<p>Hi! Im currently deciding between Georgetown (School of Foreign Service) and Princeton (Wilson School hopeful).</p>
<p>To give a better perspective, at Georgetown I would do the accelerated masters program (graduate with a masters in 5 years) and at Princeton I would hopefully either continue through a masters with Students in the Nations Service or go to Georgetown SFS for a masters.
My degrees at Georgetown would be Bachelor in International Political Economy (tentative, with some attention paid to Near Eastern Affairs) and a masters in Foreign Service (most likely), but my bachelors at Princeton would be in the Woodrow Wilson School (Near Eastern Studies focus). Ive been told at both schools I can relatively easily complete my Spanish and French and take on (and gain proficiency in) Turkish.</p>
<p>Out of a masters (or possibly a bachelors in Princetons case), I would hope to enter the State Department/Foreign Servicemy dream is to become a part of American diplomacy.
But later in life, I could see working for the State Department, a multinational corporation, research, or anything else in that vein.
Sometime in the future Id like to continue to a PhD (I love the Wilson Schools PhD programs), but doing all that education at once is a bit much so I wouldnt do that after a masters for a while, haha.</p>
<p>It seems that the advantages of Georgetown are the constant access to DC, the consistent focus on interns/work and study abroad, and work connections (being taught by people immediately in the field, especially considering the turnover of professors in the federal government) while Princeton offers its own incredible connections, brilliant research opportunities, and a wider education than the SFSit more seems to come to the difference between work vs. research, I guess?</p>
<p>Do any of you have an opinion on which school could help further me in my career/future goals? Thank you so much!</p>
<p>I don’t really think the schools would be that different, education-wise, for your career plans. It is worth considering though, if you want to be in the suit and tie world in DC, the sooner you start making connections, the better. In my opinion, DC is really a “who you know” type of town. You can intern on the hill, at think tanks, and at government agencies a lot easier from Georgetown than you can from Princeton (read: you can apply for semester internships, which seem to be less competitive than the summer ones).</p>
<p>I don’t think any degree is especially applicable to the foreign service. You have to pass a bunch of rounds of the exam, as I’m sure you know, and they send you to training before they ship you off to whatever part of the world you are going to.</p>
<p>It is also my understanding that FSOs move around a fair amount, so you would not be spending your career in one geographic region.</p>
<p>Either school could be a great fit for what you want to do. </p>
<p>For the Foreign Service, it really doesn’t matter where you go to school and there is really no magic set of experiences or credentials that will get you in to the Foreign Service. The process is very competitive and a lot of very qualified people do not make it all the way through the hiring process. So I say go with what seems interesting to you and what you think will open up interesting career opportunities for you even if the Foreign Service doesn’t work out.</p>
<p>If you want to pursue a career with the Foreign Service, look into internship opportunities with DOS, take some time to review the 13 dimensions that DOS uses in the Foreign Service hiring process, talk to a Diplomat in Residence at a school near you, and take the FSOT when you get a chance. If you pass the FSOT the first time around, great, but if not, you’ll still have learned about the test and be better prepared for it next time. </p>
<p>I did a sting at DOS, and it really doesn’t matter; in our office, we had one person who had gone to Princeton, and a few who had gone to Georgetown. The Dept. of State draws heavily from Tufts (Fletcher) and Georgetown, but I think that’s more because many people attending those schools apply to the foreign service, rather than because the foreign service is specifically targeting those schools. The foreign service receives about 17,000 applicants each year, and accepts around 300; that’s less than 2%. Some with whom I worked were former military officers, others were consultants, educators, peace corps volunteers, and lawyers. One was a former professional photographer. Another was a college professor.</p>
<p>Case in point: Either school will get you there. Get as many summer internships as you can in relevant fields, and be sure you read the news every day! That’ll help you quite a bit with the Foreign Service Exam. Also, look into applying for the Pickering Fellowship once you’re a sophomore (or junior?)- that’s a great way to get into the foreign service, though it is quite competitive. </p>
<p>^The DoS does not discriminate based off the school you attend, so either would be great. But in terms of curriculum and approach, I have heard that Georgetown takes a more career/policy based approach while Princeton is a little more slanted towards the academic research field (although very strong in both). Going to georgetown/its proximity to DC I think matters more just because of the internship opportunities…but if Princeton is where your heart lies, there is nothing wrong with going to Princeton for undergrad then Georgetown for grad school.</p>
<p>Of course they don’t ‘discriminate,’ but they know what the good programs are.</p>
<p>I should also note that doing internships during the year would be a huge boost in your favor it you were to go to Georgetown; consider that if you did one internship each semester your last 2 years, plus say two summer internships, you would have 6 internships to your credit by the time you graduated. Because Washington is, well, Washington, you’d have options in think-tanks, NGOs, federal agencies and the private sector. I really can’t emphasize how important this is when it comes to jobs. I think most employers would take a Georgetown grad with significant internship experience over a Princeton one with fewer (though there is certainly something to be said for substance). The good part about DC is that most internships there are relevant to your career, and the city is LOADED with opportunities in foreign policy/IR. I’d imagine you’d be able to get some solid summer internships through Princeton, but that’s not the same as being IN Washington during the year for co-ops.</p>
<p>I wouldn’t choose Georgetown solely for internships, but if your primary factor is which will lead you into your chosen career quicker, I’d say the odds are in a DC school’s favor- particularly as it’s Georgetown.</p>