GWU Elliot School of international affairs- is it worth it?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:GW has no campus. It's kind of depressing. I was driving my younger son home from high school and to avoid traffic cut through GW and said 'this is the campus'.

Actually my kid loves the integrated urban campus! We visited rural and suburban ones, and all he was interested in was the city feel. Which is so funny to me, because I grew up in a European capital and attended a city campus for undergrad, and was so happy to go to grad school on a campus with manicured lawns and country feel! I suppose it's because he's been living in suburbia all his life...

I guess because my kid goes to high school in DC by Metro and lives 2 miles away from GW in an urban neighborhood that the 'city thing' isn't a big deal.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:GW has no campus. It's kind of depressing. I was driving my younger son home from high school and to avoid traffic cut through GW and said 'this is the campus'.

Actually my kid loves the integrated urban campus! We visited rural and suburban ones, and all he was interested in was the city feel. Which is so funny to me, because I grew up in a European capital and attended a city campus for undergrad, and was so happy to go to grad school on a campus with manicured lawns and country feel! I suppose it's because he's been living in suburbia all his life...

I guess because my kid goes to high school in DC by Metro and lives 2 miles away from GW in an urban neighborhood that the 'city thing' isn't a big deal.

Exactly! They want something they haven't had before.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:GW has locational advantages wrt getting jobs etc. But W&M instate would be my choice. Save your cash for grad school (very important for IR careers)

This is what DD is doing. IR/ critical language double major at WM, and will have enough money left over to cover most or all of a Masters. WM IR is very rigorous, especially when paired with a language or Econ/business, which is common at WM. She is spending this summer at WM’s DC campus, taking a class and interning.

[Anonymous]

If cost is not a concern, do GWU. Better location for internships and networking opportunities with the faculty.

GW grad, don’t agree. Not better enough to justify extra cost relative to VT or WM.

[Anonymous]

What do all of these IR grads do? Are there even enough jobs for them? It’s such a popular major these days.

[Anonymous]

My kid had the same choices and opted for VT - National Security and Foreign Affairs major with a Russian minor. Fabulous opportunities there through the Hume Center for National Security, IR organizations, study abroad, intelligence community seminars, etc. There is also a more traditional IR degree offered, but my DC opted for this because of interest in the IC. Highly recommend.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What do all of these IR grads do? Are there even enough jobs for them? It’s such a popular major these days.

This was my major in '98, not new.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What do all of these IR grads do? Are there even enough jobs for them? It’s such a popular major these days.

No

There aren’t

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What do all of these IR grads do? Are there even enough jobs for them? It’s such a popular major these days.

No

There aren’t

who says?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What do all of these IR grads do? Are there even enough jobs for them? It’s such a popular major these days.

This was my major in '98, not new.

So? I didn’t say it was new. It’s just a ton of kids are majoring in it now, and I have no idea where they’re all going to be employed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

If cost is not a concern, do GWU. Better location for internships and networking opportunities with the faculty.

GW grad, don’t agree. Not better enough to justify extra cost relative to VT or WM.

Then you didn't hustle enough.

We have plenty of year-round GW interns where I work. We only see W&M interns in the summer and then they're competing with everyone else.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What do all of these IR grads do? Are there even enough jobs for them? It’s such a popular major these days.

This was my major in '98, not new.

So? I didn’t say it was new. It’s just a ton of kids are majoring in it now, and I have no idea where they’re all going to be employed.

Kind of like all the CS grads?
DP

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What do all of these IR grads do? Are there even enough jobs for them? It’s such a popular major these days.

No

There aren’t

who says?

There are only a finite number of think tanks and political / gov jobs that are “good” ir jobs

Academia is cutthroat - and the private sector doesn’t really hire ir grads out of ug unless they go to a top school or grad school in something more practical

So yes there is a massive oversupply of kids who are gonna be frustrated

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What do all of these IR grads do? Are there even enough jobs for them? It’s such a popular major these days.

No

There aren’t

who says?

There are only a finite number of think tanks and political / gov jobs that are “good” ir jobs

Academia is cutthroat - and the private sector doesn’t really hire ir grads out of ug unless they go to a top school or grad school in something more practical

So yes there is a massive oversupply of kids who are gonna be frustrated

This is why a kid who is serious about IR will double major. I have a different IR/ Russian major than PP. they are getting a lot of interest and cool opportunities— because of the Russian. Very hard to find US citizens who can get a security clearance and are fluent in Chinese, Russian, Garsi, Arabic, etc. because native speakers often still have relative in their parents home country. I recently talked to a parent who is a native Russian speaker whose fluent speaker daughter was denied da clearance— grandparents in Russia.

Another route is to do hardcore data science or econ with IR. You can be very employable in IR— plus something else that’s in demand.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

If cost is not a concern, do GWU. Better location for internships and networking opportunities with the faculty.

GW grad, don’t agree. Not better enough to justify extra cost relative to VT or WM.

Then you didn't hustle enough.

We have plenty of year-round GW interns where I work. We only see W&M interns in the summer and then they're competing with everyone else.

I got plenty of internships when I was at GW, idiot. And then when I graduated, my coworkers attended non-DC schools like VT and UVA, showing that it absolutely was not necessary to pay GW prices to have a year-round internship in order to get an IR job.