<p>Chompchomp - I agree with Deskpotato because simply coming to DC means uprooting everything you have. Factor in paying for plane tickets during Winter Break and summer (if you don’t choose to intern in DC during the summer), housing (4k-5k), and other additional costs.</p>
<p>Focus of the school
Well, like I said, I found the IR program at UCSD very conservative. Furthermore, if you take a look at the name of UCSD’s IR school… it is literally called “School of International Relations and Pacific Studies”. Lots of emphasis being placed on the Pacific Studies. Take a look at the various tracks at UCSD and many of their IR courses are oriented towards China, Japan, and Korea and stress their Korea-Pacific program. For me, this was the big draw in going to UCSD because I focus on North Korea but I know that I am a minority. Admittedly, SIS does not stress East Asia as more professors gravitate towards the Middle East/Latin America or in international development/security studies. </p>
<p>Size of the school
UCSD IR offers less classes and this is largely because SIS gives students flexibility. Not only is SIS the largest school of international relations by number of students, it also has the largest amount of faculty (I think 140 or something like that). Plus, nearly half of the UCSD IR profs are not tenure line positioned within the university. </p>
<p>Research methods
UCSD offers its research methods course within their Poli Sci program for a semester which is slightly problematic because Poli Sci research methods teach you how to conduct research in social science from a public policy perspective. AU offers it as a year long course specifically focusing on student’s needs to conduct their own student research. </p>
<p>If you go to UCSD, you’re in a program, not a school
UCSD’s Bachelor’s of Arts in International Studies is a program. The actual school that is recognized by APSIA is the Graduate School of International Relations and Pacific Studies. Look at 90% of the courses you take under their program… they are in separate schools. At UCSD, you are a minority studying IR in other schools under econ, sociology, anthropology, poli sci, etc. At AU, most of your classes within the program requirements will be in SIS. Here is the program for UCSD: [International</a> Studies](<a href=“http://www.ucsd.edu/catalog/curric/INTL.html]International”>International Studies)</p>
<p>On the other hand, at AU SIS is nearly 25% of the university. To see how much social science is emphasized at AU, international relations and political science majors encompass 44% of the entire university. </p>
<p>I chose AU not only because of its location (DC, 20,000-40,000 internships in IR - think tanks, NGOs, non-profit, government), size (largest school in IR in students and faculty), professors (140+, very strong i.e. Robert Pastor, Amitav Acharya, ISA Pres., Fanta Aw NAFSA Pres., Louis Goodman, Akbar Ahmed, Quansheng Zhao, etc), range of classes, great career services and internship experience (top 10 career services by Princeton Review, #1 in percentage of students, 84%, participating in internships before graduation, US News), social science focus (#1 most politically active school Princeton Review 2010, 2012), and prestige (#10 undergrad, #8 grad by TRIP survey, Foreign Affairs) but also simply because **California’s universities do not offer a Bachelor’s IR school ** recognized by APSIA (Association of Professional Schools of International Affairs, UCSD IR/PS is a grad IR school as stated earlier). </p>
<p>I hope this gives you some perspective. What you should ask yourself is… Are you serious about international relations? I have friends who come out of USC, UCLA, UCSD, Claremont McKenna IR and many of them work in public policy (absolute BS), are unemployed, or are going to school for a higher degree because of low job prospects in California. Here in DC, the competition is cutthroat b/c people are always talking about security clearance, pathways internship programs, etc. However, because of high job turnover rates, there is a bustling job market. </p>
<p>DC is a cosmopolitan, international place. Of 10k total students at AU, 1,300 are international students. Clearly, if you look at the numbers, another aspect you want to take into account is… Do you want to go to a large school (29,000 students) or a medium size school (10,000 students)?</p>
<p>My take: If you’re serious about international relations and want to go to a medium sized school that literally is called the “School of International Service”, choose AU. If you’re not so sure about international relations and want to go to school close to home and want to experience college life in California, go to UCSD.</p>