what schools should i apply to?

[rileypep]

i want to get a M.A. in international relations and i was wondering what schools should i appy for that fit my application profile. I really want to get into columbia, johns hopkins, or gtown ssp. Are these schools too far of a reach? is american and gwu more realistic

Comments

[pixiemab]

Have you considered the Monterey Institute of International Studies? Sounds like it might be a good fit considering your fluency in Japanese.

[evil_admiral]

I was thinking something on the Pacific Rim would be a good fit for the OP.

[rileypep]

what schools do yall think i would be able to get in with my stats?

[lotuslion]

Realistically... SAIS, SIPA, or Gtown are going to be a reach. Those are the top 3 schools - SAIS in particular is very, very overapplied, and your stats, while not bad in any way, are not going to wow them either. They get 1800 applications that are very similar. That doesn't mean you shouldn't apply - your LORs or SOP might really stand out to them. (Also bear in mind that Gtown and SAIS are $50,000/year, are located in a very expensive city, and offer very little funding.) I'd say apply to them as your reach schools, but pick some other schools as targets and safeties

[roseofjuly]

I would say the same about SIPA's costs and cost of living - New York is so damn expensive, and SIPA is not known for being heavy on the financial aid.

I also agree that you need to diversify your school outlook. Apply to other IR schools and consider taking a couple of years off to work and gain experience, since all of those schools have a higher average age than 22 and generally look for people with some work experience who are coming to hone their skills.

[lotuslion]

Yeah, that's definitely true on both counts. I didn't address SIPA specifically because I didn't apply there and haven't lived in NYC, so I didn't want to speak outside of my experience, but yeah, you're right. :) I don't think the APSIA schools in general give a lot of funding, unfortunately.

I'd agree with you too about the work experience. The average age of incoming students for GW and DU is like 25 or 26 I think, and I only know a couple people that got in straight from undergrad. There are a lot of RPCVs at both schools, and many of us who just spent a couple years toiling away in the work world, haha.

[teaganc]

As a small aside, I think you should take "been to canada once and mexico twice" off of your resume. It just sounds like you went on a road trip/spring break with your frat buddies (or whatever) and does not denote valuable international experience without an explanation as to why you were there. The same goes for your trips to Japan; while I'm sure they were great, unless you were anything other than a tourist (or you have family there, which should be mentioned in a SOP, MAYBE, not trips), your fluency is the only meaningful thing.

[lotuslion]

Eh, I don't agree with this. I was told by the admissions advisors (both before and after acceptance) at both GW and DU that international experience, which includes trips as a tourist, are important, because at least you've left the country - which is actually quite a big deal on IR apps. I wouldn't write an entire paragraph on each trip, but I certainly spent a sentence in my SOP saying where I'd traveled to and what it did for me. It's also on my resume currently, under the advice of career services.

I do think I excluded Canada and Mexico from my SOP and resume, though, so I'll agree with you on that point. :)

[roseofjuly]

I think teaganc might have meant that the line, the way it stands now, seems like a road trip/spring break. I thought the same thing when I read it -- "Okay, so this Japanese experience may look legit, but what did he/she DO there 5 times? And why should I care that he/she went to Canada and Mexico?" Rather, the OP should include a description of the reasons WHY he/she went to those places. Especially since he/she went to Japan 5 times and is fluent - sounds like there may be some good experiences there, but she/he needs to elaborate.

[lotuslion]

Yeah, I agree with you, and that's what I was trying to get at. I may have misintrepted teaganc's comments - I thought s/he was saying that international experience only matters if you studied or worked abroad, when travel abroad as a tourist can also be quite meaningful. If it was a 6 day bender, then probably not, but the 10 days I spent in France and the UK were certainly important to me, and opened me up to a lot of experiences that shaped my thoughts about the world. So yeah, that's a longwinded way of saying that the international experience matters if the OP can show WHY it mattered, like you said. ;)

[roseofjuly]

I know for a fact that SIPA prefers students with some years of work experience, and that the average age of their students is 27. Coming straight out of undergrad you will be somewhat as a disadvantage.

Also, it matters less how many times you've been to country and more how long you stayed there and what you were doing. I'm assuming at least some of those times that you went to Japan you stayed a substantial amount of time since you are fluent in Japanese. A lot of Americans have been to Canada, so I doubt that will be...impressive. And what did you do in Mexico? Did you intern, volunteer, work, study?