cali

I think you're supposed to take micro before macro...

I e-mailed them about it yesterday and just received an e-mail saying I submitted my "reservation form" for preterm, but that once I get my JHU user id and login in May (any day now?), I can officially enroll. I'm not sure if the e-mail itself means much, might just be a formality. Either way, it looks like we have to enroll in the next few weeks too.

charlotte_asia - Actually, I'm not sure if they'll charge more for the additional class, that's a good point. I guess we'll find out soon enough. See you in the fall!

Hey rose1 - I'm making the decision between SAIS and Fletcher, and am ultimately deciding on SAIS. I had a lot of the same impressions you had, which is nice to have reinforced, but here are a few other things I noticed. By the way, I went to Fletcher's admit day too, but could only visit SAIS on a random day. Fletcher: I had a great time talking to my host. I feel like they must have paired us up for a reason, because she's doing the same things I would want to do. Sure, she was busy studying and working on her thesis (very practical topic), but I didn't get the impression that she was all too busy or freaked out, but maybe that's because she already had a job lined up? I really loved the way they ran the open house, and every communication I've had with this school has told me it's very open and everybody is super willing to help you out, more so than the other schools. I also sat in on a number of classes (didn't go to the career services talk) and felt comfortable with the level of the material being covered. vs. SAIS: Everybody has been telling me to go here since I want to concentrate in economics. I was offered more money to go to other schools, but after seeing both, talking to plenty of students, attending lectures, and pretty much memorizing the admissions sites, I feel confident that it's worth it for me to invest in going to SAIS. Academically, they delve deeper into the subjects, including the quantitative aspect you mentioned. They're known for this, and students are hired more easily as a result. There's also less "explaining" of your degree and what it means, which you also mentioned. Sure, there are more prerequisites for courses, and that's why there's pre-term, but I think it's fair if you're expecting to really master the topics you're studying. Fletcher classes ultimately seemed to lack that depth. SAIS is relatively much more structured, which, having had a very flexible (almost too much so) undergrad major, is something I can appreciate. I, too, am concerned about the concentration and finding a good fit, but I would encourage you to reach out to admissions to put you in touch with an academic advisor. I did that and now feel so much more confident that I can do what I want there, and that there is more flexibility than I thought. Language-wise, Fletcher doesn't expect students to continue language study, but at SAIS, it seems very well supported and covers more languages. I know I can't pass my language test right now, so it's definitely a factor for me. The way it was described to me, in one semester it's reasonable to take 4 classes at SAIS, and either take a language, do an internship, or take a 5th class. It turns out it'll be the perfect fit for me and I can't wait to start.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/276276539085355/

Thanks tingschu! I called the admissions department and found out that the odds for second-year fellowships go up when you maintain a GPA above 3.25.

Of course. I got around calculating that in my template by just pulling in the aggregate values from the FAFSA site's loan calculator.

Don't loan payments start 6 months after we graduate? Or are you thinking undergrad loans?

Did anybody happen to catch the online chat this morning? Was there anything interesting mentioned (i.e. not already on their website)?

I've been following along for a bit now, freaking out just as much over finances and how I'm going to decide on schools myself. I'm incredibly lucky to have gotten into so many great schools (I honestly didn't think I would get in anywhere), but now it's time to start making some serious decisions. I've been crunching the numbers too, so I thought since everybody else is adding their models, I would throw mine in as well. Here's the link, and note that I've already dropped off American from my list because there are other schools I got into that are better and cheaper than American. I hope you guys find this helpful, and if you have any advice on how to decide between these, I'd really appreciate it. Oh yeah, I'm also planning to concentrate on economics and finance in emerging markets. I keep hearing how SAIS is so well known for this, but in the long run, after loan fees and interest, is it worth $37k more than Fletcher? And $65k more than GW???