Grad School Search
OK, this will be sort of list based at least at first. I'm gonna list and say a few things about schools that I had/have interest in for grad school.
Georgetown: It was pretty expensive and required you to have applications in during the first part of December. Bullshit. I liked the idea, but in the end it wasn't worth it.
Oxford: I love the idea of going to Oxford! Great International Relations program, friends from here in Soudh Dakota who live there and have kids that I adore. The city is wonderful and international and I can travel a lot from there. It's expensive to go to school there and expensive to live, but there are a lot of generous financial aid type packages that should make it doable.
King's College London: The lesser little brother of Oxford, ultimately wasn't worth the extra application fees. If I go to school in the UK, it'll be at Oxford. When I got turned down for the Marshall Scholarship, my reason for being interested in King's waned.
The American University in Cairo: Location baby! If I lived I Cairo, would you come to see me? Yeah, Egypt is a great place. Plus, it's pretty much the ideal place to learn about my area of academic concentration in conflict resolution. It's not terribly expensive, and the staff is top notch, even if the facilities aren't as wonderful as you'd probably like.
The University of Chicago: Famed for prowess in the political science areas of academics, the university turned out to be just too expensive, too snooty, and too demanding. I love the idea of living in Chicago, and I like the name recognition, but it has the same overall downfalls as Georgetown.
Fairleigh Dickinson University: Situated in the NYC metro area, that's a big plus. The cost is high but not as prohibitive as similarly big name schools. The staffing for the international relations department is TOP. NOTCH. Some of my favorite academic authors teach there. The financial aid isn't all I'd like it to be, so going here would be contingent on getting a good assistanceship.
Florida International University: A highly underrated university, this place has a staff of 25 in the International Relations department alone! It's also Florida's top research facility, which means more money for special projects. Also, I've got a budding interest in Latin American politics and this would be a good point for that. The price is right and the location is excellent.
Portland State University: Location, baby! Plus, it has a very respectable IR department and I can get tuition breaks there as well as assistanceships. It is somewhat removed from some of the places of power and so on, but there is a lot to recommend it. This should be the easiest school to get into, and it's also going to be the easiest to afford. The quality still meets the standards I have as well; geography is the main problem. It's not a travel friendly place but the money I save in tuition will allow me to make some trips anyway.
The Monterey Institute of International Studies: This school is a study in pretentiousness. They only want you if you can manage to eek out over 30K bones a year on top of living, speak one of like eight foreign languages on a conversational level and are versed in both economics and political science. The program looks great, but fuck that. I'll out perform MIIS graduates anyway, and they'll only wish they'd been more accomodating when I wanted to talk to them about exceptionalism.
I am currently in the midst of sending out applications still. It's a lengthy and expensive process and I don't like it. I will hear in March if I get Oxford and hopefully shortly thereafter what sort of financial incentives I"ll get to go there. That's my first choice. Failing that, everything else would be an evaluate as I go sort of thing. No matter what I'll be in SoDak until mid-August or a bit later. I'm very ready to move on to an advanced stage of education but I"m awfully nervous about the process.
Georgetown: It was pretty expensive and required you to have applications in during the first part of December. Bullshit. I liked the idea, but in the end it wasn't worth it.
Oxford: I love the idea of going to Oxford! Great International Relations program, friends from here in Soudh Dakota who live there and have kids that I adore. The city is wonderful and international and I can travel a lot from there. It's expensive to go to school there and expensive to live, but there are a lot of generous financial aid type packages that should make it doable.
King's College London: The lesser little brother of Oxford, ultimately wasn't worth the extra application fees. If I go to school in the UK, it'll be at Oxford. When I got turned down for the Marshall Scholarship, my reason for being interested in King's waned.
The American University in Cairo: Location baby! If I lived I Cairo, would you come to see me? Yeah, Egypt is a great place. Plus, it's pretty much the ideal place to learn about my area of academic concentration in conflict resolution. It's not terribly expensive, and the staff is top notch, even if the facilities aren't as wonderful as you'd probably like.
The University of Chicago: Famed for prowess in the political science areas of academics, the university turned out to be just too expensive, too snooty, and too demanding. I love the idea of living in Chicago, and I like the name recognition, but it has the same overall downfalls as Georgetown.
Fairleigh Dickinson University: Situated in the NYC metro area, that's a big plus. The cost is high but not as prohibitive as similarly big name schools. The staffing for the international relations department is TOP. NOTCH. Some of my favorite academic authors teach there. The financial aid isn't all I'd like it to be, so going here would be contingent on getting a good assistanceship.
Florida International University: A highly underrated university, this place has a staff of 25 in the International Relations department alone! It's also Florida's top research facility, which means more money for special projects. Also, I've got a budding interest in Latin American politics and this would be a good point for that. The price is right and the location is excellent.
Portland State University: Location, baby! Plus, it has a very respectable IR department and I can get tuition breaks there as well as assistanceships. It is somewhat removed from some of the places of power and so on, but there is a lot to recommend it. This should be the easiest school to get into, and it's also going to be the easiest to afford. The quality still meets the standards I have as well; geography is the main problem. It's not a travel friendly place but the money I save in tuition will allow me to make some trips anyway.
The Monterey Institute of International Studies: This school is a study in pretentiousness. They only want you if you can manage to eek out over 30K bones a year on top of living, speak one of like eight foreign languages on a conversational level and are versed in both economics and political science. The program looks great, but fuck that. I'll out perform MIIS graduates anyway, and they'll only wish they'd been more accomodating when I wanted to talk to them about exceptionalism.
I am currently in the midst of sending out applications still. It's a lengthy and expensive process and I don't like it. I will hear in March if I get Oxford and hopefully shortly thereafter what sort of financial incentives I"ll get to go there. That's my first choice. Failing that, everything else would be an evaluate as I go sort of thing. No matter what I'll be in SoDak until mid-August or a bit later. I'm very ready to move on to an advanced stage of education but I"m awfully nervous about the process.