Well funded Masters programs with hands-on development focus?

[fenderpete]

Hi all,

Well it's been a couple of years and I'm back and hopefully really ready to apply for grad school this time - knowing what I want, and also with some solid experience. I'm hoping to apply for either 2011 or 2012 start (depending on a few factors at the minute)

Ideally I'm looking for international development/conflict resolution programs with a very hands-on and international focus - I definitely want the option to travel for my dissertation and while I know theory is important, I want as high a proportion of practical knowledge as possible in whatever program I choose. I'm also probably a bit quantitatively weak and so a program that doesn't emphasise quantitative above everything else would be good.

I'm still not quite sure what area of international development I plan to specialise in, or whether I want to stay as a generalist - but at the minute I'd characterise my interests as primarily those of project management and delivery - i.e. running an election mission, running a community development program or field office.

In terms of my profile:

Undergrad: First Class Hons. in Politics from the University of Nottingham - equivalent to around 3.8-4.0 GPA - Focus in post-war reconstruction, Middle East and democratisation - Graduated joint top of my year, and won first prize award for largest contribution to the university

GRE: 610Q, 690V, 5.5AWA - Considering retaking this, but I'm not great at maths and so might struggle to get quant up by a huge amount.

Experience: Lots of extracurriculars while at university - including Research Assistant for a Prof. for 4 months. During my degree I spent a summer out in the West Bank working in a refugee camp, and spent two months teaching in an underprivileged secondary school in Nottingham. I then interned at The Carter Center in their Conflict Resolution Program for 5 months, interned at Oxfam Ireland for 5 months and I'm about to fly out to Guinea for 3 months to be a Long Term Election Observer for the presidential election, where I'll be managing a team of 5-6 short term observers and monitoring one of the four main provinces of Guinea - with a large proportion of my work in French. After I get back from that, I'm moving to Sudan for 9-12 months to teach English as a foreign language, work on my Arabic and hopefully get some NGO work while out there.

I think I've got good enough experience (will be around the 2-3yr mark after Sudan) and that I'll be able to shape it into a pretty coherent narrative for my personal statement, and I'll also have some good professional references.

My main problem is that I don't come from a wealthy background, and while I'll hopefully save up a bit while in Sudan, I don't have anywhere near the tens of thousands of dollars needed for a two year MA program - so I basically need a full ride offer.

So what schools are there that fit the bill? I know American and WWS offer full rides if you tick the right boxes, but I don't know if my profile will be strong enough to do that! What other schools should I look at? The SIPA MPA in Development Practice looks really interesting, but I know they don't fund much. I kind of feel like this is my last chance to do a lot of grad school apps and so I want to get it right this time for the biggies like HKS and WWS.

I'm happy to look beyond the USA as well if there are particularly good programs elsewhere. I was planning on applying to Oxbridge (LSE don't really offer any financial aid).

I'm from the UK - with dual UK/Irish citizenship - so if you know of any good scholarships for people of my background that'd be great as well!

So any recommendations on universities are really appreciated - and also advice on whether you think my GRE would be a deal-breaker as it currently stands. Also - is my profile good enough for WWS/HKS/SIPA or is that a pipe dream?

Thanks a lot,

Pete

Edited May 17, 2010 by fenderpete

[RH7]

I think you can certainly make the cut for some of these schools, not sure about funding though. Georgetown seems to give quite a lot of aid to people. Ford and GWU also have concentrations in international development. You may be competitive for these, but not sure about funding for international students at these places. Of course, I could always be wrong, so definitely give it a shot! And it wouldn't hurt to raise your quant score if you can.

Since your a UK citizen, can't you pay UK fees there? If it's only one year I'm sure its at least affordable. Some schools off the top of my head that are good for development are SOAS, Kings, and the three you mentioned: LSE (though really expensive for UK students too) and Oxbridge. Your First tbh, probably has more currency there than in the US, hence a very decent shot at Oxbridge.

[zipperdog]

I think you cannot underestimate just how much cheaper the European schools are than those in the US. Look at LSE, Oxford and the Graduate Institute in Geneva which are the best in my view. Tufts I think is quite generous in terms of funding but I'm not sure how good their development program is. SAIS also appears to be pretty generous and they have a very strong IDEV program. I would not expect much in the way of £££ from SIPA but you never know. You have a strong CV so am sure you will have a good chance of funding wherever you apply.