<p>Everybody says how strong Tufts is in IR.
But how could I, as an undergraduate major in IR, benefit from that?</p>
<p>(sorry if the question sounds silly)</p>
<p>It sounds like you're asking -- "Tufts has a great IR grad program, but how good is its undergrad program?"</p>
<p>Well, Tufts undergrads certainly benefits from having the Fletcher School of Law & Diplomacy, the oldest IR grad school in the country. Many IR undergrads take classes with Fletcher profs, and even take classes at Fletcher with grad students (this, of course, by the time you're an upperclassman). </p>
<p>The IR major is the biggest undergraduate major and as a result, Tufts puts a lot of money into it. That money goes into getting top professors, top visiting lecturers, and research and travel grant money for students. I went to Africa on Tufts' dime; I know kids who went to the Middle East for a few weeks, etc. The Tufts name and strong IR reputation also often makes it easier to get internships, jobs, etc. through connections.</p>
<p>Because IR is so big at Tufts there are also lots of "off-shoot" programs -- for example, there are majors in Peace & Justice Studies (one of the few in the country!) and International Letters & Visual Studies (sort of like a cultural/artsy IR major). Not to mention the very strong, also very large Political Science department.</p>
<p>Of note is also the EPIIC program, a year-long, intensive academic program for IR-minded individuals. This involves reading like no other class on campus, organizing/running a major IR symposium every year, and going on trips to the far reaches on the Earth (again, on Tufts' dime!) to put some of the research/discussion done during the year into practice. (Each year, EPIIC has a different theme -- past ones have included the oil industry/trade and its effects on international relations; environmental concerns; etc.) You can find an EPIIC website, run by Tufts' Institute for Global Leadership (IGL) online.</p>
<p>The best part though, I think, about having been an IR major (class of '07!) at Tufts was that even all the people who were NOT IR majors had a real international leaning/interest. Tufts simply attracts globally-minded individuals. More than half the junior class goes abroad; the foreign language requirements for all students are nothing to scoff at (and IR majors have to take even more); etc... And there's a huge international student population, too (something like 20% I believe).</p>
<p>The thing is, there isn't really an IR "department". It's an interdisciplinary major, meaning you take classes in lots of different departments. This is what appealed to me so much, because I always felt like picking a major meant I'd have to specialize in one area, when I feel like I'm interested in many fields. Choosing IR meant taking classes from the Poli Sci, Econ, History, Foreign Languages departments, etc. In fact, Environmental Biology even filled an IR requirement. There are SO many courses you could choose from to fill your IR requirements.</p>
<p>Also, since so many people do end up as IR majors, they're in a good position to give you advice on finding IR-related careers. There's an IR honor society that gets to help choose new professors and hosts events on how to break into careers in the IR sector. Then there's just the positive buzz factor - since Tufts is known to have cultivated a strong IR program, you may be considered a worthier candidate for an IR-type grad program or job than someone who studied International Affairs at a school where that program is less reputable.</p>
<p>Other than that, I think lolabelle got everything, as usual. The exceptional professors are a huge plus, in my opinion. And the structure of the major - foundations, thematic cluster, languages, and a seminar - will equip anyone with the necessary tools.</p>
<p>Just reiterating how a student can draw from all the resources offered.. Even non-IR kids benefit! One of my friends (undergrad also) took an econ class with a Fletcher professor who set him up with a finance internship in Mongolia. Since the Fletcher professors are such prominent academians.. they have a broad base of contacts in their arsenal</p>
<p>Thanks so much!! Your answers were very helpful.</p>
<p>one more question: Is it possible to continue a foreign language of which I already have gained a certain proficiency (French; 800 on the SAT II) AND start a new language (e.g. Russian) AND major in IR?</p>
<p>could I get completely proficient in both languages (I want to study abroad for 1-2 semesters anyway) and complete core/IR requirements?</p>
<p>It most definitely is. Language proficiency is one of the IR requirements, so there's a nice synergy in your academic interests. </p>
<p>You would not be alone in taking multiple languages and pursuing IR. When multiple languages becomes a challenge is if you are starting two languages from scratch at the same time, since there are occasionally scheduling conflicts for the intro level language classes. It sound, though, that you would be jumping into a fairly advanced class for French.</p>
<p>Not surprisingly, taking classes for two languages and IR would limit the number of electives you could take in other subjects, but managing French and Russian language classes (for instance) as well as completing the IR program would be a fairly easy schedule to make work.</p>
<p>Bluirinka takes Russian, btw. Perhaps she'd care to chime in?</p>
<p>Yeah, I don't think you'll have a problem. I'm a native Russian speaker, so I qualified out of about 6 semesters of Russian, and since the IR major requires 8, I just had to take two more. In addition, I took intermediate Spanish classes, but just as electives. The IR program - and Tufts in general - is really big on languages as part of the global focus, which I think is awesome, because you could major in Middle Eastern Studies, but if you have passable Arabic you'd probably be in higher demand for various careers.</p>
<p>I'm not sure if the 8-semesters-of-language IR requirement needs to be entirely one language, though. You might be able to place out of a few semesters with your French proficiency and then fill the rest with intro-intermediate Russian classes.</p>
<p>Also, as far as scheduling, French always has lots of different sections, so you'll probably be able to fit it into your schedule fairly easily. Russian is more tricky, because there are usually only 1 or 2 classes at each level. Russian 1 will be offered in the C block (9 30 - 10 20 on Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday) and F block (12 00 - 12 50 on Tuesday, Thursday, Friday). I'd suggest the F block one just because I've heard that Petrov is a better intro teacher than Sloane, who teaches in the C block (though Sloane is supposedly fantastic in the Russian literature classes). But see, F block is pretty popular and a lot of classes are offered in it, so you may have to make some sacrifices.</p>
<p>Anyway that's awesome that you want to start Russian! I've always really liked the Russian program at Tufts.</p>
<p>Edit: I checked on the bulletin and it looks like your 800 on the French SAT II gives you a credit, and exempts you from 6 semesters of language, just like me. So you would only have to take two high-level French classes to finish your IR language requirement, which should be NO problem at all and leaves you with a ton of electives to choose from. Lucky you!</p>
<p>Of course, the IR language requirement is more rigorous than the core requirement. Basically, the fact that you got an 800 on the SAT French (and I'm sure you can replicate those results on the placement exam) exempts you from the core requirement (6 semesters). That means you'd only have to take French 121 and French 122 (Advanced language) to complete your IR requirement. I would probably opt for completing these 2 courses.. then if for some reason you couldn't get through Russian 122, you'd have something to fall back on instead of playing catch up.</p>
<p>Many IR students are trilingual / quadlingual (I even know of one girl who came to Tufts fluent in 11 languages including all of the UN official language).. most fulfill their requirements using the foreign language in which they are most fluent.. then take on another foreign language.. the first part is a kind of "insurance".. </p>
<p>I hope this made sense.. Bonne Chance!</p>
<p>Thank you, spasibo, merci! That's so good to hear!!! I really want to perfect my French skills but also to become fluent in Russian! <em>yay</em></p>
<p>According to <a href="http://ase.tufts.edu/ir/%5B/url%5D">http://ase.tufts.edu/ir/</a> , I'm exempt from the language requirements anyway, since I'm a native German speaker. Thus, I haven't been "worrying" about the requirements but rather about scheduling/work load conflicts. Obviously, though, this doesn't seem to cause any problems (thanks for the info, bluirinka). </p>
<p>Go Jumbo!</p>