What's challenging about applying to SAIS Bologna?

We have the results of our latest poll. But first a few reminders.

• If you are having difficulties uploading documents to the online application system, please send us an email at admissions@jhubc.it and we'll help you out.
• The online system will not shut down at midnight February 1. But if you are not able to complete your application by midnight your time, please send us an email at admissions@jhubc.it explaining.
• Our mailing address for transcripts and other hard copies is:

                 Johns Hopkins SAIS Bologna Center
                 via Belmeloro, 11
                 40126 Bologna
                 Italy

• Financial aid forms with supporting documents should be emailed to finaidbologna@collaborate.johnshopkins.edu.

Now for the results of the poll. The question was: What have you found most challenging in applying to SAIS Bologna?

Here is the breakdown of answers:

Statement of purpose	27%
Analytical essay	25%
Managing the financial commitment	22%
Lining up referees to write letters of recommendation	9%
Comparing SAIS Bologna to other schools	5%
English-language requirement	5%
Understanding the application process	3%
Understanding the academic requirements	3%
Dealing with the Admissions team	2%

We are not surprised the statement of purpose and the analytical essay are the biggest challenges. They form a core section of any candidacy, and applicants do well to pay close attention to these elements.

We hope our posts on the analytical essay and the statement of purpose have been helpful. They have been far and away the most popular posts since we launched this journal 14 months ago.

Managing the financial commitment is a key challenge, too. This is the way it should be. As we have written before here, graduate school is a major investment for anyone, and it's important to weigh the costs and the benefits, both of which can be significant. We think the benefits of a SAIS education are very significant, and our more than 6,500 alumni around the world would attest to that.

Finally, we are certainly glad that the Admissions team did not pose the biggest challenge!

Nelson Graves

Poll: What have you found most challenging about applying?

While many of you are in the home stretch of your application, we thought it would be a good time to take your pulse.

This morning we have posted a poll asking: "What have you found most challenging in applying to SAIS Bologna?"

Here are the possible answers:

- Analytical essay
- Comparing SAIS Bologna to other schools
- Statement of purpose
- Managing the financial commitment
- Dealing with the Admissions team
- Understanding the application process
- Understanding the academic requirements
- Lining up referees to write letters of reference
- English-language requirement

You can choose more than one answer. The poll is entirely anonymous. To vote, simply tick a box or boxes in the upper right-hand corner of this page.

It should take only a few seconds. An excuse to take a time-out from your application.

Nelson Graves

Poll: the results of our citizenship survey

Last month we held an online poll suggested by one of our readers, Diego Tiziani.

Diego was interested in other readers' views of citizenship, and more specifically what constitutes citizenship. He said his interest was whetted by his own experiences abroad and by debates in France and Italy over immigration.

Clearly immigration and its effects on politics, economics, societies and international relations are crucial to what is studied at SAIS. Human rights, conflict management, trade, economic policies, internal politics, even monetary policy -- all can be affected by immigration flows.

In a post on December 12, we asked readers this question: What should be required to obtain citizenship of a country?

Although it was not stipulated, readers seemed to understand that the question aimed to focus respondents on the minimum requirements for citizenship.

Here are the results of the survey:

Live a minimum time in the country, prove fluency in the language	30%
Have at least one parent with citizenship in the country	20%
Be born in the country	17%
Live for a minimum period in the country	16%
Be married to a citizen of the country for a minimum period	14%
None of the above	3%
	100%

The results are interesting. First, the largest number of respondents felt that it should not be necessary for a citizen to be born in the country or to have "blood ties" to the country. In fact, nearly half of the respondents felt that a crucial criterion to be a citizen should be to live in the country for a minimum period of time, with two thirds of those saying fluency in the country's main language is also necessary.

A third of the respondents felt that a citizen should be born in the country or have at least one parent with citizenship in the country.

Finally, 14% of the respondents said a person should be able to obtain citizenship by being married to a citizen of the country for a minimum period of time -- the way I acquired French citizenship, after nearly three decades of marriage to my wife, a French national.

I'm not surprised by the results of this poll. Many SAIS students expect to move around the world during their lives and to learn different languages. It would be natural for them to favor a relatively flexible standard for citizenship.

I'd like to thank Diego for suggesting this poll. (He has already received a SAIS Bologna tee shirt for his labors.) If anyone else has an idea for a poll, please send it along to admissions@jhubc.it.

Nelson Graves

New poll: What determines citizenship?

Diego Tiziani, a loyal blog reader, has taken up the challenge and proposed a new poll for our followers.

Diego is interested in citizenship, what he calls "the state of being vested with the rights, privileges and duties of a citizen."

His interest has been fanned by studying, living and working abroad -- playing a part in the global economy. Many of our students have done the same.

Diego also cites important debates in France and Italy over immigration.

So Diego's question is this: What should be required to obtain citizenship of a country?

Here are the possible answers he proposes (one can choose more than one):

- Be born in the country;
- Have at least one parent with citizenship in the country;
- Be married to a citizen of the country for a minimum period of time;
- Live for a minimum period in the country;
- Live for a minimum period in the country and prove fluency in the main language;
- None of the above.

The poll is anonymous. To participate, all you need to do is to click on one or more of the answers in the top right-hand part of the blog. We'll close the poll on Friday, December 16, noon Italy time.

If you are reading this on email, to go to the blog, click here.

Nelson Graves

The euro zone will survive, according to our poll

The euro zone may lose some members in the next year but will survive its current crisis.

That was the predominant view of respondents to our most recent poll.

Three-quarters of those who participated said the euro zone will be intact one year from now. Just over one half of those optimists said that one year from now there would be as many members as today (17) or more. Thirty-five percent said there would be fewer members.

Here are the results:

Will the euro zone be intact one year from now?

  Yes, with the same number of members = 30%
  Yes, with fewer members = 35%
  Yes, with more members = 10%
  No = 25%

We think these polls are fun and hope you do, too.

If you have any suggestions for a subsequent poll, we are all ears. You can send us a comment in response to this post or an email to admissions@jhubc.it.

We'll be happy to send a SAIS Bologna tee shirt to anyone who proposes a poll that we end up publishing.

Nelson Graves

Poll: Will the euro zone survive?

Here's our latest poll (in the upper right-hand corner of the blog):

Will the euro zone be intact one year from now?

Possible answers:

• Yes, with the same number of members
• Yes, with fewer members
• Yes, with more members
• No

We ran this poll during our online information session earlier this month, and the distribution of answers more or less mirrored the results of a survey of market professionals conducted the same week. Expert prospective applicants, I'd say.

Answers to our polls are entirely anonymous. It's simple to participate: simply click on the button next to the answer you select.

We look forward to seeing what our readers think.

Nelson Graves

Our poll: Papandreou erred. Or did he?

Former Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou stumbled badly when he called a referendum on the EU financial aid package.

That was the overwhelming view of the participants in our latest poll that ran earlier this month.

Only one respondent to the anonymous survey said the scion of one of Greece's most prominent families had acted correctly in proposing the referendum -- a proposal he quickly withdrew before he was forced to resign in favor of a caretaker government.

No sooner had we posted the question than Papandreou backtracked on his threat, and the notion of a referendum was consigned to the dustbin. The near-unanimous view of our respondents seemed to be borne out by the Greek leader's own actions.

But today's certainties often change color with time. How will history judge Papandreou's move?

What if Papandreou was not interested in surviving politically -- an idea, I know, that is difficult to contemplate when considering modern-day politicians? What if his real intention was to provoke panic in financial markets and force the opposition to accept a unity government for the good of Greece? Did he succeed or fail?

Or what if he wanted to provoke panic in financial markets and thereby increase his leverage in negotiating with the EU -- to reduce the costs on Greece?

Or perhaps the lone respondent who hailed Papandreou's move was short Greek sovereign debt?

You might hear such questions in the halls of SAIS, where our students and faculty love to challenge the views of the many. No sacred cows or easy truths here.

Comments from our readers, Greek or otherwise, most welcome.

Nelson Graves

Our latest poll

More and more of our readers are following this blog via email. It's a convenient way to stay in touch.

However, from time to time we run polls on the blog, and they can be seen only if you view the blog on a browser. When we polled followers earlier this year, asking what kind of surveys they would like to see, they cited polls on SAIS Bologna and also on current events.

With that in mind, we've launched a poll that will run for a few more days:

Did Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou do the right thing in calling a referendum on the EU's latest financial aid package?

We encourage you to vote. It takes little more than a click of the mouse. The votes are anonymous, and it is interesting to hear people's views.

In the future, we'll be sure to announce our polls in separate posts to make sure all readers know about them.

Nelson Graves

Is SAIS Bologna for you? Here are ways to find out

This post is for those who are wondering if SAIS Bologna might be for them.

There will be a number of opportunities in coming weeks for you to learn more about our program and to meet some of our students, faculty, alumni and staff. Below is a rundown on the events.

If you have any questions, be sure to write us at admissions@jhubc.it.

1. ALUMNI EVENTS

BERLIN
Saturday, October 15 (1030-1300)
SAIS alumni will gather in the morning at the Deutsche Gessellschaft für Aswärtige Politik for a program that will include an address by SAIS Bologna Director Kenneth Keller and a panel discussion. There is also a dinner that evening at 1930.

LONDON
Monday, October 17 (1800)
A group of current students on a career trip will join SAIS alumni for cocktails.

If you are interested in participating in either the Berlin or the London event, please send an email to admissions@jhubc.it and we will follow up.

2. GRADUATE SCHOOL FAIRS

Alumni will join Amina Abdiuahab and myself at four fairs organized by the Association of Professional Schools of International Affairs (APSIA):

VIENNA
Wednesday, November 2 (1800-2000)
The Diplomatic Academy

GENEVA
Thursday, November 3 (1700-2000)
The Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies

MADRID
Saturday, November 5 (1200-1400)
IE School of Arts and Humanities

PARIS
Monday, November 7 (1800-2000)
Sciences Po

For more information on these fairs, click here. Please come if you are in the area and meet us.

3. ONLINE INFORMATION SESSIONS

We will be holding online information sessions. They have been tentatively set for October 25, November 22 and December 13. Prospective candidates will be able to participate via the Internet and/or by phone. More details later.

(By the way, we are conducting a poll on this blog to determine which time slot suits you best for an online information session. Feel free to participate in the poll, which is in the upper right-hand spot on the blog's main page. You'll be helping us set up a suitable schedule.)

4. OPEN DAY

SAIS Bologna will open its doors to prospective candidates on Friday, December 9. Open Day is a chance to meet current SAIS Bologna students, faculty and staff; to learn more about our programs; to sit in a class or a seminar. It is an excellent way to get to know us better. More details on Open Day later.

Nelson Graves

Diversity and careers

Our recent poll gives me a chance to discuss two of SAIS Bologna's distinctive features.

The poll asked readers what they thought was best about SAIS Bologna. Here are the results:

Diverse student body - 36%

Career preparation - 26

Camaraderie - 18

Courses & faculty - 10

City of Bologna - 5

European perspective - 5

That means that more than one third of the respondents consider "diversity" to be SAIS Bologna's key asset.

"Diversity", of course, can mean different things to different people, and it can work in unpredictable ways.

(I have landed two jobs in my life in large part because I happened to be a "diverse" candidate. In one, I had an advantage over another candidate because I did not speak the language of the country where the job was located and so could ostensibly bring an impartial eye to a post that needed it. In another, I was a male applying for a job at a company where there were predominantly women, and the hiring managers wanted more gender balance. Some irony in both cases.)

I think the diversity that respondents to our poll were thinking of stems to a large extent from the range of nationalities. This year we have 43 nationalities (48 including dual passports), up from 34 last year and the largest number of nationalities in the Bologna Center's 57 years.


View SAIS Bologna 2011-12 class in a larger map

With 43 nationalities among 200 students, everyone is in a kind of minority. Even our U.S. students, who make up 44% of the class, are in a minority because they are outnumbered by non-Americans and, of course, are living in a foreign country.

This sense of being in a permanent minority is part of the SAIS Bologna learning experience. One is constantly confronted by different points of view. One's assumptions are regularly challenged. You cannot hide behind conventional wisdom because in such a place, it is neither conventional nor necessarily wisdom.

Students who thrive at SAIS enjoy learning from and about others. They are willing to give of themselves because they understand that others want to learn about them, too. It is one important reason why SAIS students are expected to participate in classes -- because so much of what is learned here comes from sharing experiences from such a wide range of backgrounds.

Of course with the diversity of nationalities comes a mix of religions, beliefs, languages and economic circumstances -- all part of the learning experience. Some of our students have been in the workforce for some years, others are coming directly from undergraduate study.

I'm delighted that our readers recognize that diversity is part and parcel of what makes SAIS Bologna special.

A word on careers: It is true that SAIS considers itself a professional school. Most of our graduates take up jobs after finishing a SAIS master's (but by no means all -- check out the number of SAIS professors who continued studying and got their Ph.Ds at SAIS). Who wants to invest in a graduate school without the prospect of landing a good job afterwards?

While SAIS does not guarantee graduates will get the job of their choice, our students do very well. We like to think that a SAIS education prepares students for a wide range of careers throughout their working lives. You'll see many SAIS graduates during their careers move between the public and private sectors, from one industry into another,  from a multilateral institution into an NGO.

If you are considering applying to SAIS Bologna, think of it as a long-term investment, one that will bring you benefits throughout your working years. Certainly our alumni see it that way.

Nelson Graves

A poll: What is best about SAIS Bologna?

What kind of polls do our readers want?

Our poll on polls, which we ran over the past two weeks, showed a fairly clear preference for polls about SAIS Bologna. In second place: polls about international economic issues.

With that, we are launching our first poll today. The question: What's the best thing about SAIS Bologna?

Whether you are a prospective candidate, an incoming student or an alumnus, feel free to participate. You can do so by clicking on one of the choices on the upper left-hand side. Here are the possible choices:

• Camaraderie
• Career preparation
• City of Bologna
• Courses & faculty
• Diverse student body
• European perspective on international issues

(We were tempted to allow participants to list "The Admissions Office", but decided that was self-evident.)

Please take a few minutes to participate in the poll. We'll run it for two weeks, until Sunday, September 18, with the results on September 19.

We hope this is fun.

Nelson Graves

Bits & Bobs

Today we offer some bits and pieces.

SUMMER CHALLENGE
SAIS Bologna is running a month-long contest aimed at alumni. They have been asked to show what they miss most about their year in Bologna. It's a way of sharing memories and drawing the SAIS Bologna community closer together.

If you go to our home page and click on any of the pictures on the right under the heading "Summer Challenge", you will see contributions from alumni. After less than a week, the offerings include photographs, video and an essay from an alumna whose fondest memories will surprise and move you.

Most of our readers are not alumni and so would not want to participate in this contest -- even if the first prize is a dinner worth up to $600. But if you are a prospective applicant or an incoming student, you might like to take a peek at the contributions to see what Bologna has meant to our alumni, from the most recent graduates to those from earlier days.


POLLS
Some of you may have noticed that we recently added some new features to this blog including a search function and a list of the labels or tags that we've used on posts. We'd like to start running occasional polls of readers to promote interactivity and stir ideas.

Our first poll aims to help us focus on what might interest our readers. We are asking you to tell us what kinds of polls you would like to see: polls on international economic issues, graduate study, SAIS Bologna, politics, global security, global social trends or technology.

After one week and with one week remaining, we've received only seven responses. We thank those who have taken the time to register their views; however, seven responses are not enough to give us a clear idea of what readers would prefer.

So please take a minute -- quite literally, a minute -- to vote on this poll so we know what kinds of polls would most interest you.

PROSPECTIVE APPLICANTS
We watch our readership statistics with an eagle eye. (If you have a blog, I bet you do the same.) In any case, we've noticed a pickup in the number of readers who are shopping around for graduate schools. We know this because they are reading some of our earliest posts which laid out the basics of SAIS.

If you are considering applying to a graduate school in international relations, you might like to subscribe to this blog. It's an easy (and free) way to stay in touch and learn more about SAIS. We would encourage you to submit your email address in the "Follow by Email" section on the upper right hand of the main page. Up to you whether you'd like to become a Follower.

We encourage readers to send in feedback, either by using the comment boxes at the bottom of posts or by sending an email to admissions@jhubc.it.

In the next few weeks, as our incoming students get their feet on the ground in Bologna, we'll turn our attention to those readers who know relatively little about SAIS. Our goal will be to give readers a sense of who and what we are, how the application process works, what is expected of candidates, how to learn more about us and how best to prepare an application.

We look forward to helping prospective candidates take the right decision as they -- you -- face the future.

Nelson Graves