Anonymous wrote:Why not just major in economics and take a few politics/IR courses? Economics is a much more versatile and respected degree, and you can get any IR job, while an IR major can’t access all the jobs for economics majors.

The study of economics is inherent to a public policy major, a path that may be of interest to some social science students.

Anonymous wrote:You guys act as if Gov/Diplomacy jobs are the only jobs possibly available to IR kids….

Can you list some other jobs? My child also plans to major in IR and it makes me nervous.

Anonymous wrote:You guys act as if Gov/Diplomacy jobs are the only jobs possibly available to IR kids….

+1

You guys act as if Gov/Diplomacy jobs are the only jobs possibly available to IR kids….

Anonymous wrote:Why not just major in economics and take a few politics/IR courses? Economics is a much more versatile and respected degree, and you can get any IR job, while an IR major can’t access all the jobs for economics majors.

Econ upper level courses requires more math

Why not just major in economics and take a few politics/IR courses? Economics is a much more versatile and respected degree, and you can get any IR job, while an IR major can’t access all the jobs for economics majors.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: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.

Correction: ..was an IR major and told us she had a job offer already with Morgan Stanley. The tour was early on in the school year.

My guess is she was in the Huntsman program. It is a dual degree w/Wharton and many of the students historically end up at overseas offices of the bulge bracket banks (e.g., Hong Kong).

With an IR undergrad degree alone, jobs are limited. Most are government or government adjacent.

Could be an undergrad degree before law school though.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:UVA has Foreign Affairs, not International Relations, but close.

Yes, UVA does have International
relations and it is ranked 16 by Niche. https://www.niche.com/colleges/search/best-colleges-for-international-relations/

Niche is not a real ranking

I think it’s the best of the bunch. So much more informative than USNWR.

This was already mentioned upthread, but if you want the best IR ranking it is Inside the Ivory Tower, produced by Foreign Policy magazine and William and Mary. In their last round they surveyed nearly a thousand IR academics and nearly 300 policymakers and think tankers each. And they break it down by undergrad, masters, and PhD:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inside_the_Ivory_Tower#Undergraduate_Programs

So the school that produces this list is also ON the list. Not biased at all.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:UVA has Foreign Affairs, not International Relations, but close.

Yes, UVA does have International
relations and it is ranked 16 by Niche. https://www.niche.com/colleges/search/best-colleges-for-international-relations/

Niche is not a real ranking

I think it’s the best of the bunch. So much more informative than USNWR.

This was already mentioned upthread, but if you want the best IR ranking it is Inside the Ivory Tower, produced by Foreign Policy magazine and William and Mary. In their last round they surveyed nearly a thousand IR academics and nearly 300 policymakers and think tankers each. And they break it down by undergrad, masters, and PhD:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inside_the_Ivory_Tower#Undergraduate_Programs

Kind of interesting that professors rank the programs very differently than policy makers and think tanks, who seem to be on the same wavelength.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:UVA has Foreign Affairs, not International Relations, but close.

Yes, UVA does have International
relations and it is ranked 16 by Niche. https://www.niche.com/colleges/search/best-colleges-for-international-relations/

Niche is not a real ranking

I think it’s the best of the bunch. So much more informative than USNWR.

This was already mentioned upthread, but if you want the best IR ranking it is Inside the Ivory Tower, produced by Foreign Policy magazine and William and Mary. In their last round they surveyed nearly a thousand IR academics and nearly 300 policymakers and think tankers each. And they break it down by undergrad, masters, and PhD:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inside_the_Ivory_Tower#Undergraduate_Programs

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:UVA has Foreign Affairs, not International Relations, but close.

Yes, UVA does have International
relations and it is ranked 16 by Niche. https://www.niche.com/colleges/search/best-colleges-for-international-relations/

Niche is not a real ranking

I think it’s the best of the bunch. So much more informative than USNWR.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:UVA has Foreign Affairs, not International Relations, but close.

Yes, UVA does have International
relations and it is ranked 16 by Niche. https://www.niche.com/colleges/search/best-colleges-for-international-relations/

Niche is not a real ranking

Anonymous wrote:

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.

It can't be diplomacy

State hiring was shut down for the past year.

They only just reopened the testing process October 2025, with the 2nd phase of the testing process starting at the end of this month for the few who made the cut. If they get through that phase and interviews, then the background checks will take forever.

A 2025 grad could not be employed in diplomacy just based on the timeline required, and the delays from the hiring freeze.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Another St Andrews IR grad here. Kennedy for masters and then consulting in a geo political group in switzeerlan helping companies with their international risk/exposure.

There are a lot more options for IR grads than just working for the Gov….just have to find your niche….

Kennedy as Harvard Kennedy? Was this straight from St Andrews IR?

Hate to burst your bubble, but the Kennedy school is not a tough admit, and definitely takes a back seat to Georgetown, SAIS, whatever they now call the Woodrow Wilson school, and even Columbia.

What Bubble are you bursting? Nobody here seems to be bragging about anything…..PP only mentioned that her kid went to St Andrews then Kennedy and now is in Switzerland somewhere working a strategy gig. I think her point was not to brag about anything, despite you obviously taking this personally for some reason…He point was clearly to say that there are other paths outside of the typical Gov related work that comes along with IR if you want to stay in the field and it looks like her daughter found a great niche.