Getting my MA Abroad?

[mranderson]

Hello all,

While I understand that 95% of the "best" international affairs/relations programs are in the USA, I have little interest in living in the USA. I prefer living in developing countries, as I find them more exciting.

Would it be absurd to study international relations in Istanbul (which is where I would like to settle down) at a VERY good Turkish university that might be unknown to Americans? I studied abroad in Turkey for a year at a top-500 school and found the level of education to be FAR superior to anything I experienced in my top-200 American school.

Pros and cons? Yay or nay?

Thanks.

Edited September 9, 2012 by mranderson

[lost_0101]

depends entirely on what you want to do with your career. If your future goals involve Turkey and fluency in Turkish, or your interests are on political issues in that geographical area, then absolutely it's a good idea.

[DualCitizenIR]

Can I ask which school mranderson? I studied abroad at Bogazici Universitesi last spring in the Dept of Political Science and International Relations. VERY high quality compared to my top 100 undergrad (for PoliSci). I agree with lost_0101, if you want to learn Turkish and work in Turkey, you'll be pretty well off with a degree from one of the best schools there like Istanbul U, Bogazici, ODTU, Bilkent, Koc, etc. (I'm originally Turkish but born and raised in the US... have visited Turkey SO many times though.)

If you want to get work experience in Turkey (politics/IR related) for a number of years, finding work in Europe or North America will be based on your experience more than your school.

Another thing is that top Turkish unis tend to be pretty well known in the regions of the Middle East, the Balkans, and Central Asia, so that is a plus.

[mranderson]

I studied at Boğaziçi for a year in the same department! I'm currently considering Koç University's MA in International Relations program, as it has a non-thesis track geared towards those who want to pursue professional roles.

I definitely want to live in Istanbul, and Turkey is the most interesting country to me from an international relations perspective, with Iran and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict being very interesting to me as well.

I see you're in Phoenix...same here!