Reply to Experience from DMV parents - which school is best for International Relations recruiting/jobs/faculty?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]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.[/quote]

I don't think you know Middlebury very well. It is EXCELLENT for econ and international/languages. [/quote]

I actually know Middlebury extremely well and it is not on the same level for IR and political science as Tufts and GW. Sorry. It sounds like you don’t know those fields very well.

Forgot how many Middlebury boosters are on this forum.[/quote]

Tell us more about these levels, and what qualifies a school to be on a higher level. [/quote]

Well, Tufts and GW are consistently ranked in the top 10 of the Inside the Ivory Tower IR rankings for one, while Middlebury doesn’t make most of the lists. Policymakers ranked it 22nd while it didn’t register on the IR faculty or think tankers’ list.

Let’s talk about the programs, though, which are important for OP. GW has 37 taught courses (ie not research seminars/thesis ones) this semester. Tufts is a bit harder to find because they include all of the cross-department courses in their course list, but there are 20-some specific IR courses falling under the political science banner.

Middlebury has nine.

Let’s talk about international econ, since one of the PP’s mentioned econ. GW is a top 15 or so US university in International Finance and Open Economy Macro.

https://ideas.repec.org/top/top.ifn.html
https://ideas.repec.org/top/top.opm.html

The co-director of the international economics program there is the previous Treasury Undersecretary for International Affairs.

Middlebury does not have these things. It’s just not the same experience. That doesn’t mean it’s bad. But no, it’s not on the same level.[/quote]

You're comparing apples to oranges. GW is much larger than Midd so of course it's going to have more classes, more professors. But a liberal arts college has different advantages that a larger univ would not.

Most people would consider Middlebury to be much more prestigious than GW. But mabye you have some reason to boost GW.

[/quote]

No, no reason to boost any of these schools, just work in this field and wanted to be helpful to OP with honest feedback (unlike the clear Midd boosters). And what people outside of the field think is “more prestigious” is irrelevant. In fact, that typical DCUM private school, rankings-obsessed, choose-the-option-that-impresses-other-private-school-parents-the-most approach is clearly on display on this thread and is leading to bad advice. Yes, GW is not considered as good of a school in many fields; we aren’t talking about those fields.

I agree with you that these schools offer different things. But that’s largely the point. The trade off for the bucolic setting, tiny classes, and close oversight/advising is that you get a much smaller school that offers fewer classes, has less-renowned faculty in the field, is less well-regarded in the field, has smaller career services with fewer connections, and is located in a place that offers fewer opportunities during the school year. OP’s kid should consider all of these things and choose accordingly. But the classic boosting of “this school offers everything and has no downsides” is something OP should see right through.[/quote]

where did you get that from? i'm not saying one school offers everything and has no downsides. personally, i don't think an undergrad should pick a college solely on a planned major as they may change their mind. the major is very relevant yes, but so is the rest of the school. and like it or not, its prestige is a factor. GW just isn't there with some of the other choice for this kid. [/quote]

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