<p>I'm really interested in studying international affairs so I was wondering, what are the best colleges for this?</p>
<p>It depends on what tier you’re looking for. International relations schools tend to be in cosmopolitan cities (Georgetown/GWU/American in terms of decreasing selectivity in DC–DC being the headquarters of IR), but I have also heard brilliant things about Yale’s IR program. I think. If you’re an okay student, American might be a good place for you. Whizzbang student, try Yale or maybe Georgetown.</p>
<p>check out american campuses abroad most of them have international relations. campuses like webster at geneva, regents college london, etc.</p>
<p>GWU, Georgetown, Claremont McKenna, Oxy, Tufts, Brown.</p>
<p>GW, Georgetown, American.</p>
<p>Definitely Tufts. Georgetown and GWU are good. Also consider Syracuse.</p>
<p>In addition to just “Georgetown”, more specifically, you may want to look into Georgetown’s School of Foreign Service. Very selective, but very good.</p>
<p>Also, I believe Seton Hall is good for that, as they have a direct link to the UN.</p>
<p>You might want to look into William and Mary. They have direct pipelines into many DC internship programs.</p>
<p>Georgetown, Tufts (oldest graduate school for international relations in the U.S., but the undergrad is still good), George Washington (the IR school is the most prestigious major), Uchicago, Harvard, Columbia, and a couple others.</p>
<p>I definitely recommend Georgetown (SFS). Tufts and Yale are also high on the list. American University’s SPA is also a decent option if you have decent stats, money is an object, and a HYPS acceptance doesn’t follow through. I’ve heard great things about George Washington as well.</p>
<p>As for Colubmia, it has an excellent joint program. From the [website](<a href=“http://www.studentaffairs.columbia.edu/admissions/college/areas.php]website[/url]:”>http://www.studentaffairs.columbia.edu/admissions/college/areas.php):</a></p>
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<p>University of Chicago is also a great idea as well. I’m not too informed about the IR major at Harvard, though, but I’m sure you’d find plenty of opportunities there too.</p>
<p>This link has some interesting information about Pitt’s programs. It also has a guaranteed graduate school program for incoming freshmen.</p>
<p>[University</a> Center for International Studies](<a href=“http://www.ucis.pitt.edu/main/programs.html]University”>http://www.ucis.pitt.edu/main/programs.html)</p>
<p>I’ll second William & Mary. And all the other recommendations. What also matters is what kind of program you want. Do you want International Relations as a subset of polisci (like Gtown)? Or do you prefer a combination of politics, economics, history, and culture (like W&M)?</p>
<p>Also, I know some programs focus more on policy, while others focus more on theory.</p>
<p>Surprised nobody has mentioned Johns Hopkins.</p>
<p>Also, for Liberal Arts colleges, Claremont McKenna, Middlebury and Pomona.</p>
<p>Do you want more theoretical or practical? Columbia excels at the former, Georgetown the latter. And then there are lots of other schools that put their own spin on what they consider a good IR education to be…offering exceptional breath or exceptional depth, for example…</p>
<p>^When it comes to international relations, who wouldn’t want practical??? You should always be getting your feet wet as an IR major.</p>
<p>John Hopkins is definitely a good one. Williams is also good. Some study of IR focuses more on developing theory and applying theories from other fields (economics, sociology, etymology, political science, military strategy, etc.), while others simply study IR in order to prescribe what country A should do in situation B.</p>
<p>The problem with the “theoretical vs practical discussion” is that unless you have been exposed to IR theory (which of course coincidently is very practical knowledge), there is a good chance as a high school senior you have no idea if you have a passion for the academic side of IR. I had no clue how much I enjoyed this type of analysis until I got to Georgetown. The good news being a top IR program is going to prepare you well for both, and the academic vs. policy making dilemma can way more heavily on your graduate school decision. And the truth be told our academics should have a stronger background in policy and our policy makers should have a stronger background in academics. </p>
<p>I also wanted to clarify that at Georgetown IR is not housed as a subset of the polisci department but actually stands alone as its own college. Yale’s IR is structured that way. Not that either way reflects on the quality of the school’s program, just a correction.</p>
<p>I couldn’t agree more with SFShoya, and thanks for the correction! I think the initial logic was that a program which is a subset of polisci will teach something closer to international politics, whereas independent programs will teach more economics and history in addition to the politics.</p>
<p>A good way to test the water so to speak is to read The Economist, and/or International Affairs. The latter is a great example of how the policy/prescription side of IR works.</p>