I am looking for schools with strong international relations programs.
Could anyone provide a list of ones with good programs? I’ve noticed at a lot of schools they just pretend IR doesn’t exist.
I am willing/ able to go outside the US as well!
Thanks!!
Tufts has a very strong undergrad IR program. It leverages one of the top Masters Programs worldwide (at Tuft’s Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy) and programs offered through the Institute for Global Leadership (check out the EPIIC program in particular)
Good Luck!
American University, Georgetown, UChicago, JHU, UPenn
The 3 major universities in the District of Columbia:
Georgetown
GW
AU
Most of the Ivies, especially:
Princeton (with the Woodrow Wilson School)
Harvard (with the Kennedy School)
Others (roughly by selectivity):
Stanford, MIT
UChicago, Duke
Tufts, JHU, Williams, Swarthmore
Berkeley, Michigan, UCLA, UVa
University of Denver
Many big state flagships (besides Michigan etc) must have pretty good programs, too.
Some of them may not call out a specific IR major, but relevant courses are offered in PS/Government departments. This is an interdisciplinary field, anyway, so I wouldn’t get too hung up on who does/doesn’t have an IR major. Who has good PS/Government programs, good foreign language, good internship opportunities, and flexibility to study abroad? etc.
http://foreignpolicy.com/2015/02/03/top-twenty-five-schools-international-relations/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inside_the_Ivory_Tower
“I’ve noticed at a lot of schools they just pretend IR doesn’t exist.”
They may just choose to call it by perhaps less trendy names: Government, International Studies, World Politics, Global Studies and Public Policy are a few fields which potentially overlap with – or in a couple of cases may very well be – the study of international relations.
Tufts, GW, Gtown, American, Fordham
Tufts, Georgetown, Princeton and Harvard are the best of the best.
Other good ones are GW, American, Johns Hopkins, Richmond,
If you’re looking for greater breadth/depth across political science subfields (and not just IR) then the US News graduate department ranking would be one source to look for signs of strength, especially if you don’t want to focus only on highly selective private universities like the Ivies, Stanford, and MIT.
http://grad-schools.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-humanities-schools/political-science-rankings/page+2
Thanks!!!
You’ve gotten the list. My son attended Tufts. He liked it but thinks that they rest a bit on the laurels of the Fletcher School, which does deserve its reputation. He chafed a bit under the requirements and found it annoying that they offer no Arabic abroad programs and refused to give him any credit in his major for his studies in Jordan in programs run by other institutions. (The Arabic department did give him language credit.) It meant he ended up having to cover the same material twice which as you can imagine annoyed him. Other IR departments may be more flexible. Do your homework. Tufts is probably fine if your interests can be served by one of the international programs Tufts runs. None in the Middle East unfortunately.
@mathmom I had the same thing happen to me more than 30 years ago at Tufts. Different language. Very frustrating but it turned out that those language skills opened so many doors for me that it didn’t really matter. But it didn’t leave a good taste in my mouth!
FWIW, the Arabic department at Tufts is great. My son did three different programs in Jordan (one in the summer) and he says Tufts covered more material for the same level courses than students at any of the other American colleges.
Actually, @mathmom , ditto for the program I did when dinosaurs still roamed the earth. Great education. Fabulous advisor. Just a maddening experience with the administration.