Ok, I’m thinking about a potential career in law and if I did decide to go that route, my ultimate goal would be working for the ICC as a prosecutor (big dreams, I know). Because I know I’d have to go to law school if I went down this right, I just assumed that any typical pre-law major like poly-sci or history would be a good undergraduate major. But because I ultimately want to work in international law, should I pursue something like international studies/relations? Is there another major I should look into? Does my undergrad major even matter? Regardless of the answer, could someone briefly (or thoroughly) explain what international relations/studies is? Maybe I’d still be interested in it.
I bet this question is so stupid but that’s what CC is for, right?
Undergrad major does not matter, so any is fine.
Working for the ICC is a unicorn job, so don’t even think about it unless you attend one of the top 4 law schools AND are one of the top students in that law school.
It’s fine to dream big, but at this point you’re entering senior year in HS. Before taking a job as a lawyer anywhere, you have two major milestones to pass: first, you need to get your bachelor’s, then you’ve got to get accepted into law school and graduate. Then there’s another milestone, the bar exam.
But you’re getting way ahead of yourself. At this point, it’s best to focus on your college applications, to make them as complete and attractive as possible, so that you have many choices as you enter college.
Anyone wanting any kind of cross border work should learn languages. The more the better. That said, you’re almost certainly not going to work for the ICC. Spend some time learning what lawyers actually do–would you be ok with doing that, assuming you didn’t get the ICC job?
Here’s the good news: you don’t have to even start making this decision for 2 years. None of the interest areas you have mentioned are direct-entry majors, so you won’t have to declare until your sophomore year of college- after you have had a chance to take some university level classes in areas that you are interested in, and have learned something about the professors and departments at your school.
For all the discouraging comments above, I am going to offer a positive: keep following your true real interests. Take classes that you find interesting and challenging. Figure out which UN/ICC official language you are going to be truly fluent in. When choosing colleges look at the study abroad programs: some places (Dickinson is one, but there are more) allow more than one study abroad. Take a study abroad option that means you have to build real fluency. As soon as you get to college start looking at summer internships, both domestically and internationally. If you look at the internships at the ICC, you will see how many avenues there are within the ICC- use those to identify the paths that are the most interesting to you.
Don’t worry about building some imaginary perfect resume- it won’t happen. Instead, pay close attention to what interests you (and why) and at each juncture take the path that seems like the best fit. Try things that seem to be important for your path, and remember that you can learn as much from what you don’t like as from what you do like. Look up the backgrounds of people whose jobs you aspire to- you will find a lot of convoluted paths! Don’t be afraid to continuously refine your thinking.
If you are a US citizen, why should the ICC hire you as a prosecutor, when the US is not a member state of the court?