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Georgetown (Walsh SFS) - Strengths/Weaknesses

Cornell07

By Cornell07
in Government Affairs Forum

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To which program did you apply at SFS?  

69 members have voted

  1. 1. To which program did you apply at SFS?

    • Master of Science in Foreign Service (MSFS)
      35
    • Master of Arts in Security Studies (SSP)
      19
    • Master of Arts in Arab Studies (MAAS)
      3
    • Master of Arts in German & European Studies (MAGES)
      6
    • Master of Arts in Latin American Studies (CLAS)
      3
    • Master of Arts in Russian & East European Studies (REES)
      3
    • Global Executive MBA
      0

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Cornell07 Macchiato

Cornell07

Posted
Posted

If you are like me, you are often momentarily confused ( :? ) when you look at the "Georgetown" thread talking about "having been accepted/rejected/waitlisted at Georgetown", because the GPPI applicants started hearing back a long time ago and we, SFS, have not. So, to reduce overlap, regional studies, MSFS, Security Studies, and MBA people, post here!

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invictus Espresso Shot

invictus

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Cornell07-- I agree that there has been some confusion regarding Georgetown applications. Thanks for setting up this thread. I think it'll get some traffic as we hear back. I'm with you on the easily confused bit, but I'll raise you with: easily confused AND indecisive :) I also applied (and got accepted to) their MBA program. Right now, unless I get off the WWS waitlist or SAIS comes through with significant funding (improbably), I'll be a Hoya. Anybody else apply to other random programs?

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Cornell07 Macchiato

Cornell07

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I've gotta say that Georgetown gives its degrees the absolute best acronyms : MAGES (Master of Arts in German and European Studies) and MAGIC (Master of Arts in Global, International, and Comparative History) come to mind.

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Rose Caffeinated

Rose

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Thank you SO MUCH for setting up this thread. I was not only confused but slightly irritated that the SFS threads keep/kept getting hijacked by people who applied to the Public Policy program (since the comments back and forth would eventually stop specifying what program they applied to and thus confuse the whole thing).

Rant over. Now a question: I applied to a pretty big range of programs (from straight MPP to MPA to Int'l Aff) in terms of focus, and even though I thought I was very excited to do a practical degree with a career focus, I'm now on the fence. I'm realizing I may want to keep my options open to do a PhD (in policy or gov't or polisci or history, I don't know). My impression is that Fletcher/SIPA/Harvard/WWS send a handful of grads off to PhD programs each year, but that other programs tend to be academic career dead ends.

Is the SFS a dead end, do you think?

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globalsun Caffeinated

globalsun

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Ah excellent. Finally a Georgetown MSFS thread. No offense to the MPP crowd, but gradcafe should really revamp the general government affairs forum and replace it seperate public policy AND international relations forum. Except for gold plated programs like WWS and KGS, the two demographics apply to totally different programs!

As for Georgetown here are some of my views about the MSFS program.

+ Excellent name recognition in the field.

+ Located in DC.

+ The feeder school for the foreign service.

- Very weak in its East Asia focus, which will hurt the program in the long run.

- Does not emphasize quants, unlike neighboring SAIS.

- Projects are usually short with no final project like Fletcher, limiting its potential for future Phd wannabes.

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apsuwa Caffeinated

apsuwa

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its greatest weakness is the number of people being enrolled to the program, why they just don't make it several hundreds :lol: besides that, SFS has an excellent international development focus and has scholars like carol lancaster in that area. Its russian studies track is also pretty good when compared with other d.c. schools..

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IRboundgrad Decaf

IRboundgrad

Posted
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I just emailed them at msfsinfo@georgetown.edu to find out how we are going to be notified of admissions or rejections... I can't wait to hear from them!

Now you've got one more thing to wait for. I think you're beginning to like this.

Other than acknowledging receipt of my payment, I have heard nothing from Georgetown since submitting my application--no online chat invitations, information sessions, open houses ... nothing.

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sgw Decaf

sgw

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I got an email earlier this afternoon with an acceptance (pending approval by the Dean) for the SSP. Maybe I'll have an official letter waiting in the mailbox at home? (I'm in DC)

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zourah Latte

zourah

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Did anyone receive any Georgetown mail today or on Saturday? I am in NYC, so mail from DC shouldn't take that long.

Your letter almost certainly will be there today. I'm in Queens and got mine on Saturday (just in time to have one really, really bummed day before K School finally cheered me up).

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Jeppe Double Shot

Jeppe

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Posted
Thank you SO MUCH for setting up this thread. I was not only confused but slightly irritated that the SFS threads keep/kept getting hijacked by people who applied to the Public Policy program (since the comments back and forth would eventually stop specifying what program they applied to and thus confuse the whole thing).

Rant over. Now a question: I applied to a pretty big range of programs (from straight MPP to MPA to Int'l Aff) in terms of focus, and even though I thought I was very excited to do a practical degree with a career focus, I'm now on the fence. I'm realizing I may want to keep my options open to do a PhD (in policy or gov't or polisci or history, I don't know). My impression is that Fletcher/SIPA/Harvard/WWS send a handful of grads off to PhD programs each year, but that other programs tend to be academic career dead ends.

Is the SFS a dead end, do you think?

Judging from what I have seen so far, I'd say that your chances of going on to a PhD from Georgetown should be as good as from, say, SIPA. I know of a few who have been admitted to top Poli Sci programs after doing the SSP at Georgetown. However, the strongest IR programs in terms of academic qualifications seem to be Yale IR and WWS.

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