<p>How good is Stanford's international relations program? I absolutely love the school culture and climate (California!!!!!) but I want to know how Stanford's IR compares to Brown and Tufts and others that are very competitive. I know it's weird but I kind of want to focus on just IR and not much of poly sci. Therefore, I'm looking for really strong schools that have interdisciplinary programs in IR as opposed to political science programs with possible emphases on IR. So overall, if people could describe Stanford's IR program (pros and cons) and also suggest other schools with interdisciplinary IR programs I would be eternally grateful!!!!</p>
<p>IRFReak, Stanford offers an interdisciplinary major in International Relations and I understand that it is considered quite strong. I don’t know much about Tufts but I know that Brown’s program is also considered outstanding. Here’s a link to Stanford’s:</p>
<p>[Program</a> in International Relations | Program in International Relations](<a href=“http://internationalrelations.stanford.edu/home]Program”>http://internationalrelations.stanford.edu/home)</p>
<p>Thank you so much! anyone else?</p>
<p>bump! ha ha ! you basically described what I am looking for in international relations!</p>
<p>Yes! Finally someone that understands what I like about international relations! gryffindor 17, what schools are you looking at?</p>
<p>Another IR hopeful here!</p>
<p>From another thread:
</p>
<p>Definitely worth taking a look! ;)</p>
<p>The Huntsman Program definitely looks amazing except for I was planning on studying French in college (which is bad because I studied Spanish in high school) so I won’t be compatible with it. Thank you for the quote though. I really like Tufts, Stanford, Brown, and even Columbia even though I would have to major in poly sci there.</p>
<p>I’m looking at Georgetown, George Washington, Brown, Tufts, John Hopkins, NYU, and Yale for out of state. Then in-state Im looking at Stanford, UCLA, UCB, and UCSD.</p>
<p>And I want to study French in college to! Ha ha</p>
<p>Gryffindor, Do you prefer interdisciplinary IR programs or do you care if it’s in a political science or government department and what are your TOP choices as of now? it’s hard for me to narrow down my list.</p>
<p>I think I prefer the interdisciplinary IR program more just because I’m not quite as interested in political science but really as long as it was a respected program I would be fine either way. I’m trying to pick my top choices right now and am researching all the schools, but right now I like Georgetown, Brown, NYU, and Stanford the best, although I’ll likely change my mind !!</p>
<p>^wait, IRFreak, which schools are you looking at?</p>
<p>I’m also on the IR/Economics double major track and I’ll be exploring Stanford’s IR department this year as a freshman. I also got accepted to Princeton (applied because of the Woodrow Wilson institute which is super competitive to get into, which you must apply to after your sophomore year, I think?), Georgetown SFS (ideal for all IR majors) and Brown (nationally ranked IR professors/department) … I also looked at Johns Hopkins SIS (also super competitive) and American SIS (safety but they have diplomats for profs.). I’m still really on the fence with it all and I just really went with my instinct an what I was presented with at admit weekend. Thus, I don’t feel qualified to talk on stanford’s IR department. I knew that it was great, considering that Condi teaches there occassionally and that world leaders are constantly making their way to give speeches and lectures there. I was also attracted to the Bing overseas program for study abroad and the language departments (I’ll be starting Chinese this year!) so I got an overall good impression from IR at Stanford, especially after talking to some IR majors on campus. I felt assured that I’d be given a quality education there, enough so to prepare me to be competitive in life after Stanford.</p>
<p>Honestly, coming from NY, I was also looking for something different. Georgetown and Princeton couldn’t provide me with that, and I personally felt that I’d be really unhappy if I didn’t go to Stanford. It’s just awesome in pretty much … everything. But if I didn’t have the option, I wouldve chosen Georgetown SFS for IR simply because it’s in the heart of American diplomacy (DC) which means Internships galore! On the bright side though, Stanford has a Semester in Washington Program, which I heard nothing but great things about!</p>
<p>you’re going to be hard-pressed to get through IR without gaining a very thorough background in political science.</p>
<p>From what I’ve researched, IR majors at Stanford have to go through a large set of poli sci and Econ classes and based on what I’m seeing, IR and poli sci overlap in a lot of course requirements.</p>
<p>gryffindor, I’m looking at Stanford, Tufts, Brown, Columbia, and Chapel Hill(my in state school). By the way, Yale’s IR major is only offered as a secondary major which is fine if you want to double major in something else but just letting you know. To others, I realize that no matter what I will have to learn a lot about political science and I’m fine with that I just want to make sure that I get lots of learning about IR and also area studies because I would really like to focus on Western Europe.</p>
<p>Anyways, back on course, does anyone else have any opinions about Stanford IR?</p>
<p>Hey IRFreak,</p>
<p>I’m an IR major at Stanford (already done with the major actually), about to start my senior year, minoring in Econ. and Modern Languages. </p>
<p>I have been extremely satisfied with the program. I love the flexibility present due to the program’s interdisciplinary nature and am also a big fan of the requirement that Stanford IR majors study abroad. I have been able to find unparalleled IR-related internships every summer thanks to Stanford, though not necessarily through the IR dept.</p>
<p>As I said, I have been extremely pleased with my IR experience at Stanford. If you have any more specific questions whatsoever, I’d be happy to answer.</p>
<p>Thank you so much for your post veggie delight, I am so glad that you liked the IR program. I really am also considering double majoring in econ or maybe a minor in it so it seems like we have a lot in common. </p>
<p>Just wondering, did you always know you wanted to study IR and if you did, what other schools did you look at? Everyone says that poli sci programs with IR focuses are just as good as interdisciplinary IR programs but for some reason I feel like I would prefer interdisciplinary IR better and it’s very reassuring to know that you liked Stanford’s interdisciplinary major.</p>
<p>Finally, what did you think of Stanford as a whole? I’m from North Carolina so it would definitely be a huge experience for me (good or bad, hopefully good :)</p>
<p>Thank you so much!!</p>
<p>IRFreak,</p>
<p>I don’t know if I would go so far as to say that I’ve aaalways been into IR; as a kid I really wanted to be an entomologist and play with bugs all the time haha. In seriousness though, yes, I have wanted to study IR at least since high school. In looking at schools though, to be perfectly honest, I considered atmosphere and personality more than quality of IR programs. So I was looking at a lot of small lib arts schools which doesn’t sound like your focus. As for IR programs though, maybe add Georgetown, American, or Claremont McKenna to the list of schools you’re considering?</p>
<p>Though I obviously haven’t had experience with an IR focused Polisci program, I would tend to argue strongly in favor of a specific IR major. To me, Polisci describes a concentration that really doesn’t come close to conceptually encompassing international relations, and probably includes other aspects that are unnecessary. </p>
<p>Because IR isn’t a student’s focus within some other department at Stanford, we are able to pick a focus that is more specific within IR. You may have already read about our specializations, but if not, we have functional specializations, such as ‘comparative politics and economics’ and regional specializations such as ‘Latin America’. We also have a few classes that are specifically IR classes, not drawn from some other department, and they have been some of the best classes I have taken at Stanford.</p>
<p>As for Stanford as a school, I am from rural Montana so the change could not have been more staggering. That said, it has also been an entirely positive one. I am absolutely, 100% in love with my school. The nice thing about that is that I think that sentiment is very much the norm in Stanford’s student body.</p>
<p>Again I hope that was helpful and by all means let me know if I can do anything else!</p>