Suggestions for an IR major?

College Search & Selection
1

<p>Hey, I'm a junior at a competitive Jesuit high school in Philadephia and I want to major in International Relations (not poli sci) probably minor in a foreign language (prob. Arabic or German). Eventually, I'd like to work for the US govt in some area relating to foreign policy (ie. State Dept, CIA, etc). I'd just like to know some schools good for IR and ones that are realistic for me in terms of admission and also merit aid if possible. Thanks.</p>

<p>-3.64 GPA (My school does not weight or rank students)
- 26 ACT (35/24/23/21) Will take again
- Courses: By graduation will have- 4 yrs German, Religion, Eng, Math, 2yrs Latin, 3 yrs Science, and 5 yrs History - Will have taken AP US (5), Eng Lang, Psyc, US Govt, Euro Hist
-ECs: Memeber and Pres of school Model UN (4yrs), School Drama Society (3yrs), History Club (2yrs), 80 hrs community service
-Awards: NHS, Silver medal and honorable mention on Nat'l Latin Exams, Gold metal and honorable mention on Nat'l German Exam
-Other: Will participate in a 3 wk. study abroad program in Germany this summer, have extreme interest in US govt particularly foreign policy
-Essays will be solid and recs. will be excellent</p>

<p>Thanks for any suggestions</p>

2

<p>Georgetown SFS and Tufts University are by far the best IR/IS undergraduate schools in the US. However, they are both extremely difficult to get into. Also, very interesting EC's :) I think you could have a shot @ both GU and Tufts.</p>

3

<p>Syracuse has a great IR program..really great.</p>

4

<p>Kind of off topic but...what's the difference between majoring in IR and majoring in poli sci with a concentration in IR?</p>

5

<p>IR is more IR-related. (Sorry for stating the obvious.) </p>

<p>In Polisci, even with a concentration in IR, you have to focus a lot more on basic political theory and American gov't BEFORE you can go on and concentrate on IR, whereas in IR your focus is broader and more international. </p>

<p>That being said, I think that the basics learnt in polisci are very very important for a more comprehensive understanding of IR</p>

6

<p>Gourman rankings for undergraduate International Relations:</p>

<p>Tufts
Princeton
Johns Hopkins
Georgetown
U Penn
Harvard
Cornell
U Wisconsin Madison
MIT
Stanford
UVA
Notre Dame
US Air Force Acad
US Military Acad
Claremont McKenna</p>

7

<p>Gourman Report undergraduate ranking in Political Science:
Yale
Harvard
Berkeley
Michigan
Chicago
MIT
Stanford
Wisconsin
Minnesota
Cornell
Princeton
UCLA
Northwestern
UNC Chapel Hill
Columbia
Indiana Bloomington
Duke
Johns Hopkins
Notre Dame
Tufts
Ohio State
U Penn
UVA
Georgetown
Texas Austin
U Washington
U Pittsburgh
U Rochester
Rutgers
Brandeis
Vanderbilt
Illinois UC
Oregon
Maryland CP
Iowa
UC Santa Barbara
SUNY Buffalo
U Mass Amherst
NYU
Michigan St
Syracuse
Washington U St Louis
US Air Force Acad
US Military Acad
Dartmouth
Pomona
Emory
UC Davis
Boston U
Tulane</p>

8

<p>I dont think Harvard has IR.</p>

<p>and that list is missing Brown.</p>

9

<p>bobbobbob-
I think IR concentration is housed in the Harvard Dept of Government. The College Board Index of Majors lists Harvard under IR bachelors degrees.</p>

10

<p>If I'm 150% sure I want to study International Relations and also be able to explore other departments freely, would Yale be a bad place to go since you have to double concetrate in International Studies (and I would therefore not have as much freedom as I would like), or would majoring in Poli Sci with a focus in IR provide me with enough knowledge to go further with IR? Would I learn a lot more majoring in IR than I would just focusing on it within a poli sci major?</p>

11

<p>bump......</p>

12

<p>that depends on what you want to do.</p>

<p>US Foreign Service-probably what most people think of, depending on involvement and career level, ranges from socializing with bigwigs at cocktail parties to being a "real" diplomat.</p>

<p>FS has no formal education requirement, but just has a rigorous entrance exam covering american government, history, culture, and philosophy. Foreign language is also a big help</p>

<p>Little govt.</p>

<p>usually either military/intelligence or aid operations. intelligence would like detailed knowledge of culture of a particular area, country, culture, etc.</p>

<p>aid ops like USAID or Peace corps generally want things like civil or environmental engineers or economists with background on area deployed to</p>

<p>INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS</p>

<p>trends for business to resort to just using indigenous rescourse for their int'l ops mean to be successful here, you'd want lots of experience, either in that particular company or demonstrated int'l experience AND Business experience.</p>

<p>ACADEMIA</p>

<p>open to almost anyone who goes through a lot of education in IR, economics, or political science</p>

<p>Plain old IR gives you basic international politics and economics, and most likely will land you with low level diplomatic positions, depending on what language you know, basically attending dinner parties at US State Dept. functions</p>

<p>concentrating in Internationa;/area studies will give you a more thorough cultural understanding of a given region and you might end up either doing peace corps or USAID type stuff or going into other entry level US foreign service assignments like being a courier for some ambassador in a country</p>

<p>makes you more attractive to employers for long-term assignments in one region</p>

<p>otherwise, if you want to be more academic, Polisci w/ IR concentration, maybe some economics or history would be better</p>

13

<p>If you would like a safety/match, check out Bard. Their concentration is IR is very extensive, and you can pair it with any major, including Germanic Studies (athough they also offer Arabic, if you decide to go that route). You must take at least 2 macroeconomics/int'l trade classes, 1 foreign policy class, 1 IR theory class, 1 globalization class, and 2 (different) area studies classes. You also need to demonstrate proficiency in one language through 200 level. They also offer the Bard Globalization and International Affairs (BGIA) program in New York City, which you can actually apply to from any university, but Bard students with good grades and relevant interests are pretty much guaranteed admission. <a href="http://www.bard.edu/bgia/%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.bard.edu/bgia/&lt;/a> You live in NYC for a semester, taking classes as well as working on an internship in an area that interests you.</p>

14

<p>William and Mary</p>