SAIS application for Fall 2013

[JFactor]

I attended most of the open house. SAIS is great for some and not for others; it is definitely a good choice for me. In terms of the alumni network in IR and international economics, it is quite outstanding (although I'm sure SIPA and Fletcher are very close). It's not on top of the rankings for no reason. I might post more of my thoughts later when I have time, but I can say that I don't think SAIS has any major weaknesses. It's all individual of course - SAIS fits my needs almost perfectly but I wouldn't say it's worth paying the full sticker price if another top program offered you a great amount of money. I don't think any program is that far ahead of the rest.

Edited April 11, 2013 by JFactor

[MPPgal]

I attended most of the open house. SAIS is great for some and not for others; it is definitely a good choice for me. In terms of the alumni network in IR and international economics, it is quite outstanding (although I'm sure SIPA and Fletcher are very close). It's not on top of the rankings for no reason. I might post more of my thoughts later when I have time, but I can say that I don't think SAIS has any major weaknesses. It's all individual of course - SAIS fits my needs almost perfectly but I wouldn't say it's worth paying the full sticker price if another top program offered you a great amount of money. I don't think any program is that far ahead of the rest.

yep, I agree conpletely, I think that I just felt the bologna campus had hardly any environmental focuse, it is all energy, and in general it did not seem latin america was a major area, even less so for environment or development, at the same time I was a bit disapointed by the lack of student job iffers in the student panel but might have been a bad selection criteria for the panelists. Like I said, great program and it sounds great but not my best fit.

[123seekay123]

When I have time/energy (been a week of traveling!) I'll post more detail. I'm still not 100% sold on SAIS yet, but I thought their open house was very good. I feel a lot of things are personal: for me, the Bologna part is a big draw since I'm interested in European studies and have family there.But I can see why it's not appealing to many people. I didn't see any particular weakness.

From people I've talked to, I think career services will help you if you make the effort, but they're not going to hold your hand either or can perform any miracles. I think that's the case with all these programs.

[JFactor]

yep, I agree conpletely, I think that I just felt the bologna campus had hardly any environmental focuse, it is all energy, and in general it did not seem latin america was a major area, even less so for environment or development, at the same time I was a bit disapointed by the lack of student job iffers in the student panel but might have been a bad selection criteria for the panelists. Like I said, great program and it sounds great but not my best fit.

 

Oh yeah SAIS Bologna is definitely not for you. I agree - it's a really great program but obviously it doesn't fit everyone's needs. Good luck whereever you end up going.

[rhodeislander]

Overall, I was very impressed with the SAIS open house. Like, extremely impressive, almost intimidatingly so, to the point where I'm not sure how well I'd fit in there. Here are some random musings:

-They definitely took an aggressive "shock and awe" approach to selling the program, basically rolling out their most impressive alumnae (Wolf Blitzer made a "surprise" guest appearance, and the former acting head of the CIA was on the almnae panel, among others) and generally trying to overwhelm us with their awesomeness. And it was awesome; the number of people they have in important policy positions is ridiculous...they were just like, yeah, all of Obama's top security advisers were our students, no big deal. It did start to be a bit much after a few hours though, but maybe that was just me.

-They continually mentioned their location right in the heart of DC as a selling point.

-A great many of the prospectives I met were young people working in DC, all of whom had very impressive accomplishments already under their belts. Most of the people I met were quite friendly, if not exactly the kind of people I'm used to hanging out with. Same goes for the returning students, particularly the students who did the Bologna panel. Very friendly, although again, many of them seemed a bit too..."DC" for me, if that makes sense. That's purely a personal thing, to be sure, but in the end I mostly ended up hanging out with the other people I'd met at the U Chicago open house a couple days earlier, who seemed equally shell shocked by all the people running around exchanging business cards (the differences between the SAIS and Chicago open houses were...stark, to put it mildly).

-Still seems to be pretty neocon.

-Wolf Blitzer gave a really solid speech, but made an awkward joke about how great it feels when your beeper goes off on vibrate in your pants. It will forever be stuck in the heads of everyone present every time they see Wolf Blitzer on TV. And now its in yours!

 

-did not hear anyone talking about "elite B-schools" and thus did not see Revolution, unfortunately.

-definitely got a study abroad vibe from the Bologna people, for better or worse.

I'll post more thoughts as they come to me...

[deadhead47]

Thank you rhodeislander for sharing your thoughts!

[trinidader]

Overall, I was very impressed with the SAIS open house. Like, extremely impressive, almost intimidatingly so, to the point where I'm not sure how well I'd fit in there. Here are some random musings:

-They definitely took an aggressive "shock and awe" approach to selling the program, basically rolling out their most impressive alumnae (Wolf Blitzer made a "surprise" guest appearance, and the former acting head of the CIA was on the almnae panel, among others) and generally trying to overwhelm us with their awesomeness. And it was awesome; the number of people they have in important policy positions is ridiculous...they were just like, yeah, all of Obama's top security advisers were our students, no big deal. It did start to be a bit much after a few hours though, but maybe that was just me.

-They continually mentioned their location right in the heart of DC as a selling point.

-A great many of the prospectives I met were young people working in DC, all of whom had very impressive accomplishments already under their belts. Most of the people I met were quite friendly, if not exactly the kind of people I'm used to hanging out with. Same goes for the returning students, particularly the students who did the Bologna panel. Very friendly, although again, many of them seemed a bit too..."DC" for me, if that makes sense. That's purely a personal thing, to be sure, but in the end I mostly ended up hanging out with the other people I'd met at the U Chicago open house a couple days earlier, who seemed equally shell shocked by all the people running around exchanging business cards (the differences between the SAIS and Chicago open houses were...stark, to put it mildly).

-Still seems to be pretty neocon.

-Wolf Blitzer gave a really solid speech, but made an awkward joke about how great it feels when your beeper goes off on vibrate in your pants. It will forever be stuck in the heads of everyone present every time they see Wolf Blitzer on TV. And now its in yours!

 

-did not hear anyone talking about "elite B-schools" and thus did not see Revolution, unfortunately.

-definitely got a study abroad vibe from the Bologna people, for better or worse.

I'll post more thoughts as they come to me...

 

Wolf Blitzer as a selling point is hilarious.

[FrenchO]

Wolf Blitzer as a selling point is hilarious.

 

Not sure I understand why.

 

I'm not from the US (obviously), and I had never heard of that guy before (no, I don't watch CNN that often). So, not prejudiced.

 

But having a school bringing in a journalist, who apparently had a rather solid career do not seem hilarious at all to me. Rather something interesting, that shows that SAIS can lead to different successful careers. So, it is in fact a selling point.

 

Then maybe the guy is politically oriented and so, but even then, I think this only fact is something interesting to show the potential of a school.

Edited April 17, 2013 by FrenchO

[MPPgal]

Agreed I had no idea who the guy was (also international student here) and in fact I thought that although he was entertaining and obviously a very cool person he made it sound that luck, rather than SAIS was the reason he had such a succesful career lots of "a guy told me to apply as a correspondant and it just so happened this was 5 days before the Gulf war started" type of quotes, when I contrast that with E.J. Dionne´s (also had no idea who he was an embarrasingly enough I asked him where the bathroom was) appearance at GPPI who basically said "they allowed me to pick where to teach and I chose GPPI because ti is the best" the second one wins! 

[trinidader]

Heh, try watching his show for a few minutes.

[MPPgal]

Whose Dionne or Blitzer? who is better on TV? I can see Blitzer being funnier and Dionne being more profound? And yes I am embarrassed about the bathroom incident but how was I to know? 

[trinidader]

Blitzer's- here's a harsh (but accurate, IMO) take on him.

 

I'll stop posting about it now, but I just thought it was funny.

[huerita]

Well, here's the thing: no matter where you attend school (undergrad, law, business, teacher's college, IR, etc.), becoming an extremely high profile person has a lot more to do with individual talent, timing, opportunism, and a little bit of luck than not. It's not like any school's career services will funnel people into anchor jobs at CNN (lol). The Harris School, for instance, had David Axelrod come come speak, but I imagine that that was just an appointment in his calendar rather than his self-driven passionate plea to get people to invest in the Harris School, a program he was probably made aware of a year ago when being courted to start the Institute of Politics. These kinds of guest speakers are gimmicks. The only thing say is that the school has enough cred in the speaker's particular field that (s)he and/or his/her aids do not think it is a waste of time or embarrassment to speak there. That's about it!

[Revolution]

Very well-said. What matters is a program's prestige, name brand, general network, and job placement. The fact that a famous alumni came to speak should have ZERO impact on one's decision to attend.

 

 

Well, here's the thing: no matter where you attend school (undergrad, law, business, teacher's college, IR, etc.), becoming an extremely high profile person has a lot more to do with individual talent, timing, opportunism, and a little bit of luck than not. It's not like any school's career services will funnel people into anchor jobs at CNN (lol). The Harris School, for instance, had David Axelrod come come speak, but I imagine that that was just an appointment in his calendar rather than his self-driven passionate plea to get people to invest in the Harris School, a program he was probably made aware of a year ago when being courted to start the Institute of Politics. These kinds of guest speakers are gimmicks. The only thing say is that the school has enough cred in the speaker's particular field that (s)he and/or his/her aids do not think it is a waste of time or embarrassment to speak there. That's about it!

[gomer]

...basically rolling out their most impressive alumnae (Wolf Blitzer made a "surprise" guest appearance, and the former acting head of the CIA was on the almnae panel, among others) and generally trying to overwhelm us with their awesomeness...

Thanks for posting your thoughts, rhodeislander. Wolf Blitzer also spoke at last year's admitted student's day. Videos of the many of the panels at last year's admitted students day went up on the school's website and YouTube channel soon after, so if you missed it keep an eye out for videos online.

[123seekay123]

Revolution, have you decided?

[JFactor]

Regarding Blitzer, I also think his work at CNN is kind of a joke but I believe it has more to do with the limitations CNN has (newstainment and all that) rather than the guy itself. He seems to be quite knowledgeable (and also seems to have been born to be "a salesman" of sorts) but then again, an appearance by him or anybody else shouldn't really affect your judgment of the school. It's just part of the show.

[Revolution]

Yes; I officially turned down SAIS.

 

Revolution, have you decided?

[trinidader]

Just opted for Fletcher- couldn't turn down the money.

[rhodeislander]

Yeah, barring unforeseen circumstances I'm almost certainly going with Fletcher (could still theoretically accept at Chicago). As I said, SAIS is super impressive if you want to be a Beltway IR type, but I just don't know how well I'd fit it there...

Revolution, I dare say after all this I'm curious to hear where you DO end up...

Edited April 27, 2013 by rhodeislander

[greenythebeast]

Just curious, but does anyone know if SAIS allows Spring admission for its MA program?

[deadhead47]

Just curious, but does anyone know if SAIS allows Spring admission for its MA program?

They do on a space-available basis, but if you applied to SAIS this Fall, then you have to wait for a year to re-apply.

Idk about the one in DC though.

 

http://www.jhubc.it/ADMISSIONS/apply.cfm

[greenythebeast]

They do on a space-available basis, but if you applied to SAIS this Fall, then you have to wait for a year to re-apply.

Idk about the one in DC though.

 

http://www.jhubc.it/ADMISSIONS/apply.cfm

Yeah, I'm curious about the one in DC. But thanks!

[riverguide]

One last suggestion for prospective SAIS admittees; when it comes to renting an apartment in DC, everything is negotiable. Renting a great apartment very near the school is doable if you're patient, polite and prepared to negotiate. Be sure and use Craigslist.

Edited May 27, 2013 by riverguide

[rhodeislander]

Yes; I officially turned down SAIS.

So where are you going next year, Revolution?