international relations/global studies program - sigh

Colleges and Universities A-Z The University of Texas at Austin
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<p>So this is what I'm majoring in, and I enjoyed the intro class (IRG 301)... but I'm kind of worried/frustrated about my future in the major. </p>

<p>i guess my biggest concern is that I won't get a firm footing in any one discipline. the way the program is set up, you could easily just take a random, eclectic sampling of courses (but maybe i'm naive and that's the aim of interdisciplinary degree programs? sigh.) </p>

<p>for non-IRG people, basically, you have to take a few basic courses (Intro to International Relations, Human Geography (which is a terrible, HUGE intro-level class with the most banal subject matter ever) and economics (but not even micro, just "intro to economics")). then after finishing up those courses, you complete 12 hours in one of four "tracks," which one would presume would be specializations, but they're not. for example, if I selected the "culture, media, and the arts" track, nothing would keep me from getting the 12 hours by taking E 322: the films of Ingmar Bergman, ARH 374: Introduction to African Art, REE 325: Russian/Slavic Cultural Unity and then ANT 324L: Cultural Politics of Food. </p>

<p>and the tracks just don't seem put together very well because of the flimsy basic requirements for IRG majors... they're basically just massive lists of random courses that have no cohesion whatsoever. the "international political economy" track sounds interesting to me because I'm very interested in international economics but not the heavily quantitative/mathematical side of it (I'm a lib arts major, after all). i was looking at the track list last night and almost ALL of the courses are ECO courses (or ant/soc courses that I'm not interested in taking, like SOC 340C: Globalization) which require macro, micro, integral and differential calculus! i don't want to double major; i'm not going to take those four things as electives. </p>

<p>anyway, i'm not sure why i made this thread -- i guess i just feel like the IRG major has a lot of potential but that it was poorly planned. mostly, i'm just venting/complaining... i feel like, without a clear progression of courses, it would be hard to gain depth in any one subject... my advisor even admitted that she thought the major was poorly put together, but stubborn me was determined. (this was the advisor for my honors program: the IRG advisor i went to was WORTHLESS.)
they're even requiring everybody to study abroad, without any mention of financial help - it was a financial stretch for me to even be able to go to UT; i'm going to have to get some pretty hefty scholarships if i plan to study abroad for any significant amount of time. </p>

<p>anyone have any advice/consolation/related comments? perhaps I could just switch to government and concentrate in international relationsish courses - even though i feel like they have the same problem. or maybe i could just double major - i really DON'T want to drop IRG, i'm just not sure how to make it work... i considered economics, but i have a feeling i'd do horribly in the statistics-related classes... just... blah >_<</p>

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<p>Georgia Tech has an international affairs degree program and my son is double majoring with economics. He has no doubt he will have a job upon graduation. Yes, he took calculus and will be taking lots of econ classes…but he would like a job. He is also taking tons of language.</p>

<p>I would suggest looking at the requirements for the IA major at other schools and the descriptions of the classes and try to model your studies by finding similar classes at your school or perhaps transfer out.</p>

<p>Do a junior year abroad and take IA classes there. You should have another language fluency for an IA major anyway and an internship abroad would also be a good idea. (All suggestions to my son from his professor). Good luck!</p>

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<p>AmericanInParis, my D went through all the same issues you are, started out Economics then changed to IRG and eventually moved over to the Humanities major where she has crafted her own degree and receives more personalized help. Frequently comments on how helpful the Humanities office is. She is very happy there, and is double majoring in French.</p>

<p>When she asked about scholarships for her study-abroad next year, the Humanities advisor told her they should have some $$ available for her.</p>

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<p>thanks, givings! i’m actually in LAH right now and i really like the advisors (I think it’s the same advisors, isn’t it?)… i’m going to seriously consider doing humanities now.</p>