I was a double-major in IR and East Asian Studies at Penn’s CAS. Thanks to Penn’s help (or in some cases merely the strength of its reputation) I had the opportunity of summer jobs/internships in Seoul, Singapore, and Beijing. I’m now working in South Asia for one of the Indian industrial houses (they have an international recruit program that only recruits from the Ivies–another Penn perk ) edit: you could say i’ve been trotting around the British Empire 
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<p>Like you, I am very much into IR, and Penn was a phenomenal experience in too many ways to count…but I’ll just focus on IR for now (feel free to PM me about other Penn questions).</p>
<p>Penn is not known as an IR powerhouse like Georgetown SFS, Stanford, etc., but that doesn’t mean it isn’t a top-notch experience. It simply doesn’t have a graduate program or separate school (the plus side of this is that the IR program’s core and only purpose is to serve undergraduates).</p>
<p>The program itself is rigorous. The major is not open; that is to say there is an application process. There is a set of prerequisite courses you must take and achieve a certain GPA in order to be considered, and there is an interview as well. It is also one of the few majors at Penn that requires both honors and non-honors students to complete a 2-semesters long senior thesis (mine was an 83 pager on game theoretical analysis of US-North Korea cooperation prospects… surprising conclusion: John Bolton was right!).</p>
<p>Another plus for Penn over comparable schools is the “One University” policy that allows and encourages undergraduates to take classes in the other 3 undergrad schools and even some of the grad schools. Penn IR benefits greatly from this. As an undergrad, you can take Penn Law classes of great relevance–where else can an undergrad IR major take a course on China and International Law by this guy (Penn Law Faculty: Jacques deLisle, expert on Comparative Law, International Law, Chinese Law and Politics) or international human rights law by this guy ( Penn Law Faculty: William W. Burke-White )? Another area of great synergy is in the Wharton school, where you can take courses on international finance and international business (which only a fool would think have no role to play in the study of IR). Penn also has a preeminent military historian (Arthur Waldron) with great connections and a love of engaging undergrads (too often at our elite schools, the role of militaries is kept at arms-length).</p>
<p>In short, the breadth available to Penn IR undergrads is unparalleled in schools of its class.</p>
<p>The results speak for themselves: Penn IR students regularly win Fulbrights/Truman/Marshall etc; we had an IR major won a Rhodes a few years back (and a Huntsman kid won a Rhodes last year) (but as a Brit you’re probably not looking for a Rhodes…). Penn IR students get job offers in the Foreign Service, military, and intelligence sectors, the most coveted companies like Goldman Sachs and McKinsey (my own company accepted 3% of its applicants this year, and another Penn IR major was among them), and gain admission to the preeminent grad schools in IR, law, business…</p>
<p>The faculty and staff of the IR program are great. One professor is a Pulitzer Prize winner and it shows in his lectures. Another was just published in ‘Foreign Policy’ magazine. I know the head of the department by first name. I’ve gone out for beers with the guy, and we still keep in touch.</p>
<p>Phew. I’m spent. PM me with any questions you may have.