Stanford Interanational Policy Studies

[yuhoolio]

fletcher and HKS. maybe georgetown?? i'm not into economics much so not doing SAIS. great to meet a fellow Californian online

[globalsun]

Well I guess we could run into each other during Fletcher open house. When is the HKS open house? Also why is SIPA out of the picture for you?

Californians are definitely hard to come by on this forum.

[yuhoolio]

what makes you want to move out of California? apparently IPS is still possible, but I know you applied mostly elsewhere.

i visited SIPA and didn't like it as much...and i've also done my research. what i've learned about SIPA: large class sizes and less personal. (there's a whole forum on fletcher strengths/weaknesses). plus, SIPA gave me no money and is one of the most expensive out of the schools.

[globalsun]

Yeah I totally agree with you on SIPA. They do give relative generous second year funding it seems. I will have to interview students and faculty my self to be 100% sure though.

I've lived most of my life in California but it was my year studying and working in China that really helped my personal and career development. In my mind going outside the comfortable confines of Northern California for the East Coast will have the same effect... or so I hope.

But then again, I've always wanted to a Stanford student.

[yuhoolio]

I'm trying to figure out as much as I can from the Stanford IPS program. Would you say it's more quant-heavy like an MPP or SAIS because of required Research and Design and Econ classes. It seems to train "analysts" more, and is more like an MPP program than an IR program. It's interesting that they even call it an M.A. Do you know how quantitative the Policy Skills Core is (Research and Design, etc).

http://ica.stanford.edu/files/IPS%20Deg ... v%2007.pdf

I know you visited the "Practicum", where they gave a presentation by the co-founder of Kiva. What do you say the practicum was like....just a discussion, or did they do hard core case studies?

[globalsun]

It definitely has more quant requirements even compared to SAIS or other MPP programs. Before your first day of class you are required to have taken Macro, Micro, International Econ, and a post calculus Statistics course like a Econometrics.

The course work shows IPS to be a hybrid of a IR and Public Policy, making up for the lack of global focus in most MPP programs while requiring the advance policy analysis component absent from most IR programs. I do not know the exact level of quantitative skills required for the CORE Research and Design courses, but I expect them to be of a similar caliber to the Berkeley GSPP, which is reputed to have one of the most quant heavy curriculums in the MPP world.

The event with the cofounder of Kiva was basically a high level presentation followed by an in depth discussion, so now I think it was the weekly colloquium or lecture, not the final group practicum. Kiva's founder (a Stanford alum too) was invited by the students themselves.

[yuhoolio]

Thanks globalsun!

What is the International Economics requirement like - can you use a Intl Political Economy to satisfy this requirement, or is the requirement a hardcore quant-heavy finance class or does a general survey class work? I don't know if I'd even meet the pre-req...i don't see a specific course syllabus.

I'm surprised you would say it has even MORE Economics/Quant than SAIS or GSPP Have you talked to any staff there, or seen any of their specific syllabi?

[globalsun]

I think International Political Economy could possibly qualify if it broadly dealt with matters of trade, development and finance, but you should check with the administration to be sure. My course in International Economics was a broad overview of various important international economic issues, not a specific quant heavy class. As for the prerequisite courses, the first page of the pdf you linked will show the four courses I mentioned.

What I was trying to say was that IPS had more demanding prerequisite Econ coursework vs SAIS or GSPP. Despite initially having less stringent economic requirements, SAIS does require you to eventually finish a series of pretty advanced International Economic courses, making it unique among the programs out there. At GSPP, while there is not a CORE economic emphasis, a lot of the 1st year core courses are quant heavy by nature. This is all based from looking at the syllabi.

[emforpeace]

Hooray for two other west coasters into African IR!

(I'm based in Berkeley now, heading east soon...).

Yuhoolio - I'll be at Yale on Monday and maybe Harvard Friday (depending on whether an aid package comes through tomorrow). Maybe I'm crazy, but I'm leaning toward Yale over HKS, WWS, and Oxford. I've already ruled out SIPA for all the reasons you mentioned, but am torn on the others. My offers from Princeton and Yale are pretty similar, but I went to P'ton as an undergrad, so am wondering about the wisdom of heading back there for a matching diploma. I'm very interested in responses from others to your posts about why people don't seem to be applying to Yale. I really like their set up...

[yuhoolio]

emforpeace,

We've got to meet up for sure at Yale on Monday! I'll be there two days. I went to Berkeley for undergrad and have been wanting to head east for a while...you already set on going back east?

I really like Yale's set up too over HKS, Fletcher, MSFS, but just like you, feel like I feel a little "crazy" and that I'm stepping into some unknown territory here. I want to make sure it truly is the wisest choice to go all the way out there. Glad to hear you got some funding from Yale that actually matches WWS (that's tough to get from Yale)! Are you thinking about going to academia? or what kind of sector work are you looking to do?

[Cornell07]

Ditto to you both of you (emforpeace & yuhoolio)! I really like Yale except it does seem like something of an unknown. I'll be in New Haven on Sunday walking around campus / attending that open course meeting that evening and then going to the Open House in the morning.

I really want to keep a foothold in academia with the possibility of a PhD in the future, but be more than just someone who lives in the Ivory Tower.

[emforpeace]

Definitely east for sure - my husband and I grew up in the west and came out here for several years after we finished school, so are ready for a change of pace. I tried hard to get excited about GSPP, but I've worked in state politics for a while now, and wasn't that enthused about their focus on theories of policy change, etc. Just seemed too far removed from actual policy. Which I suppose makes it somewhat ironic that I'm really excited about Yale, but it is what it is.

I want to do work (either on the ground, from DC, or both) on African political transitions. I'm interested in both doing it from a multilateral org or NGO.

I guess I'll meet you both (Cornell and Yuhoolio) soon - have a great trip out! I get there wicked late on Sunday, but will be there for Monday and Tuesday morning.

[policywonkette]

Sorry I'm slow in responding the earlier questions. My classmates are amazing, they have a really broad range of experience and are incredibly intelligent and hard-working. Out of 21 of us, 11 are international students (from Pakistan, China, Nepal, Switzerland, Belgium, South Korea, the Dominican Republic, and Bolivia) and 10 from the U.S. Many have finance or consulting backgrounds, including consulting for developing countries, but we have someone who came from the DoD, one from DoJ, a former Kiva fellow, some people with start-up experience, and even a former engineer. The small class size definitely helps, we all know each other really well and help each other get through the courseload, which is heavily quantitative (at least in the 1st year) and very demanding.

The program is a mix of quant-heavy skills courses and IR, which is a unique combination and one that I find really interesting and applicable to a wide range of careers. For pre-reqs, I would just apply and if you're admitted but need to fulfill one, they'll tell you and you can take it over the summer. If anyone really wants to know about course specifics or syllabi, just message me and I can try to answer your questions or send you a syllabus.

As for multinational orgs, our Director is a former assistant Secretary General of the U.N., and we have instructors and advisors who hold or held high positions at the U.N., the World Bank, and the IMF, so there are several "ins" available.

It's a great program, and I hope to see some of you next year!

Good luck with the decisions.

[globalsun]

I was very impressed by the open house presentation on Monday. After seeing huge impersonal nature of both SAIS and SIPA in the last few days, I absolutely love the fact that the entering IPS class will be under 30 students. The small class size I discovered not only gives students a greater voice on the curriculum, it also makes accessibility to second year TA and RA positions much easier than SAIS and SAIS. The RA and TA compensation is also much better than the other two programs since for each quarter of work done, full tuition is waived AND a very generous (7k+) stipend is provided for. Also unlike SIPA or SAIS, there is guaranteed first year on campus housing... That along with internship stipends plus subsidized international study trips, makes IPS the best deal this side of WWS. And did I mention each student was had a full tenured professor as advisers, instead of "Academic Deans" in other programs and has better econ classes than SAIS?

Thanks to the current IPS students for showing me such a great welcome!

P.S.: The SIPA 2nd year fellowship is not a real fellowship. Its merely administrative work for most or a TA position for the lucky few.