The Josef Korbel School of International Studies at the University of Denver

[CurrentKorbelStudent]

Hi Potential Applicants,

I'm a second-year Korbel student currently interning in DC and taking classes at our school here as well as at GW's Elliott School.

Admissions asked me to check in here and answer any questions you all may have about our school, the application process or anything else. I agreed to do this upon their assurance that I can be entirely honest with you - meaning I won't sugarcoat anything and will be direct when you ask me a question.

A bit about me. I'm a 2nd year International Security student focusing on conflict analysis with an area focus on the Mediterranean and the Balkans. I was admitted with one of our guaranteed scholarships after graduating from a well-known east coast school where I had a GPA which exceeded 3.5.

I've had a great time at the Korbel school and have learned an amazing amount in the year I've been there. It's really incredible how much I've enjoyed my graduate program. I really like the flexbility of the programs at Korbel and how easy it is, for example, to attend another school and transfer credits or to spend the summer doing something you've always wanted to do - which in my case was participating in an academic exchange in Turkey with a well-known think tank meeting Turkish academics, journalists and politicians. The school, faculty and the administration are supportive of self-motivated students like myself - which I appreciate. I was able to switch advisers to one who I felt more closely aligned with my interests without a problem - that's an example of what makes the Korbel school an exemplary place to learn. Regular visits from esteemed visitors like former Secretary of State Madeline Albright and Condoleeza, the assistant-secretary general of NATO and others also help. We also have an exciting new dean, Ambassador Chris Hill, who joined us this August after serving as ambassador to Iraq, Poland, Korea and Macedonia.

As I wrote earlier I'm currently in DC interning at an NGO which focuses on early-stage conflict analysis using quantitative and qualitative data, as well as taking classes at the school Korbel maintains here as well as at the Elliott School at George Washington University. The program I'm on is a competitive one but also one which affords students from our school, as well as Pitt and Syracuse, to participate in the policy world here in DC.

So any questions you have please hit me up with them. I promise I'll give you the honest answer back and if I can't I'll find someone who can.

[Ahab]

Why did you choose Korbel in the first place? What are the differences between the Korbel location in DC (which I don't know anything about) and GWU?

Also, tuition at Korbel is surprisingly expensive. Do a good number of admitted students also receive substantial funding? What are the differences between a Korbel student and a comparable student at one of the more "traditional" options - in terms of geographic proximity to NY and DC?

For the sake of context, I'm primarily interested in GWU because of tuition cost and location. I haven't noticed anything at Korbel that would draw me there instead but I'm an open-minded kinda guy : )

Thanks for fielding questions!

Hi Potential Applicants,

I'm a second-year Korbel student currently interning in DC and taking classes at our school here as well as at GW's Elliott School.

Admissions asked me to check in here and answer any questions you all may have about our school, the application process or anything else. I agreed to do this upon their assurance that I can be entirely honest with you - meaning I won't sugarcoat anything and will be direct when you ask me a question.

A bit about me. I'm a 2nd year International Security student focusing on conflict analysis with an area focus on the Mediterranean and the Balkans. I was admitted with one of our guaranteed scholarships after graduating from a well-known east coast school where I had a GPA which exceeded 3.5.

I've had a great time at the Korbel school and have learned an amazing amount in the year I've been there. It's really incredible how much I've enjoyed my graduate program. I really like the flexbility of the programs at Korbel and how easy it is, for example, to attend another school and transfer credits or to spend the summer doing something you've always wanted to do - which in my case was participating in an academic exchange in Turkey with a well-known think tank meeting Turkish academics, journalists and politicians. The school, faculty and the administration are supportive of self-motivated students like myself - which I appreciate. I was able to switch advisers to one who I felt more closely aligned with my interests without a problem - that's an example of what makes the Korbel school an exemplary place to learn. Regular visits from esteemed visitors like former Secretary of State Madeline Albright and Condoleeza Rice, the assistant-secretary general of NATO and others also help. We also have an exciting new dean, Ambassador Chris Hill, who joined us this August after serving as ambassador to Iraq, Poland, Korea and Macedonia.

As I wrote earlier I'm currently in DC interning at an NGO which focuses on early-stage conflict analysis using quantitative and qualitative data, as well as taking classes at the school Korbel maintains here as well as at the Elliott School at George Washington University. The program I'm on is a competitive one but also one which affords students from our school, as well as Pitt and Syracuse, to participate in the policy world here in DC.

So any questions you have please hit me up with them. I promise I'll give you the honest answer back and if I can't I'll find someone who can.

[HopefulIR]

Hi Ahab, I'm a current 1st year security student at Korbel.

There's a lot of guaranteed funding available if your incoming GPA/GRE scores are at a certain level. I believe there's a chart or something on the website. It's typically 15-10k a year. I would also suspect rent is cheaper here than DC. I'm paying around 600~ a month and I'm very close to campus. If you live a little farther away you can def get cheaper rent. (Note: there are some that get full tuition, they're called Sie Fellows.)

It will also really depend on what you want to study. I know our human rights program is very good (supposedly.) Security is up there as well (I'm not sure if you heard about our new Dean Amb. Christopher Hill.) It seems like GWU/Gtown's security prog are a tad bit better, but I would say we're in the top 5 in the nation for it. From a security student standpoint, a lot of our profs used to teach at the Air Force Academy in CO Springs. We also have an ex-CIA officer that teaches the intelligence classes. If accepted though, I think you should definitely take a DC school because of the availability to do quality internships during your semester.

Korbel operates on a quarter system so it's kind of intense. We have to do 90 credits before we graduate unlike most other MA programs that do maybe only half. This can be a good thing (you get to learn a whole lot more) or a bad thing (holy crap this is an insane schedule.)

On the whole, what the OP is doing is a Fall Semester DC program that Korbel/Pitt/Syracuse operates. If you excel at Korbel, you will be elligible to apply for it, that way you can do your plain ole summer internship + a fall one in DC. That would probably put you on par with other security students in DC as to the amount of work exp you have. (not to mention a gazillion more courses that you took.)

(Note: I didn't apply to GWU, only Gtown. Got rejected, but it seems they take much of the older crowd that are already working in DC.)

[CurrentKorbelStudent]

Hi there,

I chose Korbel over Tufts because I was given a large scholarship at Korbel and I really liked the people I met when I visited there. I loved Tufts as well, as a matter of fact I'll be attending Tuft's SIMULEX up in Boston next weekend, so it was a hard choice. But the scholarship sealed the deal for me.

The difference in GW and Korbel is that GW is not as security-focused as Korbel, where it's one of our biggest programs. I'm taking two classes at GW this fall - one on Crisis Diplomacy and one on quantitative modeling for conflict forecasting, and in none of my classes are there any security students. I love GW - their facilities, their faculty etc... But Korbel is a lot different and different in a good way too.

The cost of living in DC is astronomically high compared to Denver - there's no comparison. Frankly I was a bit shocked when I showed up in DC and found how expensive rent was, and this is coming from someone who went to NYU undergrad and lived in the West Village. Denver is cheaper, no doubt about that.

We have a guaranteed scholarship program at DU where if you meet the specifications you're guaranteed a continuing scholarship for your two-year program.

Let me know if you have other questions.

Why did you choose Korbel in the first place? What are the differences between the Korbel location in DC (which I don't know anything about) and GWU?

Also, tuition at Korbel is surprisingly expensive. Do a good number of admitted students also receive substantial funding? What are the differences between a Korbel student and a comparable student at one of the more "traditional" options - in terms of geographic proximity to NY and DC?

For the sake of context, I'm primarily interested in GWU because of tuition cost and location. I haven't noticed anything at Korbel that would draw me there instead but I'm an open-minded kinda guy : )

Thanks for fielding questions!

[M G]

Hi there,

I chose Korbel over Tufts because I was given a large scholarship at Korbel and I really liked the people I met when I visited there. I loved Tufts as well, as a matter of fact I'll be attending Tuft's SIMULEX up in Boston next weekend, so it was a hard choice. But the scholarship sealed the deal for me.

The difference in GW and Korbel is that GW is not as security-focused as Korbel, where it's one of our biggest programs. I'm taking two classes at GW this fall - one on Crisis Diplomacy and one on quantitative modeling for conflict forecasting, and in none of my classes are there any security students. I love GW - their facilities, their faculty etc... But Korbel is a lot different and different in a good way too.

The cost of living in DC is astronomically high compared to Denver - there's no comparison. Frankly I was a bit shocked when I showed up in DC and found how expensive rent was, and this is coming from someone who went to NYU undergrad and lived in the West Village. Denver is cheaper, no doubt about that.

We have a guaranteed scholarship program at DU where if you meet the specifications you're guaranteed a continuing scholarship for your two-year program.

Let me know if you have other questions.

What do you think of my chances?

What do you say are the strengths and weaknesses of Korbel?

What is the range of funding given to 1st year students?