Ranking International Relation Programs

<p>Okay, so after 20 pages, I think I have a good idea on graduate programs. However, what about undergrad? Yes, I know, it doesn't matter, just work hard, internships, work experience, etc. But these acceptance rates are very discouraging to me and I'm starting to look harder at state public schools. Is it at all possible to get into programs like SAIS, SIS, etc. with just a public school degree? I'm looking at University of Arkansas-Fayetteville. It's the best school in the state ... and very cheap, what with my residence.</p>

<p>Obviously, I know that other (private, expensive, highly selective) schools are prefered, and if possible, I want to go to Georgetown for undergrad. But if it really doesn't even matter that much, should I even major in anything international? What about just poli sci?</p>

<p>This is how I spend my Christmas Eve -- blah. Stressing over the rest of my educational life. :)</p>

<p>I'm going to apply to the exchanging student program of my university this January. I'm majoring in polisci & IR at Korea university and my minor is international studies.
as you mentioned that at undergrad level, ranking of programs is not that easy
I don't want you to give me the ranking list.</p>

<p>what I want to know here is that....
I have a few options to choose among US universities. Let me just name them first.</p>

<ol>
<li>U.Penn</li>
<li>U. Virginia</li>
<li>SUNY Buffalo</li>
<li>UMSL (U.Missouri-St.Louis)</li>
<li>West Virginia Uni</li>
<li>U.Cincinnati</li>
</ol>

<p>I know that those first two unis are better than others but just in case I need to prepare to be located in other schools that I did not expect...
I've heard that the location (close to DC) is quite important for internships. But do you think it is possible for someone like me - international student to get an internship there, DC? </p>

<p>I'm just confused... while I've been reading all those messages posted here, I feel like I'm in another world! guess I need to admit that I'm not a native American......</p>

<p>could you give me any advice, please? :)</p>

<p>ah... and if some schools on the list above are so crappy to apply, please tell me. I have to remove them from my selection. ;) thanx.</p>

<p>p.s.>
I was just wondering when I read UCSD is pretty highly ranked from somewhere but as I read what UCLAri posted here, now I can understand why. Pacific-rim studies, sounds interesting. hehe :)</p>

<p>renoirbleu,</p>

<p>The only problem you face as a foreign national is not being able to get internships with the US government (which are oftentimes the most interesting ones.) However, I know that Penn uses the UCDC building in Washington, DC like the University of California does, which would let you spend a semester in DC studying and doing an internship if you want. I cannot say exactly how that works at Penn, however.</p>

<p>Take UMSL off the list. That is the least Intl school I can think of.</p>

<p>American?</p>

<p>Unfortunately, renoirbleu may be limited only to the schools his school has an agreement with...However, I'd add Georgetown, GWU, and American in a heartbeat.</p>

<p>it is called WUSTL
not UMSL</p>

<p>Nah. It's called University</a> of Missouri-St. Louis.</p>

<p>ok..
i just never heard of it
so automatically
WUSTL came to mind</p>

<p>Ok, for IR undergrad, can anyone compare the following programs and the
prestige/effect that going there will have on ability to get internships during undergrad, get into grad school, and get a real job someday? I am not as concerned about campus attributes as I am about local buzz/reputation that comes with being a fine student at any of the three. Also, are the student
populations at the three fairly similar since many undergrads apply to all three? Finally, do the adcomms compare lists of applicants between the 3
prior to handing out their decisions?</p>

<p>I'm not sure I noticed which three programs you're interested in...</p>

<p>"But if it really doesn't even matter that much, should I even major in anything international? What about just poli sci?"</p>

<p>Yeah I've also wondered about that.</p>

<p>UCLAri
Whoops! The three programs I was asking you to compare were all DC:
American, GW, GU. How would you rate the academics, internship opportunities and social atmospere at each? Thanks.</p>

<p>There's a sort of pantheon in DC, with Georgetown sitting squarely at the top, and GW and American kind of fight over the second spot. Or at least that seems to be my impression. I personally see the undergrad program at Georgetown having a distinct edge academically. My word, however, is not necessarily canon. </p>

<p>Internship opportunities in DC are incredible. You may not always end up in Brookings or the State Dept., but there are literally thousands of places where one can intern and get substantive experience. Competition for the top programs is of course fierce, but the three you're comparing are going to all do a good job of getting students into good positions.</p>

<p>I don't know enough about any of those three socially to say much, but DC itself is a great town.</p>

<p>Thanks, UCLAri. Would you go so far as to recomend Georgetown, GW,
and American over the likes of UVA, William and Mary, or UNC-Chapel Hill
for undergrad IR education? Or is it possible to get a good grounding in IR at
a big public uni and then pursue grad degree in DC?</p>

<p>Well, I did go to a big public uni and did get into some DC programs of note for grad, so I think the answer is definitely yes.</p>

<p>I'm a bit on the fence about undergrad IR programs vs. a solid poli sci or econ background. For one, I think that many of the IR programs don't provide nearly enough quantitative skills. And I also think that any decent poli sci department's IR concentration will cover the majority of what a student needs in terms of foundational skills and knowledge. On the other hand, Georgetown and other DC schools are rife with internship opportunities in the heart of where it all matters, so they have a serious practical advantage.</p>

<p>Would I take Georgetown at the same price or even a few $K premium? Yes. Would I take it over UVA and $80K less debt? No. Many, if not most, of the top careers are going to want grad work anyway, and in that case, it's even more debt...</p>

<p>after about an hour or so of going through all of the past two year's posts i finally came to the end! </p>

<p>anyway, i definitely learned a lot and was glad to see that the small amount of research i had done was very similar to what most people were posting...but i also was curious about a few other schools...</p>

<p>i graduated from ucla with a poli sci degree in june and now im in portugal teaching english and will be for at least the next year or so...this summer im hoping to get an internship in england but we will see how that goes...and im fluent in portuguese...my gpa was pretty low...3.0 so im pretty worried that i wont be getting into the top tiered schools so i was curious to see what the opinions were for the next 10 below the list we have been looking at...and i still haven't taken my GRE so im planning on doing that this summer...if i apply for next fall...basically im up in the air right now thinking about what to do with my future but i know that i want to do international relations or maybe conflict resolution because i really want to eventually get into international law...</p>

<p>anyway, so my long winded point of all of this is how are schools like university of denver, george mason, university of pittsburg, catholic university, institute of world politics, seton hall, carnegie mellon, university of maryland, and fordham as far as their international relations programs?</p>

<p>if anyone has any input on any of those schools it would be greatly appreciated...and if any of those are considered unreputable please also let me know! OR if i just basicaly have no chance also let me know! haha thanks so much!</p>

<p>UCLAri-</p>

<p>Greetings again, and Happy New Year.</p>

<p>So you're a quarter down. What are your impressions of UCSD after going through the first quarter? Do you have any more insight into the West Coast/East Coast dispute, i.e., any regrets yet? At what point do people start scrambling to get internships between their 1st and 2nd years? I ask this because when I was in law school, most hiring decisions for legal jobs between first and second year were based almost entirely on 1st semester grades. </p>

<p>Basically, how does the process work at this point? When do you start trying to land the "big jobs." What are those "big jobs"? What kind of pedigree/grades/experience do you have to have to get those jobs? Is it supercompetitive (like law school) and miserable because everyone around you is stressed out, or is it pretty laid back and fun?</p>

<p>Cheers,
California Lawyer</p>

<p>California Lawyer,</p>

<p>My impressions are that the program is challenging, informative, and quite enjoyable. I have no regrets choosing this program. Not only did I get an offer for an internship with the State Dept., I've had plenty of help along the way getting there. People here actually start scrambling for internships their first year-- especially if they want to do work in the government-- as the summer looms over our heads every day. The IR/PS career center is constantly prodding and pushing us to stay on the ball, get an internship, make contacts, do this, do that. It's tiring, but they sure have gotten me off my sorry butt.</p>

<p>
[quote]
When do you start trying to land the "big jobs." What are those "big jobs"?

[/quote]
</p>

<p>This is an impossible question to answer, really. For me, it's the federal government. For my roommate, it's a big corporation in supply chains. For my other friend, it's with one of the top NGOs working on Latin America. In a way, this is pretty nice because it reduces rancor between students. Why compete over something when there's nothing to compete over?</p>

<p>For me it's been pretty easy getting what I want. For others...not so much. Those who want to go corporate find themselves competing with the MBAs from UCLA, Cal, Stanford, Harvard, etc. Not always fun. For me, it's great because the State Dept. knows our program and seems to have tons of respect for it. </p>

<p>I doubt that you'd find it supercompetitive after law school, by the way. That's nice, but it also let me slack off a bit this first quarter. That wasn't good.</p>

<p>Hello, UCLAri!
thank you for your comment first.
Well... today I got the official announcement of Exchange Student Programme(ESP) and I found that there is NO U.Penn ESP this sememster. how frustrating... instead, University of Virginia is still available and as someone commented above, I decided to delete UMSL from my list.
but still I don't know what I can do....
I found that "Science Po" and "Univ. of Edinburgh" are also available.
I am simply so nervous to choose which university would be better for me to enhance my english ability and provide some new IR course that I couldn't get at my home uni. but stilll going to europe seems very difficult to me.</p>

<p>because I've been reading all the comments here, I'm very well aware of good US grad schools for IR program. the problem is that I have an extremely limited list to look up. phew~ </p>

<p>I think if I go to science po I would be able to learn French (which I learned two years ago and suddenly stopped). but I'm not sure if that decision can be better than to apply for UV first. I need to prioritize my decisions.
I don't want to go to Edinburgh and all I'm thinking of is just UV or science po.
as an IR student, I'm very shameful... because I have no excellent second foreign language ability. so I think... maybe if I go to Science po, it would be a great chance to learn French better than EVER.</p>

<p>aarr...... :( what do you think?
do you think if I go to UV, it would be easy to get access to DC for everything great? you know what I mean....</p>

<p>studying in france and US would be totally different I think even though it is one year length program... I think it will infleunce my further study interests and as well as my grad school selection.</p>

<p>so confused thesedays....</p>

<p>could you guys give me advice please? i_i</p>

<p>You're an undergrad, right? I'd go to France and work on another language, if I were you. </p>

<p>Disclaimer: This is just my opinion and by no means the word of Providence.</p>