OregonGal

I definitely agree that GWU makes more sense. It's a separate school vs a department, which means it has its own career services staff, support staff, funding, etc. It's also an APSIA member vs affiliate, which besides rankings is a pretty good gauge of how much the university has invested in the program, and the icing on top of the cake is that it's in DC with all the opportunities that come along with that prime location. As for the crash/prep/summer programs, at the schools I was looking at it seems vary between $500-1000 per course. I'm paying $1000 for UCSD IR/PS' summer prep program (I'm taking Quant and Econ).

I didn't go to the admitted students open house but I've been to other open house sessions and that's always the impression I've gotten from them. They definitely play up the fact their course schedules are all for the evening and that it allows them to bring in a lot of current practitioners. The open house I went to had a networking session w/ current students and alumni, and everyone I talked to definitely said that they appreciated being able to take those skills development courses and not have to schedule an internship around their courseload. It was definitely my first choice, and if I'd gotten in I'd have accepted because of that focus on professional skills (also, it was pretty much the most affordable school I applied to).

I talked to my friend at UCSD and his advice was Rita, Mesa, One Miramar. Rita is on-campus (albeit the opposite end from IR/PS) and comes furnished. Mesa is a very large complex across the highway from UCSD and most of the buildings are townhouses, so you get a yard and don't have as many neighbors. Downside, all the apartments are unfurnished and there's a chance you end up on the far end which is a bit of a hike if you don't want to wait for the campus shuttle. OMS is at the south end of Mesa and are unfurnished mid-rise apartments. He currently lives in OMS.

Since it's rolling admit after the deadline, I'd assume you'd be lumped in with the waitlist pool. If you're head and shoulders above the rest and they have spaces they need to fill you might have a chance. However, don't plan on getting any financial aid for your first year.

Is everyone else headed to prep? I'm seriously hoping that we don't end up in interim housing during that and can go straight into graduate housing.

I would suggest Craigslist, really. A lot of people lock in Fall leases and roommates before they leave school in June, so August is the second big scramble to find leases that start in September. That being said, there are month-to-month quads you can rent (shared kitchen, own bathroom/bedroom) as a temporary place to stay while you look for a lease/roommate. Another option is if there are any graduate student forums/listservs at UO (I know, for example, my undergrad program had a listserv) you can try and tap into those for housing options. Also, for anyone looking to be amused... most of these go for Eugene residents as well as Portlandians http://www.thefrisky.com/2012-04-11/10-things-about-portland-that-are-actually-genuinely-non-ironically-weird/

I... hesitated to put in my two cents here before because I basically washed out of BU my freshman year of college (almost a decade ago) but it sounds like the program/campus culture hasn't changed all that much. In general, I found IR staff and faculty to be supremely unhelpful, especially compared to the university I transferred to (which was of a similar size if not larger and definitely not as well funded, so they can't have that as an excuse). They had a very "sink or swim" mentality and didn't support undergraduates that well, and that was also the attitude I encountered all across campus. At the time, they had some interesting people on the IR faculty--Andrew Bacevich was nominally my advisor, which meant I met him once for 5 minutes--but again, no real chances given to connect with people. Do take this with a large grain of salt because as I said, I transferred out several years ago and I don't generally think happily back on those times. It could be that they support graduate students much better, but somehow I doubt it :/

If you want to PMF, then I think you should take a hard look at both school's track record with preparing/supporting PMF applicants. I think that elite schools like HKS might have the edge because they know how to prepare PMF applicants, and have a lot of PMF alumni to network you with for tips. OTOH, they might limit that support to a chosen few. I'd do more research considering how specialized your career plan is. Another thing to consider is that if you don't have any finaid from HKS then you're looking at what, $100K in loans? Which means, do you think that Harvard will make enough of a difference in your post-graduate pay scale that you can afford the loan payments vs graduating debt free?

Yes, I'd definitely say that since you have the option of accepting C, and since you seem to rank these schools D-C-B -A, you should hold out and decline B. You can always try and find a tuition-remission on-campus position besides a TA-ship if they're available--I worked in the dining hall in college, and my supervisor was an M.A. student who got his tuition waived by working 20 hours a week. Not the most glamorous position, but it paid the bills

I wouldn't discount your military experience simply because you were enlisted instead of commissioned. Especially if you're an NCO--in 5 years you could make what, PO2 or PO1? If you have supervisory experience, that's great, because that's leadership you can highlight. You also have your experience in Africa and at sea, where you'd have put into several international ports (I'm assuming, anyways) so you've got international experience. I have a friend who spent several years at a state-side international NPO as an office manager and got into Columbia SIPA because he was able to highlight where his job intersected with the IR side of the org, and where he took initiative to seek out more IR-relevant/leadership opportunities within his job. You just have to make a good argument in your SOP for your qualifications.

I actually had a very similar experience to you! My freshman year was TERRIBLE and I ended up transferring b/c the school was not at all a good fit for me. Let's just say that I had worse than a 3.0 from that year I did have poor grades in at least one major-specific course (I was an IR major) but overall pulled my GPA up to 3.2 overall, with a 3.5 in my major. There, you're already way ahead of me in compensating for freshman year The schools I ended up applying to all want work experience, because I want a 'professional' degree (MIA is the IR equivalent of MPA/MPP). So, the fact that I had 2+ years of relevant work experience to write about in my SOPs helped. I also did well (not excellent, but well) on my GREs. I was accepted at a decent (strong in Asia/Pacific, decent but not amazing rep overall) school and wait-listed at Johns Hopkins SAIS (top 10, some say top 5 school). Long story short... you may have dug yourself a bit of a hole your freshman year but it sounds like you've completely recovered academically. Graduate programs generally pay more attention to your major/upper-div/last two years courses to see how you do once you've settled into your track. If you're going for a theoretical degree vs a professional degree, I'd say you just need to keep on doing as you do and make sure to cultivate good relationships with your professors for those upcoming LORs.

Ooh, that's a hard one. Good luck with your decision!

I too am UC San Diego bound! I've already put in my app for on-campus housing (Rita, Mesa, OMS)--hopefully it'll go through alright, one of my friends 2 years ago got a housing spot in October when he'd applied for August. Anyone else lurking about who's headed to UCSD?

If you want to look at some resources for looking at your debt in a way that will hopefully help you not freak out, you can check out an earlier thread I think both MPA/MPP and MIA/MIR degrees involve a LOT of debt, so it should be useful. For me, when I first faced the fact that I am going to be taking on a massive amount of debt (out of state first year= $90-100K total) for my degree I totally freaked out. Once I sat down and ran the numbers and looked at my take-home pay under the various plans (and also how much I'd pay before having my debt wiped out by the PSLF program) I felt a lot better about it.

I think that when you're talking about quality internships/organizations, it depends on what your focus is. LA is the West Coast hub for international organizations, especially ones that focus on Asia, and also has a lot of NPOs. If you're more interested in government/congressional internships or a European focus then you'd want to go for UMD. Either location is a great place for education-based organizations.

I would say that if you don't have that 'dream' program that you didn't get into, it's not worth waiting a year and re-applying. I'll admit to not knowing much about USC and UPenn's respective public policy programs, but if you're interested in urban policy just based on location I'd assume that USC might be a better fit; I think of LA as having a lot of urban policy programs/non-profits (though that may just be the West Coast perspective). If you're based out of the East Coast you can always arrange for an East Coast internship during the summer between academic years to keep those connections. That's what I'm planning to do, since that's my main concern with going to UCSD IR/PS. Also, check out the strength of their career services centers.

I also think that you need to take post-degree employment figures (salary, etc) with a fairly large grain of salt. Usually these numbers are self-reported, and when published by the admissions/career services office as proof of their students' hireability they don't include the number of student's who don't return the surveys. People who get awesome jobs are more likely to report than people who don't find a job, so figures end up skewed.

Tingschu, I would suggest expanding your search a little. There are a lot of nice neighborhoods in the Adams Morgan/Kalorama/U Street area, which is about a mile north of Dupont Circle--you can take a bus, bike or even walk especially if we have another extremely mild winter. I think you might be able to find a decent place there for less than your budget. Columbia Heights definitely is lower than that, but depending on the block it can be gentrified/not gentrified and it's also about 2 miles from Dupont--still busable using the 16th street line, but not really walkable. In all these areas there's a lot of nice apartment buildings going up to cater to all the young professionals moving into town, lots of nice restaurants/bars/shops.

Hahahaha so true... I would suggest getting a good-quality raincoat; not a flimsy water-repellent shell, but one with a bit more heft to it. A thin, unlined raincoat will leave you shivering in the rain because it won't insulate you at all. You can either go for a lined Gore-tex (doesn't have to be a fleece lining or anything, just more than the windbreaker) or a classic plastic raincoat. If you do get an unlined water-resistant windbreaker, invest in sweaters I always got my rainboots at Target/Payless. The general rule of thumb with rainwear is that if you're a girl wearing it, it should be cute so you can play it off as not being functional (even it totally is). If you're a guy... invest in a pair of hiking shoes or treated leather boots. And while you can use an umbrella and still be from Oregon... it's easier to just go without IMO. If it's just a drizzle and you use an umbrella, you're definitely an out of towner and if it's coming down hard chances are there's enough wind that the umbrella is useless anyways.

Umm...I don't know much about neighborhoods/affordability, but my friends (fellow young professionals) who live in NoVA are in the Arlington area. If you're in walking distance of an urban Metro station (Rosslyn, etc) you're not likely to be in a picket fence area.

It's in the FAQ for furnishings Though if you look at the pictures on the site it's all very "industrial chic" (read: concrete everywhere)

Yes, I'm flying in with what I can carry on the plane (same way I've moved every time in the last 3 years) so having a furnished place makes a HUGE difference. Plus, it's a full bed and not the twin x-long from undergrad--oh, the perks of being a grad student

Oh I definitely already put in for housing. I literally filled that form out 15 minutes after I accepted! I have a friend in a PhD program at UCSD and he warned me about housing waitlists--he put in for August his first year, and didn't get in until October (after he'd secured off-campus housing, of course). Since I won't have a car, I really need to get into grad housing. That being said, the admissions officers said that since they've opened up new construction (Rita Atkinson) the waitlist has cleared up a lot, and the graduate housing site is showing no holdup for single females (they're currently matching people who applied in March/April 2012). After consulting with my friend, my preference list is Rita Atkinson (any floor), Mesa (any location) and One Miramar (any floor). RA is on-campus, the other two are across the highway; Mesa is townhouse style so you don't have people on all sides of you while OMS is also fairly recent construction.

I have no clue about her route--I don't drive, and I've never gone to Georgetown However, she does tend to have to commute during rush hour b/c I can remember her saying that if she stays late to study in the law library it takes her less than half an hour to get home, vs an hour to go to class in the morning. Pretty sure she has a 9 or 10 am class so rush hour is pretty unavoidable

A combination of both, really. Where I live is very Metro-accessible (downtown Silver Spring), and most of the complexes around here are new-build or refurbished, with according rent increase. However, there's still a fair few of the non-renovated apartments in my complex because a) it's a large multi-building complex and b ) they renovate between tenants, so if like my place you have a revolving door of roommates the unit is never vacant and can't be fixed up with new appliances/tile. I think 3-bedrooms in this complex (all of them have 1 shared, 1 master ensuite bath) max out at around $2300 here so you could pay $700-1000 depending how you distribute rent and if you want the master. If you have a car, there's a lot of complexes a bit further out of Silver Spring in the more residential areas that are around the same price as my place. You just wouldn't want to live there w/o a car because it would mean at least 1 transfer to get downtown and there's no grocery in walking distance.