<p>Please help! No one responded on this topic when I previously posted. But it's important to try again, so please do share if you are able. I would really like to know more about both of these programs...</p>
<p>ILVS is fairly new at Tufts but it sounds interesting. Tufts website says same it's essentially the same as IR but with an Arts and Humanities focus rather than Social Sciences. Would like to ask any students and faculty for input. From a student, how did or do you like the program and what are/were your goals for participating...what do/did you hope to get out of it? Why is/was it a fit for you? Maybe Dan can recommend a student we can correspond with regarding this new program...would greatly appreciate it. </p>
<p>Regarding IGL, also wanting to know anything about personal experiences of students, how they participated and what they get out of it? Thank you!</p>
<p>Don’t know much about ILVS, but I know about IR, and I’m extremely skeptical about claiming similarities between them. The caveat that IR has a social science focus and ILVS has a humanities focus is misleading: International Relations IS social science. Most of your courses as an IR major are political science and economics courses, plus language. Most of your courses as an ILVS major are cultural studies: literature, film, perhaps history, etc. The common denominator is that both require a good degree of fluency in a second language. I know there are concentrations within IR that are a lot more culture-based, but the foundational courses are still social science courses.</p>
<p>The IGL is great. Doesn’t offer many courses besides the occasional Experimental College course, but they offer a lot of programs that may not get you credit, but sure teach you a lot. If you’re dedicated, they’ll probably send you somewhere like Guatemala or the Philippines to do some pretty exciting stuff. I always wish I’d been more involved with IGL. My friend made contacts through IGL programs that ended up with her being sent as an intern/secretary to a secret peace conference between Iraqi tribal leaders. No ****.</p>
<p>I really appreciate the distinction you just made. I did actually read on the ILVS link the comparison which definitely gave me the impression it was like IR but Arts and Humanities focused. I tried emailing one of the course professors but no response.</p>
<p>Would be very interested in knowing more about the IR concentrations you mention which are more culture-based. </p>
<p>Also, regarding IGL, don’t understand what you mean “doesn’t offer many courses besides the occasional Experimental College course…offer alot of programs that my not get you credit”…I saw the IGL site and counted 21 programs, are these then not considered courses or programs in which a student can obtain credit?</p>
<p>The [IR program](<a href=“Homepage | International Relations Program”>Homepage | International Relations Program) has a core curriculum required of all students and six thematic concentrations you must pick from. Check out the sixth option there, Ideology and Culture in International Affairs. Even in that thematic concentration, at least half of your classes, and possibly many more depending on what you choose, will be in economics, political science, or history. </p>
<p>Both programs require, in addition to their own coursework, eight semesters of language study. This is by far the largest similarity between the two of them. The academic experiences of an IR major and an ILVS major are very different.</p>
<p>Could you give me a link for the IGL programs you’re talking about? They host the EPIIC program every year, which counts for credit (though not enough), but apart from that and the occasional oddball class, most of their programs are extracurricular.</p>
<p>Your commentary is most helpful and I appreciate it.
The link (there’s a better way to do this, and would like to learn how you did it in your last entry) is [Institute</a> for Global Leadership](<a href=“http://www.tuftsgloballeadership.org%5DInstitute”>http://www.tuftsgloballeadership.org). EPIIC is indeed listed as one of the 21 programs I counted. In clicking on it though and comparing it to the others, it is definitely much more involved, and does seem like a course of study rather than a program. Very interesting. Is it as intense as it sounds and am wondering how a participant in that program fits in those requirements with IR, IA or ILVS undergrad requirements (or any other major for that matter)? </p>
<p>Also, jumping back over the the subject of ILVS…wondering how that course of study could be applied beyond college…what current students in the program hope to get out of it…or what professors think. Maybe I will try emailing that department again!</p>
<p>Ah, I see, the list under “Programs”. Yes, most of those are extracurricular. Many of the more arduous or research-based internships can be counted for credit through PS 99, a one-credit (I believe graded) course that exists solely as a method of giving credit for highly relevant poli sci-related work experience. For IR, some such internship is actually a requirement of graduation.
EPIIC is more intense than it sounds, for the first semester anyway. The preferred course of action for dealing with it is to drop all other extracurriculars that semester and take a reduced course-load of other classes.<br>
As far as fitting that program into other majors, the EPIIC classes do not automatically count for anything. Based on the subject matter (EPIIC has a different theme each year, go through the archives for some examples), you can likely petition your department to accept credit for these classes. This is common.</p>
<p>As for what ILVS majors would want to do, I have no idea. I’ve known two ILVS majors. One is currently on a Fulbright teaching scholarship in Austria, and her goal in life is to become a piano accompanist and musical director for musical theater. The other is double majoring in art history and wants to be an art critic.</p>
<p>And finally, for embedding links in text, type the following without any spaces:
[ url = h t t p : / / whateversiteyouwanttolinkto . com ] whatever text you want hyperlinked goes in here [ / url ]</p>
<p>Thanks Snarf…you’re a wealth of relevant information and making me feel this CC blog is worthwhile and constructive…(sometimes I have wondered!). Helpful advice on the EPIIC…which you say is “more” intense than it sounds…and it already sounds fairly intense! But, the way to handle is good to know. Interested to follow the archive you mentioned, next on my agenda. Thx!</p>
<p>Before I scare you off of EPIIC, the people I’ve known who’ve done EPIIC loved it, had a lot of fun with it, made great friends with the other kids in the program, and a lot of them found some really amazing opportunities.
You just have to think of EPIIC as both academic work and an extracurricular, and then it doesn’t seem quite so ridiculous. If you’re interested, I would plan to do it in your sophomore year. Freshman year might be a bit early to leap into something like that, junior year you might want to keep open for going abroad at least one semester (EPIIC is for both the fall and spring semesters), and by senior year you may not have enough time left to capitalize on the opportunities presented.</p>
<p>Disclaimer: I’ve never done EPIIC. (Sure wish I had done it this year, but I went to Madrid last semester so I couldn’t.) My interests trend toward this global leadership sort of thing though (I did Summer Scholars last summer), so I’ve taken classes with dozens of kids who’ve done EPIIC, I’m friends with a handful, and very close friends with a small few, so this information is coming from them.</p>
<p>Okay, fair enough! So just to be certain, is EPIIC a one or two semester program? Do you travel for EPIIC in the same year you do the program, if you want to?</p>
<p>Something like one and two thirds of a semester. The firs semester is very intense, and leads up to a symposium that students host in the second semester (typically they present their own research as well as recruit guest speakers from academia, government, and policy). After the symposium, the work-load dies down considerably, with the remainder being largely wrap-up reports of what you learned and what happened. This lasts through the rest of the semester, but is a very light work-load.</p>
<p>You get one full credit for each semester.</p>
<p>One need not travel with EPIIC, or with IGL at all, in order to be involved. No EPIIC students that I have heard of were asked to actually travel FOR EPIIC itself. I imagine it’s possible. Really depends on the program you want to travel with, and the circumstances.</p>
<p>In response to your questions: I am a freshman in EPIIC now (or was, since the year is over), and man do I have a lot of opinions on it…</p>
<p>It’s a two semester program, though the bulk of the work is first semester. The second semester is the symposium, as well as Inquiry which is a high school simulation program that’s actually A LOT of fun, and then the final paper at the end of the year (25 pages…most EPIICers left it until last minute and thus, while everyone else was out sunbathing on the lawn or party it up with their friends, we were pulling allnighters to get this done)</p>
<p>Regarding travel, EPIIC definitely gives you the opportunity and excuse to travel, should you want to do so. I got an (almost) all expenses paid research trip to Ethiopia out of it, and it was an amazing experience. 6 of us went on this trip (5 from EPIIC, and 1 girl from Engineers without Borders). I kind of BSed my way through the final paper, which was based on my research, but the seniors especially got a lot out of this. One of them wrote a 76 pg research paper that she’s submitting to the World Bank in hopes of a job, the other won a national contest and just spoke before the United Nations. Makes me feel like a slacker in comparison.</p>
<p>I would say not to do EPIIC your freshman year unless you are ABSOLUTELY in love with the topic (next year is focused on south asia). Really that’s true of whatever year you do it, but especially as a freshman, because it’s so intense, and kind of takes over your life. I would say get involved in the extracurricular activities that the IGL offers, get your name known with Sherman and Heather etc, and then do EPIIC after that. The best part about the IGL are the vast resources offered, which are increasingly important as an upperclassmen. For example, I frequently get emails from people that are recruiting especially among the IGL. These emails have come from some really cool places where I’d love to work - like the Council on Foreign Relations, which asked specifically for an IGL student/alum. But you don’t have to be in EPIIC to take advantage of them.</p>
<p>And in terms of its difficulty, EPIIC has been compared to a graduate level course, except for undergrads.</p>