IR Course Selection

phatpat · 08-17-2006, 05:10 PM

As an incoming freshmen, I was wondering what the recommended course selection is for an IR major. I'm planning to start either Japanese or Chinese, since I'm intent on working in the East Asian Sphere. However, I'm still not sure what language to take since I hear Chinese is ridiculously hard. Any advice here? As for the Intro to IR course, would it be good to take as a 1st semester course or wait til 2nd semester? I hear it's a lot of hefty reading and a weed-out class so I'm not sure if i want to take a course of that magnitude while I'm still adjusting to college life. Besides the language and intro to IR, are there other essential courses I should be taking my first year? Hope to hear from someone soon.

bluirinka · 08-17-2006, 05:54 PM

most freshmen IR majors take Fundamentals of Economics (Ec 5) and Intro to IR their first year. I'm going to be a sophomore though and I'm taking IR this semester. it's also a pretty tough prof this time around, I hear.

The lovely thing about the IR major is that it's SO broad. There are tons of courses that fill every requirement.

This link should help you out a lot:
http://ase.tufts.edu/ir/aboutRequirements.htm

juliatorgo · 08-19-2006, 02:41 AM

Darn! I just wrote a long response that disappeared.
Here goes again-

Renee, who is teaching intro to IR next semester?
Whatever you do, do NOT do what I did my first semester; don't take both intro to IR and principles of economics (ec 5) your first semester at Tufts. It was quite painful. Also don't take Ec 5 with Richards. I would recommend taking both courses your freshman year, though, one each semester. Which you take when should be entirely based on who is teaching them. Who is teaching Ec 5 next semester? I don't have time to look it up right now but look up the profs on Jumboreviews.com or post them here and I'll tell you what I know about them.

Other courses you might want to take are ones that will fulfill some of your general distribution requirements. The requirements can be found here:
http://ase.tufts.edu/bulletin/liberal-info.html

Renee's totally right, though; IR is a super-broad major so you have lots of options. Plus, your advisor and peer advisors will help you with all of this during orientation =)

phatpat · 08-19-2006, 05:30 AM

After looking through the course listings at the Tufts Site, it appears that Richards and Abdullah -both with unfavorable reviews at Jumbo Review- are teaching Economics 5. Quick question, do you have to take a lower ec class to get into Ec 5 or simply sign up for it? Because I only got a 4 on MacroEcon and I heard that doesn't get me anything lol. I also looked up the professors teaching Intro to IR and it seems that Jeffrey Taliaferro, who has also garnered lackluster reviews, is the only available professor for the fall semester. Options...lol.

Duffman28 · 08-19-2006, 10:19 AM

^ Heh, Taliaferro gets such mixed reviews from people. I'll be a Freshman too, but I've met and spoken with Jeff and he's really a great guy, and his lectures are good. Yes, he's a bit pompous, but I think people exaggerate this a bit in reviews...

Duffman28 · 08-19-2006, 10:54 AM

Honestly, in just going through the reviews of both Eichenberg and Taliaferro on ratemyprofessor and tuftsacceess, they both have their strong and weak points, and it really doesn't seem to matter which you pick because people either hate them or love them...

juliatorgo · 08-19-2006, 02:13 PM

Yeah, I had Eichenberg and I thought he was fantastic, though his exams were brutal. People either love or hate Taliaferro. The econ prof options that you guys have are the same as mine were last year, and they're not great. I would go for Abdullah if pressed, though. At least he follows the textbook, whereas Richards just tosses in stuff you've never seen on exams sometimes, which is not fun. The better decision though is probably to taking intro to IR with Taliaferro and then hope for better options in econ in the Spring.

Phatphat- yeah, you just go straight into Ec. 5. They used to have seperate intro to micro and intro to macro classes but now they combined them into one in ec 5. So your AP doesn't give you anything...except it might give you a social science distribution credit.

Duffman28 · 08-19-2006, 02:16 PM

^ Yeah, that's what I was thinking, thanks...I'll take Intro with Jeff and wait for spring for econ...

bluirinka · 08-20-2006, 10:31 AM

okay no, the issue between Abdullah and Richards is not that one follows the textbook. I know Richards apparently hasn't read the textbook. But Abdullah will also put questions on the exam that aren't text-related.

The difference between Richards and Abdullah is that Richards gives problem sets. And most people who took his class seemed to think he was a pretty okay lecturer and the notes they took were helpful. I went to Abdullah's class for about a month - so, give or take eight classes - and realized they were a COMPLETE waste of time. I seriously did not go to lecture for the entire rest of the semester - I just read the textbook, went to recitation, where the TA "cleared some things up" and then gave us a weekly quiz, then showed up to lecture when we had midterms. I got a B+ overall. Also, I took an International Trade course this summer that actually had Intermediate Micro and Macro as prerequisites - neither of which I'd taken - and found that I actually had a really good base in those principles just from reading the Ec 5 textbook (which, btw, is very clear and good). The PROBLEM with the class is that because there were no problem sets, I'm an IR/Econ major who's going to start taking Micro, Macro, Stat, etc without ever having done problem sets, which I think puts me at a disadvantage.

So, if you're continuing with Econ and think that it would be a good idea to practice principles w/problem sets, take it with Richards. If you would prefer just not going to lecture and can trust yourself to read the text assiduously, go for Abdullah.

Irony: Abdullah teaches at Harvard, lol.

juliatorgo · 08-20-2006, 04:39 PM

I felt that Richards' lectures were pointless as well. The problem was that since he really doesn't go by the book AT ALL and since he is extremely unapproachable (I'm usually good friends with most of my teachers so this is not me being shy) and generally uninterested in his students' progress, unless you have good TAs (which I unfortunately did not), there is little you can do to get help. Perhaps Abdullah is as bad or worse, I wouldn't know. I do know that George Norman is far, far better than both Richards and Abdullah. My roommate took Ec 5 with Norman second semester and I looked at his powerpoints from lecture (which he posts online) and they were extremely comprehensive and far better than mine were with Richards. She also said that he was a good lecturer and very approachable. So try to get Norman and avoid both Richards and Abdullah if you can.

lolabelle · 08-20-2006, 10:59 PM

Taliaferro is easily hateable because he is really pompous. But he has good reason to be -- he's brilliant and a very accomplished IR scholar, having written renowned articles on theory applied in real-world situations. His lectures are not pointless, and you end up getting an A in his class you'll have truly earned it. And, trust me, that feels great.

bluirinka · 08-21-2006, 06:26 PM

I know - looking at his bio on the Poli Sci website, I was like, DAMN. I'd be honored to study under this guy

Duffman28 · 08-22-2006, 12:43 AM

I really like him, but I'm pretty pompous, lol, we spoke for like two hours when he came down here for the alumni reception, it was great.