Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies - Reputation

Reputation

A study conducted by the Institute for the Theory and Practice of International Relations at the College of William & Mary examined graduate international relations programs throughout the United States, interviewing over 1,000 professionals in the field, with the results subsequently published in the November/December 2005 issue of Foreign Policy magazine. One of study's questions asked: "What do you consider the top five terminal masters programs in international relations for students looking to pursue a policy career?" From the study, 65% of respondents named Johns Hopkins University-SAIS as being the top-ranked program. SAIS received the most votes, followed by Georgetown University (Walsh), Harvard University (Kennedy), Tufts University (Fletcher), and Columbia University (SIPA). In 2007, Foreign Policy magazine produced the same study, and while SAIS remained one of the top-ranked programs, it moved to second position as Georgetown (Walsh) received the most votes.

Since 1990, SAIS and the Fletcher School have been the only non-law schools in the United States to participate in the prestigious Philip C. Jessup International Law Moot Court Competition. Competing against full-time law students, SAIS generalists have performed very well. SAIS has twice placed second overall out of 12 schools and advanced to the "final four" in its region. In head-to-head competitions, SAIS has defeated law schools such as Georgetown University, the University of Virginia, and the University of Maryland.

SAIS students have also demonstrated their versatility by successfully competing in the Sustainable Innovation Summit Challenge hosted by the Thunderbird School of Global Management in Glendale, Arizona. Two different SAIS teams won first place in both 2007 and 2008, besting teams of MBA students from some of the world's top business schools.

A joint team from SAIS and the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Business received second place in the first "Global Challenge" competition, a first-of-its-kind competition that challenged teams of MBA and other graduate students to develop a public-private venture to support development and the tourism industry in Asia. The competition was organized in 2010 by the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID).