uneamie1017

Do you mean I should take the one with more aids?

GWU offers me a lot more aids than U of Chicago.
But that was after I replied to U of Chicago to take their offer when GWU substantially raised their fellowship.

So, I guess now the choice is made. I know that it is very difficult for a foreigner with no strong economic background to pursue a career in this field. And the program that Chicago offers is more academic oriented, which means it will take many years for me to make ends meet. But anyway, it is my choice.

I really appreciate your help cuz there is very rare information I can get about the programs since I am in China now.

UCLAri

uneamie1017,

I don't think it's that hard for foreigners to pursue international relations. There are plenty of non-Americans doing IR in the US at think tanks/NGOs/non-profits. There are also a good number of foreigners teaching at universities. This quarter alone, three of my professors here at UCSD are from outside of the US.

Chicago is a great program. You'll do great! If you have any interest in terrorism studies, make sure to do some work with Robert Pape.

hamzahsaif

Hey all,

I'm looking at a bunch of IR grad programs, eg. SIPA, NYU, AU, etc. I'm really looking to get into international diplomacy. Seton Hall's Whitehead School keeps popping up.

diplomacy.shu.edu/

Anyone know anything about this school? It doesn't figure in any of the IR rankings, but seems to have a solid prohgram. what's the deal?

UCLAri

I've heard of the program quite a bit, but don't know much about it other than it supposedly is pretty solid. However, I tend to believe that you're always best off at a full member of APSIA, both for the recognition and resources. Seton Hall's program has promise, but it's pretty new (not even 10 years, I think.)

hamzahsaif

Thanks, appreciate your input.

GauchoCourt

Does anyone know anything about University of San Francisco's MA in International and Development Economics?

Thanks,

Courtney

IR Diva

I tried several different searches and didn't come up with anything about this.

Anyone heard of USC's Public Diplomacy program? It looks interesting, but my understanding is that it's really new so I haven't been able to track down much, other than what's on their website. Any knowledge whatsoever would be helpful.

cyruspasha

hey what's going on? Regarding this whole, "IR into law school or intl. business school" discussion, i had a somewhat related question. I'm also hoping to go to USC starting 2008, as a junior i'm at a JC right now, and i was planning on majoring in East Asians Studies, work a few years possibly abroad in Japan and then come back to get an M.B.A in Business and an M.A in East Asians Studies as a joint program (not like minor more like a double major thing). I mean business wise i should be safe this way, seeing how Asia is synonymous with economic growth. But i was just wondering, what do you guys think about this? The only worry i have is, that i'm afraid that during the period of time (1-2yrs) that i live/work in Japan, i won't be able to find any good or decent jobs with JUST a B.A in East Asians Studies, except for like teaching English or being a translator. Do you guys know of any jobs that i could try applying to if i follow this program? I don't mean like actual positions, just like general ideas...

UCLAri

Work in Japan for non-natives is INCREDIBLY hard to find. The truth is that unless you are 100% fluent/native-speaker level, you are pretty much limited to either working for a US company or teaching English.

Sorry, I don't mean to be discouraging, but it's pretty much the sad truth. Yes, there are rare opportunities for non-natives, but they are rare and oftentimes plagued with poor working environments.

My best recommendation is to try to work for an American company in Japan or work for your home government in Japan.

scandal-less

Also, RE: language requirements at IRPS. I checked the online course catalogue and see that only Bahasa is offer in the SE Asian realm...and only one single section (what would one do with the other 5 sections you are supposed to take?). Is this true that Bahasa is the only SE Asian option? You just informed the last poster that Thai is offered but I don't see this course listed. Lastly, if I settled upon SE Asia at IRPS, what do you suppose would be the most useful language between Thai, Bahasa, and Vietnamese?

being from SEA, i would say take bahasa. bahasa is applicable in both malaysia and indonesia (is also one of the official languages of singapore). thai and viet are limited to their own little boundaries. vietnam is definitely growing, and thailand definitely has the attention of the world community now (due the its political problems and whatnots), but bahasa, all in all, is the most widely used.

beberabozo

Hi,
I've finally settled on IRPS as my final choice (turned down SIPA).

Regarding SE Asia languages, I know the Thai section is new so that's why it's not yet on the course listing. Furthermore, I believe (not 100% sure) that Bahasa can be taken w/ undergrads in several sections before advancing to the IRPS section of the langauge. Maybe UCLAri could confirm?

Ari, I've been struggling w/ the regional concentration decision. I am very interested in SE Asia and China but, as a mono-lingual American, I fear the langauges could be a bit out of my grasp (I'm also tone-deaf so Thai and Mandarin are out).

Question: Should I study LatAm region in the interest of learning a 2nd language, even though I don't have the same zest for the region as, say, China? Spanish is my best shot and, as we all know, you should know one other language AT A MINIMUM.

If I study Korean or Bahasa (non-tonal languages) I fear that 2 years will just skim the surface and I may or may not have future opps to work in those countries & improve my language skills. That, to me, translates to a wash. I'd know "a little" Korean but no guarentee I'd ever continue with the learning.

UCLAri

scandal-less,

It's not a perfect solution, but IR/PS WILL do its best to either have you take classes at the undergrad level (UCSD offers many classes that IR/PS does not) or off-campus. Imperfect, but considering how many languages there are to learn in the world, probably the best solution it can offer considering its size (250).

I'm not 100% sure how Thai is handled, but I did hear that it can be done. I don't remember where I said it's offered, though? Heh...

I tend to think that Bahasa or Vietnamese are the most interesting. Bahasa is widely spoken and Vietnamese is probably the most commonly used amongst the academically/professionally-interested American community (e.g. us).

Your checkbook will thank you.

Yes, you can take whatever is offered at the undergrad level and then just work your way up. Don't worry about being tone-deaf. I'm the worst singer in the world, but I got by in Mandarin. Sure, I've forgotten it all now, but I got an A- back in the day.

I'd study what you're interested in. You might be surprised by how quickly you pick up another language. The hardest part with Chinese won't be the tones, in my opinion, but the hanzi (characters). If you aren't interested in Latin America, don't do Spanish. I'm personally not completely hot on Japan anymore, and I kind of cringe when I sign up for language classes.

And it's not the teacher, who is wonderful, supportive, and has an excellent pedagogy. It's me. I just don't want to learn Japanese anymore.

In other words, choose a region and language you're interested in. That will carry you very far.


If you guys would like to maybe set up a meeting/IM chat, feel free to e-mail or IM me. I think a lot of this is best hashed out in discussion rather than forums.

Incredulous

Congratulations. IRPS and SIPA are a couple of great options. And IRPS is a good selection in its own right for far more than financial reasons.

I echo what UCLAri said about studying what you want, in terms of language. It's a common misconception that tone-recognition abilities of the sort associated with music is a make-or-break with Mandarin. There's a study showing that these facilities (music vs. language tone recognitiion or abilities) are actually resident in different parts of the brain.

Look at the following threads to see debates about languages. I would say that you should figure out where you're likely to want to pursue a career geographically. A tough call without more experience, but one worth considering anyway.

Chinese is a good language for general Asian purposes, esp. SE Asia as well as China. Bahasa seems super easy to learn.

Japanese is by all accounts somewhat harder to learn than Chinese. I specifically looked at Chinese vs. Japanese culture before I went down the road of learning one or the other of the languages. I opted for Chinese, and I spent a bit of time in SE Asia, happy that at least I had Chinese.

There is a risk that you really are not good at foreign languages. Chinese is a tough way to break yourself in or to find this out. It is a challenging language for anyone (see the threads). In terms of memorization requirements, it's one of the worst. In terms of grammar difficulty, it's easy. In terms of tones, tough.


The Best Language for a Journalist?

Incredulous

Most "valuable" foreign languages?


Chinese or Portuguese? Which is more important?

BIGTWIX

Hey UCLAri, i have a question. It is a little off topic but how were your grades in your Japanese classes? Did you find them very difficult, or were As manageable enough?