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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Much of this thread is confusing to me as someone with no ties to int’l affairs world. There was another similar thread recently which felt the same to me. Half the posters claiming inside knowledge of the industry say it is world of an academic snobs and the other half say academic chops are not that important (and I guess a third group have said undergrad academic chops are irrelevant and only grad school matters). My kid is a sophmore likely to declare an IR major and I hope the advisors and career center at her university can give better clarity. [/quote]

As we like to say in the Foreign Service, "it depends."

The think tank world can be very snobby and elitist.  The top think tanks - and there is a clear hierarchy - are filled with Ivy League, Rhodes scholars, etc.  These are the intellectual high flyers and where you go to school and what high-level contacts/mentors/sponsors you have definitely count.

There's the various foreign services.  State's generalists, i.e., what the general population thinks of when they think of diplomats, are at the top of the food chain.  Then you have State's specialists - office managers, facilities managers, IT, diplomatic security.  Easier to get into State that way but they make less.  Your academic background is not important, but you need to pass the tests.  Again, must easier for specialists.  They also enjoy the same perks.  And then Commerce and USDA have their own foreign services.  Having Spanish will be a plus.  Others can speak to USAID, but I think there you're going to need field experience to be considered a viable job candidate.

Then you have non-profits.  Generally the pay is not great.  How competitive it is will depend on the non-profit itself, and experience in the field often counts as well as having the right contacts.

If DS goes to a less selective college, unless he wants to be a think tanker (and it doesn't sound like he does), that's fine.  He'll need to bulk up his resume with internships and developing contacts.  In many IR fields, it's the graduate degree that counts.

Other things you can do with an IR degree:  journalism, international business, work at a college/university's international student/exchange program, etc. [/quote]

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