<p>Does Vandy have an IR major? I know it has an IR grad school, but did not see an undergrad major on the web site or as part of the Poli Sci Dept. If it does have an IR major, how is the program? What paths do grads follow? Any acceptances into top grad schools or Foreign Service?</p>
<p>Students major in poli sci, but may choose international politics (among other subfields) as a concentration. There’s some fairly detailed information about the undergrad program here:</p>
<p>[Major</a> in Political Science | Department of Political Science | Vanderbilt University](<a href=“Political Science | Vanderbilt University”>Political Science | Vanderbilt University)</p>
<p>Unfortunately, I can’t answer your question about the quality of the program. I took intro to international politics (102) last semester, which I enjoyed and benefited from greatly, but intro classes are very different from the more intimate, higher-level courses that one would take when pursuing the concentration.</p>
<p>I can’t answer about the pathways of grads in Poli Sci IR concentration as I have no anecdotal info but you should also look at the Public Policy concentration pages online. Also, will note that although Vandy is no Georgetown, it does have a strong internship program in DC in the summers and it has Maymesters in DC as well. Also, my son has been taught by a retired Army officer, another professor who was imbedded with the troops. Vandy like Duke, has a strong ROTC program.</p>
<p>Thanks Commodore 15 and Faline 2, this is very helpful. It does look like there are a significant number of IR courses in the poli sci major, which should allow for a concentration there. </p>
<p>On a different note, I know Vandy has an awesome student body and strong teaching focus among professors. What I know less about are the programs at Vandy that really stand out other than Peabody and education. Can someone enlighten me on that. </p>
<p>I am asking all of these questions because I am thinking about applying to Vandy early decision along with my twin sister. We would like to attend the same school have very different interests. I like IR and maybe bio and pre med, while she loves english and creative writing.</p>
<p>Interest in IR is something of a buzz word these days in colleges…I will be honest just as IB banking was all the buzz when son went to Duke in 05 and start up computer businesses before that. The IB Banking buzz took a big fall as hiring patterns changed forever. At one time something like a third of MIT grads were going into consulting and IB banking type jobs. No more.
One of son’s friends did a semester at Columbia U in NYC to supplement her IR efforts at Vandy. Hundreds of Vandy students study in universities abroad of course as well.</p>
<p>Just want to give you a serious “things to consider” re IR focus in poli sci…which is one of our son’s majors. There are good semesters abroad at Vandy but this is true everywhere you get in really. The real question is if you do this major do you actually have some ideas re job market options? Public Policy is also a good way to go re getting more into applied work.
Bio is obviously fab at Vandy, premed is very strong for those who survive the intro classes, and English…tell your sister to look up Robert Penn Warren and the Agrarians who taught him at Vandy.<br>
Getting into Vandy is just a very risky prediction situation.<br>
Son also applied to a couple of Federal jobs in national security agencies and to the state department. Rather than just randomly looking at IR, I would ask myself “am I fluent in one of the top ten languages sought after in commerce and by the US gov’t?” “If not, do I have the capacity to become a master of another language?” Also will point out that engineers are highly sought after by places like the state department and so are business people with real skill sets…(embassies require engineers to operate and also business staff)…in other words…there are majors that make you more likely to find employment in IR related field, including doing ROTC.</p>
<p>Quantitative skills, world history and politics and geography knowledge and IQ can be tested by hiring agencies for jobs in the state dept. So you should be looking at those hire pages and thinking about whether or not you want to compete for jobs in that realm. Computer security experts are pretty desirable as are accountants. Fact is the state department for instance…hires people with skills in other arenas as well as in IR</p>
<p>Thanks again Faline 2 for such detailed information.</p>
<p>I know the FS exam is very hard and so cannot bank on that, especially without grad school. But getting a good start is important and am glad Vandy can provide that. Also, nice that it has a solid pre med program. I know it has a wide variety of bio programs, which is not surprising given the top med school at Vandy. In looking at some AAMCS stats, I saw Vandy has less students apply to med school than comparable schools like Hopkins and Duke (about 250/yr v. 350). I know Vandy has tougher grading than Duke and Ivies (not sure about Hopkins). Tougher grading actually appeals to me as getting a good grade means you have actually accomplished something.</p>
<p>On the english department, do you know if Vandy has dorms/houses devoted to english students? I know some top schools like Penn have a writers’ house that serves as an incubator. On RPW very cool, but I assume most of his profs have retired (lol). Does Vandy have a writer in residence program? I could not find one on the web.</p>
<p>As far as my sister and me getting in, I know first hand how hard it is because my brother who is a math whiz applied to several top schools and Vandy was the only one that rejected him (others include Duke, Hopkins, and Chicago). Kind of odd because he had gone to the Vandy summer camp the summer after his junior year and gotten a great rec from his teacher there. He was bummed because wanted to go to Vandy with some of the friends he had made, but my dad told him to apply ED and he did not do so. Any ways, I saw why Vandy is in such demand when we visited it to pick him up from camp. What an awesome campus, like a park! </p>
<p>With this in mind, if we applied together it would be ED. I know prognosticating is hard, but we both have all A’s in mostly AP and honors classes (both in top 5% or higher of class) and I got a 1540 on the SAT (two 770s). Sis didn’t do quite as well (1450, but will retake in October). Odd because in school things actually come easier to her and I am the one studying all the time. Still, I know there are no guarantees. Thanks again for your help!</p>
<p>You can also create your own major if it’s not offered here at Vandy. You just have to write down the list of courses you want to take as well as a short paper and see if it gets approved or not. I’m pretty sure a common major like IR would get approved. So in addition to the international concentration in the poli sci major, you can look into that as well.</p>