Major in International Relations

College Majors
1

<p>I am planning on majoring in IR as a freshman next year. However, I am not sure on which region to focus on: Middle East or Latin America. In this case, if I focused on ME, I would probably want to learn Arabic and French. For LA, I would stick with my Spanish (which I am currently taking AP Spanish and getting an A) and learn Portuguese. However, there are problems with both options. For ME, it would be hard to learn Arabic since all the schools I got accepted to do not offer Arabic. How do I learn such a hard language? Also, there is a wide possibility of getting kidnapped if I worked in ME affairs. There are some benefits with ME though. I am by far more interested in ME affairs, and learning Arabic could help me get a job with the State dept (although I don't want to base my major on that one, hypothetical career that would be hard to get). </p>

<p>However, as for LA, Latin America also tends to be have one of the most dangerous regions in the world. They have the highest homicide rate, over 60,000 people died in Mexico last several years or so from the drug war, etc. I have a considerable interest in LA affairs, but not as much as ME. However, some of my colleges have strong LA departments, course offerings, and possible internships. While many people already speak Spanish in the US and would not be as in demand by the State dept (and thus harder to work for such an agency), it does have better backdoor opportunities in working in business, domestic and international. While ME isn't the best region for business (except for oil), LA has a lot more natural resources with Brazil and Mexico in mind. Knowing Portuguese in this regard may be very helpful.</p>

<p>Overall, what does the CC community think I should do in terms of what region to focus on? I've been thinking about this long and hard, and it's a hard decision to make. As for other regions such as Asia, I don't have a strong interest at all in places like China, so learning Chinese or Japanese for business would be a lot harder if I don't have an interest.</p>

2

<p>Um…I’m not sure what “wide possibility” of getting kidnapped in the ME is…And unless your planning on being on the field in a drug cartel run area I wouldn’t be too worried about that either…</p>

<p>With that said, if you want to do ME, do ME, and since your school doesn’t offer Arabic just continue to take Spanish. There are plenty of other ways to learn Arabic, software, tutors, make friends with an international student, etc. Or study abroad in the ME. Both regions will have plenty of other job opportunities if you don’t end up working for the government.</p>