Ranking International Relation Programs

College Majors
521

<p>Hi,
I've finally settled on IRPS as my final choice (turned down SIPA). </p>

<p>Regarding SE Asia languages, I know the Thai section is new so that's why it's not yet on the course listing. Furthermore, I believe (not 100% sure) that Bahasa can be taken w/ undergrads in several sections before advancing to the IRPS section of the langauge. Maybe UCLAri could confirm?</p>

<p>Ari, I've been struggling w/ the regional concentration decision. I am very interested in SE Asia and China but, as a mono-lingual American, I fear the langauges could be a bit out of my grasp (I'm also tone-deaf so Thai and Mandarin are out). </p>

<p>Question: Should I study LatAm region in the interest of learning a 2nd language, even though I don't have the same zest for the region as, say, China? Spanish is my best shot and, as we all know, you should know one other language AT A MINIMUM.</p>

<p>If I study Korean or Bahasa (non-tonal languages) I fear that 2 years will just skim the surface and I may or may not have future opps to work in those countries & improve my language skills. That, to me, translates to a wash. I'd know "a little" Korean but no guarentee I'd ever continue with the learning.</p>

522

<p>scandal-less,</p>

<p>It's not a perfect solution, but IR/PS WILL do its best to either have you take classes at the undergrad level (UCSD offers many classes that IR/PS does not) or off-campus. Imperfect, but considering how many languages there are to learn in the world, probably the best solution it can offer considering its size (250).</p>

<p>I'm not 100% sure how Thai is handled, but I did hear that it can be done. I don't remember where I said it's offered, though? Heh...</p>

<p>I tend to think that Bahasa or Vietnamese are the most interesting. Bahasa is widely spoken and Vietnamese is probably the most commonly used amongst the academically/professionally-interested American community (e.g. us). </p>

<p>
[quote]
I've finally settled on IRPS as my final choice (turned down SIPA).

[/quote]
</p>

<p>Your checkbook will thank you. :)</p>

<p>
[quote]
Regarding SE Asia languages, I know the Thai section is new so that's why it's not yet on the course listing. Furthermore, I believe (not 100% sure) that Bahasa can be taken w/ undergrads in several sections before advancing to the IRPS section of the langauge. Maybe UCLAri could confirm?

[/quote]
</p>

<p>Yes, you can take whatever is offered at the undergrad level and then just work your way up. Don't worry about being tone-deaf. I'm the worst singer in the world, but I got by in Mandarin. Sure, I've forgotten it all now, but I got an A- back in the day.</p>

<p>I'd study what you're interested in. You might be surprised by how quickly you pick up another language. The hardest part with Chinese won't be the tones, in my opinion, but the hanzi (characters). If you aren't interested in Latin America, don't do Spanish. I'm personally not completely hot on Japan anymore, and I kind of cringe when I sign up for language classes.</p>

<p>And it's not the teacher, who is wonderful, supportive, and has an excellent pedagogy. It's me. I just don't want to learn Japanese anymore. :(</p>

<p>In other words, choose a region and language you're interested in. That will carry you very far.</p>

<p>If you guys would like to maybe set up a meeting/IM chat, feel free to e-mail or IM me. I think a lot of this is best hashed out in discussion rather than forums.</p>

523

<p>
[quote]
I am very interested in SE Asia and China but, as a mono-lingual American, I fear the langauges could be a bit out of my grasp (I'm also tone-deaf so Thai and Mandarin are out).

[/quote]
</p>

<p>Congratulations. IRPS and SIPA are a couple of great options. And IRPS is a good selection in its own right for far more than financial reasons.</p>

<p>I echo what UCLAri said about studying what you want, in terms of language. It's a common misconception that tone-recognition abilities of the sort associated with music is a make-or-break with Mandarin. There's a study showing that these facilities (music vs. language tone recognitiion or abilities) are actually resident in different parts of the brain.</p>

<p>Look at the following threads to see debates about languages. I would say that you should figure out where you're likely to want to pursue a career geographically. A tough call without more experience, but one worth considering anyway.</p>

<p>Chinese is a good language for general Asian purposes, esp. SE Asia as well as China. Bahasa seems super easy to learn.</p>

<p>Japanese is by all accounts somewhat harder to learn than Chinese. I specifically looked at Chinese vs. Japanese culture before I went down the road of learning one or the other of the languages. I opted for Chinese, and I spent a bit of time in SE Asia, happy that at least I had Chinese.</p>

<p>There is a risk that you really are not good at foreign languages. Chinese is a tough way to break yourself in or to find this out. It is a challenging language for anyone (see the threads). In terms of memorization requirements, it's one of the worst. In terms of grammar difficulty, it's easy. In terms of tones, tough.</p>

<p><a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=343173%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=343173&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

524

<p><a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=324441%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=324441&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p><a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=310391%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=310391&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

525

<p>Hey UCLAri, i have a question. It is a little off topic but how were your grades in your Japanese classes? Did you find them very difficult, or were As manageable enough?</p>

526

<p>Here at IR/PS or at UCLA?</p>

<p>At IR/PS an A is doable if you just study for the exams and turn things in on time.</p>

<p>At UCLA, it was the same...but a little more time-intensive.</p>

527

<p>Okay - imagine that money is no object because I will be getting substantial financial aid (NOT a rich kid). Also keep in mind that I don't need this degree to just "get a good job" because I already have a good job paying 60k a year w/ benefits in a government environment w/o a college degree. Thank you military experience! These are the things that I am most interested in for my undergrad experience:</p>

<p>STRONG IR program
Respected Institution
Access to Teachers
Vibrant, Exciting Campus
Comfortable, (and some) Historic Facilities (Well maintained)
Great Gym
Like-minded peers who want to learn for the sake of learning and do well in school.</p>

<p>So which school comes to mind for you that fits my criteria: </p>

<p>George Washington or American?</p>

528

<p>I tend to lean toward GWU, personally.</p>

529

<p>You seem to want to stay close to DC, so:</p>

<p>Georgetown SFS
GWU Elliot School
University of Maryland CP
UVA
American</p>

<p>All good. I think I'd prefer G'Town first, then UVA (better school, but out of the city) tied with GW Elliot School (solid school, in the city), and then UMCP (better school, but in CP) tied with American (in the city).</p>

<p>This is primarily a personal preference list, with some judgements of quality thrown in, not an absolute ordering of school in terms of only quality.</p>

530

<p>It is very very important to check into the depth of course offerings--and verify with current students the difficulty of getting into good courses--or even required courses. A couple of the schools on that list have very shallow IR offerings in my opinion--and I know current students who could not take JYA because they could not access their required courses in due time.</p>

<p>Besides UMd, consider other merit aid/fin aid schools--WUSTL, BU, UNC + Tufts--and spend the summers in DC doing internships if you don't get the aid from SFS. Besides SFS, the other IR schools in DC have as many disadvantages as advantages--IMO. </p>

<p>Also, an IR major consists of a number of required courses from a variety of 'tracks'. Try to figure out which tracks appeal to you and investigate the course offerings for those tracks. You should be looking for courses that will make your mouth water as a junior and senior. You should also look at the availability of grad level courses you might want to take as a junior or senior.</p>

531

<p>Thought I'd ask again,</p>

<p>Does anyone know anything about University of San Francisco's MA in International and Development Economics?</p>

<p>Thanks,</p>

<p>Courtney</p>

532

<p>GC: I would find out what people do with this degree. There isn't frankly much to do with an International and Development Economics Master's degree full-stop. And while I have respect for USF, San Francisco doesn't have international development jobs whereas DC does (but even there, this kind of Master's doesn't get you a lot and probably not at all if it comes from USF -- being blunt). Development jobs tend to go to people who have some technical abilities that have been developed in the field or who have more advanced econ. degrees than this kind of MA. Typically, the World Bank or US govt. won't hire someone with that kind of a degree unless they have great experience on top of it.</p>

<p>Now I have made some big grand generalizations which you should check out and verify or reject as you see fit, but I did work in international development in DC for over 5 years.</p>

<p>Good luck.</p>

533

<p>I'm more or less in line with BedHead on this. </p>

<p>As far as I'm concerned, 90% of the non-[url=<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Association_of_Professional_Schools_of_International_Affairs%5DAPSIA%5B/url"&gt;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Association_of_Professional_Schools_of_International_Affairs]APSIA[/url&lt;/a&gt;] schools aren't worth it. There's too much cachet loss at stake.</p>

<p>Especially if you're going into generally unprofitable fields.</p>

534

<p>Thanks bedhead and uclari, I appreciate the insight. I'm trying to decide between Monterey and USF...want to stay on the west coast for now. Any thoughts on MIIS?</p>

<p>Thanks,</p>

<p>Courtney</p>

535

<p>Monterey is far superior in my opinion. It's widely respected and known.</p>

536

<p>hey guys, I know for sure that when its time for college, I'm going to major in IR. I'm also very sure about getting a phd and academia is a very strong posibility, however the CIA and UN and Embassies are very strong posibilities for me as well. I was actually born in egypt and speak english and arabic very very fluently (you wouldn'y know which country i live in...) so i guess that'll help me. I was just wondering, what do you guys think about Syracuse's undergrad program? I knwo the maxwell school is extremely good but for undergrad i would be going to the the school of arts and science, so what do you guys think of the school? how is it's placement with grad schools? If i maintain a high GPA in college and get several internships, will i be able to attend top notch schools? This summer I'm actually inernshipping at senator Menendez's office... I know its kind of early but i really want to know what you guys think of syracuse undergrade because it's really been growing on me latly.. Thanx.</p>

537

<p>Syracuse is an excellent school, and a good option.</p>

<p>As far as the CIA goes, I have a few questions...</p>

<ul>
<li> Are you a citizen? How long have you been a citizen? Are your parents citizens? How many of your family and friends are non-citizens?</li>
<li> Do you regularly travel to Egypt?</li>
</ul>

<p>As far as the career goes,
- Are you really sure you know what you want? PhD/academia and CIA are very very different careers. Keep your options open and realize that your goals will change over time.</p>

538

<p>well actually I was born in the U.S but lived in egypt until i was nine. Both my parents are citizens. I dont really know about family members but I"m pretty sure they're all citizens. We go back to egypt to visit evry other summer for 2 weeks or a 1 month or so. As far as my carear, I've always wanted to either become a professer in IR, work for the UN or an embassy...but I've recently become very interested in the CIA, FBI ect... I know their two totally different things but i think by majoring in IR, i'll later be able to make that final decision, so i am sorta of keeing my options open. One thing about syracuse, some poeple I've asked just say that it's a journalism/communications school and that everything else including the IR programs is bad and that it's not very respected...should i take this with a grain of salt or is there some truth to this?</p>

539

<p>I see no problem with Syracuse. "People" say a lot of things. What are your other options, though? I tend to eschew IR undergrad programs because I don't think that they offer flexibility that may be desirable at the undergrad level.</p>

<p>It sounds to me like you have a rough idea of what you want to do. I would keep an open mind and perhaps consider a standard BA program at a number of universities. All you really need at the undergrad level to excel in IR is math, econ, language, and some poli sci courses.</p>

540

<p>List of schools: Rutgers/u-conn/syracuse/rochester/NYU/McGill</p>