration curriculum also seemed more practical to me vs. SAIS's economics/theory/regional studies curriculum. In the end, I think an MSFS degree can take me anywhere I want (geographic location, sector, etc.). I feel a degree at SAIS will send me straight to an investment bank or other dull private sector job, which is not my goal.
Advice for Future Applicants: The entire application matters! Many weak aspects of an application can be compensated by stronger aspects. My profile seems pathetic compared others on this forum (which makes me wonder why so many people come here to freak out, despite having 4.0 undergrad GPAs at Amazing University, perfect GREs, fluent in 10 languages and possess stellar work experience). I do not have a great GPA nor did I graduate from a prestigious school. But I think I had good recommendations (the president of my university plus my adviser, dean of graduate studies, and one professional recommendation). I also think my personal statement was good; I was very specific about where my life has taken me thus far, my goals, my readiness to enter graduate school and how graduate school can help me attain my goals. And lastly, I think I have good 'international experience' (biracial, dual citizen, fluent in Japanese, working knowledge of Spanish, Tagalog and Korean, plenty of world travel since infancy, experience living abroad).

I didn't get into all the schools I applied to. But I think my experience offers some hope to those who feel their chances of getting into a great school are low. My grad school application has taught me a lot, specifically that there is no universal rhyme or reason among grad school admission committees. American and UCSD were my safety schools. I didn't get into American. I also thought Tufts, SAIS and SIPA admission would decide my fate with a coin toss. I feel blessed to get into SAIS and lucky to not get flat out rejected at Tufts and SIPA. Georgetown I thought was a long shot, but I got in.

Advice: If you are a similar applicant to me, with a less than average application, try and compensate for weak parts of your application. Unfortunately, I made my undergrad college decision based solely on sports. I wasn't good enough for Division I, so I went to a Division III school because I thought I'd be more competitive. My major and career goals weren't really on the radar at the time. I though I'd become a doctor and it'd be simple. For the first 2 years of undergrad, I was doing well. During my 3rd year, my world crashed down around me and all hope of medical school was wiped out. That's when I really started to examine myself and discover what I really wanted to do with my life. I studied abroad my senior year and started to consider IR grad schools. But because I didn't go to a prestigious school and had a poor GPA, I knew I needed to do something to make myself a more competitive applicant. 5 years later, after working with stem cells, studying at a Japanese language school, working in Japan and plenty of travel, I'm heading to Georgetown.

Good luck to all of you!

Previous Schools: Small liberal arts university (poor ranking, not in any 'tier')
Previous Degrees and GPAs: MA Biology (3.2)
GRE Scores (Verbal/Quantitative/Analytical Writing): 160/157/4.5
Previous Work Experience (Years, Type): 4 years total; 1 year at a non-profit, NIH grant funded biotech; 3 years teaching English in Japan (1 year high school, 2 years elementary school)
Math/Econ Background: Principles of Microeconomics; Principles of Macroeconomics; Statistics
Foreign Language Background (if applicable to your program): Japanese
Intended Field of Study in Grad School: International business and government relations, especially between developed and developing nations.
Long Term Professional Goals: US Commercial Service; US Foreign Service; private sector (gotta keep my options open!)
Schools Applied to & Results: See my signature
Ultimate Decision & Why: Georgetown MSFS. It was tough choosing between MSFS and SAIS, especially since many people on this forum favor SAIS. It sometimes seemed liked I was the only person here seriously considering MSFS. To be honest, I don't think I could go wrong with either school. There are a few drawback to SAIS in my opinion. I don't want to do a pre-term. I also don't really want to go to Bologna for the first year. Both these things make the degree more expensive. I like MSFS for obvious reasons; smaller program, good reputation, real college campus, 2 years in DC ( = more internship opportunities; I'm making a big career change and want all kinds of different experiences to test the waters as it is). MSFS's International Commerce and Business concentration curriculum also seemed more practical to me vs. SAIS's economics/theory/regional studies curriculum. In the end, I think an MSFS degree can take me anywhere I want (geographic location, sector, etc.). I feel a degree at SAIS will send me straight to an investment bank or other dull private sector job, which is not my goal.
Advice for Future Applicants: The entire application matters! Many weak aspects of an application can be compensated by stronger aspects. My profile seems pathetic compared others on this forum (which makes me wonder why so many people come here to freak out, despite having 4.0 undergrad GPAs at Amazing University, perfect GREs, fluent in 10 languages and possess stellar work experience). I do not have a great GPA nor did I graduate from a prestigious school. But I think I had good recommendations (the president of my university plus my adviser, dean of graduate studies, and one professional recommendation). I also think my personal statement was good; I was very specific about where my life has taken me thus far, my goals, my readiness to enter graduate school and how graduate school can help me attain my goals. And lastly, I think I have good 'international experience' (biracial, dual citizen, fluent in Japanese, working knowledge of Spanish, Tagalog and Korean, plenty of world travel since infancy, experience living abroad).

I didn't get into all the schools I applied to. But I think my experience offers some hope to those who feel their chances of getting into a great school are low. My grad school application has taught me a lot, specifically that there is no universal rhyme or reason among grad school admission committees. American and UCSD were my safety schools. I didn't get into American. I also thought Tufts, SAIS and SIPA admission would decide my fate with a coin toss. I feel blessed to get into SAIS and lucky to not get flat out rejected at Tufts and SIPA. Georgetown I thought was a long shot, but I got in.

Advice: If you are a similar applicant to me, with a less than average application, try and compensate for weak parts of your application. Unfortunately, I made my undergrad college decision based solely on sports. I wasn't good enough for Division I, so I went to a Division III school because I thought I'd be more competitive. My major and career goals weren't really on the radar at the time. I though I'd become a doctor and it'd be simple. For the first 2 years of undergrad, I was doing well. During my 3rd year, my world crashed down around me and all hope of medical school was wiped out. That's when I really started to examine myself and discover what I really wanted to do with my life. I studied abroad my senior year and started to consider IR grad schools. But because I didn't go to a prestigious school and had a poor GPA, I knew I needed to do something to make myself a more competitive applicant. 5 years later, after working with stem cells, studying at a Japanese language school, working in Japan and plenty of travel, I'm heading to Georgetown.

Good luck to all of you!

I'm a current SAIS'er, here's my two cents on the school. I relied on Gradcafe a lot when I was deciding and thought an inside view might help. Note these are only my views, other SAISers may disagree.

Overall, I've been really happy with the school and highly recommend it. First, being in DC is a huge plus - you are in THE global international relations hub - IMF, World Bank, US Govt, and a thousand think tanks / NGOs are all right around the corner. If you want to work at the Bank, SAIS is the place to go. It is the biggest source of Bank staff - basically, if you want to work there, you will. SAIS also has great networks, particularly at the IFIs, but also in US Govt and across the NGOs and Think Tanks. Living in DC there are conferences, seminars, talks, panels going on constantly - you can't get to everything. On top of that, SAIS gets top speakers in. In my time - Hank Paulson, Tim Geithner, Stanley McChrystal, Zbigniew Brezinski, Madeleine Albright - are some of those who have come through. But you'll get lots of foreign heads of government, ambassadors, CEOs, etc. And as a student you get to attend a lot of candid closed door talks, which are great.

Second, SAIS has fantastic course offerings, if you haven't seen them already follow this link: http://www.sais-jhu....urses/index.htm (see the bottom of the page). It has a lot of fantastic teachers, and a few not so fantastic teachers. But if you do your research when picking classes, you can avoid the poorer classes with ease. Be warned, this isn't business school, you will work hard. SAIS students tend to be pretty hardworking - especially on the DC campus - while also squeezing in lots of seminars, conferences, clubs and societies, and happy hours.

Third, SAIS can prepare you for any job. The Econ syllabus is fantastic - if that's what you like, if not, you can avoid it (aside from the mandatory 4 subjects). The Finance program is also top notch - the head of the department, Gordon Bodnar, is ex-Wharton and runs classes of that standard. He also has put together a really solid faculty. Whether you want to go into banking, consulting, government, third sector, media, SAIS can get you there. If you're not sure, SAIS is even better! Note that a lot of private firms, esp. the consulting firms, don't treat SAIS as an MBA - you will enter at the pre-MBA salary.

Fourth, there are GREAT people in the student body - military, government sector, private sector, media, NGOs - there are a lot of interesting people at SAIS, most of them really smart too. The social side of SAIS is a real highlight.

In terms of downsides, there are a few minor shortcomings, but I'm sure they're not unique to SAIS. First, overenrolled classes. In recent years, the student body has grown, but course offerings haven't really adapted. A lot of classes are over enrolled and you have use bid points (everyone given the same amount) to try and get in. The upshot is you simply cant take a lot of classes you might like to. This is becoming a problem - over 20 classes went to bid this semester. Other classes are limited to concentrations, or give concentrators priority - i.e. you can't take a class with Eliot Cohen unless you are in Strategic Studies. Second, the student body seems to be getting younger. If you've got three or four years of real work experience, you'll find a bunch of people like you, but there is an increasing number of students either straight out of undergrad or with 1 year worth of internships. This can be frustrating. Finally, career services isn't what you'd get at a top business school, to a large extent you're on your own, especially if you're interested in private sector jobs.

One other issue to consider is branding. SAIS is THE brand name in DC, but the further you get away from the US, the less well known it is. If all you're worried about is brand name, columbia and harvard tend to resonate better overseas than SAIS. But this is slowly changing.

Looking at concentrations, in my view (and this is only my view!) the better concentrations are:
- Strategic Studies: Very well run by Eliot Cohen, with great faculty. It has a conservative bent.
- China Studies: Headed by David Lampton - one of THE China guys. Great classes, good language program.
- American Foreign Policy: Michael Mandelbaum
- Energy, Resources, Environment: Great course offerings, very practical.
- Latin American Studies

The SAIS International Development program is traditionally good, but has been in a state of flux. Francis Fukuyama left in 2010 and a new director has only just been appointed - Deborah Brautigam from American University. Will be interesting to see what happens.

A final point is that SAIS has just appointed a new Dean - Vali Nasr - who seems like a good pick, but only time will tell!

Again, I would highly recommend SAIS. I've had a great time here and talking to people from other schools, I'm more confident I made the right choice today than when I first accepted (over HKS, SIPA, MSFS, LSE, HEI Geneva). Happy to try and answer any specific questions.

SAIS2013, thanks for taking the time to share a thorough, thoughtful response!

I have one additional question--

Something that appeals to me about the Georgetown curriculum is the opportunity to take very practical policy courses at GPPI to complement the more theoretical courses in MSFS and Government. (Some may disagree with me that SFS is theoretical, but I think in comparison to public policy classes, most IR courses are.) The GWU curriculum too contains a number of management and policymaking classes that seem more practical than IR/theory courses

My perusing through the course listings on ISIS suggest to me that outside the economics curriculum, SAIS tends to be more IR/theoretical with few public policy/technical classes (aside from a few that give preference to MIPP candidates). This makes sense, as SAIS is an International Affairs school, not a public policy school. I just want to better understand the nature of the classes I would be taking versus what I would take at Georgetown.

Would you agree or disagree with my understanding of the curriculum?

Some of the top schools schools don't have widespread international brand recognition. If that means something to you, by all means get into the brand name of your choice. However, the top IR schools are well-known in their field worldwide, which is what matters when you are looking for IR jobs in the private sector at least (which is where I gather many people worried about brand name want to work, in which case why not get an MBA?). All the schools provide great education and will prepare you for your ideal career me thinks. Not famous does not equal bad school.

And as many said here, the school name might only mean something initially after graduation and during your career's formative years. Eventually, your resume, skills, network, etc. will carry vastly more weight than where you graduated.

As for SFS's reputation, I'm not buying the argument many people present here. I participated in an online chat today; they said last year they had maybe 4 students become FSOs, perhaps a few more have joined them since graduation. The school's employment stats say that of the 2011 class, 39% went into the public sector, which includes foreign governments and multi-laterals, with the rest distributed among the private and non-profit sectors. So it's hardly a US government employment machine. In fact, I think SFS's numbers are similar to SAIS.

Do schools offer money to students taken off the waiting list?

Just got an e-mail from Georgetown...I can't believe I got in! Congrats to everyone else!

Just got an e-mail from Georgetown...I can't believe I got in! Congrats to everyone else!