Current Yale Jackson Student - AMA

[Bombaygunner]

I was in the same boat as many of you guys last year. Happy to help in any way I can.

[Pt.r]

Is there room in Jackson for student interests in domestic economic and social policy, rather than "global affairs"? Or is everyone there really IR oriented?

[manutdftw]

Can you talk about how generous Yale is with their funding? The program is not very highly ranked among foreign policy circles (lower than American and LSE) so are they trying to recruit competitive students with funding? Also, for someone interested in international development, are there enough resources on IDEV there?

[Bombaygunner]

On 12/7/2015 at 3:30 PM, Pt.r said:

Is there room in Jackson for student interests in domestic economic and social policy, rather than "global affairs"? Or is everyone there really IR oriented?

Yes there is. You can take any class from the Econ, Poli-Sci, Law (though not all), Environment, etc... schools. The program is what you want it to be. I'm only in my first semester (where we have a core curriculum) here but this is what I've found: 

- Howard Dean holds his office hour every week in the Jackson building and whatever you may think of him, is an interesting guy to talk to about issues related to the United States.  

- Our econ prof Zach Cooper taught our Intro to Micro Econ course using real data from US industries like health care, aviation, etc... to highlight policy actions.

- There are a bunch of talks/seminars every day open to Jackson students, given by senior US policy makers. In the few months I've been here, I've had 1-2 lunch/dinner sessions with hedge fund managers, ambassadors and other civil servants. We also had a fully paid for 3-day networking trip to DC where connected with Yale alums who work at Capitol Hill and spent a morning meeting folks at the Pentagon. 

That being said, I think that most of my classmates have interests that are international in nature. Even the Americans all want to better understand America so they can better position it in the context of the wider world. Hope that helps!

[Bombaygunner]

On 12/8/2015 at 11:11 AM, manutdftw said:

Can you talk about how generous Yale is with their funding? The program is not very highly ranked among foreign policy circles (lower than American and LSE) so are they trying to recruit competitive students with funding? Also, for someone interested in international development, are there enough resources on IDEV there?

I'll do my best! I don't know what everyone is on but lots of people are fully funded. I got half my tuition funded, which was the 2nd highest amount of funding I was offered from any program). I think they're trying to raise the level of funding even more next year. I think they're trying to be like WWS and fund everyone but who knows. The amount of resources once you get here are also great. For example, every student gets a pot of $5,000 for your summer internship/research from Jackson. Additionally you can apply for a whole host of other research grants from the MacMillan Centre. There is a fully-funded 10 day Spring trip around Israel/Palestine next year (excluding flights). American and the other DC schools will give you that DC connection that Yale never can, but from what little I've seen, the Yale network is pretty powerful, even if the Jackson brand-name isn't.

What do you mean by "ranked among foreign policy circles"? It's a new program so it's not very well known, but I'm pretty sure the Yale brand name and network can open some serious doors. I think it's not ranked very highly by FP magazine (I assume this is what you mean?) and I imagine that's because Jackson is new and they're trying to revamp the whole IR program (renaming it Global Affairs, etc....). 

IDEV is a big program and separate from Jackson, but you can take all the classes at IDEV. I don't know enough about the resources at IDEV specifically, apologies! 

 

[went_away]

This is a great thread and definitely shows that Yale Jackson is positioning itself to be among the very best International Affairs schools, especially/at least in terms of career success. Regarding rankings, I would add that the rankings from William and Mary (published by Foreign Policy Magazine) should only be used as a very rough guide to relative prestige and quality. The methodology is based entirely on name recognition from professors at various universities and doesn't speak at all to things like funding, research, career outcomes, alumni satisfaction, or strength of the network or career services. In the case of Yale Jackson, the halo effect of the prestige of the parent university - not to mention its massive endowment - likely more than makes up for lack of name recognition of the particular grad school. For me personally, it was more important to go to a well-known, powerhouse international affairs school - which is why I ended up at Fletcher - but barring an aversion to New Haven I don't think a prospective student could go wrong in choosing Yale Jackson. 

[manutdftw]

Thank you so much you guys for the really informative replies. They're certainly making me think a lot.

Bombaygunner, do you think the small size of the student body is a concern? Also, I was admitted to Fletcher for EN which I'm extremely happy about and am really wondering if applying to Jackson is worth the $100+. I hardly have any savings so financial aid would be the most important factor for me. The only thing that's bothering me is that if I'm given the same amount of funding at both Fletcher and Jackson, I'd definitely go to Fletcher.

Thank y'all again for coming back to this board and helping this year's applicants! 

[Bombaygunner]

On 12/17/2015 at 11:42 AM, manutdftw said:

Thank you so much you guys for the really informative replies. They're certainly making me think a lot.

Bombaygunner, do you think the small size of the student body is a concern? Also, I was admitted to Fletcher for EN which I'm extremely happy about and am really wondering if applying to Jackson is worth the $100+. I hardly have any savings so financial aid would be the most important factor for me. The only thing that's bothering me is that if I'm given the same amount of funding at both Fletcher and Jackson, I'd definitely go to Fletcher.

Thank y'all again for coming back to this board and helping this year's applicants! 

I think the lack of alums from Jackson itself is a disadvantage compared to other schools, but remember that there are plenty of Yale International Affairs alums all over the shop.There are Yalies in some pretty high places in this field, even if they aren't Jacksonites. I think the small class size at Jackson is its biggest advantage because you get to know your classmates so well. It's so different to undergrad, where you know only a few people from your course. Here, I know all the 30 1st year students well - we went on an awesome team-building camping trip on the first weekend of term. It's like being a part of a sports team - everyone looks out for everyone else and helps out with contacts for internships, etc.... I've pretty much sorted out my summer internship for next year after one phone call with the former colleague of a girl in my class. 

I also got into Fletcher with a great aid offer, but I chose Yale because the brand name is better known worldwide and as an international student, that really matters to me. I think Jackson are going to be a lot more vocal about what they have to offer from next year onwards (they are revamping the website / outreach). Fletcher is probably better known in the US and among US policy circles (this is what lots of folks have told me). But I would say, cross that bridge when you get to it. I would encourage you to apply to Jackson and see what funding you get. Fletcher is a great school and they seem generous with financial aid (they offered me the same money as Jackson). 

[inthelabyrinth]

Hey thank you for starting this thread - it's very helpful to hear from someone actually in the program. Here are my questions: 

Do you feel like being outside of DC or NYC has been a disadvantage at all? And if so do the benefits seem to outweigh the drawbacks? I saw on Jackson's website that only 11% of graduates end up in DC for their first job after graduation. 

How helpful has your coursework been in developing hard skills? (specifically things like statistical analysis, R or STATA, financial management, policy memo writing, etc.) Have you found the coursework to include a strong quantitative component? 

Do you have many opportunities to get practical experience in applying the skills you learned through your coursework?

[inthelabyrinth]

Andddd I just realized this thread is from 2015 and probably not active.. sorry about that! 

[Boolakanaka]

@inthelabyrinth Not at Jackson, but formerly taught at SOM, and I can tell you a couple of things that are generally true of Yale all graduate professional programs: no one hurts for funding or resources, and recruitment is quite robust. 

[CurrentJackson]

On 8/20/2019 at 4:11 PM, inthelabyrinth said:

Hey thank you for starting this thread - it's very helpful to hear from someone actually in the program. Here are my questions: 

Do you feel like being outside of DC or NYC has been a disadvantage at all? And if so do the benefits seem to outweigh the drawbacks? I saw on Jackson's website that only 11% of graduates end up in DC for their first job after graduation. 

How helpful has your coursework been in developing hard skills? (specifically things like statistical analysis, R or STATA, financial management, policy memo writing, etc.) Have you found the coursework to include a strong quantitative component? 

Do you have many opportunities to get practical experience in applying the skills you learned through your coursework?

I graduated from Jackson in the same class as Bombaygunner.

I chose Jackson over schools in DC (and Boston) and don't regret my decision at all. The benefits of being able to take classes in other professional schools, having ample opportunities to develop relationships with senior fellows, etc. outweigh any drawbacks.

Plus, if you plan to spend the rest of your career in DC, it's a good idea to at least spend two years in a different city to gain a different perspective.

The Jackson senior fellows and professors are highly connected in DC. I worked in DC after graduating and others in my class did too. 

I used the policy writing and statistical analysis skills I developed at Jackson in both of the jobs I've had since graduating. 

Good luck to all applicants.