Experience from DMV parents - which school is best for International Relations recruiting/jobs/faculty?
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Anonymous
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We are immigrant parents and aren't as familiar with US colleges so it's been a real learning curve for us! Our DS is interested in pursuing a degree in International Relations or Poli Sci/Econ but all with an international context.
He was accepted into the following schools. He is very strong student, but also easygoing personality with lots of playful curiosity about the world. He wants to be around other motivated students who also have other interests besides IR. He wants to pursue policy work, UN type jobs, diplomacy. Which do you think is the best offer of admission for this type of student? Tufts GW USC Middlebury Occidental American His language is French. |
Anonymous
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OP again. I pressed submit before adding:
In addition to IR, he is very strong in math and hobby is music and journalism. He'd like to write for a school newspaper. |
Anonymous
| From those choices, you have it about right for IR - Tufts, GW - which is a very close second - USC, Middlebury, then American, and Occidental. American could be higher but USC and Middlebury are solid too. All good choices, but the DC schools have the bonus of being in DC with all the possibilities that entails - connections/internships. |
Anonymous
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First tier: Tufts and GW
Second tier: American and Middlebury Forget the rest unless there is something specific that really appeals. Take advantage of all of the offerings on campus, find internships during the summers and even during the semester, plan for grad school. |
Anonymous
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The Princeton Review includes a sampling, "Great Schools for International Relations and Affairs Majors," in which nearly all of your son's potential choices appear. For context, this the entire list:
Claremont McKenna Middlebury Occidental Connecticut College Lewis & Clark Hamilton Bucknell Lafayette Gettysburg UChicago Georgetown Tufts George Washington American Clark Harvard Yale |
Anonymous
| Tufts. |
Anonymous
| IP&E is a popular majorly at Middlebury that combines all of your son’s interests… |
Anonymous
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Middlebury would be my choice, with time spent in DC over the summers in DC (potentially through the Middlebury in DC program). It's a substantially stronger school (along with Tufts) overall and also has very strong international connections which is particularly important now that internships in DC are so hard to come by (and those that are available tend to be politically charged).
Also, in my view an IR degree is by far best when part of a double degree in a substantive area. There are so, so many IR degree kids looking for jobs, and employers need people with substantive skills in relevant areas. |
Anonymous
bruh this list is not credible list for IR except for Georgetown, Tufts, UChicago, GW, American, Midd, Harvard, Yale. Clark, Gettsyburg, Bucknell, CMC, Lafayette, Hamilton etc are not it. |
Anonymous
+1 |
Anonymous
Congrats to your son, OP! Based on your description of your son, I'd suggest Tufts as #1 choice, it has the most range for what your son appears to be looking for. There's a Tufts in Talloires program in the French Alps which he can strengthen his French over the summer, and also "Tufts in Washington" semester he can do later on. Midd is a great choice too. I'd put Midd second if he's ok being in a more rural location outside a major city. DC is of course the ideal location for IR, and for that I'd put GW ahead of American if he wants to study here. |
Anonymous
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IR person here with a HS junior who's also interested in the major. Those are all great options. Honestly I'd suggest the kid pick the school that suits him best - does he want a larger or smaller school? Does he care about being in a city? Does he ski (which adds to the Midd appeal)?
My DC recently visited Tufts and he liked the size, the sense of a busy campus with a lot of events and opportunities, and the proximity to Boston. (I have another kid at one of the Maine SLACs and he loves that more rural, outdoorsy environment.) DC location is great, mainly for fall/spring internship opportunities, but let's be real, there are only so many of those and so it should not be the primary determining factor for a kid from this area. One other thing - some schools have generous support for internships & other opportunities. We visited a SLAC last week that offered up to $7k a summer experience. The tour guide mentioned that it had enabled him to be more competitive in getting really valuable internships. I don't know how common that is but it seemed like a great feature. |
Anonymous
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Posted above about the tiers. Those included Tufts and Midd but I disagree with some of the posters that so confidently state one of those two are best and dismiss the DC schools.
I worked in the international affairs division of a major executive branch agency for about a decade. Our interns were regularly GW, SAIS, Georgetown, American, and UMD students during the year, usually in that order. Mix of grad and undergrad. Summers we got Kennedy, SIPA, whatever they call the Princeton school now. Maybe a Tufts in there but can’t recall. Never had a Midd or any of the others. When I ran the intern program for our office, we would actively send out the posting to career services at the schools I named, but we didn’t send to Midd, Occidental, USC, or the like. I asked my friend who manages one of the offices there now what their interns look like this term. Five GW undergrads, one Georgetown undergrad, two SAIS grads, one UMD grad. Disagree with the idea that you shouldn’t aim for places based on internships. They aren’t that rare here if you have a shot at fall, spring, and summer. And it is your career—you can’t just disqualify yourself preemptively. I was a PMF and many of the other PMFs in my grad school class wanted to land at State. Only two did, one who had extensive work experience, and one who had gone to GW for undergrad and had interned…at State. Agree with the other poster who said pair IR with something else. I am now at a “UN type job” in “Poli sci/econ with an international context” to use OP’s words, and our interns and new hires are all econ PhD students. |
Anonymous
| Thanks PP for the detailed information. My DC got accepted to GW with merit and to Georgetown SFS. Sounds like there isn't much difference between the two schools and, maybe, she should consider GW with the aid. GW kids got more internships where you worked? |
Anonymous
Yes, but I think there may have been some self-selection there. I think there were probably more SFS kids with sights set on things beyond government (this is just a hunch). GW career services are super plugged in though. Can’t go wrong. |