After undergrad, moving forward in IR

Career Opportunities & Internships
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<p>I keep going back and forth between what I should be doing (hence my appeal to this forum). I graduated from Cornell last spring and was offered a job at a think-tank doing state policy research. Hardly my ideal job, but it's a one year position so I figured working as a research analyst for a year only enhances my resume, even if it's not particularly in my field of interest.</p>

<p>Academically, my GPA is not great (3.4). I don't know how much this compensates, but I double majored in Economics and Government and double minored in International Relations and German Studies. </p>

<p>My initial plan was to do Peace Corps, but was rejected. I was going to do it immediately after college and was nominated, but decided to defer it for this 1-year job. In hindsight, that was a mistake, since the Peace Corps recruiter tells me that the business development programs became super competitive over the last year because they've had to shut some of the programs down so they are scrambling to move people around (I wasn't even allowed to interview this time, which I'm pretty sure is unusual).</p>

<p>My ultimate goal is to work in something IR-related. The State Department stands out as my top choice,.</p>

<p>Things I am considering:
1. Working in the private sector for a couple years (if possible, global consulting or finance) then apply to grad school.
2. Immediately apply to grad school for next year. </p>

<p>As for grad school, without significant experience, I doubt I am a candidate for top IR-related programs in the US. Given my career goals, a fairly large gap on my resume is that I never studied abroad (my academic interests evolved over time in undergrad to the point where I fell into the IR minor by senior year). </p>

<p>My thought is to either apply as soon as possible, or wait after working for a couple years and then do grad school. My reasons for doing it abroad are that it would 1) fill the gap of no international experience and 2) it's a lot cheaper.</p>

<p>I have no idea how competitive it is to get into graduate programs abroad, but I figure a decent candidate from an elite US university can't be terrible. My top places to do grad school would either be Germany (or other EU country) or the Middle East (American University of Beirut). This morning, I'm leaning towards just applying to Beirut for next year. I'm not sure how competitive it is, but what I can find from unreliable Google sources says it's not that bad. While Beirut would be a bit more expensive than Germany, I figure for a career in IR, learning Arabic would be better than my current knowledge of German. If I do AUB, with whatever Masters program I pursue, I'll make sure I do intensive Arabic over the summer and at least become proficient in the language. While I currently have no knowledge of Arabic, my Government advisor at Cornell was a Middle East specialist and I took in total 5 courses (4 politics and 1 literature) that cross-listed with the Near Eastern studies department, so I would think that would qualify me as a good candidate as someone committed to learning Arabic and studying at a Middle East university (the graduate courses are all taught in English).</p>

<p>PS. I apologize for the long post. For some reason, this morning I got really stressed about my future and my thoughts are jumbled.</p>

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<p>No worries, Mike, the more info you give the CC audeience, the better unprofessional opinion we can give you ;)</p>

<p>I would vote for option 2 with the abroad option. I say this because I agree that being in IR without an abroad experience may hinder you despite the fact that you went to a top school. I presume that most potential employers can see you as academically qualified, but then they might ponder “Well, can he handle himself in a different cultural setting?” The abroad will attempt to quell that thought. I was enlisted in the US Armed Forces from 2006-2010 with a couple deployments, and it taught me a whole lot. Not in the traditional sense of course, but definitely helped me learn a bit about how other cultures are structured, how different things can be, and overall how US presence has potential influence over other peoples.</p>

<p>IMO, the abroad approach acts two-fold. It is satisfying an academic aspiration AND serves as job experience because of the unique nature of the possible immersion you may be involved in. It’s a little cliched, and you may have heard it before, but it’s too true: Books and professors can only explain and teach so much. There are things provided within human nature that are best understood by seeing, feeling, and experiencing for one’s self. IR is one of those things because of the constant change that goes on in the world.</p>

<p>I was once looking into American University of Paris, so I can comment that those programs do seem creditable. Language WILL be a great thing to master for your goals. Mastering a specific dialect (this is extremely difficult and is argued that no one that is not a native speaker can do it) will be buku points.</p>