Georgetown MASIA 2019

[homesicksub]

  On 3/14/2019 at 5:19 AM, Hannahbanana212 said:

Contacted MASIA and found Out that all merit based funding has been awarded already. Anyone applying to FLAS?

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Aw, that’s too bad. I’m still gonna try and negotiate. And yeah, I’m applying to FLAS! I’ve done it in the past, and it’s really not that bad

[Malina309]

Is anyone still waiting on their decision email? I've checked every folder for days and nothing >.< 

[Leznver]

  On 3/15/2019 at 2:29 AM, Malina309 said:

Is anyone still waiting on their decision email? I've checked every folder for days and nothing >.< 

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MEEE!!! I am still waiting, I emailed them today, hopefully will get a reply. Ill let you know if I find anything out. 

[Kienzle]

  On 3/13/2019 at 1:42 AM, pol_mil_junkie said:

From what my friend who is finishing up at GT SSP tells me GT is the place for security studies. As far as language, I'm not sure.

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Ok, good to know and corroborates with my feeling that GT is probably the better program. 

Time to apply to FLAS! 

[pol_mil_junkie]

  On 3/15/2019 at 4:18 AM, Kienzle said:

Ok, good to know and corroborates with my feeling that GT is probably the better program. 

Time to apply to FLAS! 

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Just a heads up, most of the SSP courses are in the evening to support their large cohort of part time working students. Their language classes are during the day. I personally don't like evening classes but having a large cohort of part time students who work on the Hill, State, DOD, World Bank, K street firms, and whatever DC offers is an amazing benefit. I previously worked at a major DOD research firm and currently work on key staff in government. All jobs I got were through connections and warm intro email/phonecall. So if you plan on working in DC then the networking is almost more important than school and (unfortunately) sometimes your real academic ability. It's a town where sounding confident and looking the part are sometimes more valuable than being able to do the writing or the analysis. Just remember that no matter how smart you are in any organization, only few people get to make the real decisions. Most jobs you are there to support the boss's agenda.

[Leznver]

  On 3/15/2019 at 2:29 AM, Malina309 said:

Is anyone still waiting on their decision email? I've checked every folder for days and nothing >.< 

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I heard back from Admissions that all decisions will be released via the portal today. 

[homesicksub]

Ok, I officially have all of my results. Deciding between Georgetown MASIA, Johns Hopkins SAIS MA, and Columbia SIPA MIA. Everything about Georgetown feels like the perfect fit, but my only reservation is that SAIS and SIPA offer more “practical” education (i.e. economics, conflict resolution). I say this as someone looking to get into policy analyst roles. On the flipside, MASIA’s curriculum is incredibly flexible, which is a huge plus for me as well. 

Edited March 15, 2019 by homesicksub

[Malina309]

  On 3/15/2019 at 4:10 PM, Leznver said:

I heard back from Admissions that all decisions will be released via the portal today. 

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Thank you!

[Kienzle]

  On 3/15/2019 at 2:22 PM, pol_mil_junkie said:

So if you plan on working in DC then the networking is almost more important than school and (unfortunately) sometimes your real academic ability. It's a town where sounding confident and looking the part are sometimes more valuable than being able to do the writing or the analysis. Just remember that no matter how smart you are in any organization, only few people get to make the real decisions. Most jobs you are there to support the boss's agenda.

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Right, I'm interested in policy careers so DC is definitely the place to be. As to the night classes - I don't want to take only SSP classes (otherwise I would have applied to that program) but intend to take the security focus at MASIA, hence my concern was more the quality of faculty and who else is in those cross-listed classes. 

 

  On 3/15/2019 at 5:15 PM, homesicksub said:

my only reservation is that SAIS and SIPA offer more “practical” education (i.e. economics, conflict resolution). I say this as someone looking to get into policy analyst roles. On the flipside, MASIA’s curriculum is incredibly flexible, which is a huge plus for me as well. 

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I asked my friend who's in the MASIA program now and he said people can just enroll in whatever classes they want, e.g. finance through McDonough or international arbitration at the law school. Apparently the SFS offers a lot of these courses as well though. As for SAIS, there are more mandatory quant courses, plus you get the dual degree with international economics which might stand out to some employers.

The other thing he said re: SAIS is that he hears their programs are very siloed by country whereas MASIA has more crossovers between Korea, China, Japan and SE Asia people.

[pol_mil_junkie]

  On 3/16/2019 at 6:59 AM, Kienzle said:

I asked my friend who's in the MASIA program now and he said people can just enroll in whatever classes they want, e.g. finance through McDonough or international arbitration at the law school. Apparently the SFS offers a lot of these courses as well though. As for SAIS, there are more mandatory quant courses, plus you get the dual degree with international economics which might stand out to some employers.

The other thing he said re: SAIS is that he hears their programs are very siloed by country whereas MASIA has more crossovers between Korea, China, Japan and SE Asia people.

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That's great to hear as I've decided I will be doing SSP full time. I don't want to be too narrow in security studies. I will have to do the required SSP courses but also want to focus on Indo Asia Pacific much like you Also planning to take foreign language classes which are apparently "free" if you are a full time student.

I'm happy to go with SSP over SAIS because SSP is more geared for getting a job whereas SAIS is a bit more academic. Both are great, just different flavors.

 

Good luck Kienzle.

[homesicksub]

  On 3/16/2019 at 1:02 PM, pol_mil_junkie said:

 

I'm happy to go with SSP over SAIS because SSP is more geared for getting a job whereas SAIS is a bit more academic. Both are great, just different flavors.

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That’s really interesting, what gives you that impression? I always thought SAIS was very professionally-oriented, or at least as much as Georgetown’s programs were.

[pol_mil_junkie]

  On 3/16/2019 at 3:55 PM, homesicksub said:

That’s really interesting, what gives you that impression? I always thought SAIS was very professionally-oriented, or at least as much as Georgetown’s programs were.

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Just my personal take based on alumni I have met irl from both programs. Either way you can't do wrong.

[Kienzle]

  On 3/16/2019 at 1:02 PM, pol_mil_junkie said:

That's great to hear as I've decided I will be doing SSP full time. I don't want to be too narrow in security studies. I will have to do the required SSP courses but also want to focus on Indo Asia Pacific much like you Also planning to take foreign language classes which are apparently "free" if you are a full time student.

I'm happy to go with SSP over SAIS because SSP is more geared for getting a job whereas SAIS is a bit more academic. Both are great, just different flavors.

 

Good luck Kienzle.

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Cheers, hope we cross paths in D.C.!

also re: SAIS vs SFS I also thought SAIS seemed a bit more professional. If I remember correctly, when I checked out the graduate employment stats at both programs, SAIS had a higher percentage of students going into consulting/finance than SFS. At this level you're splitting hairs though - both are incredible programs and offer the tools you need to go private sector or work for government.

[homesicksub]

^ thank you! I agree, “splitting hairs” is the best way to describe the comparison. That’s what makes the final decision so difficult, I suppose!

[Stanley3395]

I wonder if anyone has received the official letter of acceptance for MASIA program from the School of Arts and Sciences.

[Kienzle]

Yeah, I received mine a few days ago.

[Stanley3395]

Strange, I received the unofficial email but not the official letter, @Kienzle when did you receive yours?

[Kienzle]

Four days ago. Check your spam folder maybe?

[Hannahbanana212]

I am posting to let those above know that I have withdrawn my acceptance to Georgetown, I'll be attending Univ of Hawaii at Manoa in the fall. Good luck to any and all in your decisions! I am happy to discuss my decision process if you're struggling. 

[pol_mil_junkie]

Well Hawaii weather can't be beat but it's a bit of an island.

 

What made you decide to go to Hawaii instead of Georgetown?

[Hannahbanana212]

  On 3/28/2019 at 10:52 AM, pol_mil_junkie said:

Well Hawaii weather can't be beat but it's a bit of an island.

 

What made you decide to go to Hawaii instead of Georgetown?

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(Sorry I just saw this!)

I have a few reasons,

Primarily, my SO will be in Hawaii and the location works well for the two of us.

Secondly, UH is in a prime geographic position for me - what with Pacific Strategy being my focus of study. I'm excited about the post grad employment opportunities there and building up a network near PACOM. 

Money was also a big player, I got nothing from Gtown, even after attempted negotiation. 

I think another big thing was that I'm comfortable in the Big Fish, Small Pond dynamic. My undergrad was like this, and I thrived. 

Let me know if you have any other questions!

[homesicksub]

  On 4/1/2019 at 2:50 PM, Hannahbanana212 said:

 

Money was also a big player, I got nothing from Gtown, even after attempted negotiation. 

 

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If you don't mind me asking, what did that negotiation look like? I didn't get any money either, but I intend to negotiate for aid (I have a fully-funded offer at Columbia's Asian Studies program to use as leverage). 

[Hannahbanana212]

  On 4/2/2019 at 4:42 PM, homesicksub said:

If you don't mind me asking, what did that negotiation look like? I didn't get any money either, but I intend to negotiate for aid (I have a fully-funded offer at Columbia's Asian Studies program to use as leverage). 

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i asked if there was any wiggle room in the merit based funding for incoming students, as I had received full funding from two other programs. they informed me I could wait till April to see if anything became available, but nothing was available at that point. 

[Hannahbanana212]

  On 4/2/2019 at 4:42 PM, homesicksub said:

If you don't mind me asking, what did that negotiation look like? I didn't get any money either, but I intend to negotiate for aid (I have a fully-funded offer at Columbia's Asian Studies program to use as leverage). 

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then again, I wasn't fully funded from as prestigious of a university, so you may have more leverage than I did

[homesicksub]

  On 4/3/2019 at 1:12 AM, Hannahbanana212 said:

then again, I wasn't fully funded from as prestigious of a university, so you may have more leverage than I did

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Ok, good to know! I'm sorry it didn't work out for you. I also apologize if I came across as overconfident in my original post, I just realized it reads that way and I didn't intend that.