MA - PhD? Development - LatinAmerican?

[de_56]

Hi everybody!! I'm not from the US and i'm not very familiar with all the craziness and francticness associated with applying for gradschool, but I'm starting to get into it...

This is my story: i graduated (BA in Political Sciences and International Relations) 3 years ago from the best school in my latin american country with a pretty mediocre GPA but I did great with my thesis. I wrote about censorship to art during war times in my country and won a national award for it and it was published.

After graduation, these 3 years I have worked for a non-profit in a good position with a lot of fieldwork involving working with poverty, community development and education. I have been coordinator of several teams of volunteers in my country and travelled around a lot doing this and started getting in touch with high-level politics related to volunteering and social service.

I've been doing great but I really want to study more. I want to do something related to what I did in my thesis (cultural studies - latin american cultural studies) but also keep working with non-profits fighting poverty and "making a difference" for my people (development? international relations?)

The only way I could go to gradschool (even in my own country) is a scholarship or a fellowship. I work 10 hours a day here to barely make my living so i can't work less and study here, so i thought of looking for gradschools in the States or Europe with funding available. Not even partial funding is an option, i need full tuitions and stipend, so I've been reading everywhere and found that only in PhDs I could get that but I don't think I could gain admission to one without a master's degree or with a low GPA (or could I?). Are there any fully-funded Masters available? Would an american school value my experience and thesis or my low GPA would destroy all my chances? Should i get really good GRE scores?

Forgot to mention, i'm 23, finished high school at 15 and college at 20 (very uncommon around here). Thanks in advance for all your time!!

d

[narius]

Hi everybody!! I'm not from the US and i'm not very familiar with all the craziness and francticness associated with applying for gradschool, but I'm starting to get into it...

This is my story: i graduated (BA in Political Sciences and International Relations) 3 years ago from the best school in my latin american country with a pretty mediocre GPA but I did great with my thesis. I wrote about censorship to art during war times in my country and won a national award for it and it was published.

After graduation, these 3 years I have worked for a non-profit in a good position with a lot of fieldwork involving working with poverty, community development and education. I have been coordinator of several teams of volunteers in my country and travelled around a lot doing this and started getting in touch with high-level politics related to volunteering and social service.

I've been doing great but I really want to study more. I want to do something related to what I did in my thesis (cultural studies - latin american cultural studies) but also keep working with non-profits fighting poverty and "making a difference" for my people (development? international relations?)

The only way I could go to gradschool (even in my own country) is a scholarship or a fellowship. I work 10 hours a day here to barely make my living so i can't work less and study here, so i thought of looking for gradschools in the States or Europe with funding available. Not even partial funding is an option, i need full tuitions and stipend, so I've been reading everywhere and found that only in PhDs I could get that but I don't think I could gain admission to one without a master's degree or with a low GPA (or could I?). Are there any fully-funded Masters available? Would an american school value my experience and thesis or my low GPA would destroy all my chances? Should i get really good GRE scores?

Forgot to mention, i'm 23, finished high school at 15 and college at 20 (very uncommon around here). Thanks in advance for all your time!!

d

I can't think of any full-funded Master's programs off the top of my head, but Princeton's public affairs program makes a commitment to ensure that the people they accept can afford to go. So, in effect, they would make sure to fund you if you can't fund yourself. Princeton is the only place that has this expressed policy, but lots of other schools may help you once they see your application and like you enough. You are also at an advantage as an international student. Because you can't take out federal student loans to pay for admission, many programs will subsidize your education (with a tuition waiver and stipend, sometimes) to ensure you can apply. I would just find programs that interest you best and contact them to tell them your situation, apply, and see what happens.

Best of luck.