Graduate Institute Geneva - 2020

[fatlum]

Hello there,

I created this topic so that people who will apply or applied at IHEID can interact with other prospective students.

 

[kcampion]

Hi! 

I'm also applying to IHEID for the Fall of 2020. I'm applying for the MA in International Relations. I'm so nervous! 

Kayla

[fatlum]

On 12/12/2019 at 8:49 PM, kcampion said:

Hi! 

I'm also applying to IHEID for the Fall of 2020. I'm applying for the MA in International Relations. I'm so nervous! 

Kayla

Where are you applying from? I hope we both get accepted haha

[kcampion]

On 12/14/2019 at 10:45 AM, fatlum said:

Where are you applying from? I hope we both get accepted haha

The United States! Where are you applying from? I hope we both get accepted too; wishing you lots of luck! Are you applying anywhere else?

[fatlum]

On 12/19/2019 at 7:35 PM, kcampion said:

The United States! Where are you applying from? I hope we both get accepted too; wishing you lots of luck! Are you applying anywhere else?

Kosovo. Well my first choice is IHEID, but I'm intending to apply at LSE also.

[kcampion]

On 12/21/2019 at 2:45 PM, fatlum said:

Kosovo. Well my first choice is IHEID, but I'm intending to apply at LSE also.

Oh wow! That's great. I'm applying to UCL, Brussels School of International Studies, and Kings College London. 

[Menocchio II]

Hi folks, also I am planning to apply for International History program at IHEID. In the forum, I haven't seen any post written by an applicant of this program. Does it mean that history program is less competitive? Is there any former or prospective applicant who is able to inform me? Thanks a lot.

[fatlum]

On 1/1/2020 at 10:40 PM, Menocchio II said:

Hi folks, also I am planning to apply for International History program at IHEID. In the forum, I haven't seen any post written by an applicant of this program. Does it mean that history program is less competitive? Is there any former or prospective applicant who is able to inform me? Thanks a lot.

Hey,

I have no idea but I really hope so haha! 

[Vinicius]

Hey, I am from Brazil and I have applied for the Master in International Law. :D

[Boudibou123]

Hi,

Also applying for the MA in international affairs for fall 2020. I’m a law graduate from Canada!

I really wonder just how many applicants get in the program ? Quite nervous about it!

[Masters2020]

Hey there –– I'm a current student at iHEID (In one of the interdisciplinary programs, but have also a lot of info on the disciplinary ones). Feel free to send any questions, concerns or doubts you may have about literally anything! I'll do my best to answer. Good luck for your applications!

[electricsquirrel]

I'm scheduled to complete my undergrad education from the US in May 2020 and have applied to M.Dev. My educational background isn't conventional for M.Dev so really crossing my fingers for this!

Are most of you applying straight out of undergrad or have you already worked a couple of years?

[Masters2020]

Hello @Boudibou123. In MIA, around 85–90 students are accepted. It's the biggest program in terms of how many people apply, but also the one with the highest amount of students. As a reference, International Relations/Political Science has only around 20 students accepted every year, pretty much the same as Int'History or Int'Economics. @electricsquirrel –– MDEV is similar to MIA in terms of popularity, and it's probably the best to apply to if you have an unconventional background. Even if IHEID itself is extremely diverse, MDEV is arguably the most diverse program in terms of backgrounds, interests and ambitions across students.

[Masters2020]

 

On 1/1/2020 at 10:40 PM, Menocchio II said:

Hi folks, also I am planning to apply for International History program at IHEID. In the forum, I haven't seen any post written by an applicant of this program. Does it mean that history program is less competitive? Is there any former or prospective applicant who is able to inform me? Thanks a lot.

Hey there –– I'd argue that all programs at iHEID are competitive. Having said that, the number of students accepted for each one is supposed to be correlated with the demand it gets. While MIA & MDEV get a huge number of applications and only around 80 make it to each one, International History may be less competitive in terms of how many people apply, though only around 20 are accepted every year. I hope this helps.

 

 

 

[Boudibou123]

Hi @Masters2020,

Thanks for the infos! I was wondering if you could share some light on the backgrounds of people who get accepted in the MIA program. I feel like there is not enough information on the IHEID website regarding statistics of students. For example, what is the average age of a student starting the MIA program? Are they usually from political science backgrounds? Do most of them usually have work experience or do they come directly from other programs at other institutions?

Any general info that you can provide would be greatly appreciated. Thanks !

[fiorepaola]

Hi all! I'm also applying to MDev for fall 2020. I just moved to Geneva for family reasons and I'm in the process of preparing my application while trying to settle up in the city. I was wondering, are they looking for something particular in our motivation letter? 

@electricsquirrel I finished my undergrad in architecture last May, so basically I'm applying straight out of undergrad from a not very conventional background as well ?i'm crossing fingers for the two of us!

[Mathology]

On 1/1/2020 at 10:40 PM, Menocchio II said:

Hi folks, also I am planning to apply for International History program at IHEID. In the forum, I haven't seen any post written by an applicant of this program. Does it mean that history program is less competitive? Is there any former or prospective applicant who is able to inform me? Thanks a lot.

Hello @Menocchio II I'm also applying to International History program, I have combed the past forums but not much of International History applicants so far........hope to see you in Geneva.

Best wishes

[fatlum]

On 1/8/2020 at 12:35 PM, Masters2020 said:

Hello @Boudibou123. In MIA, around 85–90 students are accepted. It's the biggest program in terms of how many people apply, but also the one with the highest amount of students. As a reference, International Relations/Political Science has only around 20 students accepted every year, pretty much the same as Int'History or Int'Economics. @electricsquirrel –– MDEV is similar to MIA in terms of popularity, and it's probably the best to apply to if you have an unconventional background. Even if IHEID itself is extremely diverse, MDEV is arguably the most diverse program in terms of backgrounds, interests and ambitions across students.

according to their website, around 30-35 get accepted every year in IR

[Vinicius]

For those of you who applied to other UK Universities: Will you choose IHEID or LSE or UCL or Oxbridge? I am still considering about that, since the MIL at the Graduate Institute is a 2 year program and, as an example, the LLM at LSE is just one year. 

[Menocchio II]

On 1/8/2020 at 10:44 PM, Mathology said:

Hello @Menocchio II I'm also applying to International History program, I have combed the past forums but not much of International History applicants so far........hope to see you in Geneva.

Best wishes

Good luck mate! I hope that both of us will be accepted. 

By the way, I am a bit curious about the general profile of the applicants. Because I have seen that there are certain people coming from the most prestigious US universities with pretty high GPAs. Personally, my university has the highest reputation in Turkey and my GPA is hopefully good enough, but its international recognition is limited in comparison with an average European or American institution. In short, I am slightly stressed as the deadline is approaching ?

[Mathology]

4 hours ago, Menocchio II said:

Good luck mate! I hope that both of us will be accepted. 

By the way, I am a bit curious about the general profile of the applicants. Because I have seen that there are certain people coming from the most prestigious US universities with pretty high GPAs. Personally, my university has the highest reputation in Turkey and my GPA is hopefully good enough, but its international recognition is limited in comparison with an average European or American institution. In short, I am slightly stressed as the deadline is approaching ?

I hope too.

However, I took my time in going through the last thread for 2019 applicants, I think the most important factors are: your motivation letter, recommendation letters and academic comes last. 

[fatlum]

Does anybody know if I can pay the application fee with other options rather than paypal? 

[Masters2020]

On 1/8/2020 at 3:08 PM, Boudibou123 said:

Hi @Masters2020,

Thanks for the infos! I was wondering if you could share some light on the backgrounds of people who get accepted in the MIA program. I feel like there is not enough information on the IHEID website regarding statistics of students. For example, what is the average age of a student starting the MIA program? Are they usually from political science backgrounds? Do most of them usually have work experience or do they come directly from other programs at other institutions?

Any general info that you can provide would be greatly appreciated. Thanks !

Hey there! The MIA is really diverse. Some people are in their late 20's (27–29, or even more than 30) after getting some meaningful work experience, generally in Geneva (I know three people who have done this, for instance). However, MIA generally attracts a lot of recent graduates (I wouldn't be able to give a number, but my guess is that approximately 1/3 of accepted applicants comes straight from undergrad). Some people come from top American colleges (both MDEV & MIA), such as Columbia or Harvard; others have a demonstrated leadership experience on many fronts; others are from India or South East Asia, and I feel their GPA's are not generally assessed under the same criteria as a US or a European University. Given the diversity we have, I'd say your grades or the university you come from are absolutely not the most relevant factors in the application process. What your referees tell about you (I strongly recommend to submit 3 – 2 by professors & 1 by a work supervisor) + your motivation letter are probably more relevant, as long as both things as correlated and it's supported by an interesting/outstanding CV. As far as I'm concerned, not many people come from Political Science –– some do (IR mostly), but others come from Economics, PPE or Law! To sum up; the average age should be somewhere between 23–25, with some people coming straight from undergrad and others with 1–2 years (or more) of work experience.

Hope this helps!

 

 

 

[Masters2020]

On 1/9/2020 at 4:32 PM, fatlum said:

according to their website, around 30-35 get accepted every year in IR

Could be, yeah. It was just my guess given the amount of people I see/know from IRPS, but if the website says 30–35, trust them!

 

[Masters2020]

By the way; needless to say that the command of languages is very important asset in the application. A lot of people at the school are fluent in their mother tongue, English and an additional language. I think this helps, for instance, when applying to MDEV or MIA.

I've also read comments saying that grades are less important than recommendations or motivation. To be honest, I have a feeling the assessment is done according to how 'complete' & 'coherent' your entire application is; if you have a 3.3 GPA, yet with leadership/competitive work experience, awards, study abroad programs, scholarships & related, that's gonna be seen as something really positive. If you worked & studied at the same time, and couldn't therefore get a 4.0 GPA but still got a 3.3 or 3.4, that's still fine as long as you explain it on your letter, more so if that work experience is somehow related to what you'd like to do at MIA!

If you have a 4.0 GPA in a B.A in Development or Political Science, you apply to MIA (or even MDEV...) but you don't seem to lay out your vision or objectives in a clear way, they may not look at your profile with a lot of excitement. Same if you apply to MIA & you stress too much the fact that you wanna do academic research without focusing on how or where you'd like to apply it (because then you should go for IRPS). At the same time, grades do matter. If your transcript shows you had very good grades in your first year but those got way worse recently, that's gonna hurt you if you don't explain why. This is, again, my guess as a student who went through the process. I don't work at admissions or anything like that. 

Again, the application has to fit into a broad set of expectations and criteria which probably many applicants fulfill, yet at the end it's all down to the motivation you have for a specific program, and how you can express that motivation across all the documents in a consistent and ambitious way.