<p>which schools have good international relations programs..besides HYP, Tufts, and Georgetown.
Is it true that Michigan and GWU have good programs?</p>
<p>Macalester, Lewis & Clark, Goucher.</p>
<p>Pomona College</p>
<p>From :The current issue of FP magazine- Article Inside the ivory tower, </p>
<p>
[quote]
</p>
<p>For the first time, scholars were also asked to identify the best places to study international relations as an undergraduate. The list that emerges looks much like those for top graduate programs. But academics still value a liberal arts education. Several schools in the winner’s circle—such as Dartmouth, Swarthmore, and Williams—lack graduate programs in international relations.</p>
<p>According to them the top Undergrad programs for IR are:</p>
<p>Rank School Percent*
1 Harvard University 48
2 Princeton University 46
3 Stanford University 30
4 Georgetown University 28
5 Columbia University 28
6 Yale University 23
7 University of Chicago 21
8 University of California, Berkeley 12
9 Dartmouth College 11
10 George Washington University 10
11 American University 10
12 University of Michigan 9
13 Tufts University 8
14 Swarthmore College 8
14 University of California, San Diego 8
16 Cornell University 6
17 Brown University 6
18 Williams College 5
19 Duke University 5
19 Johns Hopkins University 5 </p>
<p>
[/quote]
</p>
<p>WHICH scholars?</p>
<p>Kalamazoo, Earlham, Mount Holyoke.</p>
<p>Fletcher (Tufts), Johns Hopkins and G'town (SFS) hold down the the best programs in IR. </p>
<p>The aforementioned list contains schools that don't have undergraduate IR programs which leads me to believe this list is largely reputational and not evaluative with respect to quality departments.</p>
<p>The FP list for undergraduate programs is the most erroneous we've seen yet. Most of the schools at the top (ie Harvard, Princeton, Columbia, Yale) don't offer IR majors to begin with! Doesn't that seem troublesome?</p>
<p>The problem is the "scholars" that were asked are grad professors and they don't even know what's going on at the undergrad level. It is widely known among people who do have a clue of what's going on there that Tufts, Gtown, and JHU have the best undergraduate IR programs; with American and GWU being good programs that are slightly less selective.</p>
<p>^ ^ ^ I posted the above as the same time as WealthofInformation, that's why my response is very similar to his/hers.</p>
<p>I should add that though Tufts does have the Fletcher School of Law & Diplomacy, it only grants graduate degrees. The undergraduate IR department is part of the College of Arts & Sciences. That being said, the IR undergrad program is closely tied to Fletcher; in fact, the department office is in Fletcher and many professors who teach undergrad IR courses are also Fletcher professors. Additionally, all Fletcher events are open to undergrads and vice-versa. There is also an early-admit program to the Fletcher MALD (Masters of Law & Diplomacy) program for exceptional IR undergrads (1-2 are admitted each year).</p>
<p>The problem with waving cheerleading pompons so furiously is that they tend to obstruct one's view and reduce the reading ability.</p>
<p>The question posed in the OP was "which schools have good international relations programs..besides HYP, Tufts, and Georgetown." </p>
<p>As far as researching the school, a good start might involve checking the faculty for breadth and depth. It's nice to know that you might need more than two medium pizza to throw a party for the ... entire faculty. Evaluating the faculty correctly is, unfortunately, pretty hard when it comes to a program that is interdisciplinary. </p>
<p>Caveat Emptor</p>
<p>"Most of the schools at the top (ie Harvard, Princeton, Columbia, Yale) don't offer IR majors to begin with! "</p>
<p>I think that statement may be true in a technical sense, but it's misleading. </p>
<p>At Harvard, you can major in Government and one of the secondary concentrations offered in Government is international relations. The courses you would take at Harvard to get a secondary concentration in international relations sound very similar to those you take at other colleges if you major in international relations. </p>
<p>Princeton has the Woodrow Wilson school. It's only open to a limited number of undergraduates, but if accepted, you can certainly design your courses to focus on international relations. </p>
<p>Columbia offers a 5 year program where you can get a BA and a MA in international relations.(The MA usually takes two years.) It is a selective program too. </p>
<p>Yale offers international relations only as a second major. You also have to meet the requirements to major in one of the component parts, but you also major in international relations. You meet the requirements of your first major, take additional courses, and have to meet some foreign language requirements. </p>
<p>These schools may also offer other ways to study international relations; these are just the programs I happen to be aware of. Obviously, this is a tangent from the OP's question. I just don't think the fact these schools were listed in the survey proves that the survey is way off-base.</p>
<p>Mini:</p>
<p>Here's Foreign Policy magazine's answer to your question "What scholars?":</p>
<p>"For the survey, we attempted to contact all international relations faculty at 1,199 four-year colleges and universities in the United States. The schools include all national research universities, master’s-granting institutions, and liberal arts colleges identified by U.S. News & World Report, as well as seven military colleges. When the results were tallied, 1,112 scholars, more than 41 percent of all international relations professors in the United States, participated in our study."</p>
<p>I-dad, did you read the entire report/survey? </p>
<p>Reading the entire report lifts the veil on the origin of our pathetic and sickening state in IR. starting with that wonderful admission:
[quote]
It is possible, of course, that such consensus derives from a common set of ideological blinders. Consistent with the public perception of academics, 70 percent of international relations scholars describe themselves as liberal, whereas only 13 percent consider themselves conservative.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Too bad, the authors did not push the "honesty" button to include this:
[quote]
For the first time, scholars were also asked to identify the best places to study international relations as an undergraduate ... asked them to answer a COUPLE of poorly crafted questions.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>How many questions were there about ... the best places to study IR as a UG? 1 out of 83. Less than 4%! How could they draw THAT conclusion from such a poorly organized survey.</p>
<p>They could have asked where they serve the best clam chowder or what was the date of founding of the school and be more relevant.</p>
<p>Just because a school doesn't have an IR major doesn't mean that a student cannot study IR of course. It is, by definition, a completely synthetic major. For that reason many kids interested in IR as a concept choose to study core domains instead- like sociology, economics,linguistics, political science. I personally think that this is a more valid approach in fact- study one of the core disciplines at an undergraduate level and supplement with the others, make sure through work and internship programs(not just travel) that you have an interest in 'internationality' as a lifestyle or mindset, not just an academic endeavor, and then consider it on the graduate level. Like many other popularity contests it would be easy to imagine that this 'best' list has a degree of political bias, no?</p>