Thoughts on international relations major

[Anonymous]

DS interested in majoring in IR not sure if it is too broad? He isn't thinking law school but probably grad school.

[Anonymous]

I think IR is a great major. There are different flavors, though. Some more academic and others more pre-professional. Some more policy-focused and some with strong concentrations in things like human rights and development.

[Anonymous]

Can't comment too much on the major, but the thing to be aware is with an IR major, he will probably have to do unpaid internships during college to get a job afterwards. At least the few people I know who majored in the subject were supported by their parents financially during college & a little bit afterwards. Not sure about your financial situation, but it may need to be something to consider.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Can't comment too much on the major, but the thing to be aware is with an IR major, he will probably have to do unpaid internships during college to get a job afterwards. At least the few people I know who majored in the subject were supported by their parents financially during college & a little bit afterwards. Not sure about your financial situation, but it may need to be something to consider.

This is my concern. We have three kids about to go off to college, two years apart and it will be tight. We have a bit saved, hopefully the kids will get merit aid somewhere but we will not quantify for need based aid. Our kids will probably attend state schools. We don't want to tell him what to do but we cant afford to support him much after he graduates. Thx!

[Anonymous]

I'm an IR prof, so I'm (very) biased. Why is he interested in IR? Is there a specific region or speciality he likes?

Some of the majors that my grad students had as undergrads, besides IR, are political science, history, anthropology, business, and Spanish. A lot have an international studies minor. The majority of our grad students did not major in IR. Heck, I didn't. I majored in English and history.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm an IR prof, so I'm (very) biased. Why is he interested in IR? Is there a specific region or speciality he likes?

Some of the majors that my grad students had as undergrads, besides IR, are political science, history, anthropology, business, and Spanish. A lot have an international studies minor. The majority of our grad students did not major in IR. Heck, I didn't. I majored in English and history.

He likes advocacy and diplomacy, especially as they relate to world health issues-disease prevention,vaccination, clean water etc. He is considering pediatric medicine as well.

[Anonymous]

We need IR majors now more than ever -in diplomacy, defense, international development, foreign policy, global health etc. Good luck to your DC!

[Anonymous]

If he wants to go into the field he will almost certainly need a grad degree. So, personally, I would recommend an economics major instead. IR grad programs will LOVE the quant quantum background, plus it's more flexible if he decides he doesn't like the field (I was an econ major/ IR minor and the majority of my IR classmates who went into that field have since left it. It's not easy, or as romantic as it sounds).

Obviously I'm biased by my own background but an econ major/ IR minor will give him a leg up in the IR world without limiting other options.

[Anonymous]

Terrible idea. Major in economics, take statistics and IR as electives and get summer jobs/internships in IR every summer before graduating.

[Anonymous]

If you do it, do it at a great school for IR -- Georgetown, Tufts, something w a grad school in IR.

I was an IR major. Lots of ways to specialize.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Can't comment too much on the major, but the thing to be aware is with an IR major, he will probably have to do unpaid internships during college to get a job afterwards. At least the few people I know who majored in the subject were supported by their parents financially during college & a little bit afterwards. Not sure about your financial situation, but it may need to be something to consider.

This is my concern. We have three kids about to go off to college, two years apart and it will be tight. We have a bit saved, hopefully the kids will get merit aid somewhere but we will not quantify for need based aid. Our kids will probably attend state schools. We don't want to tell him what to do but we cant afford to support him much after he graduates. Thx!

Tell him this now. But if he loves the field and is willing to do what it takes to break in he can support himself post-collge by sharing housing, keeping expenses as low as possible, and working a night job in addition to grad school or a low-paying internshp.

The other thing to remember is that (slowly) it is becoming harder for places to get away with not paying interns, at least in DC. There is more legal scrutiny as to whether these are really 'jobs' vs. an academic experience in which the intern is not doing core work of the organization (that a low-level employee would do if interns weren't there) and young people are 'outing'/shunning organizations that don't pay. I anticipate this trend will continue between now and when your DC graduates.

My 17 year old HS senior was seeking an unpaid internship for this spring (in politics or IR) as part of a capstone senior project, and 3 of the 5 places he talked to insisted that they would have to pay him. He is working at a place and making $1 over the DC minimum wage ($15/hour). Not enough to support an independent person, but if your son combined a low paying internship with a waiter / Starbucks / bartending job it is doable for a couple years.

[Anonymous]

If he is thinking grad school, he should make sure he takes enough math and stats to use those things for real.

Not the baby stats class, but the real one.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm an IR prof, so I'm (very) biased. Why is he interested in IR? Is there a specific region or speciality he likes?

Some of the majors that my grad students had as undergrads, besides IR, are political science, history, anthropology, business, and Spanish. A lot have an international studies minor. The majority of our grad students did not major in IR. Heck, I didn't. I majored in English and history.

He likes advocacy and diplomacy, especially as they relate to world health issues-disease prevention,vaccination, clean water etc. He is considering pediatric medicine as well.

Med school? Assuming he has the chops.

[Anonymous]

Along with Economics also look into degrees in Geography- especially with an emphasis in Geographic Information Systems. (GIS)

[Anonymous]

I was an IR major and it was incredibly interesting, but I ended up going to law school. There’s not much you can do with it as an undergrad degree. You could get a low level program assistant position or something, and you could end up in some position that turns into a career doing something unrelated, but there aren’t many jobs with an IR undergrad degree. If he thinks he wants to get a PhD, or at least a masters, or join the foreign service, or go to law school it could make sense.