Advice on school preferences for Fulbright (Master in IR)

[YaelRania]

Hey everyone!

I am at the moment in the process of applying for a Fulbright grant to study in the USA for my master's / part of my master's in International Relations or Political Science / Public Affairs with an IR concentration.

I don't know if any of you is familiar with the application process - candidates have to name five schools where they might be placed, at least three of them public. I am having a hard time deciding which schools to choose and wanted to ask for your advice, firstly regarding my chances to get into really good programs (don't want to "waste" my two private picks on schools I won't get in anyway), and secondly about decent state schools.

Some info:

Education: Will graduate next spring from a normal university in Berlin (we don't really have that great schools, they are all mostly okay) with a Bachelor in Poli Science & Administration. Very quantitative, sufficient econ. Took many IR classes.Very good grades (according to some translation website would be a 4.0 GPA, no idea if that is right). Older than US college graduates, but totally average for Germany.

Study abroad: Twice in my BA, once in the Middle East, once in France at a renowned school

Work experience: Only internships, a longer one at the UN, two shorter at NGOs & an MP's office. All together a bit less than one year. Plus working as a student research assistant and teaching assistant.

Languages: German, English (fluent), French, Hebrew, Arabic (all rather fair, was fluent as a kid in Arabic and Hebrew but literally forgot everything, will try to work on it the following year).

LOR/Statement of intent: Getting good LORs is somewhat hard here. Worked hard to write good statements. I'm focusing a bit on my background (mother Jewish-israeli, father muslim-palestinian, spent early childhood in Haifa, then grew up in Ger) and how that lead me to IR, hope it is a good catch

GREs: Did not take them yet. Did actually not even start studying yet, which is bit of a problem, but Fulbright is being vague about whether I even need them, and the application alone was a lot of work already. I scored quite high on the TOEFL, but know that the GREs are much harder.

I don't know how (of course if it would work out) the Fulbright grant would influence my chances, but I was wondering if I should even name the really big schools without any real work experience. My favorite programs are Georgetown and Columbia, and of course I was also thinking about all the other great ones like Fletcher, Woodrow Wilson, MIT, Yale (I know this sounds very naive, but I thoroughly looked into each and everyone and did not only choose because of the name).

Which I am finding even more difficult is picking three state schools. I am leaning towards Berkeley and Michigan, but don't really know a third one. Any suggestions? I would prefer studying on the East Coast actually, but heard mixed reviews of the SUNY schools and the state schools in Connecticut and Massachusetts...

If anyone of you has a piece of advice for me it would help me a lot.

Thanks,

Rania

[Zahar Berkut]

I recommend taking a look at APSIA's list of member schools to spot quality public institutions. UC San Diego comes to mind, and I might check out UCLA even if they're not on the member list.

http://www.apsia.org/apsia/members/allMembers.php?section=member

Hey everyone!

I am at the moment in the process of applying for a Fulbright grant to study in the USA for my master's / part of my master's in International Relations or Political Science / Public Affairs with an IR concentration.

I don't know if any of you is familiar with the application process - candidates have to name five schools where they might be placed, at least three of them public. I am having a hard time deciding which schools to choose and wanted to ask for your advice, firstly regarding my chances to get into really good programs (don't want to "waste" my two private picks on schools I won't get in anyway), and secondly about decent state schools.

Some info:

Education: Will graduate next spring from a normal university in Berlin (we don't really have that great schools, they are all mostly okay) with a Bachelor in Poli Science & Administration. Very quantitative, sufficient econ. Took many IR classes.Very good grades (according to some translation website would be a 4.0 GPA, no idea if that is right). Older than US college graduates, but totally average for Germany.

Study abroad: Twice in my BA, once in the Middle East, once in France at a renowned school

Work experience: Only internships, a longer one at the UN, two shorter at NGOs & an MP's office. All together a bit less than one year. Plus working as a student research assistant and teaching assistant.

Languages: German, English (fluent), French, Hebrew, Arabic (all rather fair, was fluent as a kid in Arabic and Hebrew but literally forgot everything, will try to work on it the following year).

LOR/Statement of intent: Getting good LORs is somewhat hard here. Worked hard to write good statements. I'm focusing a bit on my background (mother Jewish-israeli, father muslim-palestinian, spent early childhood in Haifa, then grew up in Ger) and how that lead me to IR, hope it is a good catch

GREs: Did not take them yet. Did actually not even start studying yet, which is bit of a problem, but Fulbright is being vague about whether I even need them, and the application alone was a lot of work already. I scored quite high on the TOEFL, but know that the GREs are much harder.

I don't know how (of course if it would work out) the Fulbright grant would influence my chances, but I was wondering if I should even name the really big schools without any real work experience. My favorite programs are Georgetown and Columbia, and of course I was also thinking about all the other great ones like Fletcher, Woodrow Wilson, MIT, Yale (I know this sounds very naive, but I thoroughly looked into each and everyone and did not only choose because of the name).

Which I am finding even more difficult is picking three state schools. I am leaning towards Berkeley and Michigan, but don't really know a third one. Any suggestions? I would prefer studying on the East Coast actually, but heard mixed reviews of the SUNY schools and the state schools in Connecticut and Massachusetts...

If anyone of you has a piece of advice for me it would help me a lot.

Thanks,

Rania

[alphazeta]

It's hard to speak to your admissions chances with the information given, so I won't really try. Also, what areas of IR are you specifically interested in? There's a considerable difference between the good schools for, say, international development and international security.

Generically, you might find it useful to have a look at the TRIP survey (go to page 66 for rankings of terminal M.A. programs). You'll notice that the list is dominated by private schools, but depending on your interests, you can find some publics that fit your niche.

If your East coast preference isn't too strong, Berkeley's a good pick. UCSD (IRPS) is also a very strong school, especially for Asia/Latin America. If you're more interested in the East Coast, then I'd say the University of Pittsburgh (Graduate School of Public and International Affairs) is probably the strongest public program. The University of Kentucky (Patterson School of Diplomacy) is pretty good too, particularly for international organizations/international law, but you have to keep in mind that Lexington, KY is nothing like your big East Coast cities.

In terms of IR specifically, I think Kentucky and Pitt probably are the strongest, and there are some advantages to pursuing an IR specific degree rather than focusing on IR in a public policy program, but since you've indicated a willingness to do that, I'd particularly consider the University of Maryland, George Mason (both have a DC-area location and some strong faculty working on IR), the University of Texas, the University of Wisconsin, and perhaps Texas A&M.

N.B.: You might want to crosspost in the government affairs forum.

[YaelRania]

Thanks a lot, this was really helpful. Just looked into UCLA, thanks for the hint, looks really interesting. I had already scanned the APSIA list and became quite OCD with looking up every single school...

Alphazeta, what do you mean by the information given? Is there anything else what would be helpful? I would be very happy for an honest assessment as you sound very well informed.

I think my undergraduate background is quite good (although there are no ivies in Germany I think from the academic standard and methodological training my school easily keeps up with a good US institution), no GRE scores yet is of course a minus, and the lacking non-internship work experience. You also figured out another weak spot: I would prefer to not have to choose yet if I want to concentrate on security, conflict resolution or development. I know that this is generally regarded as bad, and of course this lack of focus is related to the missing work experience, but at the same time so many top-programs stress their diverse approaches, and I think I can argue for my wish to get a broader perspective on IR.

Thanks so much for the TRIP info and the other universities you named. I had not looked into Kentucky and Pittsburgh yet. I actually do not care about living in NY / Boston / DC and would quite like to study at a real campus university. I just like the East Coast, but as I have never been anywhere else in the States this is probably quite a dumb statement.

Your responses really really helped as I am a bit lost at the moment.

[YaelRania]

Hi,

Sorry, I have one more question: If I could choose my private picks freely I would take G'town and SIPA. Anyhow, I know I really really should include one reach if I want to stand any chances, but I find it quite hard to understand what is a reach school - I mean, I read the rankings and everything, but which private schools woild be considered very good, but not that crazy competitive? Would GWU be in that league? Syracuse? NYU? Or maybe reach is the wrong word, rather a school where I might maybe have a better chance of getting in.

I know I am probably super annoying. In my defense, it is really quite hard for an international, the USA have for sure the greatest university system, but also the most complicated one

[alphazeta]

Hi,

Sorry, I have one more question: If I could choose my private picks freely I would take G'town and SIPA. Anyhow, I know I really really should include one reach if I want to stand any chances, but I find it quite hard to understand what is a reach school - I mean, I read the rankings and everything, but which private schools woild be considered very good, but not that crazy competitive? Would GWU be in that league? Syracuse? NYU? Or maybe reach is the wrong word, rather a school where I might maybe have a better chance of getting in.

I know I am probably super annoying. In my defense, it is really quite hard for an international, the USA have for sure the greatest university system, but also the most complicated one

When it comes to your chances, you can look at statistics for various programs to get some idea, though of course the statistics give you only a very limited picture. For Georgetown SFS, for example, about 25% of applicants are admitted with an average of 4 years of work experience, GRE Verbal scores in the 630-642 range, GRE Quant Scores in the 688-701 range, and GPA in the 3.63 - 3.70 range (see here).

You said in your first post that your GPA is equivalent to a 4.0, but you're not sure if that's correct. In the US system, a 4.0 GPA is perfect grades -it means that you achieved the maximum possible grade in every course you took. If this is true for you, then what you have is equivalent to a 4.0, if not then the website led you astray. If it does turn out that your grades are equivalent to a 4.0, then that part of your record is very strong. You've also got what sound like very good language skills, but you are below the average for just about any program in terms of work experience. The GREs are another wildcard for you, which makes it hard to judge. Overall though, winning a Fullbright is a strong and prestigious signal. If you are successful in getting the Fullbright grant itself, then I think you have a very good chance at getting accepted to the schools that interest you.

[YaelRania]

Thanks alphazeta! I don't know, I did of course not achieve the best grade in every course I took, but in many I did. My school is quite tough on grading actually, but I studied abroad for about half of my degree, where I only got best grades (and parts of it was at a really renowned French university which has been shockingly non-academic and easy). But I really should recalculate.

Thanks again, I might come back with another question the next days because the final decision is due soon...