<p>i’m thinking about either majoring in international law/human rights or international affairs or maybe even political science and hopefully one day i’d like to be working at the UN as a human rights lawyer. would columbia be a good school for this?</p>
<p>They don’t have majors in 3 of the 4 things you mentioned – only political science. Guess Columbia would be a terrible school for you if you’re dying to major in “international law/human rights or international affairs.”</p>
<p>poli sci is excellent, one of the best departments in the country.
You might also be interested in this:
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<p>I think it would be difficult to beat NYC as a place to find internships invovling human rights, given all the advocacy and international organizations.
I don’t know about International Relations – there has been some discussion about it not being a separate major at Columbia, unlike other places – but there certainly is no dearth of courses.</p>
<p>thanks for the reply! i looked at the program you mentioned sac, and it’s just what i’m looking for</p>
<p>Columbia has one of the [very</a> top international relations departments](<a href=“http://mjtier.people.wm.edu/intlpolitics/teaching/surveyreport.pdf]very”>http://mjtier.people.wm.edu/intlpolitics/teaching/surveyreport.pdf) in the country. The rest of the political science department is fairly strong as well.</p>
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<p>Yeah, and they also have one of the very top journalism departments in the country. Are you aware of the fact that neither is for undergraduates?</p>
<p>well, anyone have the rankings for best undergrad schools?</p>
<p>thanks for the posts so far!</p>
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<p>Since when do undergraduates not study with the same professors as graduates? Or perhaps an entirely new political science staff has been hired purely for undergraduates since I last went to sleep?</p>
<p>CC students can’t take SIPA courses, per the bulletin, <a href=“Columbia College Bulletin < Columbia College | Columbia University”>Columbia College Bulletin < Columbia College | Columbia University;
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<p>SIPA has its own faculty. Political Science does too, and only a few of their profs have joint SIPA appointments. See: <a href=“Columbia College Bulletin < Columbia College | Columbia University”>Columbia College Bulletin < Columbia College | Columbia University;
<p>A graduate student doing a PhD in political science is not a graduate student in SIPA. I’m not sure why you’re not getting this at all.</p>
<p>Columbia2002: SIPA doesn’t hold a monopoly on Columbia’s top international relations and affairs professors. The political science PhD program, the faculty of which undergraduates certainly do take courses with, is just as strong.</p>
<p>The OP would benefit from having access to Columbia’s political science professors, since they are among the top in their field.</p>
<p>this may be a stupid question, but columbia2002, so you’re saying that i can only taking classes relating to international studies if i enroll in the SIPA? well that’s just queer…</p>
<p>I think we all agree that Columbia has an outstanding political science department, so I’m glad you’re on board with everyone else. Not sure what your point is, however. CC kids have little access to Columbia’s top-notch international relations/affairs graduate program (SIPA), given that: 1) only a few SIPA profs have joint (i.e., non-SIPA) appointments and 2) CC students are precluded from taking SIPA Courses.</p>
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<p>SIPA (School of Int’l and Public Affairs) is a graduate school and teaches only graduate classes. Everything is so interdisciplinary, so there’s plenty of coursework in the political science department that will give you an international bent. However, you’ll be majoring in political science and won’t be allowed to take courses in the “international relations” department.</p>
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<p>I believe I see wherein the confusion lies. The survey I linked to ranks both terminal masters programs (SIPA) and academic PhD programs. SIPA is not counted under the doctoral international relations program. This ranking, which places Columbia second, refers exclusively to the academic international relations faculty.</p>
<p>Columbia has a top-flight faculty both for SIPA and for academic international relations. The OP as an undergrad will absolutely be able to take academic international relations courses, and thus benefit from the extraordinary strength of the school’s academic international relations professors.</p>
<p>I’m aware of Columbia’s Political Science major, but I thought that you had the option of selecting a concentration? Am I wrong?</p>
<p>You can concentrate in stuff, too.</p>