<p>As you can probably tell, I am new to this forum; although, I have been checking the boards for about the past year. If I could get some recommendations for some liberal arts colleges with a good international relations program in or north of virginia, I would be very grateful. </p>
<p>p.s. cookies for who can tell where my user name is from</p>
<p>Swarthmore College (suburb of Philly) was the top-rated liberal arts college for international relations by Foreign Policy magazine.</p>
<p>These rankings were published in the March/April 2007 Issue of Foreign Policy Magazine. (percentages represents the percentages of international relations academics and professionals who named the schools).</p>
<p>Top 20 Undergraduate Programs</p>
<ol>
<li>Harvard University 48%</li>
<li>Princeton University 46%</li>
<li>Stanford University 30%</li>
<li>Georgetown University 28%</li>
<li>Columbia University 28%</li>
<li>Yale University 23%</li>
<li>University of Chicago 21%</li>
<li>University of California-Berkeley 12%</li>
<li>Dartmouth College 11%</li>
<li>George Washington University 10%</li>
<li>American University 10%</li>
<li>University of Michigan 9%</li>
<li>Tufts University 8%</li>
<li>Swarthmore College 8%</li>
<li>University of California-San Diego 8%</li>
<li>Cornell University 6%</li>
<li>Brown University 6%</li>
<li>Williams College 5%</li>
<li>Duke University 5%</li>
<li>Johns Hopkins University 5%"</li>
</ol>
<p>That sure looks like a ranking based on prestige...</p>
<p>I keep hearing Wesleyan University (LAC) mentioned as an IR powerhouse.</p>
<p>"The Financial Times (FT) is a British international business newspaper...The Lex column... features analyses and opinions covering business and financial topics and is global in scope. The FT calls Lex its agenda-setting column."</p>
<p>Gimme cookies.</p>
<p>The ranking was based on polling a very large percentage of working foreign policy professionals and academics.</p>
<p>Tufts technically isn't an LAC anymore, they were for a long time, but they have an incredible IR program.</p>
<p>FT Lex,
My son is a recent Swarthmore grad, a political science major with a specific interest in IR.
He is now in a Ph.D program in IR at a Top 5 university. He was well-prepared by Swarthmore.</p>
<p>William & Mary has an oustanding IR program. Madeline Albright acknowledged it may be the best.</p>
<p>Thank you for all of the helpful information. I don't think that I would do as well at a large university, and the Northeast is my favorite region of the U.S. To Kwu, that question was worth 10 cookies. Enjoy.</p>
<p>FTLex, You could get an excellent IR foundationat any of the academically rigorous Northeast LACs. The actual major may vary -- history, political science, economics -- depending on how the school is structured and your own area of interest. </p>
<p>I've been interacting with high level foreign service officers in the diplomatic corps for 20years and I'm always interested in where they went to college and where they send their kids to college. My observation is that most career diplomatics and high level managers of NGOs have advanced degrees from the same small group of IR programs -- Georgetown, Johns Hopkins, Tufts, Harvard, Princeton, Cal. I'm sure I'm forgetting some;the same 10-12 programs dominate. </p>
<p>BUT, their undergraduate degrees come from all over -- from the ivy league, from state colleges and LACs. The common thread is that they are intelligent, curious people with a great enthusiasm for world culture.</p>
<p>LACs vary widely in personality, environment and teaching style. Chose the one that fits you. Get involved in activities that support your interests. Study abroad. Learn a language or two. Secure internships and summer jobs that further your ambitions. Get to know your professions so that they'll write knockout recommendations for graduate school.</p>
<p>Claremont McKenna in LA has a great program as does Macalester in Minnesota. I know Georgetown isn't a LAC but if you really are interested in IR I highly recommend the SFS (School of Foreign Service). If you are concerned about size Georgetown is only 6,000 undergrads and the SFS is about 2000 of that.</p>
<p>Conn College is known for their international programs
Connecticut</a> College : CISLA Home</p>