Careers in int'l relations/foreign policy/ journalism/law

College Majors
1

So I am going to college (US) this year, and will probably be earning a degree in STEM/engineering/healthcare. While I have an avid interest in these areas, I am also very interested in the following areas, and feel like its more my “thing”. Reading and writing are my forte while I struggle with math. My parents are disapproving though:
Journalism, lnternational relations, Foreign affairs/policy, economics, public policy/government, something called intel analyst (they analyse situations in different countries and how it could potentially affect their country)?
I’m also interested in the career of a diplomat (and those who work in embassies, as I’ve come into contact with them quite frequently due to an interesting situation of mine). Just for some background, I have grown up in 2 countries and feel deeply about the issues relevant to both, and want to have a job where I can somehow contribute to both. I am, however, quite a shy, introverted person at first who is definitely not a natural leader. I am also not interested in a career in politics, OR anything very finance related. I love travelling too, and have a deep interest in current/world affairs.
Honestly, ever since I was a kid I wanted to be a biomedical researcher, fighting cancer and doing cool stuff with genetics :wink:
But I’ve realised that medicine/science requires a lot of patience, and also requires a lot of cramming in general (tho I find the subject matter interesting). I’'m also interested in engineering (material science, robotics, drug delivery) and think its far more creative, but the heavy math and physics makes me feel like I’m not up for it!
Journalism/LAW/ int’l relations, on the other hand, seems to emphasize critical thinking, looking at a case in different ways, looking for loopholes - it just seems so interesting and cerebral! (Do correct me if I’m wrong)
And foreign policy/affairs interests me exceedingly too.
However, I have next to no experience in these fields, and haven’t studied any of the subjects.

  1. Could someone in the field elaborate on the jobs? Kinds of jobs, how stable they are, career paths I can take, is this a good option for a career?
  2. If someone could comment on the different types of careers in 1)law 2) foreign affairs?
  3. When I get to college, how can I go about exploring these careers? I will prob also be premed, and want to explore careers in stem as well, will I honestly have the time??? I will need to do all this by 2 years, remember, before I declare a major.
    If it helps, I will be attending UC Davis.Maybe Sacramento may help? In my situation, would anybody recommend a CC? Honestly, I was 100% sure about majoring in BME when I applied, now it feels like my head is all over the place. I just need a solid plan, that I can follow, all the while eliminating my options.
2

Probably you should put aside the engineering, which doesn’t all that much suit you and which a person should be in from the beginning of college. Moreover, it’s generally hard to get admitted to an engineering program. Given what you say about your interests and abilities, I recommend that you instead explore (take courses in), with a view to majoring in, economics, international relations and public policy/government.

Based on what I see at http://www.payscale.com/research/US/Degree=Bachelor_of_Arts_(BA)%2c_International_Relations/Salary, and other payscale.com pages, there’s a strong tendency for international relations and economics majors to end up working in the management of a business or a non-profit organization. Some international relations majors go on to work in intelligence (i.e. information relevant to commercial or national security).

(I’m amazed at how many results a search of ‘intelligence analyst’ gets on the jobs site Indeed.com today (22,962), while ‘journalist’ gets only 1834 results. Looking at a few of the intelligence analyst results, I see a lot of it is to address cyber threats, and the backgrounds sought are variable.)

3

Are you an American citizen? I only ask bc you clarify that you will be going to college in the US. Living overseas for an extended period of time or being 1st or 2nd generation citizen can complicate security clearances which are necessary for analyst type work.
https://news.clearancejobs.com/2010/09/05/foreign-influence-and-security-clearances/

4

I am an american citizen, and my childhood was spent in the US, after which I moved overseas for middle school & HS.
Correct me if I’m wrong. but isn’t security/cyber crime work for data/computer scientists?

5

What I would really like in an answer is the kind of internships/experience I should be looking for to determine if this is the right path for me.

6

This quest suggests it is believed that there is one singular path pertaining to a major, that majors do not particularly share the same path(s) and that one can choose freely what internship one does.

Actually, there are multiple paths for each of the majors we’re talking about, they substantially share the same subsequent employment paths and access to internships is generally restricted by major - you can’t just have what you want. Also, there is the important consideration that the satisfactory completion of an internship in an area increases the odds of working in that area later.

Obviously, it is impractical to do an internship for every potential employment path. So it’s highly desirable to shorten the process of determining the path(s) that are right or acceptable to you by researching on the internet or talking to people in the occupations that are likely to be available, rather than by doing every one of them.

I’ve personally become convinced from looking at all the websites I do that an economics degree tends to fare better than an international relations degree in opening doors job-wise and in level of salary. I find on Indeed.com now that internships seek economics majors and public policy majors much more than they do international relations majors - so that’s something to consider.

What internships to go for? The ones in exciting work that’s generally barely available (I suspect embassy work is in this category, as I’ve never seen it advertised - perhaps that’s a matter of knowing the right people) or the more prosaic sounding ones in business that correspond to jobs much more easily found after graduation? What you look for should depend on your relative valuations of excitement and security, but most likely you will have to go with what’s common (business or perhaps a non-profit that might have some internationality about it).

The name of one’s major is something of a sales line and a ticket to job interviews and internship interviews. One’s real interest is not likely to exactly correspond with the word(s) it’s best to sell oneself under. Electives are the great things to use to enjoy and develop passions that are best not masqueraded for all. (They can simply be mentioned in job and internship cover letters for rare positions they’re relevant to.) So, for instance, it would be strategic to major in economics and take several courses in international relations and/or public policy.

After writing the above I find http://diplomacy.state.gov/discoverdiplomacy/diplomacy101/people/170366.htm says, “Diplomats come from many different backgrounds, yet they all work to advance American interests abroad. They serve in countless roles: from economists and health care specialists to translators and administrative assistants.” An economics degree is hardly incompatible with foreign service.

(My brief reference to cyber intelligence analysts is for the “audience” - the many people who read, but don’t write, in a thread.)

7

Have you looked into the UC Sac or UCDC program? Both of these include internships in the fields you’re interested in and earn you units during the school year should you decide to enroll for a quarter/semester.

8

I’m personally an International Studies/English major at UCSB, so if you have any questions about my progress in trying to find ECs and jobs, I’d be more than happy to help!

9

There are lots and lots and LOTS of different jobs in these very broad fields. Some are more stable than others. For example, there’s an oversupply of lawyers right now, and most lawyers don’t get to work in international law/human rights law. (They instead work in corporate law, at least long enough to repay their student loans.) But there are also lots of other functions. For example, think about the person at a consulate or embassy who helps stranded Americans get back home. There are people who run public relations campaigns in foreign countries to improve our relations and public perception of the U.S. abroad. There are public health specialists who analyze the spread of disease in foreign countries and do things to try to stem the tide or prevent it from spreading beyond a certain area. There are IT specialists who help build infrastructure in resource poor areas…and so on. It depends not just on wanting to go into “IR” but what you want to DO in IR.

If you’re pre-med, that’s fine too. There’s plenty of work in the health/medical field for people who want to do international work. There’s international public health policy, there’s actual clinical work in developing countries, there’s research on tropical diseases that aren’t common in Western nations, etc.

In law, there’s also paralegal work. Most paralegals these days have a BA plus a certification in paralegal studies. Some doctors also serve as expert witnesses in medical cases, although I’m not really sure how a doctor would get into that kind of work.

  1. Could someone in the field elaborate on the jobs? Kinds of jobs, how stable they are, career paths I can take, is this a good option for a career?
  2. If someone could comment on the different types of careers in 1)law 2) foreign affairs?
  3. When I get to college, how can I go about exploring these careers? I will prob also be premed, and want to explore careers in stem as well, will I honestly have the time??? I will need to do all this by 2 years, remember, before I declare a major.

It depends on the internship. Obviously a lot of internships do require experience in a specific major - an engineering internship would need a related major, for example. But a lot of internships and summer experiences in law, international relations and public policy don’t require any specific major (because they’re interdisciplinary fields that pull from many different areas). And that’s to say nothing of creating your own internship with places.

The State Department has a huge internship program, and they place interns throughout the department, including in consular affairs and embassies. However, the program is very competitive and most of the internships are unpaid. Interns who know someone in the department also get better placements.

BUT OP…you can know somebody! The Department of State has a [url=https://careers.state.gov/connect/dir]Diplomat-in-Residence[/url] program; the DIR’s job is to “provide guidance and advice on careers, internships and fellowships to students and professionals in the communities they serve. DIRs are available to answer questions and share insight with those interested in Foreign and Civil Service careers, internships and fellowships.” I was lucky enough to have a DIR on-campus at my undergrad college, Spelman, who was an excellent resources. The one in northern California is at UC Berkeley, which is close enough to Davis to drive there for a day to meet with her.

10

@juillet !! Thank you, your answer was extremely helpful.
“most lawyers don’t get to work in international law/human rights law.” Really?? That sucks, because that was def on my list!
" think about the person at a consulate or embassy who helps stranded Americans get back home" This is the kind of job I was talking about!
Anyway, I will DEFINITELY look into the DIR program at Berkeley.
Davis also has a v good Washington Program which is for all majors- so I guess I can try that?
Also, I’m not sure about other colleges, but at the Davis ICC center, they highly encourage you to try out internships in different areas.
It seems to me, that a degree in international relations, by itself, isn’t very useful- coupled with a second major, or taken in grad school, it seems to provide for a wider scope.
Among other majors, economics seems to be a good practical major, if I want to work in these fields. So I guess my first agenda would be to take elective classes in economics, and see if I like the subject.
Will getting in touch with alumni help?
Any thoughts on international journalism? Is it a good idea for a career?

11

international journalism

There are very few jobs advertised (http://www.indeed.com/jobs?q=international+journalism&l=).

12

What about International Relations with a high degree of proficiency in a critical language AND an economics minor?
I assume the foreign language wouldn’t be too hard since you’ve lived abroad. :slight_smile:

13

Here’s the deal. There are lots of career fields that are very competitive because tons of people want to enter them. When I say “most lawyers don’t get to work in international/human rights law,” that’s what I mean. It’s not that the field doesn’t exist; it’s just that it’s a lot smaller than most people imagine, and the competition for those kinds of law careers is fierce (lots of people dream about prosecuting international war criminals at The Hague. It sounds glamorous!) Same thing with international journalism - there are few jobs in the field, and they’re competitive, because doesn’t running around covering political developments in the Middle East and social movements in China and monetary policy in Eastern Europe sound really cool?

Here’s the thing, though - just because a field is very competitive doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t go for it if you are really passionate about it and have a good plan. Because look at it this way - somebody has to prosecute those war criminals at the Hague. Why can’t it be you? I only bring up the warning because I feel like students should know up front that what they want to do is very competitive, so they can 1) prepare themselves for the grind of trying to get there and 2) come up with a plausible, pragmatic Plan B in case they don’t get there. It’s “go in clear-eyed,” not “don’t do it at all.”

A lot of international fields are competitive, but I hate to see college students give up on the things they like and pick other fields they are less interested in just because they think it’s more pragmatic. It breaks my heart. And there are ways to make the things you are interested in more pragmatic and boost your chances of getting a job. Your suggestion of pairing international relations with economics, for example, is a very good one. Economic analysis and skills is in high demand in the international sector, and it increases the jobs you are eligible for while decreasing your competition (fewer people have the economic and quant skills necessary for those jobs).

And yes, getting in touch with alumni can help! You can see what they are doing in IR and find out what kind of path you may have to to take to get those jobs.

Heh, me too! This is one of the career fields I seriously considered in college. In that case, you do want to be a foreign service officer, following the consular officer career track. Check it out: https://careers.state.gov/work/foreign-service/officer/career-tracks. This is the track I decided I would pursue if I became an FSO, and it had a dash of both interest and pragmatism: I was interested in a couple of the tracks (the political and public diplomacy ones looked cool, too), but at the time the consular track had the fewest applicants and also the most slots.