Johns Hopkins SAIS 2020

[KyleR]

Random thought, but does anyone else here think that the $2 Billion gift from Mike Bloomberg to JHU has dramatically improved SAIS' financial aid? It seems that professional programs usually don't vary their fee structure too much based on endowment, but I sure wasn't expecting to receive anything close to what I was offered. 

[ax062320]

4 hours ago, thediesel said:

I highly doubt that considering they already awarded it to you.

Thanks for the reply!

[thediesel]

20 hours ago, KyleR said:

Random thought, but does anyone else here think that the $2 Billion gift from Mike Bloomberg to JHU has dramatically improved SAIS' financial aid? It seems that professional programs usually don't vary their fee structure too much based on endowment, but I sure wasn't expecting to receive anything close to what I was offered. 

I think most of if not all of that is for undergraduate students.

[ax062320]

Just wondering how many of your folks plan to defer or taking online in fall 2020 if inevitably? 

https://sais.jhu.edu/admit/congratulations-admitted-students/covid-19-faq-admitted-students

 

[thediesel]

12 hours ago, ax062320 said:

Just wondering how many of your folks plan to defer or taking online in fall 2020 if inevitably? 

https://sais.jhu.edu/admit/congratulations-admitted-students/covid-19-faq-admitted-students

 

I would potentially consider taking one class online, so I could continue working full time. I just hope such a decision isn't made too late. I don't want to move to DC just to find out that the fall semester will be online.

[tacos95]

I have a guess as to how the crowd here will answer this question, but I wanted to try anyway (sorry if you also see the same post in a thread I started on this, but I need to decide within two days) So I got a good offer, as far as masters programs are concerned, with George Mason through the Mercatus Center for the MA in Economics. Tuition is covered plus a significant stipend for both years.

I'm trying to think through ramifications for career opportunities though. I'm wondering if the fairly obvious ideological bent of those institutions (school and Center are both definitely pretty libertarian) and generally heterodox nature of the department compared to the wider discipline of economics will typecast me when I'm looking for my first post-grad school position. While I'm not intellectually averse to the institutional and Austrian economics, I'm wondering how everybody thinks this would affect my opportunities for work afterwards. I'm nervous that I would only be able to land jobs at Cato, or Mercatus itself and other libertarian type places, or, worst case, something private sector. It's also just not a super highly ranked program overall.

My other option at this point is the SAIS MA in International Econ with second concentration TBD. This is clearly a much more widely respected institution, especially in DC and especially in government. I have significant funding from SAIS, but it's not nearly the same on net (pending request for reconsideration, probably like everyone else here).

I'd rather go to SAIS all else equal. I can handle to take on some debt for this, but I'm just wracking my brains over whether it's worth it.

For background, I went to a tiny, no-name liberal arts college and haven't worked in policy yet, so in some ways I feel like I need to go a little more prestigious if I'm going to the trouble to get a second degree.

Ideally, I want to end up in a big-name think tank or government as a policy analyst, eventually with chances to write for a relatively broad audience.

If anybody has thoughts, they would be greatly appreciated.

[AONomad]

@tacos95 In the absence of a crystal ball, this calculator is pretty useful for making cost comparisons: https://themeasureofaplan.com/grad-school-calculator/

[Sovereign]

Late to the party, but I'm in as well albeit with no funding. I'll be submitting a reconsideration request but am unsure just how high I should shoot for if they can award a lesser amount, or if I should be modest if things are a straight up approval or denial. I don't expect a full ride, but 30K/yr or close to it would be of substantial help in both deciding on my offer and the quality of my studies there if I do accept. Hearing that most need-based funding are loans and given my lackluster GPA, I'm not sure if I'd qualify for merit-based awards given those tend to be academic in nature? I have extensive extracurricular and work experience for my age, but my undergrad GPA was very average and I didn't even take the GRE.

Edited March 30, 2020 by Sovereign

[ax062320]

10 hours ago, thediesel said:

I would potentially consider taking one class online, so I could continue working full time. I just hope such a decision isn't made too late. I don't want to move to DC just to find out that the fall semester will be online.

I assume there will be a minimum credit per semester? And even if you can take one course in fall, it can still delay your graduation, no?

[ax062320]

6 hours ago, tacos95 said:

I have a guess as to how the crowd here will answer this question, but I wanted to try anyway (sorry if you also see the same post in a thread I started on this, but I need to decide within two days) So I got a good offer, as far as masters programs are concerned, with George Mason through the Mercatus Center for the MA in Economics. Tuition is covered plus a significant stipend for both years.

I'm trying to think through ramifications for career opportunities though. I'm wondering if the fairly obvious ideological bent of those institutions (school and Center are both definitely pretty libertarian) and generally heterodox nature of the department compared to the wider discipline of economics will typecast me when I'm looking for my first post-grad school position. While I'm not intellectually averse to the institutional and Austrian economics, I'm wondering how everybody thinks this would affect my opportunities for work afterwards. I'm nervous that I would only be able to land jobs at Cato, or Mercatus itself and other libertarian type places, or, worst case, something private sector. It's also just not a super highly ranked program overall.

My other option at this point is the SAIS MA in International Econ with second concentration TBD. This is clearly a much more widely respected institution, especially in DC and especially in government. I have significant funding from SAIS, but it's not nearly the same on net (pending request for reconsideration, probably like everyone else here).

I'd rather go to SAIS all else equal. I can handle to take on some debt for this, but I'm just wracking my brains over whether it's worth it.

For background, I went to a tiny, no-name liberal arts college and haven't worked in policy yet, so in some ways I feel like I need to go a little more prestigious if I'm going to the trouble to get a second degree.

Ideally, I want to end up in a big-name think tank or government as a policy analyst, eventually with chances to write for a relatively broad audience.

If anybody has thoughts, they would be greatly appreciated.

No sure if I can be as helpful as others here. I have a Econ BA degree from a top 3 Canadian school and our econ department ranked #1 in Canada. My Econ prof told me that a pure Econ MA can only prove that you are smart enough to solve all these problem sets and that's it. So he did suggest me to pursue a professional degree like SAIS if I'm going to work after. Hope it is helpful

[thediesel]

13 hours ago, ax062320 said:

I assume there will be a minimum credit per semester? And even if you can take one course in fall, it can still delay your graduation, no?

Oh of course. My point is I could potentially defer but see if I could take one class per semester part time to make the full-time load easier the following year. Not even sure if that's possible though. SAIS doesn't charge per credit hour, so it might be too pricey to do it that way.

[frdaa19]

Any of the IDEV admitted students here thought the session during open house yesterday was really good? I am personally impressed with the faculty i.e. Nagpal, Brautigam etc. It’s getting much more difficult for me to finalise my decision. 

[tacos95]

So is everybody else with an aid reconsideration request out thinking we won't hear anything until right on 4/17?

[thediesel]

10 hours ago, tacos95 said:

So is everybody else with an aid reconsideration request out thinking we won't hear anything until right on 4/17?

I hope not because I have other offers that need a response by 4/15. 

[tacos95]

10 hours ago, thediesel said:

I hope not because I have other offers that need a response by 4/15. 

Yeah, I had similar concerns. It probably varies loads by program, but I asked and was able to get an extension on my decision date for one program. They didn't even seem at all put off by my asking.

[AONomad]

@HNC people did you guys see the sample readings in Chinese on this page? https://mediahost.sais-jhu.edu/saismedia/media/portal/admit/preparing-hnc/preparing-hnc-sais.htm#preparing-learning-curve

Is anyone else super nervous? lol, even importing into Pleco to use the dictionary I think that'd take me like 2 hours to read the short ones omg

[Yass]

Hi guys, for those wondering about financial aid reconsideration, I just got my result and received 5k more than before. Will be declining my offer so good luck for those on the waitlist.

[AONomad]

I also heard back, and also received +5k over the course of the whole program (spoiler alert: it was a lot less than I had asked for and I thought I had given pretty extensive and strong reasons lol).

Was hoping for at least 10-15k more. 5k more doesn't really change the calculus of my decision that much. Can't complain of course, better than having 5k extra debt that's for sure.

[Yass]

28 minutes ago, AONomad said:

I also heard back, and also received +5k over the course of the whole program (spoiler alert: it was a lot less than I had asked for and I thought I had given pretty extensive and strong reasons lol).

Was hoping for at least 10-15k more. 5k more doesn't really change the calculus of my decision that much. Can't complain of course, better than having 5k extra debt that's for sure.

Same here haha, maybe that's common for MA + Certificate applicants? Are you in the Facebook group? Happy to connect!

[AONomad]

1 minute ago, Yass said:

Same here haha, maybe that's common for MA + Certificate applicants? Are you in the Facebook group? Happy to connect!

Nope not in the group yet since I haven't decided if I'll attend there or Georgetown's MASIA. I'll pm you my facebook

[KIMAMS]

Hi Guys. I haven't received my result for the scholarship reconsideration yet but got the invitation to talk with one of the school's professor. I wonder if this is one way to confirm on whether they want to allocate more funding to us ....Anyone got the same invitation ? 

[thediesel]

9 hours ago, KIMAMS said:

Hi Guys. I haven't received my result for the scholarship reconsideration yet but got the invitation to talk with one of the school's professor. I wonder if this is one way to confirm on whether they want to allocate more funding to us ....Anyone got the same invitation ? 

I haven't heard back on reconsideration or received an invitation to a talk yet.

[sare123]

I received the invitations to the talks-- I think they actually sent out two reminders about it to all admitted students from what I understand, so double check your emails! It's just registering for discussions with professors about academics, pretty sure they are open to everyone and unrelated from aid offers. Haven't heard back about reconsideration yet. 

 

** should also clarify that invitation to speak with professors might only be for SAIS Europe students

Edited April 14, 2020 by sare123

[tacos95]

13 minutes ago, thediesel said:

I haven't heard back on reconsideration or received an invitation to a talk yet.

I haven't heard back about reconsideration yet either. I got an invite to a virtual happy hour, but it doesn't seem like something indicative of favor for aid reconsideration. 

It looks like the folks who have received word on aid already were both for the HNC program, so I'm hoping DC applicants are yet to hear.

[tacos95]

I got aid reconsideration results (in an email from financial aid like the first round) late this afternoon. It felt like "finally," but they said they would reply by 4/17, so it really wasn't too bad of a wait and considerate of them to provide the decision in time for the numerous 4/15 deadlines.

Went from $27k/year to $42k/year, so I'm super stoked. As I mentioned before, I had a substantial fellowship offer from Mercatus/GMU, so I think that helped move me along, despite the programs being pretty different. Anyway, it looks like they really are bumping some up, so good luck!