SAIS vs SIPA

[undecided11]

I'm torn between SAIS and SIPA. I didn't receive aid at either school and they both look like a good programs so i'm having trouble choosing. I'm sure a lot of people are choosing between these two programs and I was hoping some of you can explain why you are choosing one over the other. I wasn't able to go to the SIPA open house so I'd love to hear your opinion/impressions.

I currently work on mainstreaming climate change issues into sustainable development policy. While I'd like to do this long term I know I'll be taking on a good amount of debt so I will probably have to go into the private sector, probably consulting, for at least a few years after graduation. SAIS has great connections with the world bank and other development institutions but SIPA seems to have a stronger private sector connections.

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[greendiplomat]

I'm torn between SAIS and SIPA. I didn't receive aid at either school and they both look like a good programs so i'm having trouble choosing. I'm sure a lot of people are choosing between these two programs and I was hoping some of you can explain why you are choosing one over the other. I wasn't able to go to the SIPA open house so I'd love to hear your opinion/impressions.

I currently work on mainstreaming climate change issues into sustainable development policy. While I'd like to do this long term I know I'll be taking on a good amount of debt so I will probably have to go into the private sector, probably consulting, for at least a few years after graduation. SAIS has great connections with the world bank and other development institutions but SIPA seems to have a stronger private sector connections.

If you're interested in climate change and specifically with regards to sustainable development, I don't think there's a better fit than SIPA, especially with considering equal funding.

SIPA's commitment to issues of sustainable development can be seen from the fact that its only PhD program is the Program in (surprise surprise) Sustainable Development. Moreover, since SIPA's particularly strong in both development and environment, you'll have a very wide array of courses to choose from SIPA and elsewhere at Columbia (even one called "Climate Change, Human Rights, and Development", which seems right down your alley). All of this is is well-complemented with the resources of the Earth Institute (which co-runs the PhD program with SIPA), through which you can get many an internship/TA/RA position outside of the below-mentioned second-year funding.

Topically, I don't think the Energy, Resources, & Environment at SAIS is oriented towards people whose primary focus is climate. As who visited the SAIS program mentioned, while the curriculum can be adjusted to climate-related issues, the majority of graduates go on to work in private energy companies or energy trading, with many of those that go into the public sector ending up at Dept. of Energy. Full quote at the end of this post; see above link for context.

As for private sector connections, I'd say that SAIS and SIPA are fairly evenly matched as far as employment stats are concerned, so I don't think you should worry in that regard, though SIPA might have a *slight* edge in that it's in NYC. That said, one thing that distinguishes SIPA is that its core is built with the belief (which I agree with) that the future's leaders in the "international and public affairs" space will have careers that go in and out of the public and private sectors, and, as such, the core equips students with general and financial management skills in addition to your rigorous policy-/econ-/quant-analysis skills standard to policy programs. In that sense, SIPA might also make sense to you if you're planning on straddling the public and private sectors.

Additionally, I'm not sure about SAIS, but if you attend SIPA and do well enough in your first semester, you can qualify for 2nd-year funding, the statistics for which can be found here with specific assistantship information for 2nd years in 2011-12 (as an example) here (note that the $ values are per semester).

Finally--and this is a piece of advice that a current student gave me at the SIPA open house--, external funding opportunities come up throughout the year, so be sure to keep checking periodically throught the summer and into your program, wherever that may be. That way, you might actually end the program than less debt than you anticipated, allowing you to look for the job that you actually want!

I can't help you compare with Fletcher or Yale, but I visited the SAIS ERE program on Friday, so I can tell you a little bit about what I heard. It seems that a lot of SAIS ERE grads go into oil companies, energy finance on Wall Street, or the Dept of Energy (apparently there are a LOT of SAIS grads in the DoE, so if you want to work there SAIS would give an advantage.) Very few ERE people go into nonprofits. I told the ERE coordinator my personal goal--to help communities protect against or deal with climate change--and while she said that you can tailor the curriculum however you want, I got the impression that I wouldn't fit in very well with the students pursuing this type of work. But your goals are different from mine, and given your interests, it looks like SAIS would be great for you because of the required concentration in International Economics and the number of grads that join the DoE and World Bank.

[undecided11]

GreenDiplomat - thanks, that was really helpful....especially what you said about SAIS producing more people that go into energy trading or private energy companies, which is really not my thing. I guess when it comes to SIPA, I'm just a little more freaked out about cost since NY is extremely expensive and I'm wondering how much flexibility I'll have with most likely 70k+ in debt. Ahh, the decision making process is making application process look so easy now.