Visit to Columbia SIPA

灵感女孩UID: 2224424

Ok so this is my third post on my graduate school visiting tour~ I have spent 4 days in New York, visited the Columbia campus, attended a Happy Hour organized by SIPA alumni relations, and talked to a few students. My impression: it was a great experience! I might be biased coz I've always loved Columbia and NYC so even though there are all sorts of rumours about SIPA regarding its size and reputation, I still loved my visit and I will share my thoughts briefly here:

The Columbia campus:

One word: georgeous. This is not my first time visiting Columbia but this time I took a closer look at the campus and compared that to NYU (which does not have a campus but buildings in the city). Clearly, NYU has a better location in the downtown area with a lot more things going on but I'm a bit concerned because it is too noisy and too dirty compared to that of Columbia's. People always say that the NYU area is the fun place to be whereas Columbia is boring. This is true. But Columbia sits in a quieter residencial area with fewer distractions. It depends on what you want from the living experience. The immediate area around Columbia can be considered safe but people told me not to go further than 125th street, which is Harlem (Columbia is roughly between 114th and 118th). I stayed with a friend who lived on 104th, only 15 mins walk from the school. I guess if you live within 20 blocks from the school, it is possible to commute by foot. The campus has all departments, a beautiful chapel, and great libraries. The SIPA building is kinda ugly however...compared to those older ones and the new engineering building. It is indeed always crowded inside with students and events, but I like places where it's vibrant so that I can always find stuff to do.

The curriculum:

Conceptual fundations of international affairs: this is a core course at SIPA for the MIA degree. The lectures are huge with all 350 MIA students but they bring in top-notch professionals such as Jeff Sachs, to speak at these lectures. Then you are broken into 20-people groups for discussion. The current students I talked to loved this course and told me it is one of the most challengeng course actually.

Credits: each student take between 12 to 18 credits (4 to 6 classes) each semester. I heard 15 is standard but there are always over-achievers and people who prefer to focus more on other activities than academics, so it really depends on what you want, you could take a bunch or merely fulfill the graduation requirement, which is 54 credits.

Concentrations: it looks like EPD and IFEP are the largest and most popular concentrations, but throughout my time at SIPA, I have met all sorts of concentrators and it is so much fun talking to people with very different interests. The student body is indeed very diverse with about 40-50% international students who come from all walks of life.

I have also talked to a program assitant of the IFEP concentration. He works for the Turkish government. The government is sponsoring his education so he doesn't have to worry about the cost, but he is committed to go back to Turkey and work for the government for at least 4 years. He told me there are good classes and bad classes. He is generally happy with his SIPA experience, but I guess like most other schools (and think about your undergrad education, did you enjoy every single class you took???), the education is a very personalized experience, and it really depends on how you shape it and make it to be.

Classes:

I emailed 2 professors before hand to gain permission to attend their classes. They responded in a very timely manner and both welcomed me to sit in their class. One of them was an international trade class - I'm relatively familiar with the subject since this is what I did in undergrad and had a good time there listening to their discussion such as the effects of the Japanese earthquate to the dollar-yen exchange rate, etc. The other class I was in was corporate finance, where a professor who graduated from HBS talked about the pharmaceutical industry. I didn't understand much because I had no back ground in finance, but the class was very energetic and I was amzed by the fact that the professor knows every single student's name in this class!!! It's a class with roughly 60 students I guess? Because it is a core course for IFEP concentration and everybody has to take it at some point. So the rumour that SIPA is very impersonal and you have minimal interaction with the professor is not necessarily true! During the class, she called on at least like 15 students to answer questions, and she knows their names!!! It probably really depends on the professor, but I am still glad to see this!

Internships:

It is a requirement at SIPA to complete an internship between the first and second year, and people I met have found great internships, both for the summer and during the semester. One of the IFEP concentrators intern at the Economist, one MPD student intern at the Earth Institute of Columbia University (she used to intern at UNDP but quit...well that's another story), and one other security studies student intern at Booz Allen Hamilton. I guess like most schools, the opportunities are there, so it really depends on how you go about it. Some people try to find internships once they arrive, and some don't care until they have to. The current students told me they have a good internship/job searching data base called SIPALINK that you get access to once you're enrolled and it provides lots of info. There are also hundreds of career panals, both SIPA-wide and university-wide. It really depends on what you put into it and how hard you are trying to look for one.

Reputation:

Here is the treaky part. I have to say that Johns Hopkins SAIS is probably more selective than SIPA. I have come across a few current students who told me they had not been admitted to SAIS and that's why they came to SIPA but it is usally not the other way around. Of course there are people who are amitted to both and decide to come to SIPA for the Columbia name, the NYC setting, and the flexibility and wide range of course selections at SIPA. But my general impression is that SAIS is harder to get in and it's a more elite program. I have not heard back from SAIS Bologna but if I'm admitted, a touch decision will be made between the two. Most people at SIPA loved the program and told me they would like to be in NYC, and I have even met a few who told me they applied NOWHERE but SIPA. These people tend to be New Yorkers who do not want to leave the city. My friend at Teacher's College in Columbia told me that chosing a name is indeed important, because your name will be affiliated with an Ivy League forever. The alumni network is a treasure on one hand, and you never know when you want to change career path in the future! Yes SAIS is very prestigious and well regarded in the IR circle, but maybe one day you want to leave the IR circle and go work in business, jornalism or whatever field, then the Columbia name is gonna get you further. Maybe it's a bad example to compare SIPA with SAIS, since Johns Hopkins IS a top university itself, but when it comes to some other less prestigious schools, you can't go wrong with an Ivy League. Well this is my personal opinion only, so the fact is it really depends on what YOU want.

Student body:

Everyone I tried to contact has been very friendly and helpful. For example, I went into the admission's office to ask whether I could attend a few classes that are not on the visiting schedule, the student officer helped me search for courses I'm interested in, and before I left, told me that I should go to a happy hour event that evening. So I went, without knowing anybody, and knowing that it is only an event for current students. I talked to the organizers of the event and told them I am an admitted student, they were so friendly that they took turns "advertising" for SIPA for almost an hour and a half and constantly handed me beer lol~ There was another morning when I was having a conversation with my friend at SIPA (the MPD student) at the cafe in the engineering building and there was a girl sitting next to us studying for her exam. She overheard our conversation, told us she's a SIPA student as well and joined our conversation for like an hour! I felt bad taking her time away from her studying but she was just so nice!!!

I guess this is what I want to share from my experience, lol~ well I have more anecdotes and tips from SIPA students but guess I will keep them to myself for now :-)

dcrackerUID: 3002238

赞 好文啊 斑竹+精啊 感觉SIPA确实很有diversity

langdvgUID: 2957497

waiting for your next school visit report.
Which one will it be?

灵感女孩UID: 2224424

waiting for your next school visit report.
Which one will it be?
langdvg 发表于 2011-4-4 02:04

Just added the student body and class session. Check it out :)
My next and last stop is University of Chicago's CIR program. I am currently in Chicago and will attend the admitted student open house tomorrow! Excited!!!

patrick0048UID: 2839405

拜读过lz的所有贴，really helpful~
一直在纠结于继续去美国读商科还是转IR方向，忽然觉得可能我还是比较适合IR

laura0227UID: 2766007

Hey, thank you Inspiration! It's been indeed helpful! Have you decided to attend SIPA yet? Do you use msn or other contact that I can reach you at? looking forward to talking to you. Cause am also planning to attend sipa.

灵感女孩UID: 2224424

Hey, thank you Inspiration! It's been indeed helpful! Have you decided to attend SIPA yet? Do you use msn or other contact that I can reach you at? looking forward to talking to you. Cause am also pla ...
laura0227 发表于 2011-4-4 11:26

Hey I haven't decided yet coz I'm still yet to hear back from SAIS. But if I'm in, the choice will be between SIPA and SAIS. I will PM you my msn :)

lonesomedove917UID: 2720714

I'm going to SIPA beacuse of  the 'free beer' part!

kaitokid_siUID: 2987856

赞LZ！！非常感谢~~~

foxyxyUID: 3028906

感谢楼主呀！！

ncm12UID: 3145248

lz太幸福了，International Affairs Building太有感觉了，大爱。