<p>I have known for some time now that international relations is a field I am very interested in and I plan on majoring in it in college. My problem is, by simply attending college as an undergraduate, although I was accepted into well known IR schools, I will be leaving myself in quite a lot of debt. I am concerned that if I attend an equally prestigous graduate school there will be no possible way to ever pay off all of my loans. Is it feasible to assume that I can get a decent IR job without attending graduate school? Or, if I do go to graduate school, are any IR jobs well-paying enough to pay off all of my loans?</p>
<p>What sort of careers are you aiming for? Foreign Service Officers for the Department of State (e.g. consular officers) currently start out at around $54K with a Bachelor’s degree. Be sure to familiarize yourself with the hiring procedures (and in particular the preferred foreign languages) if you are interested in working for the federal government.</p>
<p>I suggest you ask your college about the post-graduation plans of their IR majors. That will probably give you the best idea of what to expect.</p>
<p>Top IR grad schools in the world
John Hopkins SAIS (and SAIS Bologna)
Georgetown Walsh School of Foreign Service
London School of Economics
Oxford University
American University School of International Studies
Columbia University School of International Affairs</p>
<p>These schools have the best connections and its very hard to break into the IR world with just an undergrad degree. So if you end up going to a great IR school undergrad and a great grad one you will have a lot of good connections.</p>