<p>So I'm gonna be a senior in high school next year, and I'm interested in international studies. What are some school with good undergraduate international relations/studies/affairs programs?
I know the top ones like Tufts, Georgetown, Johns Hopkins, and I plan on applying to those, but I need some schools are aren't as hard to get into just in case I'm not accepted into those. Anyone know of some schools that are easier to get into, but still have great undergrad IR programs?</p>
<p>Also, anyone who is currently studying this or graduated wanna share their experiences or advice?</p>
<p>George Washington and American both have very well respected programs and are both much easier to get into. But I'm also interested in other answers as those two are pretty much all I know aside from the best.</p>
<p>I am also interested in finding out if any of the UCs or CSUs have okay/good undergrad programs, because, I don't know about you, but I don't have the $$$ to fork over for Georgetown, JHU or wherever, especially when I live on the opposite side of the country and I want to go to grad school.</p>
<p>Connecticut College and NYU also have good programs. I would also recommend GW, they have a very strong IR program. You could also look at schools with strong poli sci or government majors and see if you could do a concentration within that for IR.
If you're set on majoring in IR I would recommend applying early to one of the top schools; I'm fairly certain georgetown does early action, so you could apply there and apply to either Tufts or JHU early decision.</p>
<p>I'm sorry. But the vast majority of you are all wrong. </p>
<p>The traditional top-IR schools are, in descending order:
1) Columbia
2) Georgetown
3) Hopkins
4) Tufts</p>
<p>Both Columbia and Georgetown are widely accepted, in academic circles, as the top two places to pursue an undergraduate IR education. Hopkins is also a draw as it has a competitive 5 year BA/MA with SAIS. Tufts, the last option, has an excellent IR program as well- however, due to its inconveniant location, lacks access to internships, fellowships and the likes.</p>
<p>IR is a field highly based upon connections and social networking. I'm sorry, but thats just about the only way that you might get that internship at the World Bank or UN. Unfortunately, unless you go to one of these 4 schools, the Ivies, or Stanford, the chances that you actually use your IR education and work in an IR field are...quite slim.</p>
<p>My plans are actually to go to law school after i get my undergrad degree. I chose IR because I really like the topics covered and I probably want to expand to international law in my career. </p>
<p>Hopefully, this info can help those responding. I'm not too concerned with getting into the IR field in terms of career, although international law does overlap. </p>
<p>Of course, having good social networking, connections, and social networking will help tremendously. Does this mean that getting into a college in Washington DC (Georgetown, George Washington, American) is important? </p>
<p>Also, how important is getting into a school with an awesome IR program? since I'm not planning to do IR in grad school; I wanna go to law school.</p>
<p>009910745, I won't argue with your school ranking, but your last statement is off the mark. I've worked in foreign policy in DC, on both the public and private sides, and the schools you mentioned, while probably overrepresented, are still a minority. Your undergrad institution only matters for your first job; after that, it's all about what you've done. Most people in the IR world eventually go to grad or law school, at which time the quality of the graduate institution becomes much, much more important than the undergrad. Go to wikipedia and read bios of State Department officials. You'll see what I mean.</p>
<p>So if I wanna save money, would it be a good idea to attend a state school for undergrad, get a degree in IR, get a really high gpa, get a really high lsat score, and go to a really good law school? At least, this is according to the statement that undergrad isn't really that important if I'm going to study law (since "the quality of the graduate institution becomes much, much more important than the undergrad")</p>
<p>I still wanna get a good education in IR. Does the above sound like a good idea then?</p>