I am a recent commit to Gtown (admitted into the College for Econ/Gov). My eventual plan is something involving law school/consulting. I am a fan of IR but I’m not a 100% certain I can commit to exclusively international relations as my passion lies more with domestic politics/constitutional law for poli sci. I am wondering if it would be better for my future plans to go through SFS or the College (As law schools like a big humanities/critical thinking background) or either/or it doesn’t matter as long as you study those topics/gpa/internships/etc.? I really like the SFS as well but it seems pretty restrictive compared to the college but that honestly wouldn’t matter if it is clearly the better path. Thanks!
Gtown is an amazing school no matter what major you’re in. If you’re truly interested in IR, then why not take up a minor in the SFS?
If you’re interested in consulting, your chances are twice as good from SFS as from the College:
https://thehoya.com/consulting-feature/
SFS is perceived as more rigorous and competitive, and that sends a signal to employers.
Ok, this sounds a lot like my situation two years ago. I was admitted into the College to study Gov and maybe Econ though I soon started to wonder if the SFS would be better for me. Like you, the main reason I didn’t go SFS in the first place was the inflexibility. I’m also looking into consulting and would consider law school down the road.
I eventually realized that I was taking a lot of SFS core requirements almost by accident, I liked them and had a good GPA, and I eventually applied to transfer to the SFS following my first year, and I’m now an IPEC major in the SFS.
Ultimately, that is how you should decide: which academic program you would prefer. While it’s true that more SFS students do consulting, I’m not sure that they have an advantage or if it’s more self selection at work, and I know people from the College, SFS, and MSB who went on to work at top (MBB) consulting firms. For law school, your major will probably matter less than your GPA, so again, pick the program you like and are motivated to do well in.
The reality is that Gov/Econ in the college has quite a bit of overlap with the SFS core, so the difference isn’t as big as some people make it out to be. Some factors I will point out:
-Econ (College) and IECO (SFS) majors are super similar, the difference is mostly just between College and SFS core
-The Gov (College) major requires 2 political theory classes in addition to your 2 philosophy core, no SFS major has that requirement, so there’s less philosophy-ish stuff required in the SFS
-Theology/Philosophy/Science/HALC/Writing core requirements are close to identical
-On average, SFS language proficiency takes about 3 semesters beyond the level required for the College language requirement
-If you really want to study US politics specifically, the SFS is less conducive to that
Also izrk02 does not seem to know Georgetown all that well; you can’t exactly “minor in the SFS.” Yes, students in any school can complete one or two minors, but with a couple of niche exceptions none of those minors are offered by the SFS. BUT, in any case, you can take classes across schools quite easily.
@somewhere2022 Actually, the SFS offers 15 minors to undergraduate students. While most of them are foreign languages, they do offer programs such as “Science, Technology & International Affairs”, “Women’s and Gender Studies”, and “Global Medieval Studies”. Of course, they all have different declaration requirements and are in collaboration with the College and other schools within the university.
@izrk02 yes, but basically all of those minors, including the languages, are offered by the College, just open to SFS students. So if you were in the College and did one, in no way would you be “minoring in the SFS.”
@somewhere2022 What I was suggesting was OP take up a minor that is offered by the SFS, which is completely possible. But if you want to sit here and argue over specific wording, that’s up to you.
@somewhere2022 thanks so much for the advice! I agree that I think the percentage of people going into consulting in SFS v College is a little misleading Bc SFS is all Econ/IR released whereas a more niche group in college which offers sciences/liberal arts/etc. Your advice is really helpful, one of the first objective evaluations I’ve seen where one isn’t dogging on another school or just saying if you’re not in SFS you don’t matter. Thank you!