Earlier this summer I was accepted into a program at our city’s university that allows me to take part in college courses in order to receive college credit, while at the same time fulfilling my high school’s graduation requirements. I am just a junior, so I know that I still have awhile. I plan on getting all my high school requirements completed during the fall semester, as I only have to take a few more classes. The whole basis of the program is to help me get out all the necessary core requirements for a certain major, so that I may be able to take upper level courses when I get to college. My main question is this: which courses would you recommend for someone who might potentially major in IS? I know Economic classes are a req for most schools ( i.e. micro- and macroeconomics), as well as some History, Math, and English courses. I’m taking Stats, but I know that I’ll need more math classes. In short, what subjects do you believe would help with IS? Thanks to anyone who can help!
Principles of Economics–Macro; Micro
Introduction to International Relations; Introduction to Comparative Politics
History Surveys—World and/or Regional, e.g., East Asia, Middle East, Africa—whatever regions interest you
Languages—for whatever country/region interests you
Possibly, a course in World Regional Geography if you don’t have a solid background in that topic or good “map” knowledge
Possibly, introductory courses in various religious traditions–Islam, Hinduism, etc.
Possibly, introductory courses in Cultural Anthropology, Sociology if you might need these as prerequisites for other courses in those fields
I’m assuming that most IR/IS programs will require fairly similar introductory/prerequisite courses across such programs at different colleges and universities.
You should have a solid background in US history and culture, especially if you have any plans to work in the foreign service. If you don’t have solid high school courses in American History, American Government, and American Literature, you might consider some coursework in these areas.
Of course, you will have to complete general education requirements outside your intended major. You might consider courses that will meet some of these requirements—Natural Sciences: biological sciences (either general courses or such topical courses as might be offered for nonscience majors in environmental studies, genetics, microbiology/emerging diseases due to their relevance for policy issues) and/or physical sciences (including courses in earth or environmental sciences due to their relevance to international environmental/energy/climate/water issues); math; Humanities: literature (especially world literature or classics of western literature), introductory art history surveys (Western, Asian), introduction to philosophy (either historical, ethics, or social/political philosophy).
One important consideration will be the likelihood of a course being accepted for credit at whatever college or university you attend, especially if you would like the course to meet a general education requirement or major prerequisite. An English Comp or Expository Writing course often is required, but some schools prefer that students take their own courses for this.
i thought i was gonna be a pre-med bio major in high school before i decided on ir, so all the AP credits i got in science and math classes were quite helpful cuz i didnt need to take them in college. whatever ya take will help because you will almost certainly have to satisfy some sort of gen ed classes. that said, if you wanna get a head start on ir, i’d recommend
comparative politics/government (I’m pretty sure there’s a comp pol AP)
micro
macro
statistics (not something some people might expect, but def necessary for most social science majors minus anthropology maybe), you already got that covered so that;s good
History: def world history, maybe euro history but not as good as world, AP US probably not so useful
any cold war (super useful) or other international history classes if they got some
any geography or anthropology classes if they got some
any other politics and government courses, focus more on international/foreign stuff, US domestic stuff is okay but not as useful unless you wanna do political science
i never seen a high school with IR classes but if they got them, def go for it
@Zoidberg93 Thank you so much! This past school year I took a AP Human Geography and received a 5 on my exam, so that will be helpful, and I also took some regional geography classes. I plan on taking either micro or macroeconomics next semester. Would it be unwise to take both at the same time? I was thinking I should do one spring semester and then the other next fall semester. World History was on my list, so I’ll keep that in mind when I schedule my spring semester classes. They are also offering a course in Terrorism and studying its aspects such as origin, so forth and so on, would that also be helpful? I just want to make sure that I get my gen ed reqs done, but also take courses that could count toward the major. My schedule for this semester includes English Comp, Stats, EU History, Spanish, and a science course, so I’m hoping that they will count toward any gen ed reqs. Once again, thank you so much, this is really helpful!
@zapfino And thank you as well! Very helpful and I am sure that this will come in handy as I work on my spring semester schedule!