MA in International Affairs or Law School?

Graduate School
1

<p>Hello all,</p>

<p>I'm a third year student studying Mandarin Chinese and International Studies (focus on Asia) at UNC-Chapel Hill. I want to go into a career in the government or World Bank/UN with foreign policy/economic development focus/policy analyst or something like that. I'm considering applying to Georgetown, Columbia, Johns Hopkins and American's IR programs in the fall. However, I'm debating whether law school will actually be more beneficial in the long run. Thoughts?</p>

<p>Also, I'll briefly run down my stats so I can also get a feel for if I'm suited for these programs anyway by your standards</p>

<p>School: UNC
Major: Chinese, International Studies
GPA: 3.825
GRE: Projected: V 700 Q 600ish</p>

<p>Activities on campus: co-founded a hunger awareness organization that packages one million meals to be sent abroad every year, co-founded an NGO currently operating in Uganda and here at UNC, co-president of the se asia interest association that fundraisess for a burmese refugee school in thailand every year, does awareness events about refugees, and I tutor burmese refugees in chapel hill</p>

<p>Research: </p>

<p>Did research constructing a socio-economic map of two villages in guatemala--involved doing a 100 surveys in each village. goal: to evaluate the impact of a community center on the growth of one of the villages</p>

<p>Did research on the legacy of Mao Zedong in modern China during my semester in China</p>

<p>Doing my honors thesis on Sino-African relations and studying the Chinese community in Cairo this summer as part of my thesis</p>

<p>Work-experience: Spent a summer working at an NGO in Guatemala and spending this summer working for the Ashoka Foundation in Cairo for 3 months</p>

<p>Other interesting things: spent a semester in China, proficient/fluent in Mandarin, same in Spanish, beginning Arabic this summer, spent a summer studying political and economic development of SE Asia in Singapore and backpacked SE Asia for a month, where i met the leaders of the refugee school in thailand my group now sponsors</p>

<p>I guess I sound all over the place. Humph. I just think law school for international law might be more useful and better prepare me for a career that could do a lot of different things, but it just seems borrring. I think SAIS or SFS would be much more interesting.</p>

<p>All thoughts appreciated. </p>

<p>Thanks,
GetOuttaBuffalo</p>

2

<p>IR sounds like a better fit for you. Don’t go to law school unless you want to be a lawyer.</p>

3

<p>Anyone?<br>
10chars</p>

4

<p>bump because this is exactly what my dilemma is. I graduated in Asian Studies and find IR to be much more interesting and dread law school. However, private international law sounds appealing. I just dread the 4 more years of school (JD + LLM). I’ve found that you can concentrate in international law when doing international studies or international relations. </p>

<p>Where will a international law concentration in an MA IR program get me? Can I still get a position as a legal consultant through that?</p>

5

<p>I would go for the MA in IR. Both fields are crowded, but the situation in the legal market is dire. Right now I would strongly advise against going to law school unless you can get into a Top 14 school or have an employer who’s willing to pay for your legal education. If you have to take out loans and then face the current legal job market, you’re putting yourself in financial peril.</p>

<p>Not to mention, an MA in IR is much more versatile: you can apply it to pretty much anything you have skills or experience in. It’s getting the experience that’s the hard part, though it sounds like you’re well on your way. </p>

<p>Student07, I don’t think you’ll be able to get a legal consultant position without a JD, simply because as mentioned before, there are so many lawyers looking for work, so employers have their pick. Remember that in the current environment, there are people with legal degrees working as paralegals.</p>

6

<p>@Student007‌ – I’m a double IR and Asian Studies major and I attend school in Washington, DC, the place for the greatest amount of job and internship opportunities for people like us. Although @wrathofachilles‌ has a point when he says the legal field is in dire shape, all signs point to the fact that the legal field will rebound in 5-10 years even if most lawyers aren’t practicing. Second, we’re both Asian Studies majors and unfortunately none of it is practical. Like me, you’re probably interested in histories and cultures if you’re doing Asian Studies, but it doesn’t translate to quantitative and qualitative skills that employers need for the field of international relations. Unless you have a coveted language ability, academic skills in research as previously stated, or have a background in econ, you’re likely to fail and take up some crappy “Program Assistant” job or wait it out and become a “Research Assistant” for some temp job. I’ve worked for 2 think tanks here in DC and I see it all the time – Master’s degree graduates who hold jobs that Bachelor’s degree students could have. Although DC has 5% unemployment (and that may sound good), the job market for IR majors is over saturated and overqualified. Now take that example and apply it to a job market that doesn’t have as many job opportunities and see what you get… </p>

<p>From my experiences (I STRESS this), my IR friends who do IR or liberal arts degrees with a consecutive IR degree are the ones who have the lowest paying jobs and worst job outcomes. Eventually they go back to school, go get a professional degree, go to law school, try to join fellowships/programs, or attempt to join the government/Foreign Service. You should REALLY research a lot about what you want to do with this IR degree before you jump in. </p>