Difference between SFS and Georgetown College?

Colleges and Universities A-Z Georgetown University
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<p>I've been puzzling over Georgetown's (somewhat bare) website trying to find the answer to this question, but honestly it doesn't look to me like there's that much of a difference.</p>

<p>What is so different from being in the School of Foreign Service than from being a Gov major with a focus in IR, or an economics major with a focus in international political economics? It just looks like the SFS has the college's core curriculum plus a couple of its own that its stacked on top. Couldn't someone in the College (theoretically) just recreate the SFS curriculum? And students in the College can enroll in the same classes that students in the SFS do, right?</p>

<p>To me, it just seems that the School of Foreign Service is a more limiting version of the College. The only thing I can see that the College kids don't have access to is the Map of the Modern World class. Other than that rather minor thing (it's just a P/F semi-course), what else distinguishes the life of a SFS kid from a Georgetown College kid who's a Gov/IR major? Are there any opportunities or anything like that only open to SFS students?</p>

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<p>there are def classes SFS only and college classes of govt (for example) that are SFS professor taught, so in theory same class, but it’s for SFS only… also it’s a prestige thing (sort of), as much I hate to admit it, the SFS is one of the best in the field of IR and Govt, so you might as well get the name associated with it</p>

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<p>Oh I see, yeah you’re right the INAF designation for courses means that it’s in the SFS Department. Although SFS students also have to (or at least can) take non-SFS courses for their majors (in the Econ, Govt, etc departments). Are you sure that College students can’t enroll in SFS classes?</p>

<p>What I’m getting at is that if a Georgetown College student with a relevant major (Econ, Govt, IR, whatever) and an SFS student can (and probably will) do almost the exact same thing, wouldn’t Georgetown College be just as prestigious as its School of Foreign Service too? Obviously I have no idea if this is true in practice though, I have no experience with IR careers.</p>

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<p>This may help. </p>

<p>[Edmund</a> A. Walsh School of Foreign Service - Georgetown University](<a href=“http://sfs.georgetown.edu/]Edmund”>http://sfs.georgetown.edu/)
[Georgetown</a> College - Georgetown University](<a href=“http://college.georgetown.edu/]Georgetown”>http://college.georgetown.edu/)</p>

<p>The key difference in decided where to apply is the core curriculum of each school. While a government major could technically take the some of the same courses as an international politics major, the requirements for both their general requirements and major requirements are very different, and therefore “recreating a major” is silly. You wouldn’t have the room. The SFS core is 17 classes, a major is 12, in total you have to take 40 classes. A certain number of your electives have to go to language (if you already are fluent in a another language this would be different) If you have no knowledge of a foreign language that could be up to 8 classes. Add the science and math courses and your major classes in the College that don’t overlap it would be a very strange goal. </p>

<p>The SFS core is very rigorous and specific to preparing students for international careers. It is not to say that one program is more difficult than the other but that they have different objectives. There is also special focus in preparing students to take the State Department Officer exam. This isn’t to say that to be the SFS you have to be interested in working for State but the program will prepare you for it. </p>

<p>For example, the SFS language requirement isn’t certain number of years but is fulfilled by an exam modeled after the State department’s own. This is the same exam used by foreign and international companies to judge language proficiency. The SFS language classes are also taught differently. Advance classes are history or politics classes taught in their original language. Last year, the former President of Spain (Anzar) just stopped by class to talk about the economy. </p>

<p>The core also requires everyone in the SFS to take four semesters of economics. That’s two classes short of a minor in the College. Most other IR programs are light in Econ and many people suffer on the exam and in the work place accordingly. </p>

<p>Then there is Map of the Modern World, while changes have been proposed the original purpose of the exam is create a very strong base in political geography. Not only are you required to know every country (which turns out to be the easy part), but the last sovereign power and general independence date of every independent nation, the current political association of every possessed nation, all past territorial conflicts (Since 1900 in the East and 1800 in the West,) and every current territorial conflict in great detail. All of this is beneficial not just for your future SFS classes but for the exam and your career. </p>

<p>The core classes in the college are much broader. There are more general science and math courses. You also have to look at the variety of majors. The college offers Government (with many sub concentrations), Econ, History, and a American studies major. The SFS has International Politics (with many sub concentrations), International History, International Political Economy, Regional and Comparative Studies, Culture and Politics, an Science Technology and International Affairs. Bottom line you can’t be an IR major in the college. You also can’t double major in the SFS which you can do in the College and you can’t double major across schools. There are certificate programs, largely in different regions but also certificates in Political and Social thought and Justice and Peace studies instead of minors. </p>

<p>Each school also has separate advising. </p>

<p>Hope that clarifies things</p>

1 Like
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<p>hec2008 - is it possible to major in SFS and minor in the College/MSB? I don’t know if you are familiar with MSB and I don’t even know if they have minors but I thought I’d ask.</p>

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<p>Here are the certificates (read minors) offered to SFS students. Each has their own requirements, some more specific than others. [Certificate</a> Programs - Bachelor of Science in Foreign Service (BSFS) - Georgetown University](<a href=“http://bsfs.georgetown.edu/academics/certificates/]Certificate”>http://bsfs.georgetown.edu/academics/certificates/)</p>

<ul>
<li>African Studies </li>
<li>Arab Studies </li>
<li>Asian Studies </li>
<li>Australian & New Zealand Studies </li>
<li>European Studies </li>
<li>International Business Diplomacy (This would be the closest to minoring in the MSB)</li>
<li>International Development </li>
<li>Islam & Muslim-Christian Understanding </li>
<li>Jewish Civilization </li>
<li>Justice & Peace Studies </li>
<li>Latin American Studies </li>
<li>Medieval Studies </li>
<li>Russian & East European Studies </li>
<li>Social & Political Thought </li>
<li>Women’s and Gender Studies</li>
</ul>

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<p>SFS kids get a certificate (equivalent to a minor), but like HEC posted above, I don’t think you can minor in MSB… though they are developing more inter-school major/minor, but still in the works…</p>

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<p>There’s a big practical difference between COL and SFS, even if theoretically you could take largely the same course of studies. There are a handful of courses open only to SFS students (notably Political and Social Thought, Map, and the Proseminars but also some upper level IR courses), and of course there are significant differences in the core. Most notably, the SFS has the language requirement. There’s also the significant Econ requirement in the SFS, the requirement to take Intro to IR and Comparative Political Systems, and somewhat different history requirements.</p>

<p>The majors also diverge quite a bit more than you might think, although the differences depend on the major.</p>

<p>For IECO (International Economics), the differences are pretty small. Within the major, you’ll primarily be taking classes in the Econ department, except for a few that are SFS specific (see [Courses</a> - IECO Major - Georgetown University](<a href=“http://bsfs.georgetown.edu/majors/ieco/courses/]Courses”>http://bsfs.georgetown.edu/majors/ieco/courses/)). The real difference between IECO and ECON in the college is really just the core.</p>

<p>For IPEC (International Political Economy), the major is once again fairly similar to doing PECO in the college, but with a little more divergence. There are a number of SFS courses that count towards the major and you could really pursue quite a different curriculum (see [Courses</a> - IPEC Major - Georgetown University](<a href=“http://bsfs.georgetown.edu/majors/ipec/courses/]Courses”>http://bsfs.georgetown.edu/majors/ipec/courses/))</p>

<p>IHIS (International History) is fairly similar to history in the college, but for the major you are actually required to take at least 2 courses outside the history department, and you create a self-designed concentration, which is quite unlike college HIST majors. There’s a real emphasis on focusing on international history. A college history major could pursue a pretty similar course of studies, but probably wouldn’t</p>

<p>IPOL (International Politics) is significantly different from GOVT in the college. Just look at the course list ([GU</a> - SFS - BSFS: IPOL > Courses](<a href=“http://views.georgetown.edu/?viewid=56&term=10A]GU”>http://views.georgetown.edu/?viewid=56&term=10A)) and notice how few of the IPOL courses are within the government department. If you do IPOL, you’ll probably take the majority of your classes outside the government department and you could take none at all from GOVT. IPOL courses include offerings in the philosophy, theology, sociology, and anthropology departments as well as many offerings in the SFS.</p>

<p>CULP, RCST, and STIA all have no real equivalent in the college, and are highly interdisciplinary.</p>

<p>So, reaching the end of my little tour through the majors, the end result is this. The SFS majors tend to be interdisciplinary, and all of them allow (most of them require) you to take courses from several departments within the university. It would be possible, in most cases to take these same courses as a student in the college, but you would take them as electives, rather than components of your major. There are also a dozen or so course only open to SFS students, and personally I’ve found some of these to be the most interesting I’ve taken at GU.</p>

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<p>Just wondering. Is SFS more difficult to get into than college, MSB etc?</p>

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<p>@ Desoan: check out this site, its really informative!
[Georgetown</a> University- Office of Undergraduate Admissions](<a href=“http://uadmissions.georgetown.edu/applying_firstyear_sdprofile.cfm]Georgetown”>http://uadmissions.georgetown.edu/applying_firstyear_sdprofile.cfm)</p>

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<p>Thanks a lot ksanyee, that cleared up a lot of things for me.</p>