Seeing some people pop in.
Greetings, welcome, hopefully you can hear me.
Alin L.
12:00:29 PM
Yes, at least I can here
More we will give people a minute if you can hear me, you should be able to find a chat box and if you want to say hello from wherever you're logging in from my window, we have registrants from all over the world so.
Ann-Marie D.
12:00:39 PM
Hello I’m from the UK
Neil G.
12:00:41 PM
Hello everyone from rainy London!
Kate H.
12:00:44 PM
Hello! Thanks for having us. Tuning in from Atlanta GA.
Hello from sunny New England.
Ross N.
12:00:49 PM
Hello from Wiesbaden, Germany!
It's a beautiful day here.
Kazi A.
12:00:52 PM
Hello from Halifax, NS, Canada.
Micha H.
12:00:52 PM
Hello from Germany/Greece!
David F.
12:00:53 PM
Hello from sunny Los Angeles!
Opted to do this webinar outside.
Aryaan B.
12:00:56 PM
Hello from the rainy Netherlands!
New news today and so I needed my double screens for my Cheat Sheets so.
Cole J.
12:01:08 PM
Hi everyone! Signing in from Erie, PA
Alright thanks, let me see. We've got people from the UK, rainy London. Sorry yes sunny New England, rainy London.
Francisco P.
12:01:15 PM
Hello from Whittier California
Michael F.
12:01:19 PM
Hello everyone Michael, Poland
Greetings from Atlanta in Germany, Canada, Greece, great, the Netherlands. I've got to get to the Netherlands. I have friends in the hill. I've gotta get there someday.
Chris O.
12:01:28 PM
Oakland, CA
Saruul G.
12:01:30 PM
Hello from Mongolia :)
Pennsylvania and California, Poland. This is great. This is what I love about doing these and hopefully it shows you just the.
Ashley O.
12:01:40 PM
Hello everyone from the Garden State, NJ! <3
Where all of our our global reach goes so.
Alright, hello from the Garden State Mongolia. Great shout out to Mongolia talk about a diverse audience. This is fantastic so well.
Laura H.
12:02:09 PM
Hello from Berlin, Germany :)
I will go ahead and while we wait for some more people to pop in, maybe talk about some housekeeping items. Obviously most of you have found the chat. This is I'm opting to not moderate the chat this time. Usually I moderate the chat, but sometimes it gets a little confusing and people post their questions multiple times.
Isaiah W.
12:02:24 PM
Hello from CT
Eridian E.
12:02:27 PM
Hello from Los Angeles, CA
Avantika T.
12:02:29 PM
Hello all from India!
So I thought I'd go ahead and see what happens to not moderate the chat. That way you'll see your questions automatically and my any links I post in there will happen automatically as well so.
Tauhid D.
12:02:34 PM
Hello from Grovetown, GA!
I'm hello Connecticut. Greetings from India. I hope you are safe there. I know things are pretty crazy in India right now, so we're thinking of you also if you need it. There is closed captioning so you are welcome to. I think it's the little CC button on the top right of your screen. You could follow along that way, and since I'm using slides again, this is only the second time I've used slides. We actually do surveys at the end of these webinars and we've heard that people actually like slides.
Which is kind of nice, rather than just looking at my face. So last time I only did one slide. This time I'm trying multiple slides so you all are my Guinea pigs for some of this, so if you need to maximize your screen to see better, feel free to do that. You can use the arrows before arrows which are also at the top right of your screen, so those are a couple of the housekeeping items and I see a couple more people have popped in. Thanks for introducing yourselves.
Vitaliy S.
12:03:48 PM
Hi, from Ukraine
My first slide here is our normal home of Faurschou Hall where we haven't been since March 2020. March 13th, 2020. So last time we were there and that's our backyard, which currently has a large tent being set up for outdoor graduation ceremonies. So things are obviously getting better and plugging along, but we are still for those of you who are semi local and sometimes do ask, we're still not accepting visitors. Yale is still closed to visitors.
Katie R.
12:04:09 PM
Hello from Indianapolis, IN!
So we will be likely home.
In our homes, working remotely until somewhere between August and October. So keep an eye out. We whether or not will be able to do in person visit days this fall remains to be seen. Well probably.
Most certainly do virtual. We might have some sort of hybrid available if we get back in time, so.
Alright, so crazy times I hope you're all well. Greetings from again, I hope you all are as excited as I am to see people from all over the world and all over the states here. So welcome welcome all right? Well let me.
Get started again. My name is Melissa McGinnis and I am the assistant director of admissions at the Jackson Institute for Global Affairs and I'll give a brief overview. Obviously we are the Jackson Institute is located at Yale University in New Haven, CT to mention is Sunny New England today and we feel like we're in a really good place. Some people are like where's New Haven CT. We are right in the Northeast Corridor.
Between New York City and Boston, and pretty easy Amtrak ride from DC, so we feel like it is a really nice in between place to get the best of both worlds, including like that laid back New England field, which is what I love about being a Texan. I've been at Jackson just a little over two years now.
I spent 22 years at a competitor. If you will down in New Jersey and I've really enjoyed this transition and we'll talk about some of the unique aspects of Jackson today. And some people think, well, Jackson is sort of a new program. Well, Jackson in name is knew about 10 plus years ago. Jackson, Yale's International Relations Department, became the Jackson Institute.
When we received a generous donation from John and Susan Jackson with the Desire, Yale's desire to sort of create an international public policy program so that we are a new iteration of the IR program, which is been around for well over 40 years. But we have a new exciting news which isn't knew if you've been following us but slated to launch in fall of 2022. We are to become Yale's next professional schools.
So soon to be the Jackson School for Global Affairs. So it's super exciting times and we are going to be. I think the last time yield.
Well established, a school was in 1976 School of Management and will be the 14th professional school at Yale. So Yelles unique structure of having the professional school.
Set up and Jackson is at a great place to take advantage of all of that too. So exciting times we are and I mentioned that, you know, we're still in some curriculum review and things like that, so we'll talk a little bit about that. Today. I will go through some of these slides and do some overviews and maybe dive in a little bit and then we can talk about your questions and go from there. So, alright.
Jackson has two degree programs. We have our two year Masters of Arts in Global Affairs and we have a one year Master of Advanced Studies and Global Affairs. We are what makes us unique. We have very small cohorts in our community. Our community is very tight knit, very integrated with the degree. The two degree programs integrating along with the Senior Fellows and the faculty in the World Fellows and we can talk a bit about those. I can go through and.
Give you links for those things. If you haven't found them yourself on our website, but a very tight knit integrated community which really has been attractive, you hear alumni talk about it and what that looks like and I've appreciated it as a staff member even remotely, we've managed to stay connected through all sorts of initiatives and events. Programming and all things going on, so it's a very very tight knit community, very much like a family. And you saw in the beginning on the 1st slide. Hopefully that.
You know we're located in this beautiful Mansion Hill House, Ave and Central Campus in downtown New Haven. With lots and lots of green. And it's just. It's a really nice place to be. So between that and what we're known for is our flexible curriculum with both degree programs having you know, the two year program has a core. The one year program that's not and you basically have a lot of academic freedom. And it's a very interdisciplinary program.
You could take advantage of all of the professional schools that I mentioned, so a tremendous about amount of flexibility and a lot of our RMA students pursue joint degrees with more commonly the School of Management, which is Seals Business School as well as the law school and many with the School of the Environment. And then there are people who do in the School of Public Health as well. You could make cases for doing with other schools, but those are the most common so we can talk a little bit about that. If there's anybody here who has interests in the joint.
In joint degrees, keep in mind that you don't have to be a joint degree candidate to take classes at those respective professional schools, so tremendous flexibility. Tremendous interdisciplinary nature of the program, and, you know, we also have our own career development office within Jackson. We are part of abcya, the Association of Professional Schools of International Affairs, and, you know, one of those unique features of absolute schools is that.
Jourdan J.
12:10:26 PM
Hello from Portland, ME
Of the IR programs has their own career development office, and so you not only have access to Yale's career, services and Nails alumni Network, but you also have one on one help with career services from the time you arrive at Jackson and where they help you, the two year students start thinking about their summer internships and their summer experience, and then obviously getting you out into that first post grad job.
Assuming you have a lot of help, there's a lot of resources there from networking in a pre and hopefully post COVID world events in DC NYC, sometimes even London where they bring together alumni and recruiters and employers and organizations where you can learn about them and help you formulate what your post.
Jackson plans are and then on top of that. I've, you know, I've mentioned the senior fellows, the World Fellows. I do have a number of links that I'm going to put in the chat. Sometimes people have trouble finding some things on our website.
So I did want to make sure you have.
Melissa McGinnis
12:11:47 PM
https://jackson.yale.edu/meet-us/senior-fellows/overview/
This is the link to our current senior fellows. Always keep an eye out for on our website and news that comes out 'cause we often have new fellows coming in and the fellows are truly integrated. That's one thing that I find is really unique about Jackson. You know, a lot of these top IR schools have these high end names and these high end people at their organizations. But what I've found having been in this public and international affairs
base for well over 20 years is at Jackson. They truly are involved. Not only are they teaching, but they are interacting and available to mentor and have advising conversations with current students and they. They've even read applications, so they might be reading your application and there they are, bringing in their networks. And it's just an amazing experience. And pre covid. Obviously when we are in our large Victorian home.
Melissa McGinnis
12:13:17 PM
https://worldfellows.yale.edu/
We run into them, then we share the same coffee machine, and so there's a lot of organic things happening. So do keep your eye on senior fellows. They come and go. Sometimes they're here for one year, two year, three years. Some have been here for much, much longer, but they are a tremendous asset to the community. Also, the World Fellows now what's unique about the world follows is they are actually coming to Yale for their own improvement, and they're taking classes.
And they are they are, you know, trying to grow their own knowledge, but they also are available to the community and they give lectures and students are hired as liaisons and there are unique set of usually about 16. Sort of.
I would say mid not midcareer you know a little bit more than midcareer I would say they're growing in their careers.
And they have their own tremendous network and they are such a unique group of people that are at Jackson in the fall semester and again, their student lounge is right across the Hall from our Jackson grad student lounge. And there's a lot of that organic organic interaction that happens, and they you can consider them almost like an alumni network as well, because you have access to the program has been around almost 20 years now.
And to have access to these amazing people, the link that I put in there. You can find the the current cohort and we've had Nigerian Olympians and Iraqi comedians and an all sorts of really unique people that really bring a lot even more depth to Jackson than than your potential selves. Do. Most of you are probably familiar with the Kerry initiative and and that's also.
Melissa McGinnis
12:14:56 PM
https://jackson.yale.edu/apply/kerry-fellows-program/
A unique opportunity to sort of stay involved in in sort of the global challenges, but the link I'm putting in is more about the Carrie Fellows program, 'cause I think that often that's really what people are interested in. And what ways can I get involved in being part of these initiatives in their self conferences? And there's research that can be done and through the carry initiative and so keep your eye on that as well. People do you know current students apply for that, even.
Incoming students apply for those positions or for the summer before they arrived, so so many unique opportunities with centers and research. We have also have the Johnson Center for American Diplomacy and some other unique things I've missed is where I said I needed my double screen. Here. We Jackson have recently acquired. We've created a new International leadership center. There was a news article about that and.
Melissa McGinnis
12:16:04 PM
https://iss.yale.edu/
In addition, we are coming under Jackson's purview. Is the International Security studies program. So if you're unfamiliar with that, I will place that in as well. But yeah, that's coming under Jackson's purview, and that's super exciting to just again bring this interdisciplinary.
You know just these conversations and developing.
You know how to bring in these global community practitioners into Jackson and that you would have access to and to be able to learn from. And it's bringing in speakers. It's holding annual conferences, you know, teaching, let giving lectures, having events, so it's it's. It's just amazing. It's almost if you would say there was a negative. It would be that there's almost too much happening. So and I think you'll find that a lot of these top tier schools. But there's definitely a lot to choose from.
So keep your eye on these things. You know I mentioned here on this slide that there are, you know there are many areas that you can focus on academically and obviously the different centers and research areas and practitioners that we bring in and then the faculty that have joint appointments. Having them really allows you to to build that curriculum an create your own.
After global leadership as our little tagline says, so let's see. I I want to dive in a little bit more in depth here, so I'm going to talk. I mentioned you'll see it, says MPP, with a star. So as part of us becoming the school, it has been proposed that we would change our degree name from an MA and Master of Arts to a Masters in Public Policy. The Red Star is definitely the disclaimer that this is now in the hands.
Of the Yale Corporation which is Yale University's Board of Trustees, it was on their slate this past year, but with the global pandemic. Obviously that was kind of put on a back burner. It is still in their hands, so we don't have a time frame of exactly when that will happen. Will that be approved when the rollout of the school comes? That's all on their hands, but then, you know, I wanted to put that out there because a lot of people are asking about that.
And it is still on the table and hopefully will be approved within the next year or two. Again, that's above my pay grade to know when that's going to happen, but that is just another exciting part of of our growing and becoming the school.
When I mentioned growing definitely, you know we are a small cohort and we want to remain that way. So you'll see here that the two year program is usually about 30 to 35 students and excuse me, sorry for the frog.
And then in our one year program, our courts are usually only about two to five students. We might have a little more in the end, may ask because of a lot of these centers and partnerships that we have. We might have more people integrating into the Ms program in the coming years, but as far as traditional sort of degree seeking students, Ms is usually about two to five students. So the big news that I wanted to talk to you about which I learned about literally just yesterday.
So that is why I needed my CHEAT SHEET here.
You know, I've been asked this a lot over the last year since the announcement of us becoming a school and now like well, what changes are there going to be? You know, one the one main change is that we will be getting a lot more faculty. Our own faculty having a lot more control over the hiring of those faculty and in how that all works. And obviously we're hoping that even more funding than we already have will be offered.
Smriti S.
12:20:10 PM
Hi Melissa, I lost connectivity in the middle. Did you mention that the Institute will start a new MPP program? Or would the MA Global Affairs program be retermed as MPP?
For our graduate students, so those are a couple of main things we don't anticipate. Growth to any large extent. We've already grown that cohort, cohort size, a little bit used to be sort of 25 to 30. Now we're shooting sort of 30 to 35 and again with the degree name change. We those are sort of the main things that we see as as changing, but otherwise the core of who we are and that family.
Feel in that tight knit community is is we don't anticipate that changing at all.
We we will be acquiring over the next couple of years. It may not be in your time if you're applying this year. A couple more mansions across the street, so we're expanding our locations, but keeping it sort of in that on that beautiful Hill House Ave. So those are the main changes, but again, I did learn just yesterday that our faculty have approved a curriculum change and it does include adding one more core course, so we've typically had. Historically we've had three core courses we've had.
Assassin class and E con class and a history class and it has been approved. Ask to add a comparative politics class to the core curriculum now to keep it sort of flexible. This may be a little bit more in depth than you want to know right now, but I'll try to quickly parse this out so stats class fall of your first year and obviously these the chorus for the MA program so you know they may ask complete flexibility, no course so you can kind of tone out.
Tonight a little bit on this part, but the so we have the stats class in the fall of the first year and then the economics class will be moved to the spring of the second of the first year and the history classes in the spring of the first year and the new comparative politics class will be offered in the fall, but you can take that in the fall of your first year or the fall of your second year. So however you want to build your curriculum, depending on what.
Classes are offered by certain senior fellows. Or maybe you are to either certain classes you want to take the other professional schools we talked about. You can sort of still be really flexible on where how you take that comparative politics class and part of it really is to increase we we want to increase a lot of the skills and tools that are offered. They'll be some writing components integrated within those classes, making the E con Class A little bit more robust. We get a lot of questions.
About the economics requirement, because it's not a requirement, it's strongly recommended. So part of the reason we're moving the E con class to the second semester.
Is to allow for people who may not be up to speed on the E con, so I always tell people when when people ask me what are you looking for and what kind of quantitative prep would you like? Again, it's not required having stats econ math they're not required, but they having them strengthen an application. So what this practically looks like is there will be a diagnostic.
Test at the beginning of your first year to determine your economic level. Some people know that you know this is they need these this core class, but there will be a diagnostic test.
That will show people if there, maybe there's a higher level economics class they can take, or maybe they need to take what we will offer is sort of a transitional more general class in the first semester of the first year. So if your diagnostic test doesn't show you as prepared for the second year, the required class in the second semester.
Then you have an opportunity to take an economics class in the first semester, so hopefully that makes a little bit of sense. Usually we tell people take like these various classes over the summer before you arrive, so this will help with that a little bit, not then you can take classes in the summer before you arrive, but there will be an opportunity to take a more of an introductory class in the fall semester if need be, and that will be done by a duck diagnostic test. So hopefully I made that clear.
Literally just found that out yesterday, so watch over the coming months. It will be updating website materials in the coming months before hopefully before the fall, so keep your eye on that if you have additional follow up questions.
And let's see. Otherwise. We did mention here on the slide, so we've always had the language proficiency for the two year program where before graduation you need to have an elf or proficiency in a particular language.
And what we've found over the years doing this curriculum review and in asking alumni and current students and faculty and staff about the whatever the how that works. And it does seem to be those who don't have any language experience.
Have a little bit of trouble trying to meet that requirement before graduation and yells. Language courses are so incredibly robust, but they're very intensive. Sometimes their schedules can conflict 'cause their undergrad level, labs, language labs, and so they're usually daily, and they sometimes can conflict with your graduate class schedule, and so we have.
And again, I don't have a lot of detail on this yet, so keep an eye out for it. But if somebody you know doesn't have language, and again we do look for it in the admissions committee. But there are people who don't have any language experience, who maybe you know, just incredible, have incredible experience. Otherwise that we want to have part of our cohort that we will make it work for you to sort of get up to speed, and that might.
Include paying for a summer, residential and intensive summer residential language and L1 level language in the summer before arriving, so that's a that's a preliminary FY I.
And keep your eye on that. If you have questions about that, I think I'm still learning so, but I just was really excited about all of these changes, so I wanted to make sure that you this my first web and R appan finding these things out that you were learning about all of the sort of cool initiatives and new things that are happening to make Jackson even more robust than it has been. So. And then one final new thing is the leadership.
Choose me leadership and Ethics Training Workshop that is going to be put together like a second year orientation so it will happen in the August in August of your second year and those of you applying this year for the MA you would be the inaugural class of that. They are offering an optional this year for this year, second year, so that would be considered like an orientation, a second orientation. So a week long training.
I'm excited about all of these kinds of things, I think.
You know, just I think there's a lot of movement and a lot of growth taking place in Jackson, and that's been really exciting to me. To be a part of all of this, and there's so many other things that we could talk about. I'm mindful that it's almost 12:30 and I do want to make sure I open things up to questions for you. I might have.
Kazi A.
12:29:07 PM
How much would age (30+), GRE, undergrad (non-GPA system), language skills, previous masters, immigration experience etc. come into play for admission? Is the degree more quant focused of IR focused? For non-native speakers, does fluency in English fulfill the language requirement?
Raised more questions? Or there's the typical like admissions related questions that I want to make sure that we get to an answer. Some of your things, so why don't I first see if any of you have any questions? Otherwise I can dive into a few more things. Talk about a little bit more admissions CASI good. I have. We have our first question, so let's get started. Alright, how much wood age?
Ernesto F.
12:29:22 PM
What makes a strong applicant to the school?
Jerry, undergrad etc etc come into play in admissions. Is the degree more quant focused of IR IR focused for non native? OK so multiple questions? 'cause they all right let's get started. First of all, why don't I we have a student profile on our website that does give.
Melissa McGinnis
12:29:48 PM
https://jackson.yale.edu/study/ma/program/
An overview of the typical main data points. I'm going to post this in.
Kate H.
12:29:50 PM
Perfect, student profile was my question thank you!
Chris O.
12:30:00 PM
How important is work experience in the IR field to one's admission chances?
And it shows it shows, you know, you sort of the median GPA's average Uris, Age, work experience, etc etc. So all of those things come into play right? So when I answer this question about weight and requirements my thought it the way I describe it is think of it as one big portfolio and initially everything has equal weight. They're all requirements, your recommendations, etc.
Ann-Marie D.
12:30:22 PM
For the GRE requirement- if you haven’t taken maths in a while what type of preparation did students from a non maths background take for the exam?
Chris O.
12:30:22 PM
Coming from someone looking to switch from another field...
Ernesto F.
12:30:39 PM
What tips would you give us when doing our application and personal statements?
Micha H.
12:30:42 PM
Thank you, Melissa, for this overview. What are the financing/ scholarship options for non-Americans?
But everybody has different strengths and weaknesses and interests and how that balances is going to be case by case. So you mentioned the quant thing. So if somebody doesn't have quant courses in their academic record, that's an example where the quantitative section of the grem will weigh watch more, much more heavily. That's that's an easy example.
Ashley O.
12:30:51 PM
How much financial assistance does Yale university offer for a prospective graduate student under this program?
Laura H.
12:31:15 PM
How good or bad would you consider a 158 on the quant section GRE?
Eridian E.
12:31:17 PM
How does the application and financial aid process look like for incoming MPH students who may want to pursue the MPH/MA dual degree?
Your recommenders, those recommendations are just as important. Your recommenders should corroborate your story right. We do even for the midcareer, we even prefer to have an academic letter, so our recommendation references three and one academic, one professional, and the third is your choice. Depending on where you are at in your career, in your job, and.
Those things really matter, I mean.
We want that ideally if you are reaching out to your recommenders, you want them to know what your passion is, what your long term career goals are. And again, I mentioned that they can corrupt your story, so it really is this balance of.
Of how I like to call it a portfolio of how you put put your package together and on top from there you mentioned the quant stuff it, you know, we're definitely the nice thing is because we are very flexible program. You can really make it out to be.
Neil G.
12:32:00 PM
Is the GRE required this year, considering there have been fewer/no exams during the pandemic?
However you want it, so we're you know we're adding that additional core class. We definitely through the core class we give the tools the quant tools, and now we're going to have some more writing tools available. And in the politics class, have some more policy tools. So it's really about giving you the tools and then the IR side. Obviously you can take class Jacksons classes through with our faculty and senior Fellows are available.
And then a lot of people end up taking if they want to take more classes.
Take higher level classes like econometrics and whatnot over it somd the School of Management. So there are many, many ways to enhance that that you can have a mix of practical and theoretical classes, so we consider ourselves a professional degree and very professionally focused and practitioner focused. But there are classes, so we also have classes where they do field research and you're actually going out into the field and working on projects.
But you could also take a PhD level history class to get some more theory. So there are definitely when we talk about building your own curriculum. It really is true. So what do you want to get out of this degree? And I will say, and this goes into Ernesto's question as well.
Make sure you make that clear to us, right? I think because of Jackson's flexibility and extreme interdisciplinary nature of the program.
Not only do we want you to tell us about yourselves and your background and how you came to this point to be ready for grad school, but we want you to tell us why Jackson. What is it? Since we don't have prescribed.
Concentrations, if you will, and you build your own curriculum.
What is it you want to do and will that make sense in what your long term career goals are? So how how will Jackson help you get you where you need to be in your next level in your career? So I think make sure you tell us there I'm. I'm always amazed at how many applicants sort of leave that part out. the Y Jackson part out so making sure you make that clear definitely strengthens an application.
And you know, I would say that.
Yeah, I mean, I think that I hope that answers that portion of the question.
And let me back up a little bit 'cause you know for non native speakers fluency in English fulfill the language requirement. Actually the fluency in your native language fulfills the language requirement. So yes, it's the language requirement usually is to filter if you have non English native language. So but then there are often lots of people who want to pursue additional language which is completely possible. As I mentioned the robustness of eels course offerings.
There are questions on the application about your language level, and that's to help us sort of judge where you're at. There will still be for those who are not who are not non who are native.
Non native English speakers.
Who are native English speakers? I'm sorry there will be proficiency tests available. Usually in the summer or as soon as you arrive to see where you fall at in which level you fall and that that helps with placement. If you need to take additional language while you're at Yale so that the questions in the application are really just for us to get a feel for your experience.
Ann-Marie D.
12:36:15 PM
Do some scholarships cover the full 2 year tuition? Or are the scholarships both partial and full only for 1 year of study?
But there will still be. You have to show that later upon arrival, if you are admitted and if you enroll and there might be a proficiency exam. So don't worry too much about the we get questions about the language questions within the application, so we do not refer back to your application if you are enrolled student to see where you're at. You will be able to provide that information later.
Kazi A.
12:36:25 PM
Thanks a lot!
Katie R.
12:36:39 PM
Are all courses currently in-person? Like Chris O., I am also in a completely different field (working in corporate finance). If I can explain how this degree will help me pivot to my desired role, will that negate a lack of international relations experience?
More questions so they all get mixed in. That's the disadvantage of not moderating so good. I answered some buddies question inadvertently. Chris is asking how important is work experience in the Ironfield twins admissions chances. Perfect thank you. That's a great question you probably saw in the profile that the average is 3 to five years and that definitely again being a professional program.
That is definitely important to us. It should be relevant work experience to what your career goals are and obviously global affairs is so deep and broad.
Melissa McGinnis
12:37:34 PM
https://jackson.yale.edu/meet-us/grad-students/overview/
That one other thing this goes back to answering the previous question about what makes you strong application is your unique story and what your unique profile is. So your work experience plays into that. So if any of you have seen our student BIOS, which I will post in as well, because I think that gives us just reading through some of these really gives you a picture of the depth and breath.
Of of profiles that our students have an that's can be a challenge for us in the admissions office. Obviously wanting to retain a small cohort but having hundreds and hundreds of applications, most of which are completely qualified. But we may admit maybe 50 or so applicants to get our cohort size.
And to try and have 50 or 60 admins who you know look completely different from each other. As far as backgrounds and experience, it's definitely a challenge. So how you how your work experience and how your personal story come together, and hopefully that your particular area of interest in what you want to get. Again out of Jackson.
It stands out among the crowd, right? And there's no way to predict that 'cause you never know what in that the applicant pool makeup is going to be in any particular year. But do you think about yourself?
And your story when you're putting together your application because we are looking at it in how you know you might look different from your classmates, so hopefully you'll see that. And that's again going back to the community feel and the community aspect. Alumni and students talk about this is that there's because of the depth and breadth of experiences. There's no competition in, you know, internships, jobs, whatnot.
We have some student organizations that Jackson students have created where you come together and you share your own experiences. If the Jackson Salon and different you know weekly.
Events that take place that are student driven, where whether it's the MA and the MSMS that come together and they share what their career has been. So I get the question a lot. This is a little sidetracked and I'm going to guess there's going to be somebody asking this later in the chat.
That well, what if I'm applying right from undergrad again, the three to five is not a minimum, but again, being a professional program, we are looking for significant relevant work experience and.
But if you are applying right from undergrad, keep in mind that you almost have an extra layer of competitiveness because there may only be a couple slots, and I say slots, there's not a magic number. It's not a quota, but I'll reiterate being a professional program. We can only have so many with limited work experience, so often you know, many of probably U.S. citizens here might be familiar with the Pickering Foreign Affairs Fellowship or the ranking Rangel Fellowships or pain, or any of these.
Scholarships that are sort of.
They're already on the fast track in the foreign service to USAID, so they're perfectly in alignment with Jackson's mission, and they a lot of times those fellowship requirements. Have you come to grad school immediately, and so we're aware of that so often. The younger, less work, less postgraduate experience?
Micha H.
12:41:02 PM
To what extent does an M.A. (plus 1-2 years of professional experience) help in overcoming the 3-5 year 'non-requirement'?;)
People are part of those fellowships, not exclusively. So again, it's what your unique story and what can you bring to the table so and and people often ask. Well, you know, post grad experience. I'm an undergrad. Well, that's an example of where your internships your summer internships that you did throughout your undergraduate karere will weigh much more heavily than it might for others. They are important for all, right? We want to see what you've done. And you know how that maybe builds, leadership quality and skills so.
I I mentioned before, like the strength, you know what is your strength versus your your weakness for lack of a better word and what is it that you need to play up in your application. So hopefully that answers a couple of questions.
OK good so follow up question Chris coming from someone looking to switch from another field. That's a great question. We get the pivot question a lot.
It's certainly not impossible. Just the thing to keep in mind is that we do see work experience as evidence of commitment to global affairs. So depending on where someone is pivoting from, you might have a harder sell, and that might be an example of where maybe your recommenders need to sort of step up and and.
Sort of affirm that this is really what you're meant to do, that it is this global good that you wanted to be a part of, and some people again connect the dots. So maybe your previous experience in non global affairs related whether it's private sector, whatever tech or whatever, all of those things can actually have integrations with global affairs, and you know, or if it's a complete pivot, maybe you've learned.
Through your experience, what I, you know what you?
Saruul G.
12:43:26 PM
I have a question about OPT. I assume that international students are eligible for OPT, right?
Didn't want to do so. There are definitely ways to frame that to strengthen your application. Pivots are probably more rare, but it is totally possible. So just keep those things in mind. Measure as you're putting together your application, so hopefully that helps. And also recommending that feel free to either reach out to we don't have a portal or anything like that, but if you read through the student BIOS or go on LinkedIn for alumni, maybe you find.
Found people, maybe you can find people who've been in your career path and feel free to ping them if you don't hear from them there. They might be completely overwhelmed, but feel free to give that a try and see what their experience has been. Keep in mind from a strength of application perspective that again we're trying to to build this class that is coming from all these different areas and.
You know, once you arrive at Jackson and see this broad world of global affairs, and I are an international policy and all these things that open up to you.
Saruul G.
12:44:35 PM
Due to the COVID-19, it is pretty hard to find a job. Could you tell us about alumni (international students)?
We don't make you sign in blood what you're going to do right, but we do try to build the class to have that mix of people. So if somebody is pivoting maybe the we you want to make sure we don't think you're not sure what you want to do, if that makes sense, so try to try to have that corroboration throughout your whole application.
Let's see, let me keep going 'cause I will always get late here, but hopefully I'm answering multi multiple questions through each one. What tips would you give us when doing our application and personal statements? Yeah, great question. I think I've touched on that a little bit. I think first of all tell us who you are and your background and what got you here. I meant in that and also don't forget the why Jackson and don't forget to tell us what you want to do with this degree.
You know we want to know what your career trajectory is. Especially, being a professional school. So I think those are the key. The main bullet points for personal statements. One thing I will note, at least for this coming year, we're still part of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, so it isn't their application, so you will find potentially some confusing messages within that. The personal statement prompt might seem more focused on research and whatnot.
But we are definitely looking for your professional experience and goals. Highlight that more and less. Obviously, research is what your professional goal is, but again, that being the professional program, keep those things in mind. Same thing with the recommendations. I believe the prompt in the application, which doesn't usually open till August or September. I believe the prompt for the recommenders.
That you will receive says academic recommendations. While we still do want one.
We definitely want at least one professional, so there are some little bits of confusing things in there being part of the Graduate School where most of the other departments are PhD programs, so so keep that in mind when you are navigating through the application, so hopefully that helps as well. So think about your application is being a Jackson Institute for Global Affairs Application.
Melissa McGinnis
12:46:57 PM
https://jackson.yale.edu/study/ma/tuition-funding/
OK, what are the findings scholarship options for non Americans? How could I forget? I barely touched on the funding and I can't believe I kind of skipped over that because that is a huge part of the program and something that is pretty unique.
I'm pasting in the funding page, so currently for anybody on here who might be interested in the one year program, we currently do not offer funding for the MASC and that might be why you see if you look at the student BIOS, you'll see that many of them are military or or international government because they are typically sponsored and they they their employers pay for their graduate education, so that's that's usually why the cohort ends up looking that way. But as far as the two year anime.
We provide and this is international or domestic either way, so this is the same across the board, so this is funding our funding.
All you need to do is you check the box in the application that says I'm applying for funding from the Yale Jackson.
And everybody who asks for it gets something. So 100% people who ask for it get something. There are people in the MA program who are also externally funded, so we take that into account, but.
Every historically the minimum award has been half tuition, so you can kind of go into this applying thinking that you will get at least half tuition and actually this year we were a we were in the end able to award everyone full tuition so everyone in our enrolling class has full tuition this year. And then there is so the rest of our funding it's merit based, right?
So the merit based funding is based on a lot of those profile data points we talked about and there is usually about a third of the class that ends up fully funded with a stipend as well. So again, there's no additional forms or paperwork. She checked the box. Make sure if you do have outside funding, you submit those document documentation with your application, an usually within 2448 hours or so of your admissions decision.
Micha H.
12:49:20 PM
Thank you!
Patrick M.
12:49:31 PM
Hello Mrs. Mc Ginnis, I'm a junior in high school and interested in your program of Global Studies. When and how may I contact you after the meeting? I am interested in a one on one with you.
You would know of your funding awards, so it's pretty much as simple as that. Hopefully that helps. I think it's pretty unique. You know my former employer down in New Jersey had the mic drop with funding, but otherwise I think we're we're right on their tails and providing really decent funding to be able to pursue a masters degree. It's pretty rare to have a fully funded masters degree, and so we're glad we're able to do that for a good chunk of our class. OK, let's see how much financial assistance is Yale University offer.
OK, there's that same questions, so I'm getting to them. How good or bad would you consider a 158 on the quant section again? I even have to cheat and look at the the profile.
Ashley O.
12:50:14 PM
Thank you, Ms. McGinnis.
It's I hate to use good or bad because again we don't have minimum score requirements for a reason because somebody with a weaker below average grem or GPA may have such an amazing work experience or work profile or leadership profile or Rockstar recommendations that these things balance each other out. Don't get me wrong.
We are, you know where in intensive or an academic program. It's Yale. You need to be prepared. You know, we allow you to take classes at the law school, which is the number one law school in the country. And you might be taking classes in other departments, and so you need to be academically prepared so we do look for that. And again we on our end or thinking of it as a balance in the class, right, not just individual profiles, so we may have some people with below, average or significantly.
Laura H.
12:51:29 PM
Thank you!
We just can't have too many right, because in such a small cohort that will be pretty obvious. So because we want to do everything we can to help you succeed, whether that means if somebody needs a tutor or something like that, you have advising help you know that's available to you and we want to make that happen so you know we can't do that for a good chunk of the class. So we're looking at it from a big picture perspective, so I don't really want to call certain scores or GPA's.
Good or bad if that hopefully that makes sense. And one thing to note, if there are any MP mmas candidates on the call, we did waive the jury for the one year program. So that is definitely a huge advantage to you have been out. And if I didn't mention that the midcareer has minimum of seven years of work experience, an on average is about 10 to 15, so they're definitely in the career. And people who have that much work experience.
Are also applying to the VMA program. It's it's. It's what you need to get out of the program, obviously. So again, you need to tell us that. Alright, let me keep going 'cause it's getting late, and I talked too long, a little bit more too in depth about all of the new details about the curriculum, but hopefully you find it helpful. And you were the first group to know about that.
Already and is asking how is the application and financial aid process look like. For MPH you want to pursue dual degrees. Great question. Quick overview. On on joint degrees, very siloed at Yale so you apply to joint degrees completely separately. So if you're applying to this school of public Health and Jackson as part of the Graduate School, they are two separate applications. There's no overlap, so you need to follow the requirements for both programs and we don't usually communicate with each other until after enrollment.
So you know we try to track that, so we know. Usually joint degree student start at Jackson first because of our core. So you want to do your first year at Jackson. He would usually require requested deferral at the other program and then there will be a semester that is split so funding can get a little confusing. It's actually really simple, but it's kind of hard to explain.
The funding you're offered from Jackson applies only to the time you're in residence in Jackson, right? So if you do your first year, say you're offered full tuition, no segment just keeps them full tuition. You're offered full tuition, you would. Your tuition would be fully funded your first year, second year, you're in residence at the other program. You would not be getting any money from Jackson, so that would totally depend on if you're offered funding from the other school.
And then in your in your third year where you split semesters even though you're at Yale. And it's obviously very integrative and whatnot, you do need to be technically in residence at one of the programs and in absentia at the other so.
For example, if you start your fall semester at the School of Public Health.
And you were awarded full tuition and Jackson. You will get a bill for half tuition.
From Yale, because unless you got funded from the School of Public Health, so your funding would only be half a year the year that you were in residence at Jackson only half a year, you would only get half of that tuition.
So it's pretty simple, but it does get a little confusing. Happy to answer. Follow up questions about that. I see my little bar pretty high, so I think there's a lot more questions and I'll try to get to Jerry required this year. We continued to require it for the MA and we are going to require it until further notice.
It was the the format were being flexible with their home tests, obviously. So we're being flexible with format an, again waived for the MA is not to do with COVID. We've been talking about that for a couple of years. You're welcome, 'cause I don't remember what the question was. Are of course is currently in person.
Eridian E.
12:55:20 PM
Thank you!
That's a, that's a good question. We were hybrid this past year or even at the peak of the pandemic. Little different with undergrad, but grad students at Yale were encouraged to come to campus, and that really made a difference in the hybrid. So there were a couple of classes that were in person. Again, our program being so small that are one of our large buildings and our giant mansion was able to have perfectly socially distance some of the smaller similar classes were able to be socially distanced in person, so there was a mix of in person and on line. Obviously the larger classes were online.
And you know, hopefully, fingers crossed, we will be fully in person this fall. So that is, you know program like ours. The nature of that, especially with the networking and all of those things you know.
Definitely is is important to us, but obviously we're now ready to handle switching if need be. So obviously imperson ideally.
Let's see, I Katie let me know if I didn't answer the IR question and if we have time I can get to it or you can reach out. Let me while I'm waiting to answer the rest of these questions, I think I have one more slide which has lots of contact information and I even put my personal calendar on there, which I will post in the chat if that's easier. Since you can't link on the slide.
Those of you who have stuck it out to the end.
Melissa McGinnis
12:56:51 PM
https://calendly.com/melissamcginnis/15min
You can request an appointment real quick. Follow up appointment with me if you feel like your questions weren't answered and I'll still try to get to a couple more 'cause we have a couple more minutes, but I wanted to make sure you had that calendar there's. I don't think there's anything for this week. I get my second shot this week and we're doing graduation practice and graduations next week so there isn't anything coming up in the in recent.
Coming up days, but in the next couple weeks there should be some slots on the calendar, so feel free to reach out if if I didn't answer your questions.
And with the last few minutes, I will try to plow through a couple more that I do see here, uh, Michaela, to what extent does an MA plus one or two years of professional experience help in overcoming the three to five years non requirement?
I want to make sure I understand the question.
Again, I think it's going to be case by case. I mentioned already that seeing work experience as evidence of commitment to you know, the global, the global good. If you will is helpful. Also because of the flexibility of our program and many, many alumni and current students will say this that.
The sweet spot for them personally is around that three year Mark where you get to that point in your career where you have this experience where you are all of a sudden, like oh, I need this I need. I need these tools. They need. Whether it's you know, policy analysis or you know the quant stuff that we talked about or a regional area or a language. You know I need these tools to get to the next level into where I want to go. So that seems to be that three to five.
Seems to be the sweet spot where people figure that out and those people who have that work experience.
And have have figured that out are usually the ones who put their applications together a bit more strongly. If it's a word.
You know who are able to sort of formulate that better in their application? Tell us what they want to get out of this. Very, very flexible, very interdisciplinary degree so.
Jourdan J.
12:59:31 PM
Thank you!
I think that's just having that that professional work experience is is more helpful to you and then personally again, that's why it's on minimum requirement for us from admissions and you will see some Rockstar you know people with less than that in our in our student profiles, so hopefully that helps. Maybe a little too philosophical question about Opty. I'm not after all, I'm not great with the Visa stuff, career services. Career development handles that. But yes, I believe.
Even the summer internships and whatnot. Just because you're an enrolled student, there's various visa levels. Oh, ISS is the Office of International Student Services. They might have resources on their website to that might help preliminarily, but they help definitely for enrolled students. Much more details. But yes, I believe the opty is is there and that's a that's a government thing, right? Like that's depends on what's happening in the global pandemic.
Travel restriction world, right? There's all of those issues that we had to deal with last year.
Answer All your also asking about the job stuff. I would again with time running out and without you know having a portal like I mentioned. Feel free to check out LinkedIn and do keyword searches and Jackson searches. Keep an eye on our events calendar over the summer. We will again like we did. If any of you have followed us for a while, we've done alumni coffee chats. They will be virtual again this year, so we're starting to plan for those.
So there will be zoom meetings with alumni across the world, and I think you'll I found them helpful 'cause I have to host them when their virtual, so that's been really great. So keep keep your eye on our count events calendar for stuff like that to learn more from the alumni network.
I'm Patrick Junior in high school. Yes, congratulations. I actually love you.
You know, talking to young people because there's so many things that you can do from building relationships with professors and and preparing a certain classes. You know getting sort of some of those tool classes out of the way, if you will.
Aryaan B.
01:01:45 PM
Thank you!
Micha H.
01:01:47 PM
Thank you so much!
Josh F.
01:01:51 PM
Thank you Melissa!
Ann-Marie D.
01:01:55 PM
Thank you
Kazi A.
01:01:56 PM
Very informative!
Ernesto F.
01:01:57 PM
Thank you so much! It was so helpful!
Neil G.
01:01:58 PM
Thanks very much - appreciate it and great news!
About what your passions are, so that's great. It's great to start early. I'm seeing thank yous thank yous and thank yous. And I think that's it. And it's 101 and I see no more questions. And I've seen a lot of people drop off. But thank you to those who stuck with me and it was a little bit disjointed because I wanted to share all of our new news and hopefully you will stay in touch with us an follow Jackson to see all of the really super exciting things is a really great time to be part of the Jackson.
Community as we become a school and we're able to build things like DEI initiatives right off the ground. So it's it's an exciting time to be part of this, and I think even our current students talk about that. There are part of these task forces and you know, able to be a part of creating some of these new initiatives. So it's really great to be a part of. So obviously you have our Jackson contact information. You have my calendar, and since you registered for this, you'll be on our email list unless you opt out.
An will just blast future events and thanks. Thanks for joining and we hope you apply. Take care bye.
Patrick M.
01:02:47 PM
Thanks appreciate the news
Ashley O.
01:03:14 PM
Thank you so much for the information. I greatly appreciate everything that was imparted to us within this webinar. Thank you again and have a wonderful day!