summer IR grad courses that admit undergrads

[IR_prospie]

I am trying to make myself as competitive as possible for next year's application cycle and am thinking about taking graduate courses in IR this summer in order to beef up my portfolio. Does anyone know which schools allows non-graduate students to take graduate courses? I know Fordham has two that I plan to take, but are there any others? Thanks!

[USCoregonian]

Might want to check out SAIS. I know they have a big summer program, but not sure if they admit undergrads.

[3221]

I am trying to make myself as competitive as possible for next year's application cycle and am thinking about taking graduate courses in IR this summer in order to beef up my portfolio. Does anyone know which schools allows non-graduate students to take graduate courses? I know Fordham has two that I plan to take, but are there any others? Thanks!

I highly doubt doing grad courses over the summer would help your application. Unless you are hoping to get letters of rec from the summer school profs you are probably better off working as an RA, learning a language, or taking math classes.

[Maxx]

Graduate courses certainly helps, but probably not master-level ones (including SAIS', even though it's a very good school). A lot of your competitors next year would either have completed or be completing a master degree, so the fact that you have one course under your belt won't help much. What would definitely help though is for you to take a PhD seminar in the first semester of your senior year (presumably in your own school), do very well in it, and ask the prof to write you a recommendation which says you have great potential in research. These seminars aren't typically offered in the summer as far as  I know. For summer, I agree with 3221 that RA would probably be a good move.