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young undergraduate needs advice
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Date: December 26th, 2009 1:46 AM Author: Passionate mental disorder Subject: desperately need help!! I'm currently a student at the University of San Francisco and will be graduating early, when I'll be 20 years old. I have a 3.6, haven't taken my GRE yet, speak Farsi fluently (learning arabic) and I've been interning for the California State Senate for the past year.
Do I need more time for work experience for the top tier schools to even consider me? Am I too young? I dream of going to Fletcher or SAIS, but with only 2 semesters of college left, the application process seems so intimidating.
Can someone please give me a realistic picture of what to expect. It's okay to be harsh...I can take it =) |
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Date: December 27th, 2009 11:36 AM Author: Brass Supple Hunting Ground What do you want to do in IR? Politics? Economics? Or what? And as others have noted, get some WE. No reason to rush into grad school, plus you'll have a better idea of what you want to do, and how to go about reaching that goal. (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=1174125&forum_id=3#13656626) |
Date: December 26th, 2009 4:38 PM Author: zombie-like antidepressant drug bawdyhouse Have you interned anywhere else? Any experience abroad? SAIS and Fletcher are both extremely professional schools. Most likely, a single internship and Farsi + Arabic language skills won't be enough. Especially at age 20. Even if you ace the GREs (90 percentile +) it's going to be a tough sell. These schools like to see applicants with a lot of experience, who can say they know that SAIS/Fletcher is the school for them because of reason a, b, c etc. With just one internship experience, it'll be hard to convince them that you absolutely know you want to go to their school.
Also, SAIS puts a lot of emphasis on quant/economics. Have you taken any such courses?
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Date: December 26th, 2009 5:31 PM Author: Passionate mental disorder Thank you for the honesty. I'll be interning for Amnesty International and the World Affairs Council this semester (haven't started yet). And yes, I realized that about SAIS just recently. I've only taken basic stats and one econ course. I was planning on taking more in depth econ courses over the summer but I'm not sure if that'll be enough. I've been to Iran for 2 months about 6 times but that was to visit family. I guess it's pretty obvious that I'm a bit naive with expectations so I appreciate your response |
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Date: December 26th, 2009 5:48 PM Author: claret boyish ladyboy go work for a few years. abroad if possible. it will be worth it on many levels....1. to figure out if you want to enter a career where a SAIS/Fletcher degree is necessary, 2. to get into those degree programs 3. to not end up jobless like the unnamed number of recent sais/fletcher jobs who went in without work experience/connections and came out being overqualified for entry level jobs and underqualified for everything else. (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=1174125&forum_id=3#13651586) |
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Date: December 26th, 2009 7:33 PM Author: Trip cheese-eating legal warrant theatre Agreed 100%, especially point 3. It's going to be a tough sell being 22 with an MA in IR and 0 work experience. I would hate to be in those shoes if I took out loans for the degree. (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=1174125&forum_id=3#13652375) |
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Date: December 26th, 2009 7:39 PM Author: claret boyish ladyboy the resume piles in dc HR offices now are ridiculous....JD/MPPs applying for 20k/year RA gigs....i saw an MA from SAIS applying for an admin job that required a HS diploma.. (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=1174125&forum_id=3#13652427) |
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Date: December 26th, 2009 7:51 PM Author: Bat-shit-crazy athletic conference LOL (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=1174125&forum_id=3#13652516) |
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Date: December 26th, 2009 9:20 PM Author: Trip cheese-eating legal warrant theatre Nothing surprises me. No one is hiring now. Can't imagine being an '09 grad with debt. Lots of that going on on the law board though. 22 with an MA and no work experience is terrible, especially since a BA can get almost any job the MA can get. MA in IR is pretty worthless in general, but especially so if no prior WE. (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=1174125&forum_id=3#13653093) |
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Date: January 3rd, 2010 1:30 PM Author: Talented aquamarine faggotry I also don't buy the "no one is hiring" thing. I've been looking for the past few weeks and am quite pleasantly surprised by the number of mid-level NGO jobs that are open right now.
My department is hiring for 7 open positions right now, and we are struggling to find qualified candidates. We keep interviewing absolute dolts. |
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Date: December 27th, 2009 1:21 AM Author: Passionate mental disorder Can I ask why a MA in IR is worthless? I've read that a few times on these forums and I'm just wondering why people think that. (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=1174125&forum_id=3#13655196) |
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Date: December 27th, 2009 1:54 AM Author: Trip cheese-eating legal warrant theatre Because an MBA can do everything an IR MA can do, plus a whole lot more. One example. Hell, there are even 2 year JD programs out there (Northwestern is one example). JD or MBA >>>>>>>>>>>>>> IR MA. Also, 2 years of solid work experience would be better than just the MA in pretty much any scenario. The list goes on. (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=1174125&forum_id=3#13655380) |
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Date: December 27th, 2009 2:10 AM Author: Bat-shit-crazy athletic conference "Because an MBA can do everything an IR MA can do, plus a whole lot more"
not credited, brah. there are types of IR MA that might surprise you |
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Date: December 27th, 2009 11:34 AM Author: Brass Supple Hunting Ground Yeah, I think it depends on where you get your MBA or IR MA, plus what your focus is. (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=1174125&forum_id=3#13656621) |
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Date: December 27th, 2009 1:57 PM Author: Trip cheese-eating legal warrant theatre I got into SAIS years ago and turned them down. Taking out $80k+ in loans for jobs that pay $50k simply makes no sense. You can get into the World Bank from a top MBA. Maybe a few think tanks might question an MBA, but I have yet to be convinced regarding the value of an IR MA. (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=1174125&forum_id=3#13657176) |
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Date: January 3rd, 2010 1:29 PM Author: Talented aquamarine faggotry It depends entirely where you want your career to go. For the World Bank, fine, an MBA is suitable.
For many NGO jobs, it will raise eyebrows, if not prevent you from being hired. There is a great deal of snobbery in the NGO world about wanting candidates to be "committed" to international work. I regularly see candidates with JDs and MBAs thrown out because they are deemed not "international enough."
You have to remember that the old guard (i.e. the people doing the hiring) at many of these orgs are RPCVs who expect others to have followed a similar career path as they.
I do not support going to into an excessive amount of debt for an MA in IR. I too turned down SAIS due to the expense. But I did get an MA in IR (and an MPH) from a "lesser" school. As a result I was able to work full time while pursuing the two degrees and after all of the fellowship money thrown at me, graduate with no debt at all. |
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Date: December 27th, 2009 8:51 PM Author: stirring fear-inspiring idea he suggested He's right- the idea that a JD or MBA can get you anything an IR/MPP can get you is exaggerated. The JD/MBA route is much more lucrative, but neither would get you to the wonky positions as well, at least not off the bat. And if you did manage to get such a position right away, your prospects for a law/business career would likely end right there, or at least be no better than that of an IR/MPP. So if that's the case, you might as well do the program that would be more interesting and relevant, have fewer tedious required classes, and for law, take less time.
Also, getting a top MBA almost always requires first-rate business experience, which almost always requires doing well at a top 20 undergrad. If it's too late for that, then better to shoot for high grades and GRE, Peace Corps, and a couple other credentials (languages, leadership, gov't/int'l/campaign work), which can be enjoyable plus make for a competitive application to top IR/MPP programs.
Top law schools are attainable from any undergrad if you have a high lsat, but then you're stuck studying law and doing so with law students. If you're committed to IR/MPP but also tempted to do law, do the IR/MPP first, and then if you're not happy, go for a joint degree or subsequent JD. |
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Date: December 27th, 2009 2:27 PM Author: claret boyish ladyboy i dont think its worthless. i just think it really only adds value to someone who has the rest of the package (work experience, a well defined career path, connection). you need to approach grad school differently - its not as much about getting the credential (like the BA is), its about getting out of school the skills/knowledge/connections you need to have the career you want. coming straight from UG you wont know how to "work" a school like SAIS and get the most out of it... (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=1174125&forum_id=3#13657394) |