U Penn has IR. Our college tour guide was an IR major early on in the school year and told us she had a job offer already with Morgan Stanley.

Anonymous wrote:Very surprised Tufts hasn't come up. One of the best programs, students do lots of things outside traditional USAID /Foreign Service after graduation.

+1

DD graduated from W&M/St Andrews Joint Degree Program with an International Relations degree. Now pursuing MPhil at Cambridge.

Very surprised Tufts hasn't come up. One of the best programs, students do lots of things outside traditional USAID /Foreign Service after graduation.

I did this...IR as an undergrad and SAIS for an MA. In the early 2000s. I'm a fed and work on what I studied...but I'm very very lucky to have a job. Many many of my peers have lost their jobs and some their careers. It's been an absolute blood bath.


That being said, things might be different again in 6-8 years when your kid is on the job market.

Anonymous wrote:I’ve worked in foreign affairs think tanks and international development. Every role I’ve ever hired for we selected someone with a masters.

This is very common.

Masters is a minimum for many of these jobs. If you really want to go down this route, be prepared for more schooling. Someone will inevitably respond to this and say “my kid graduated two years ago and works in X with no masters.” But the reality is that your paths will be narrowed significantly without one. Some things even require a PhD but this is less common (generally just academia and some think tank roles) and less inhibiting. And someone else noted the gutting of state and USAID—it’s a saturated market right now.

Also, with IR it is always a good idea to pair it with something else you can market. Foreign languages, econ, data analytics, etc.

Finally, here is the most widely accepted ranking of programs if you care about that sort of thing: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inside_the_Ivory_Tower#Undergraduate_Programs

I’ve worked in foreign affairs think tanks and international development. Every role I’ve ever hired for we selected someone with a masters.

This site suggests 51 schools:

Best Colleges for International Relations/Studies https://share.google/lSBbMJkECb4a5wyGt

Anonymous wrote:Your experience with IR? Or your kid's? What college? What did you/they study within IR? Did you/they do a masters, Masters plus? Job?

Almost every college has this major. But it's really hard to get a job now that Trump has been cutting state dept and USAID and foreign service internships, jobs, even the foreign service exam. Go outside the US like Canada, UK or Europe.

Seems like Econ light

Anonymous wrote:One of our neighbors graduted in May from VT with an IR + French degree (undergrad). She is employed.

That’s all I got.

Do you know what type of employment? NGO? Diplomacy? Etc.

UVA has Foreign Affairs, not International Relations, but close.

One of our neighbors graduted in May from VT with an IR + French degree (undergrad). She is employed.

That’s all I got.

These universities have IR studies
Georgetown (School of Foreign Service)
American
George Washington
Harvard
Princeton
Stanford
Yale
Johns Hopkins
Columbia
University of California Berkeley
UC San Diego

Your experience with IR? Or your kid's? What college? What did you/they study within IR? Did you/they do a masters, Masters plus? Job?