Anonymous
Post 10/05/2023 13:00     Subject: Major for a kid who wants IR but is average student
Anonymous wrote:NP here, also with a kid pursuing IR at a well regarded but not top 20 university.

I am one who typically thinks you can find a path to anything if determined enough, but this thread is making me rethink it in the IR space (with which I have no familiarity). Several of you are making it sound like the only employable people in the field have ivy league degrees. I know someone who graduated JMU who is an FSO. Now I am wondering if they are a unicorn …


Does the person who went to JMU have hard to find language skills or some other attribute? I think IR is about as snobby as you get for career fields, but a US citizen who can get a clearance and is natively fluent in Mandarin/Arabic/Hindi/Russian... is going to get into the foreign service ahead of an Ivy classics major whose taken a bunch of French classes
Anonymous
Post 10/05/2023 12:56     Subject: Major for a kid who wants IR but is average student
NP here, also with a kid pursuing IR at a well regarded but not top 20 university.

I am one who typically thinks you can find a path to anything if determined enough, but this thread is making me rethink it in the IR space (with which I have no familiarity). Several of you are making it sound like the only employable people in the field have ivy league degrees. I know someone who graduated JMU who is an FSO. Now I am wondering if they are a unicorn …
Anonymous
Post 10/05/2023 12:21     Subject: Major for a kid who wants IR but is average student
Yeah, I don’t think those posters even live around here or know anything.

There are definitely some realists telling the truth on the previous page’s posts.

OP’s kid should look into ROTC with a view to serving in order to obtain veteran’s preference. Could be in DS, HR, OBO, etc. overseas
Anonymous
Post 10/05/2023 12:00     Subject: Major for a kid who wants IR but is average student
Anonymous wrote:FSO tracks?

https://careers.state.gov/career-paths/foreign-service/officer/fso-test-information-and-selection-process/


OP has bent over backwards to establish that the kid is bright but not exactly a rocket scientist. So why suggest a very competitive career path full of overachieving Ivy Leaguers?

What is it with this site that if someone asks for community college suggestions for their kid with a 3.1 high school GPA who aspires to be an asst. manager at the Gap, people feel compelled to recommend Wharton & Sloan?
Anonymous
Post 10/05/2023 11:40     Subject: Major for a kid who wants IR but is average student
FSO tracks?

https://careers.state.gov/career-paths/foreign-service/officer/fso-test-information-and-selection-process/
Anonymous
Post 10/05/2023 11:31     Subject: Major for a kid who wants IR but is average student
Anonymous wrote:Sorry I don't have specific advice but I just wanted to say- that if he is motivated, he can do what he wants to do! It doesn't matter - IMHO- if he didn't play the game to put the perfect narrative on this college apps. He is a teenager, just starting out. His interests are awesome. He could start at CC and achieve them. Don't count out IR. Encourage him to stay the course. I am sure there are wonderful college options in range. Look at the NE state schools. Some kids bloom in college or even later. Encourage him to stay the course and work hard. And don't be discouraged by the high achievers on here. I have one who is and one who isn't. Would I say the one who is is happier or I'm less worried for than the other? No. We all have our strengths and character, it's a nebulous thing. Anyway, sorry for babbling. Best of luck!
+1. Many students bloom in late 20’s. Executive functioning in the brain develops into age 30! The human brain is amazing.
Anonymous
Post 10/05/2023 11:00     Subject: Re:Major for a kid who wants IR but is average student
I was interested in international relations and not law, but I changed my mind after undergrad and went to law school. There are options out there with law for people with your DS’s interests, including some more outside the box paths. I think if he pursues the path he’s interested in, he’ll figure it out as he goes.
Anonymous
Post 10/05/2023 10:58     Subject: Re:Major for a kid who wants IR but is average student
Anonymous wrote:OP here. Let me clarify. I KNOW my kid won't excel in IR, that is why I am asking what OTHER major should someone with this profile look at besides hospitality.
He's not a Stem kid, he has high social intelligence, interested in social justice, and travel, and is a mediocre student but a hard worker and very practical.

Sounds like he should do a BBA. There are decent schools where he'd have a reasonable shot at admission and DC TAG would make affordable. Towson actually is a decent example. Iowa State, Temple, Miami (OH), Kentucky, and Delaware may be others.
Anonymous
Post 10/05/2023 10:57     Subject: Major for a kid who wants IR but is average student
Foreign languages. Especially languages that are not common. There are many people in IR-related jobs who aren’t brilliant academically but they speak a key language.
Anonymous
Post 10/05/2023 10:53     Subject: Major for a kid who wants IR but is average student
Anonymous wrote:ED to George Washington?


GW is a prestigious university, PP. While I'm sure OP's kid can make it to the State Department in time, will not start at GW with a 3.0 gpa. He could go to Towson and if he does really well, try to get a Master's at GW.
Anonymous
Post 10/05/2023 10:43     Subject: Major for a kid who wants IR but is average student
Anonymous wrote:Peace Corps applicants way down since covid. He speaks Spanish - he’ll get in.

Peace corps 91-93!


By the time he’s eligible for the Peace Corps COVID will be years into the rear view mirror.

Spanish is a plus, but that’s about it.
Anonymous
Post 10/05/2023 10:42     Subject: Re:Major for a kid who wants IR but is average student

OP here. Let me clarify. I KNOW my kid won't excel in IR, that is why I am asking what OTHER major should someone with this profile look at besides hospitality.
He's not a Stem kid, he has high social intelligence, interested in social justice, and travel, and is a mediocre student but a hard worker and very practical.


Consider marketing. I am at an agency that does nonprofit fundraising and I love my Towson grads -- they know how to work hard, and don't expect a thing to be handed to them. There are a growing number of nonprofits that either do international program work, or are looking beyond the U.S. borders to find donors. Might be a fit for your social justice kid. If he really is high social intelligence, major donor fundraising could be in his future. That job requires a lot of travel inside the U.S.
Anonymous
Post 10/05/2023 10:41     Subject: Major for a kid who wants IR but is average student
Anonymous wrote:This thread is crazy for being a DC area focused forum.

Come on - if you've worked in this space you know that the IR area skews much more t20/umc background than say - public health or housing policy or infrastructure.

there are underemployed SAIS grads in this town.

I cant believe multiple people aren't throwing up red flags on this idea


I’m the “completely wrong” poster and agree with you 1000 percent. So I guess we’re both “completely wrong.”

There’s nothing wrong with dreaming though.
Anonymous
Post 10/05/2023 10:41     Subject: Major for a kid who wants IR but is average student
Peace Corps applicants way down since covid. He speaks Spanish - he’ll get in.

Peace corps 91-93!
Anonymous
Post 10/05/2023 10:38     Subject: Re:Major for a kid who wants IR but is average student
Anonymous wrote:OP here. Let me clarify. I KNOW my kid won't excel in IR, that is why I am asking what OTHER major should someone with this profile look at besides hospitality.
He's not a Stem kid, he has high social intelligence, interested in social justice, and travel, and is a mediocre student but a hard worker and very practical.


I’m the “completely wrong” poster above. Again, bluntly, if he doesn’t want to major in STEM it’s just fine. Good for him. It really doesn’t matter what he majors in. IR is no better or worse than any other non-STEM major, and if it keeps him interested in his studies then great. Get him through school, then count on his “high social intelligence” and practical thinking for his landing a job. And he can always travel and work / volunteer abroad doing something fulfilling and interesting. It just won’t be the Peace Corps.

One final piece of advice: no student loans if at all possible, even if it means going with a lower ranked and cheaper school. This is NOT a kid you want to weigh down with student loans, because he will have trouble paying them back.