MA programs that offer a full ride?

[fenderpete]

Hi all,

I'm getting ready for the rigors of the application season again, after a very underprepared and unfocused attempt last year that ended in failure! I'm planning on applying to a mixture of MA and PhD programs but I know I want to end up as a practitioner rather an academic, for now at least.

My background is as follows:

Previous Schools: University of Nottingham, Russell Group university (UK Ivy League equivalent)

Previous Degrees and GPA's: Politics BA - First Class Honours - 3.8+ equivalent GPA

Previous Schools: University of London/LSE

Previous Degrees and GPA's: Graduate Diploma in Economics (graduate June 2010)

GRE Scores (Verbal/Quantitative/Analytical Writing): Last year I got 690V/610Q/5.5AWA - retaking end of August and aiming for 700+ in both.

Previous Work Experience: 1 month in Middle East working in refugee camp, 1 month teaching high school history, 4 months Carter Center Conflict Program Internship, 4 Months Research Assistant for Prof. during undergrad on UNPKO, Exit Polling for European Parliament Election

Econ Background: Diploma in Economics (Micro, Macro, Econometrics), some IPE in PoliSci Global Governance module

Foreign Language Background: 5 years French, 2 years Spanish, beginner Arabic

Intended Field of Study in Grad School: Security, terrorism and counterinsurgency

Long Term Professional Goals: Foreign policy - either think tank, NGO or eventually government.

I was wondering if people could tell me whether the following programs offer full-rides or just a tuition scholarship?

GWU - Security Studies MA

Princeton WWS - MPA

Harvard MPP - IGA

American - MIA

Columbia SIPA - MIA

NYU - Politics MA

Yale - International Relations MA

As an international student I really need a full ride as I'll be moving over and I'm not eligible for a big loan to cover 2 years of living expenses etc. I really appreciate the help from you guys with a lot of experience .

Thanks,

Pete

[Cornell07]

Well, from personal experience, I can tell you Yale is very stingy. Only about 30% get a drop of funding and very few of those people get more than half tuition. Hooray for loans! I expect that the amount of aid will increase because of the recent $50 million gift the department received to create the new Jackson Institute. ($50 MM spread amongst a couple dozen professors and about 23 students a year goes pretty far)

WWS is the extreme opposite and every person gets full funding: tuition and stipend.