International affairs/studies/relations?

<p>Does anyone know the difference between these? When I Google "international affairs," I get options and links for all three of them! They are clearly related, judging by their individual Wikipedia articles, but I'm not sure how that affects your degree (like getting an M.A. after a B.A.) and what sort of careers you are qualified for.</p>

<p>None of them qualify your for a specific career aside from one that requires a degree. However, this means the majority of careers so unless you want to be an accountant or architect you’re not closing any doors. If you want you could be a doctor or social worker, business person or police officer. Your imagination is the biggest hinderence. </p>

<p>International Studies will be a broader look at geography, politics, economics, languages, religion. It won’t give you depth like a single or double major in, say, political science, but it’s great if your interests are likewise broad. </p>

<p>International Relations are how various geo-political groups interact with each other. So think history, military, politics, policy and economics mainly but obviously there are linguistic, religious, linguistic factors in play. e.g the Cuban Missile Crisis, the EU, the Sochi Winter Olympics and the Russian State’s actions towards homosexuals.</p>

<p>International Affairs is pretty much the same except from less of a political stand point- it can be more non-government driven such as from businesses.</p>

<p>International Relations is a bit easier for employers to understand than international affairs. However, you really need to research each college’s offerings in these majors as they’ll vary quite a bit despite having the same title.</p>

<p>Okay. Say you got a B.A. in one of those. Could you get an M.A. in a different one after? I’m wondering because I’m looking at perhaps getting a B.A. and M.A. in one of those fields, but one college for example offers an M.A. in international affairs, but only a B.A. in global (international) studies. The only nearby college that offers any of these only offers international studies, and I can’t afford private nor out-of-state tuition to go somewhere else. I’m just trying to plan out where I should go to college eventually, and knowing this stuff I mentioned would help me so greatly.</p>

<p>Edit: Another reason I am asking, also, is because I was doing college searches through the college board website, and looking for colleges through majors allowed me to look for global studies and international relations, but not international affairs (which is an M.A. program in another school I know).</p>

<p>You don’t have to have a ba/bs in any specific degree to get into any master program. You could have a BA in english and get into a computer science master program as long as you are a good candidate and have taken whatever prereq classes might be required if any.</p>

<p>IMO they’re all the same thing.</p>