Employment Prospects for an Elliot School Graduate?

[Ethan321]

Well I've been browsing some law school boards and also some sites like jdunderground.com and I seem to come across a not insignificant amount of law school graduates who have placed themselves in an EXTREMELY precarious position - paying sticker price at lower ranked law schools and now finding themselves in an extremely competitive market where the best they can do is work long hours at low paid positions and are being crushed by their debt load.

Besides making me thankful that I never went to law school, these discussions have made me a bit more aware of the prospect of debt and the fact that I really need to do the right research before I plunk down alot of money for a graduate degree and not simply believe that everything will turn out for the best.

It looks like I'll be paying sticker price to go to the Elliot School this fall and while I'm extremely excited to start what seems like an extremely interesting grad degree at a relatively well regarded school - I'm wondering if I can get some opinions from more experienced students as to what I can expect out of this degree and what type of assumptions would be reasonable to make regarding my quality of life post-graduation.

I have about 30K in savings and Elliot has a reasonable tuition - about 23K a year - so if I live frugally over the next 2 years I'm certain that I wont have the type of debt that some of these law school grads have.

While I would love to work for a government agency like Dept of State, DIA, etc. - I realize that the selection process for these types of positions are not only competitive but arbitrary and that I might get dinged during a security clearance for something out of my control.

I don't have a sense of entitlement nor do I aspire to be wealthy. Would it be reasonable to assume that with the right networking and internships I will have some reasonable positions open to me after graduation that will allow me to do something interesting related to my studies and to live above the poverty line?

As always, sincere replies appreciated.

[zourah]

Elliott schedules classes mostly for evenings so students can take internships easily - hopefully building ties to post-graduation employment. No school is a guarantee for its students, but I do have a friend who took an internship with the civil service at State and now has an offer to stay once he finishes the program this spring. If you're prepared to work at it rather than trusting that the degree is going to magically get you in places (no degree does that, but you sound like you've got a very realistic outlook already), then I think Elliott should be able to help you quite well. Be sure and talk to the career center folks, whether at their visit day or via email.

[jduds]

Elliott has a very extensive (and informative) career profile:

http://www.gwu.edu/~elliott/gscd/data/

[Leica]

You're really not giving Elliot enough credit. I can understand how spending so much time on a forum like this one, with all of these "WWS vs. KSG" threads, could make you feel like you're "settling" for "just Elliot", but I don't think people actually recognize how good these schools are. It's a well-regarded school full stop. The part about "the right networking and internships" holds true for any school, and I think it's a bad idea all around to compare the position you're in - which is enviable - to the plight of law school graduates from around the country, because "lower-ranked law schools" does not equal "top 10 IR school in DC". You're not attending Podunk State Vocational College of Underwater Basket-Weaving, and you won't be surrounded by mediocre students (or faculty, for that matter).

[Snowden12]

I think there is a valid point to be made in the relationship of student loan costs and the salary you can expect upon graduating from ESIA. If you look at the Graduate Employment Survey (http://www.gwu.edu/~elliott/assets/docs/gscd/results07-08.pdf), you'll see that the average graduate will make 50-60k, with very few earning more than 100k. If you've already looked into living in the DC area, you'll see it's not cheap. Living in the DC Metro area on 50-60k will make it pretty difficult to pay back a significant amount of student loans. If you're attending ESIA at sticker price, remember that the cost of living in DC is going to be equal to the cost of school. You're looking at probably more than 40k per year while you're in school. If you're not working, that's a lot of loans. Even if you take only 50% loans, how quickly do you hope to pay off 40k in student loans?

Anyway, the question shouldn't be one entirely of money anyway. If your goal is to wok in the IR or ID fields, money probably isn't the largest motivating factor. Yes, you can expect to pay a significant amount of loans, but at least you're looking at recession-proof employment; that's a much better prospect than most law students face. If you know this is the field you want to get into, you can't do much better than a top 10 IR program located in DC. Just be ready to pay for it...

In fairness, those salaries are for recent graduates, not for tenured professionals.

[zourah]

I'm going to clarify/repeat myself a bit . If you live frugally and are willing to spend off your savings AND look primarily for paid internships, you're going to be able to get through with a manageable debt load - paying it off then becomes a much lesser worry for the future.

And yes, while these boards get tied up in minute degrees of prestige, Elliott is a strong school and its career people are devoted. So long as you are, also, you'll be able to get where you want to go.