International relation and affairs applicants for fall 2012

[Clay Made]

It's probably not in my best interest to pursue this further, but I do feel it's deceptive to create another account in order to collect more evaluations -- or praise, or whatever; this person says they've been accepted to programs before -- regarding your qualifications. This forum is valuable because many of us are undertaking this daunting process and are able to share our input in a generally trustworthy manner. Many of us have also disclosed a good deal of personal information and/or describe our ambitions with clarity. Clay Made received a lot of assistance to a number of questions -- making a new account and feigning ignorance about it is saying that we wasted our time the first time around.

http://talk.collegec...getown-sfs.html

I'm not thrilled I spent some idle time doing this, but I knew something was off. There are plenty of other examples.

Wow. The one on here is my post. Wow. I didnt realise there had been another post displaying my credentials (or remarkably similar)! I apologise for the confusion but I've disclosed plenty of information on this forum too, and I sincerely appreciated the information provided to me. I dont understand why someone felt the need to duplicate a profile but it certainly isnt me. I am actually shocked.

As I said, I absolutely appreciate the information provided, and am grateful for those who even got in touch with me via message, so contrary to what you think, it wasnt a waste of time for me. I have actually been away from the site for a while, getting down to crafting my statements, and general application stuff and returned to seek someone to swap SOP's with, but instead found this. Again..wow.

Edited November 17, 2011 by Clay Made

[cunninlynguist]

The internet can be a creepy place.

BTW, I'd be happy to review your SOP if you're still looking.

[kuzotz]

Out of interest why would you want to go straight out of college? A professional degree is a huge investment for most and without clear career goals it may turn out not to get you where you want to go in the end.

With the field he is in. He cannot even begin to fathom a career until he pursues his Master's. Of course there are a lot of things to do if you're American. PEace Corps, Americorps etc. Overall I think its a good move if you know exactly what you're doing. There is no useless degree out there people who say that usually say it because they do not know what you can do with a degree outside of engineering and accounting.

[beefmaster]

With the field he is in. He cannot even begin to fathom a career until he pursues his Master's. Of course there are a lot of things to do if you're American. PEace Corps, Americorps etc. Overall I think its a good move if you know exactly what you're doing. There is no useless degree out there people who say that usually say it because they do not know what you can do with a degree outside of engineering and accounting.

What?

I am one of the hundreds of people that have managed to get some work experience being considering doing a masters. I am not American ad I managed to do it. Going straight to grad school without having worked a proper job, especially for a professional degree, seems like a crazy idea.

[Grad_Nov]

It's probably not in my best interest to pursue this further, but I do feel it's deceptive to create another account in order to collect more evaluations -- or praise, or whatever; this person says they've been accepted to programs before -- regarding your qualifications. This forum is valuable because many of us are undertaking this daunting process and are able to share our input in a generally trustworthy manner. Many of us have also disclosed a good deal of personal information and/or describe our ambitions with clarity. Clay Made received a lot of assistance to a number of questions -- making a new account and feigning ignorance about it is saying that we wasted our time the first time around.

http://talk.collegec...getown-sfs.html

I'm not thrilled I spent some idle time doing this, but I knew something was off. There are plenty of other examples.

If you're not thrilled, perhaps you shouldnt do it then.

I dont understand. People can have similar backgrounds. I did my undergrad at Oxford along with perhaps about a thousand other students. Was that an issue for you too?

[MYRNIST]

Making identical posts under different user names is not "similar backgrounds" - it's either (a) one person with different sock puppet accounts b ) someone taking another person's personal information and posing it as their own. Either one is creepy and deceptive. People aren't bagging on you because you went to Oxford (as you said, thousands of students do), it's because clearly you either are ClayMade or are copying her information.

I'm going for Spring admissions at the above programs (along with USC MA in Economic Development). As I've said before, I was accepted into Chicago Harris, SAIS and USC MPP programs but after the death of a close relative, I decided I couldnt face upto the immense change straight away so decided to defer. Unfortunately, Chicago or SAIS would not allow me to defer as I didnt meet the deadline so rather then reapply for Fall 2012, Spring is an option for me.

Ideally I would like to get into private consulting within the public sector or multi-lateral organisations such as IMF, World Bank, UN, etc.

What program of the above is best for me? I'm an Oxford law graduate, with a masters too but decided becoming a lawyer was not for me. I have various internship experience within law and public policy, solid GPA and GRE's.

Any thoughts? I like NYU but an issue would be that I would need to complete the program within 2.5 years as the capstone requirement poses an issue. Fletcher is a great name but with a concentration in law also apart of its syllabus, its perhaps redundant for me. Georgetown seems to be the standout program at the moment.

My biggest concern probably is whether I should apply for Spring or Fall.

Anyone with any tips would be most welcome. Thanks.

Edited November 28, 2011 by MYRNIST

[flyers29]

What?

I am one of the hundreds of people that have managed to get some work experience being considering doing a masters. I am not American ad I managed to do it. Going straight to grad school without having worked a proper job, especially for a professional degree, seems like a crazy idea.

Depends what exactly you're looking to do, as a master's is pretty much the minimum requirement in some areas of the IR field. I personally do think that it's better to get some work experience first though...having gone straight from college I would have done so if I could do it again.