Applications for the IHEID / The Graduate Institute in Geneva - 2013-2014

[lacma]

Good luck to everyone! I'm applying to the Anthropology & Sociology of Development program, also early decision.

[jumpercon]

Reading through this post I came across the conversation discussing SOP's being too much about your past and realized I have made that mistake. Half of SOP is my past and the other half about my future. Would you guys know if I could send a re written SOP in the case I am not accepted for early decision, and whether it would be acceptable?

[lacma]

I think it really depends on your future goals. Being someone set on going into academia, I focused my SOP on my research experience and relevant classes, as well as possible Master's thesis topics based on past interests. Also touched on the course offerings and faculty at IHEID and how they would help me advance academically. I imagine for someone wanting to have a professional career, they might have to restructure the SOP a bit. But I don't see any reason to not talk about your past experiences. I would even argue that they are more important than future interests (i.e. things that haven't happened and might change). Dividing it up half and half sounds perfectly reasonable. Good luck!

Edited November 30, 2012 by bleeddukeblue

[Lud]

Surely there's no miracle strategy for your SOP anyway. I am even sure that you might write an outstanding SOP with a poor profile without making up for it, while you could have a strong profile and write a fairly bad SOP with no impact on the outcome of the admission. It also depends on your personal situation; say, if you have many experiences or few, if they relate exactly to the degree you're applying to or if you have to write 1 page before putting everything in perspective...

Though I would say that, taking into account the fact that there's normally no space limit for your resume (so it could be a 4 pages resume with a brief explanation of relevant courses, research papers...) you could maximize your efficiency by strictly focusing on certain aspects on your SOP without referring to past experiences that would precisely be described in your resume.

But once again what matters most is the quality of your overall application so there's no need to worry jumpercon, good luck!

Edited December 2, 2012 by Lud

[jumpercon]

I appreciate the encouragement! My SOP certainly did not take 1 page before putting things in perspective, however, after reading your post I realized it truly could have been stronger. I suppose I am just wondering if we can send in another SOP, or other supporting docs, after not being admitted for early admission and still be considered for regular admission with the new documents/SOP? Is that unheard of?

[Lud]

I am not sure; you should ask them through the FB group, they seem quite reactive.

[Lud]

After googling on this (I mean the way to write a SOP) I have also observed that there seems to exist a very American way to write this document -at least many official American websites show that. Apparently it's ok to begin by something very personal and supposedly unique (for example "My grandmother died during the genocide and this immediately called my attention on the fact I would like to study international affairs later on"), then putting past experiences in perspective ("I discovered x at high school then went on studying that at college while playing with x in an NGO") and finally a brief conclusion. I m not sure how relevant it is for the IHEID but it does seem to confirm that there are many legitimate ways to write a SOP.

[lacma]

I find the two links below quite useful. But again, like I said, it depends on your professional goals. I think each SOP is special in its own way, but they should generally follow the same guideline and structure.

http://www.gatewayabroad.com/download/sop_guidelines.pdf

http://ic.daad.de/imperia/md/content/islamabad/letter_of_motivation.pdf

Lud, are you from Thailand? Fellow SEA person here

[Lud]

I am a European citizen though I currently live in Thailand. Where are you from?

[lacma]

That's really cool! I'm from Vietnam, but I have been going to college in the States, and looking to go to Europe for my MA for a change.

[Lud]

Sounds great, good luck with that!

[laminhphuong]

That's really cool! I'm from Vietnam, but I have been going to college in the States, and looking to go to Europe for my MA for a change.

Oh, how interesting!!! I'm from Vietnam also, but apply directly from our country I apply to the MIS program, second batch (Jan 15). Just sent application by post mail yesterday

[Lud]

... Come across this and thought I would share it here. Sorry that´s the French version.

[florenL]

So glad that I found this thread, also sent in my application for early decision, MDev. I just graduated from college this year and now doing a gap year in China. Now waiting for Dec 7.

Good luck everybody!

[Scorcer]

Any news yet? Good luck to everyone.

[kobakan8]

They postponed the notification of first round

[Lud]

Decisions should be notified between today and wednesday so we're all waiting for now.

[ganenjie.thonavocat]

http://graduateinstitute.ch/students/infoadmin/statetudiants_en.html

Hope this helps. Good luck everyone.

[yj26]

hi everyone! the results are out! go check your account!!

[kobakan8]

I've applied for MIA from Japan, hope everybody here will be accepted:)

Edited December 11, 2012 by kobakan8

[ganenjie.thonavocat]

Heard back today.. not so sure about the scholarship though. It'll be brutal if we have to wait any longer for financial aid. I can hardly focus on taking finals...

[ganenjie.thonavocat]

Just called. They said the decision for the scholarship won't be available till March..

[Lud]

You got admitted? Congrats! As for me I can't receive phone calls where I am but my family might get one (I understand they called you from your message). My status still mentions "in consideration" on the internet.

Edited December 11, 2012 by Lud

[florenL]

congrats ganenjie! and thank you for the information!

I applied to MDev and got in. I remember reading posts earlier on fb saying scholarship decision would come out together with admission result, since it has not, I guess they just changed the process Now more waiting...

Best luck everyone!

[ganenjie.thonavocat]

Can someone who has studied at IHEID comments on the grading system? They said that it's hard to get a 6.0 but then a 5.5 automatically translates to a B+ in the American system. Ultimately I want to pursue a Ph.D. and am afraid this grade conversion might not look good for my application.

Edited December 12, 2012 by ganenjie.thoncuitavocat