<p>These are both top two for me, a competitive debater, music lover and foreign service officer hopeful.
I'm curious if anyone has any comparison of the schools on literally ANY factor (dorms, classes, student body...etc) I've visited both and I see pros and cons to both schools.</p>
<p>I know Gtown has the Walsh School of Foriegn Service and that DC is a great location for internships, but I've heard the student body isn't very diverse and is extremely preppy. I'm a white, female, liberal Methodist from New York who is used to (and values highly) having a diverse set of friends. It's much more interesting to me. In addition I've read that Gtown's student body can be preppish and snoby. Any thoughts? True? Not true? </p>
<p>UPenn has such a pretty campus and is in a city as well- although not as great as DC for my interests. It's a fabulous school as well, but but not as focused on Foreign service. </p>
<p>Any advice would be great! From someone that attends one of the schools or even considered both</p>
<p>While I still think Gtown is at the helm of education in foreign service (I’d say Gtown’s SFS is like the Wharton of foreign service), I recommend that you also consider the Huntsman program in international studies and business at Penn. It’s a unique dual-degree program that grants you a BA in International Studies (I believe it requires you to study abroad and be proficient in a second or third language) and a BSc in Economics from the Wharton School. </p>
<p>Foreign service is a broad discipline, so I’m not sure what you mean by “foreign service officer,” but it’s probably worth noting that current presidential candidate and Penn alum Jon Huntsman Jr. (whose father is the name after which the Huntsman program is named) served as an ambassador to China until recently. </p>
<p>Admittedly, I don’t think even Huntsman is <em>really</em> geared towards preparing its grads for foreign service. In fact, I think the majority of its grads go into finance. But, it’s probably the closest thing to Gtown’s SFS at Penn. The upside, though, is that should your interests change, Huntsman (and Penn) will probably offer you a much broader education.</p>
<p>Walsh is one of the best programs in the country for studying foreign service. The Huntsman Program at Penn, while extremely strong in its own right, does not focus on international relations but rather international studies. I’m not sure how strong Penn’s IR department is. I would also imagine that Georgetown’s campus is just as diverse as any top college.</p>
<p>If you’re sold on IR / foreign service, you can’t go wrong with Walsh. If you’re considering business for whatever reason, Wharton is much stronger than McDonough as far as I know. Most likely, if you could choose between Penn and Georgetown SFS, I’d say it should be a matter of which school you have a better fit for. But considering that I’m not familiar with Penn’s IR department, I suggest that you defer to somebody who knows a lot about it.</p>
<p>To be quite honest, it really doesn’t matter where you go to school as far as the Foreign Service is concerned. What matters is passing the FS written exam, the Qualifications Evaluation Panel, and then passing the Oral Assessment with a high enough score to get an offer. FSOs go to all kinds of schools and come in to the FS with all kinds of backgrounds. I attended a state school for college and grad school, as did many of my colleagues. So, don’t let the foreign service be a deciding factor in your school selection. It’s not really relevant in the hiring process and the FS hiring process is long and only about 2-4% of the people who take the written test each year are actually hired. So, pick a school that’s a good fit for you where you can study something that you are interested in that will open doors for you if the foreign service doesn’t work out.</p>