<p>My high school junior daughter spent a semester in Tasmania as an AFS Exchange Student and had a fabulous experience. She's now starting to think about college choices and is interested in possibly studying international studies. AFS just sent her a brochure from the University of the Pacific and their School of International Studies. Their brochure claims that they are "a university-based school dedicated to international studies, not merely a department or interdepartmental program. In the whole country, there are only five others like us". Anyone know what the other five schools might be? And any suggestions for International Studies programs? Thanks in advance -</p>
<p>if only there was a universal differentiation between int. Studies and int. R
relations...</p>
<p>I'm pretty sure the University of Washington is one of them; they have their own IS school.
I'm also tempted to say that Johns Hopkins does...but I'm not 100% certain. </p>
<p>Also have her look at Middlebury. It has a great international focus, especially if she's interesting in becoming fluent in another language.</p>
<p>Thanks for the info, WorldChanger. In the AFS mailing that included the University of the Pacific info there was also some info from St. John's University in NY - maybe that's what you're thiniking of? Middlebury is a great thought although too close to home (we live in Vermont). And ILoveBagels, my daughter just asked me the same question - what is the difference between programs in International Studies and International Relations? Anyone out there know the distinction?</p>
<p>I'm not sure on the difference between intl studies and intl relations, but several schools in DC are very strong in that sort of field (largely due to their location!) Check out Georgetown, American University, and GWU.</p>
<p>International Relations has more of a political focus.
International Studies has more of a cultural focus. </p>
<p>I actually meant the Johns Hopkins in Baltimore. But St. John's might have something similar too. :)</p>
<p>I wouldn't really let Pacific deceive you with their brochure. I'm an IR major (sort of) and i've done a fair amount of research on strong IR programs. Never heard of Pacific even mentioned b4 as a good IR school. In terms of other "university based schools dedicated to International Studies," I'd venture a guess that they mean:</p>
<p>The Walsh School of Foreign Service, Georgetown University
The Elliot School of International Affairs, George Washington University
The School of International Service, American University
The School of International Relations, University of Southern California
and University of the Pacific </p>
<p>These 5 schools are special in so much as they all exist as colleges or schools within major universities and grant undergraduate degrees. Truthfully, the first four are much more well known than Pacific. </p>
<p>A word of caution however, while these types of school are great for IR/IS/IA (I'm enrolled in one) there are many other great IR programs as majors within other colleges. Most notably the Ivies (esp. Harvard, Yale, Princeton, and Columbia), Johns Hopkins, Tufts, UCLA, Berkeley, and Stanford. You don't have to attend a separated IR school to get a great IR education.</p>
<p>It might also depend on what she wants to do with an international studies/relations degree. Business? Diplomat? Academia?</p>
<p>As we've sorted it out a bit more I think what she's looking for is definitely International Studies, or something with a more cultural focus. Not sure what her career path might be but she'd like to do the Peace Corps at some point. Ideas with this direction?</p>
<p>Perhaps Goucher? I don't know about its international studies major per se, but I've heard that it's focused very globally and really strives to make its students global citizens. I believe it has a study abroad requirement.</p>
<p>Tufts, Georgetown, Johns Hopkins</p>
<p>My daughter is also a Jr...planning on a double major International Studies/Spanish. She also wants to definitley go with the International Studies rather than the IR path. She has recently began thinking about adding journalism into the mix but is not quite certain yet. </p>
<p>The top 2 schools for her so far are Chicago and Macalester. Yesterday she discovered Williamette..I believe so she will be researching them more also.</p>
<p>It depends on what you want to do with your "international degree". If its the upper echelon of government, then you need to be well acquainted with their preferences. In most circumstances, they want a language and most often now an obscure language like arabic, russian, pashtu-pakistani, hindi, mandarin etc. Getting into the State Department is highly competitive and requires an entrance examination, often a graduate degree is preferred. </p>
<p>If its business, then it depends on what kind of business and what part of the world you want to specialize in. Some schools are specific about their specialties whether that be Latin America, Europe, Asia, Africa etc. </p>
<p>The Ivy League all offer superb opportunities in school and with government contacts, but of them Harvard, Princeton and Yale are the best and of those three, I would pick Princeton. Georgetown and Johns Hopkins are also superb schools but all of these are highly selective and particularly selective in international studies as its a concentration and major that is highly sought after by students. But sometimes even lesser known schools have good contacts for graduation. I know of a case of a school off the radar screen of most people...and a student answered an advertisement in a newspaper and it was an incredible opportunity with a very small company....and now that student is heading up an office for that company in Hong Kong. Sometimes opportunities come when we least expect them or from obscure ads.</p>
<p>If its business, then I strongly recommend an MBA at an overseas location and many schools offer MBA programs overseas.</p>
<p>From my own research, Pitzer College of the Claremont Colleges seems to fit your daughter's goals. They're something of an "activist school" with heavy emphasis on social justice and multicultural understanding. They specifically offer a major called International and Intercultural Studies, which might interest your daughter. In the spirit of the college's mission, they encourage real-world experience through internships and study abroad programs. In addtion, they're slightly non-traditional in that most of their classes are interdisciplinary and faculty advisers work with students to create a unique educational path/major. If you go to Pitzer, you'll also be able to access the resources of the other member colleges, Pomona, Claremont McKenna, Harvey Mudd and Scripps, which are definitely known in the academic community. I encourage your daughter to take a look, as I am looking into a similar field (international relations) and applied there this year.</p>
<p>(No I am not a rep for Pitzer.) haha.</p>
<p>
[quote]
Perhaps Goucher? I don't know about its international studies major per se, but I've heard that it's focused very globally and really strives to make its students global citizens. I believe it has a study abroad requirement.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>On that note, add Kalamazoo and Elon.</p>
<p>for international business, you'd be hard-pressed to beat Penn's huntsman program</p>
<p>If you use Fulbright Fellowships as a marker of good international relations programs, then here are some top schools:</p>
<p>University Ranking:
<a href="https://us.fulbrightonline.org/documents/chronicle_1.pdf%5B/url%5D">https://us.fulbrightonline.org/documents/chronicle_1.pdf</a></p>
<p>LAC Ranking:
<a href="https://us.fulbrightonline.org/documents/chronicle_ba.pdf%5B/url%5D">https://us.fulbrightonline.org/documents/chronicle_ba.pdf</a></p>
<p>Pitzer (noted earlier) is ranked highly. Pomona has the highest per capita, LAC or University.</p>
<p>From Wikipedia:
[quote]
The Fulbright Program including the Fulbright-Hays Program is a program of grants for international educational exchange for scholars, educators, graduate students and professionals, founded by United States Senator J. William Fulbright. It is considered one of the most prestigious award programs and it operates in 144 countries. The Fulbright Program has 36 Nobel Prize Winners among its alumni, more than any other scholarship program of its kind.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>I agree Fulbright is a good way to measure interest and aptitude in international studies by a student body. Interesting though is that, for example, of 63 applications by Princeton, 13 were granted. At Tufts, there were 38 applications, and 13 were granted. Interesting...</p>