Looking for: Best International Relations and Modern Language Schools

College Search & Selection
1

<p>Mini-disclaimer: Not that college applicants' opinions aren't valid, but I'm mostly looking for opinions of college graduates/professors/people who would really have some knowledge of the fields/colleges that I'm looking at.</p>

<hr>

<p>I am a high school senior looking for a college that will allow me to pursue a public policy career with an international focus.</p>

<p>Most important to me are:
1) A strong international relations program
2) Strong modern languages - in particular, Chinese and Arabic
3 and 4) Overall quality (especially of professors!), as well as a good selection of quality courses to supplement my major/concentration (or in case I change my mind!)</p>

<p>Here is my short list so far (in no particular order):
1. Swarthmore
2. Stanford
3. Princeton
4. Harvard
5. Yale
6. Georgetown</p>

<p>Maybe:
1. Dartmouth
2. Claremont schools? (pending info on their Arabic program)
3. Tufts</p>

<p>I would very much prefer to be <em>near</em> a city; if not, then being in one would be alright. (The reason why Dartmouth is a "maybe" school is because it's pretty much far from everything.)</p>

<p>Assuming I can get in to any school I want (who knows? But I figure if I don't work off of that assumption, then it definitely won't happen), I have two questions for you:</p>

<p>1) Within each list, in what order of preference would <em>you</em> place the colleges?
2) Are there any other colleges you would add to this list that I haven't thought of?
3) Should any of these colleges <em>not</em> be on my list?
*4) If you are IN any of these colleges and can tell me about the language and/or political science programs, would you please?</p>

<p>Keep in mind:
- Language program (Chinese/Arabic) strength is especially important, since all of these schools are highly rated for international relations.
- Swarthmore may seem like an odd choice for languages, but I plan on taking full advantage of the language-course co-op with UPenn.</p>

<p>Thank you very much for your advice,
~Ethan</p>

2

<p>I don't think you should rule out a school just because it doesn't have a language program. If you're just looking to learn a language to have under your belt, you can easily take classes elsewhere. Many of the Claremonts, especially Claremont McKenna, are pretty stellar in IR. Otherwise, your list looks good.</p>

3

<p>Tufts should definitely not be in your "maybe" list—move it to your final list! It and Georgetown likely have the best International Relations programs at the undergrad (Grad,too) level.</p>

4

<p>For Tufts, I'm just worried about their (so-so, it seems) financial aid (as well as their limited Arabic program). I've definitely heard that their focus is on international affairs, though, so I'm still torn!</p>

5

<p>The Arabic program isn't limited as far as my personal experience shows. And financial aid isn't it either as long as you have demonstrated need.</p>

6

<p>I would suggest University of Chicago. Near Eastern languages are kind of our thing (especially if you can no longer speak them), but we offer a lot of language and culture options in our Near Easter Languages and Civilizations major-- a lot.</p>

<p><a href="http://humanities.uchicago.edu/depts/nelc/%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://humanities.uchicago.edu/depts/nelc/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>We also have a very strong international studies major as well as a strong East Asian Languages and Civilizations studies program. Both of these programs are expanding-- there's been a surge of interest in both international studies and the EALC program.</p>

<p>Says my friend who has taken four languages here and has learned two new ones, language study here is outstanding and rigorous.</p>

<p>It sounds like U of C loses on the urban environment part-- the campus itself is not really urban-- it's in a quiet neighborhood with tree-lined streets and brownstones and this neighborhood itself is about 20 minutes from the Sears Tower. From what I've heard, schools like Penn, Vanderbilt, WashU and Emory have similar setups-- they are in the city, but not "in" the city.</p>

7

<p>Just for kicks:</p>

<p>An aerial view of Chicago's campus:
<a href="http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&ie=UTF8&msa=0&ll=41.789921,-87.596719&spn=0.007583,0.020084&t=k&z=16&om=1%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&ie=UTF8&msa=0&ll=41.789921,-87.596719&spn=0.007583,0.020084&t=k&z=16&om=1&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>An aerial view of Harvard's campus:
<a href="http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=Harvard+University&sll=41.789921,-87.596719&sspn=0.007583,0.020084&ie=UTF8&ll=42.374477,-71.11433&spn=0.007514,0.020084&t=k&z=16&iwloc=addr&om=1%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=Harvard+University&sll=41.789921,-87.596719&sspn=0.007583,0.020084&ie=UTF8&ll=42.374477,-71.11433&spn=0.007514,0.020084&t=k&z=16&iwloc=addr&om=1&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>An aerial view of Yale's campus:
<a href="http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=Yale+University&sll=42.374477,-71.11433&sspn=0.007514,0.020084&ie=UTF8&ll=41.311146,-72.922847&spn=0.00764,0.020084&t=k&z=16&iwloc=addr&om=1%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=Yale+University&sll=42.374477,-71.11433&sspn=0.007514,0.020084&ie=UTF8&ll=41.311146,-72.922847&spn=0.00764,0.020084&t=k&z=16&iwloc=addr&om=1&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>An aerial view of Georgetown's campus:
<a href="http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=Georgetown+University&sll=41.311146,-72.922847&sspn=0.00764,0.020084&ie=UTF8&ll=38.908751,-77.072954&spn=0.007914,0.020084&t=k&z=16&iwloc=addr&om=1%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=Georgetown+University&sll=41.311146,-72.922847&sspn=0.00764,0.020084&ie=UTF8&ll=38.908751,-77.072954&spn=0.007914,0.020084&t=k&z=16&iwloc=addr&om=1&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

8

<p>I'm very much surprised no one has mentioned Middlebury College, a high ranking LAC that has some of the strongest programs available in foreign languages and international relations. Middlebury also offers Chinese and Arabic, to name a few of its options. Midd also has excellent study abroad opportunities!</p>

9

<p>^ I second what Onilawliet said: Middlebury is definitely TOPS for moderns languages</p>

10

<p>Ooh I liked doing that too with Google Maps unalove:</p>

<p>Here's an aerial view of Princeton's campus (my alma mater):
<a href="http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=1+Nassau+St,+Princeton,+NJ+08542&sll=37.125286,-80.068359&sspn=26.662179,58.710938&ie=UTF8&ll=40.347632,-74.656413&spn=0.006247,0.014334&t=k&z=17&iwloc=addr&om=1%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=1+Nassau+St,+Princeton,+NJ+08542&sll=37.125286,-80.068359&sspn=26.662179,58.710938&ie=UTF8&ll=40.347632,-74.656413&spn=0.006247,0.014334&t=k&z=17&iwloc=addr&om=1&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>Unfortunately, the satellite image is a few years old, and many new structures have been built since then (you can see that the Carl Icahn laboratory on the Ellipse still has construction trailers).</p>

11

<p>I once had to look into this along with one of my children. He really wanted to go to a LAC but, when we really started looking at the size/CVs of the faculty and the number of courses offered every year in particular languages or studies in a particular area, the LACs generally didn't measure up. Often, course beyond a certain point were available only as independent study. </p>

<p>There were exceptions. As I recall, the Claremont colleges offered more than 20 faculty in East Asian languages and studies. We thought that was sufficient. As you already know, any consortium has more resources to offer. As I recall, Swarthmore (for instance) was strong in either Japanese or Chinese, but weak in the other. But it's been a while, and I could be wrong about that. As you pionted out, Swat has a consortium that includes Penn, but be careful to check out EXACTLY how easy it is to get classes at Penn and to commute.</p>

<p>I echo the advice about the University of Chicago. You'd be very hard pressed to find a school that does a better job of Near Eastern studies (ancient and modern) and Near Eastern languages. I believe the IR department is also well regarded (though the IR building is an architectural travesty).</p>

12

<p>First of all, thank you all for your advice! I'll definitely have to look into U of C now :)</p>

<p>Second: Middlebury was on my list until recently, but it's SO far away from everything (plus I think it's too cold in Connecticut!) that I decided I'd better only have one "northerly and in the middle of nowhere" maybe-school, and I narrowed it down to Dartmouth because of its IR credentials and the fact that it's one of the VERY few schools to actually offer full majors in both Arabic and Chinese.</p>

13

<p>Penn is great for what you want to do...it has the most comprehensive language center in the country and some real superstars in the language departments for example, google Roger Allen (Arabic). IR/History/Poli Sci depts. are all top notch.</p>

14

<p>Res, Penn is Chicago's only competitor in Near Eastern studies, I believe. That should also be a good option.</p>

15

<p>You should check the Penn course registrar to see the schedule of the courses you'd like to take (<a href="http://www.upenn.edu/registrar/roster/%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.upenn.edu/registrar/roster/&lt;/a&gt;) if they meet daily then it could be extraordinarily inconvenient for you.</p>

<p>You may want to simply look at Penn itself</p>

<p>Penn also just added a 'modern middle east studies' major as an alternative to the NELC (Near-Eastern Languages & Civilizations). NELC of course was more for people interested in cultural stuff, whereas the modern middle east studies, caters more towards people like you who have their minds more on international relations.</p>

<p>There is a similar divide in the Asia studies side: EALC (East Asian Languages & Civilizations) and East Asian Area Studies.</p>

<p>I myself am double-majoring in East Asian Studies and International Relations, and all the faculty in these departments have been phenomenal.</p>

<p>And of course, if you change your mind, it goes without saying that Penn offers more courses than Swarthmore ;)</p>

16

<p>
[quote]
Second: Middlebury was on my list until recently, but it's SO far away from everything (plus I think it's too cold in Connecticut!)

[/quote]
</p>

<p>Well if you think it's too cold in Connecticut, then you'd really hate Vermont, where Middlebury is ACTUALLY located. And get rid of Harvard, Yale, and Tufts, cause they're in New England too (and New England is cold).</p>

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<p>No, I meant that I live in Connecticut and it's too cold for me even here :-p I could make a temperature (and even opportunity) sacrifice for a really great college, though ;)</p>

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<p>That's what all the CA kids here say...</p>

19

<p>Not sure on the language program aspect, but Johns Hopkins has a great International Relations program. </p>

<p>My D is also looking at International Relations. As someone already said, Tufts should be on your list - great school for International Relations.</p>

20

<p>Hopkins is known for excellence in foreign languages.</p>

<p>Middlebury is wonderful for foreign languages, but Hopkins' IR program is reknown. I believe that undergrads can take courses at SAIS in DC, too.</p>

<p>For someone who wants a combination of both, Hopkins is a potentially great choice.</p>