<p>I want to study foreign culture. I don't really care about politics, though I do slightly since it is involved in the way people make decisions. I am especially interested in how different cultures influence the behavour of its people. At first I was going to do IR because it seems to study more modern nations, while anthropology seems to focus on tribal cultures, which I don't really like. Also, even though IR inherently has polisci, it seems to have tracks that divert from it. For example, at UCSD, their IR major is divided between different focuses. They have a PoliSci IR major, a history IR major, and an Anthropology IR major. So now I'm confused. Help please.</p>
<p>The ug major at UCSD is broader than just “international relations”; it’s “international studies”. International studies is an interdisciplinary field and can be approached from the perspective of several different disciplines, depending on one’s primary interests. One of the drawbacks of an interdisciplinary major is that one does not always get a thorough grounding in the theory and methods of any one discipline. The UCSD program is designed in a way that a major is required to take a number of courses in a single discipline, in addition to some common core courses, a capstone course, and courses in a particular world region.</p>
<p>If you’re interested in the way culture influences behavior, then anthropology (sociocultural) would be an appropriate field. Anthropology does not only study tribal societies, although that is part of it. It has also been applied to modern societies and transitional (modernizing) societies. If you are interested in a particular culture or region, then consider one of the area studies programs (e.g., Latin American Studies, Russian Studies, etc.) or perhaps, double major in an area studies field + anthropology. A subfield of sociology (comparative sociology) studies different societies in comparative perspective, so that might be afield for you to consider, too, but it places less focus on “culture” and on behavior and more on social structure and institutions.</p>
<p>Also, will anthropology help me get into an IR graduate school? I was thinking maybe using undergraduate to learn about all the cool cultural stuff, but then doing IR for graduate to get a more practical education</p>
<p>An undergrad anthropology major is a liberal arts degree; it doesn’t prepare for specific jobs.</p>
<p>Anthropology would be an appropriate undergrad major for grad school in IR. It doesn’t offer any distinct advantages over other majors in getting into an IR grad program; it is one of several appropriate undergrad majors. If you’re interested in grad study in IR, no matter what your major, make sure you develop your language skills, take at least some basic econ principles courses, and don’t neglect quantitative skills (take statistics, at least). Whether an IR grad program gives you a practical education depends of course on what you might plan to do with it.</p>
<h2>I was thinking maybe using undergraduate to learn about all the cool cultural stuff, but then doing IR for graduate to get a more practical education ~ Shadowzoid</h2>
<p>A masters in IR isn’t anymore practical. </p>
<p>If you want something practical, you need to learn something skill-based.</p>
<p>You don’t think anthro or socio are skill based? I’m not sure about IR, but the ones I mentioned are highly skill based. Especially research based. You develop some amazing research and communication skills.</p>
<p>Magnetic: BIGeastBeast, for whatever reason, bashes liberal arts majors on this forum and is of the opinion that you won’t find a job if you’re not some type of a math, science, or engineering major.</p>
<p>I was a Poli Sci major, so it’s not like I don’t know what I’m talking about or have an unfair biased.</p>
<p>I’m not saying a person can’t get a job with a LA degree, I have, so what you are implying is false.</p>
<p>However, subjects like Anthropology/IR/Sociology aren’t skill based. </p>
<p>A skill (just my definition), is a talent you have that an employer cannot train you to do or would cost a great expense in time, money and manpower. </p>
<p>I understand Sociology has research in the advanced courses, but that doesn’t have much application in the corporate world. If you want to work as a social worker, great…good luck. If you want to work as a sociologist researcher, great…good luck. If you want to get a PHD and actually teach the subject or work in anthropology…great, good luck.</p>
<p>But don’t fool yourself into thinking that these majors offer some practical skill-set for the workforce, they don’t. </p>
<p>They are very outdated curriculums for our current economy. You will be forced to sell intangible qualities to employers which can be a difficult thing, especially in this hiring environment.</p>
<p>I think students on this board are confused by what is considered a real skill in todays workforce.</p>