<p>What school would be best for an undergraduate interested in international development (focused less on policy and more on non profit work and journalism)?</p>
<p>There are many schools that could serve your purpose. I don’t think you’re going to find the one “best” school for international development. It’s a very diverse area. So, a lot depends on your specific interests, on particular world regions that interest you, etc. When you say that you are interested in “non-profit work”, there is a huge range of nonprofit organizations working in a huge range of international development projects from health to microeconomics to agriculture to water resources and on and on and on. When you say that you are interested in “non-profit work” rather than “policy” what do you mean by that? Does it mean that you’re more interested in “hands-on” type of work than planning, funding, administration, etc.? </p>
<p>So, first of all, give so thought to the type of school that is a good fit for you in terms of selectivity, finances, location, size, etc.
Then, give some thought to specific areas of development work that interest you and specific regions that interest you.
Then search for schools that are both a fit for your preferences and that offer the types of development or area studies programs that interest you. You also can limit your search to those schools that offer a journalism program. When doing so, consider the ease with which you can major across two academic units within a particular university (e.g., a journalism major in a school of journalism + a major related to your development interests in a college of arts & sciences or another academic unit of the university).</p>
<p>I think most students who say they want to work in international development gravitate to the various international relations or international studies programs. Many such majors offer a specialty track in international development. These program are designated by a diversity of different titles and structures, including majors, minors, and certificates, depending on the particular school. The number of possible choices found across different school can be quite confusing for students looking for a suitable program. No matter how these programs are titled and structured at particular schools, most of them draw their courses from traditional departments, such as economics, political sciences, etc. and tend to focus on theory, research, and policy issues.</p>
<p>As an alternative to just majoring in IR or IS, I would suggest that those interested in international development work consider getting some actual skills that could benefit people in underdeveloped countries, e.g., nursing, agriculture, nutrition, public health, etc. When searching for relevant programs, it would be worth your while not to overlook the programs available at the public land grant universities that have colleges of agriculture. They offers relevant coursework and major and minor programs in areas such as international agriculture, nutrition, rural sociology/community development, etc. that could very well complement majors in other fields. Several of these programs also offer study abroad programs geared to international development.</p>
<p>Also see this link:
[How</a> to Pursue a Career with the United Nations or Other International Humanitarian Organizations](<a href=“http://www.coyotecommunications.com/stuff/workabroad.shtml]How”>How to Pursue a Career with the United Nations or Other International Humanitarian Organizations)</p>
<p>And my posts in these two threads:
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/other-college-majors/902677-political-science-vs-international-relations.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/other-college-majors/902677-political-science-vs-international-relations.html</a></p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-search-selection/1044120-college-if-i-want-work-un-ngo.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-search-selection/1044120-college-if-i-want-work-un-ngo.html</a></p>
<p>thanks for such a comprehensive response, zap. I am mostly gravitating to UC Berkeley, which is advantageously located in the SF Bay Area and has top notch journalism and economics departments. Although they don’t have an “international _______” major, they do have development studies. In the east, I know Tufts, Gtown, and Johns Hopkins are powerhouses for international relations.</p>
<p>Berkeley also has a minor in Global Poverty & Practice:
[Global</a> Poverty Minor - UC Berkeley | Blum Center for Developing Economies](<a href=“http://blumcenter.berkeley.edu/global-poverty-education/global-poverty-minor]Global”>http://blumcenter.berkeley.edu/global-poverty-education/global-poverty-minor)</p>
<p>Are you more interested in journalism or international development?</p>
<p>International relations =/= international development.</p>
<p>"As an alternative to just majoring in IR or IS, I would suggest that those interested in international development work consider getting some actual skills that could benefit people in underdeveloped countries, e.g., nursing, agriculture, nutrition, public health, etc. "</p>
<p>Best advice which I strongly second. NGOs and the UN and bilaterals desperately need people with actual skills beyond just management and an awareness of development issues. Health, engineering, education, agro. All well worth your time, as well as statistics.</p>
<p>However, since you mention journalism, I’m not sure if you’re interested in working in the field, or reporting on development issues. If it’s the latter, I’d say go for journalism as your major.</p>
<p>I feel like later in life I would get involved in both writing about and working in the field. I’m not sure why they both can’t be something I can focus on. Also, (in my own unexperienced opinion) I think succeeding in journalism comes from experience in any field rather than studying journalism itself at school. As for learning “hard skills” I am really interested in development economics, in which UCB ranks 4th according to USnews.</p>
<p>You are referring to Graduate Schools, not undergraduate. I think IR is where you should look at because economics at the undergraduate level is more general than specific (e.g. at the graduate level, you can focus in on something like labor economics or whatever).</p>
<p>That being said, an IR major will probably require you to have some writing skills. Or, you can always join a school paper or something.</p>
<p>That’s why I don’t think you should dismiss IR schools. For example, I know at Tufts, you can major in IR with a focus on economic development (they have many “sub-concentrations” within the major). I am pretty sure JHU has something similar to this as well.</p>
<p>Just food for thought. There is also Northwestern which has an amazing journalism program. Yet it seems you are more interested in writing about international stories. I think you should opt for IR. Why? Because most high profile journalists or whatever (think the Fareed Zakaria’s of the world) actually aren’t journalists, but rather political scientists, IR people, or economists.</p>
<p>Just my opinion. Best of luck!</p>
<p>My original plan was BA in polisci and econ and then attempt an MA or MPA in international development. My reasoning was that my undergrad plus graduate econ would be enough for whatever career I aim for (which is probably not too economics heavy). However, buzzers brings up a good point in that it might be better to start broad and then specialize. Econ at undergrad just seems like a practical choice to me. Any thoughts?</p>
<p>jusray91, doing an undergrad econ major or undergrad econ + political science majors, followed by an MA or MPA in international development, would be fine for your plans. </p>
<p>As buzzers pointed out, some undergrad IR programs include an option for a specialty track, such as development. Though he suggested that you not overlook such programs, you had already mentioned that the school to which you are leaning does not offer an IR/IS major. Although interdisciplinary majors in IR/IS have become quite popular, one potential drawback of such programs is that they spread out the required coursework across several different departments at the risk of failing to provide a solid grounding in the theory and methods of any single discipline. While this is not always the case with interdisciplinary IR/IS majors, I had read that it is one criticism that was made of the IS program at Yale, for example. In fact, some schools only allow interdisciplinary IR/IS majors in combination with a second major in a traditional discipline; Yale is one of these. (This apparently is not the case with Yale’s new Global Studies major, however, which will have a policy component.)</p>
<p>Within your econ major, you can use electives to obtain some degree of focus on development. You can also broaden your perspective on development with relevant electives in other departments or by completing another relevant major, e.g., development studies, or a relevant minor, e.g., global poverty (though another major or a minor is entirely optional as you would get a broader view and a more policy-oriented perspective in an MPA program.)</p>
<p>Depending on how your interests develop, you could decide to do a grad degree in journalism, or at some schools you can do a joint journalism degree with another field. Northwestern has a new graduate program in global journalism [Medill</a> - Journalism - Global Journalism](<a href=“http://www.medill.northwestern.edu/journalism/global/]Medill”>http://www.medill.northwestern.edu/journalism/global/) and Columbia has something similar [Dual-Degree</a> Programs - Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism](<a href=“Dual Degree Programs | Columbia Journalism School”>Dual Degree Programs | Columbia Journalism School). Some IR schools also offer a concentration in international communication.[M.A</a>. Global Communication - The Elliott School of International Affairs](<a href=“http://elliott.gwu.edu/academics/grad/gc/index.cfm]M.A”>http://elliott.gwu.edu/academics/grad/gc/index.cfm)</p>
<p>I agree that the best journalists also have a specific field of knowledge.</p>
<p>Having worked with IR / IA majors, I think it’s the most useless major that is supposedly related to international development. The problem is, you just are not working at the policy level when you’re in development. And if you are, you have worked in the field for so long that you’ve read everything an IR major has read, anyway. IR students take four years to learn what someone with one year of experience in the school of hard knocks in the DRC learned in six months, if she wanted to keep her job.</p>
<p>It’s not that I don’t respect it as a major, I just think that for working in the field, it’s not the best major. And you will be working in the field. IR is more for people who are going into politics / governance, like the Peace Corps –> Foreign Service –> State Department track. In that scenario you will need the theoretical stuff sooner, before you’ve had it all pounded into your head in the most irritating way possible.</p>
<p>Development economics is good, but I’d go for a very specific economics focus. Honestly, in development, they want skills and results.</p>
<p>I would agree that econ as an undergrad is a good choice. Econ with a lot of stats, or possibly a minor in health administration or something like that.</p>
<p>Good luck. I work in ID and I love it. Studied philosophy and classics as an undergrad, never had any questions about my major or school, except in my first interview, where I was asked about Voltaire. :D</p>
<p>jusray91, one last comment…if you do end up in economics at Berkeley, don’t forget to check the College of Natural Resources for some relevant courses. CNR is what’s left of Berkeley’s former College of Ag and it has a dept of Ag & Resource Economics. A lot of econ majors overlook that type of dept. as a possible source of some relevant courses for development and international econ.</p>
<p>thanks for the great comments y’all. ill definitely be referring back to this thread in the next few years.</p>