<p>I know CMU is renown for its computer science, economics, and mathematics undergraduate degrees, but I was wondering how good CMU's international relations program was. Since CMU is very mathematics-oriented, are a lot of math courses a requirement for the major? (I'm really not that great at math). And are there a lot of internships available?</p>
<p>I want to know the answer to this too! Bump!</p>
<p>The IR program at CMU is good, but I wouldn’t call it among the nation’s best. It’s just not the school’s specialty or area of focus. (I am a humanities student, for reference, and really love my majors, so I don’t have a bone to pick here.) </p>
<p>The IR majors that I know at CMU are more or less the kids who are here to hang loose and not work too hard. The program is not strenuous, it has a very limited course offering compared to departments at other schools, and it’s not the best for internships unless you pair it with something else, like writing/cs/bio/business/econ. Considering CMU’s costs, you would probably be better served to go to a school like Georgetown, NYU, Vanderbilt, et cetera for such a program.</p>
<p>@completelykate: I take offense to that first sentence of your second paragraph. :P</p>
<p>As an IR major, I can agree that it’s not, say, CS-level stress, but International Relations and Politics is what I’ve found interests me. Georgetown would definitely be better, being in DC and all (my twin brother goes there), perhaps for grad school. The [Washington</a> Semester Program](<a href=“CMU - Institute for Politics and Strategy - Carnegie Mellon University”>CMU - Institute for Politics and Strategy - Carnegie Mellon University) is probably a good thing to do (or at least apply for) as an IRP major, if you go to CMU.</p>
<p>completelykate makes a good point that there aren’t nearly as many opportunities for internships, especially other than in DC, if you want to actually do an internship directly related to the major. It does not have necessarily a <em>limited</em> course offering, though obviously schools with a bigger IR program will have an even better offering.</p>
<p>Anyway: it’s quite a good program, though ones in DC (or maybe NYC) would probably be better.</p>
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<p>There are certainly IR majors who work hard, I’m certain, and I just haven’t met them yet. :p</p>
<p>I’ll admit I’m a little biased against IR because I was once interested in it myself. However, there is not even an IR department at CMU so to speak. You take classes based in other majors, like English, Philosophy, SDS (decision sciences) and History. Advanced level history and philosophy are oftentimes very difficult, but having taken English and SDS courses (hell, my primary major is an English major) I feel I can adequately argue that they’re mostly a pile of BS where everyone gets A’s for putting in decent effort.</p>
<p>It depends on how you challenge yourself. If you’re one of those people who takes all the super hard public policy and ethics courses, then I applaud you. Most I have met do not, but there are exceptions to every rule.</p>