My daughter has been accepted to several universities and she needs to make her decision in the next couple days. She would like to study International Affairs and Economics and then study Law in a good school such as in Harvard and then work for the State Department, United Nations, World Bank or some other similar institutions.She has been accepted to George Washington University in DC, UCLA, Berkeley, UC San Diego, University of Virginia, Boston University and NYU. The price of all of them is almost the same considering the scholarships that she has received.
Can you please let me know which school would be the best for her to choose considering this career path that she has in mind? Each school has positive and negative points and she is not sure what to choose to help her get good fundamentals about International Relations and Economics, good internships and study abroad program, good networking opportunity and help her get into a good law school. Thanks in advance for all your feedbacks.
Admission to Law School is highly dependent on GPA and LSAT score. GWU is well known for it’s undergrad IR program and the location is great for internships. If other aspects of the school are a good fit, them I would lean toward it.
Mastadon, thanks for the feedback.
First, law school is a numbers game. She will not be disadvantaged by choosing any of those schools. She simply needs a strong GPA and LSAT score. Law schools have been big on getting their numbers up lately.
Of the universities you mentioned, I would recommend Berkeley or NYU.
I had similar ambitions. I ended up double majoring in history and international relations with a minor in economics. I also worked in the Office of Study Abroad at my university and now run international education programs for a non-profit. When it comes to study abroad programs, GW is lacking. NYU is OK but a still meh for my taste, which leaves Berkeley - definitely the better choice. I’d say study abroad is one of the more important things - I believe it should be a requirement for most degrees and universities. I’d suggest Brussels, Strasbourg, Geneva, or London for her.
Check out this list: http://eap.ucop.edu/OurPrograms/Pages/political-science.aspx
Berkeley is, overall, the highest-ranked when you consider both degrees.
NYU has the better internship possibilities, but if she were to choose Berkeley, she could always do a summer internship program.
As someone who has an international relations degree (M. Litt. from St. Andrews, UK, Fulbright '98) and a law degree from Georgetown and who passed the State Department Foreign Service exam on the first try. I think I can speak to this question. I now own my own firm in Memphis and do corporate/real estate law. Here’s the question for your daughter these entities she’s interested in hire few attorneys. Those that they do usually do contractual work and not international relations. So, what is it that she wants to do? IR or law? Law school is an enormous cost. There’s few scholarships and much competition for a slimming job pool. I can’t speak to IR directly. But, I do know what my experience was trying to get a government job in the immediate post-9/11 environment. Remember 9/11 happened in DC where Georgetown is. I was there.
Thanks for your feedback. Very much appreciated.