Georgetown Department of Government

[charlotte_asia]

Any current students, recent admittees, or anyone with an opinion want to chime in about this department's MA program?

My specific questions are:

- How are the career service/networking opportunities for this program, since it is not part of SFS/PPI, etc?

- How strong is the student body of this program?

- Does being outside the School of Foreign Service mean the Georgetown name or degree program is less valued/viewed less favorably?

- Is the program more academic or practitioner/practically oriented?

I have asked these questions to current and recent students, but I would like additional opinions. There are at least a few other MA admits to the Department of Government based on the GC results survey- would love to hear your thoughts.

[charlotte_asia]

Carrying over a conversation from another thread...

I got accepted by the Conflict Resolution at Georgetown, and I am going to SAIS since those are totally different programs, one academic one professional. In fact, I got rejected by SFS recently, so I think the selectivity between Government Dept and SFS is totally different. Also, there are academic programs, such as Asian studies, in SFS that is easy to get in. Anyways, I think the main concern is whether you wanna go PHD or job after graduation.

This is one of the issues I'm trying to get a handle on. The Georgetown Department has put me in touch with current students, who do not cite the program as overly academic. A lot of the students (most, I believe) are practitioners, at least in my field of democracy and governance. A lot of professors are active practitioners as well.

I had a lot of trouble getting information on the curriculum besides the core course requirements. These seemed theoretical to me, but I suppose core classes generally are. I was concerned that most classes would be like this, until a current student told me that 50% of the classes DG students (perhaps it's government studnets in general) take are cross-registered at SFS, PPI, etc. He sent me a list of all the available classes for Fall 2011 and Spring 2012 and they look far more practical than just the broad thematic classes in the DG program I was expecting. Should I matriculate, I would especially want to take classes at GPPI to complement the more academic coursework in the Government department.

This morning I spoke with a SAIS student who raved about SAIS graduates' career prospects and the networking and connections the SAIS name brings with it. He wasn't convinced I could get the same sort of career support and opportunities going to a non-SFS Georgetown School. I haven't been able to get much information about Georgetown Government's career service support, but will be emailing a recent graduate soon to get a better sense of how satisfied her classmates have been in finding a job.

I think you are right that Government is much less competitive than SFS and SAIS. It's certainly a consideration for me, since who your classmates are really impacts the quality of your education. Although one of my former bosses who adjuncts at Georgetown said he has always been impressed with Georgetown Government (at least DG) students. Then I heard from another adjunct that he hasn't been as impressed...

Sigh. Really difficult decision.