<p>Has anyone been in the international studies concentration in LSA at Michigan? I was recently admitted to LSA, and I feel that this concentration fits my interests very well as I hope to go into the foreign service one day (after grad school of course). I have seen at some universities that the IR/IS degree is just a conglomerate of many programs and is not very organized, but is this the case at Michigan?</p>
<p>All feedback is appreciated from students, alumni, etc.</p>
<p>Thanks</p>
<p>The program that exists at Michigan is very new (only been around since '07 I think). I am actually an international studies concentrator in addition to a business major, and if you decide to pursue the program I would absolutely do it as a dual-degree rather than a stand alone major. Don’t get me wrong, I love the program and think it is pretty well organized, but the requirements are minimal and it is very easy to pursue another degree along with it. </p>
<p>I would recommend looking into a language to couple with it as this will add a lot of value to your goal of going into foreign service (Make sure its a large-market language spoken in a lot of countries, especially developing ones - ie) French, Spanish, Portuguese, Arabic). Through the CICS concentration you’re required to do 6 semesters of a language, so maybe do a different language as your other concentration? In addition, look into the program within the concentration that you are pursuing, and see where the most classes are. For foreign service, ECON, POLSCI, SOC, and ANTHRO are all solid choices. </p>
<p>Hope this helps, let me know if you have any more questions!</p>