Josef Korbel or UCSD IR/PS

[ksw0525]

Thankfully, I have admitted both schools.

 

Korbel offers me merit scholarship but I am not sure that Korbel is also good program for international student.

 

As you know, UCSD is specialized in Pacific Area and also has good professional program.

 

I am international student and my longer-term goals are flexible, depending on the career path.

I would say my ultimate goal is to become an outstanding academic in my field...to keep teaching and working on my research. 

 

I want to know advantage and disadvantage of each programs.

 

I think there seem to be little difference in tuition because Korbel offers scholarship.

 

Without scholarship, Korbel direct tuition > UCSD tuition.

 

And also, as far as I know, UCSD is more professional specialized school than Korbel.

[Karoku_valentine]

Hi! Here are the rankings for Masters in IR: http://foreignpolicy.com/2015/02/03/top-twenty-five-schools-international-relations/ . Consider this ranking just a part to make the decision.  

 

I was in IRPS. I really considered most of the classes to be sort of easy. In general, I would say it is difficult to fail. However, it is also difficult to get good grades, specially in the non-quant classes.  For most Americans I met, IRPS was challenging because of the quantitative content (statistics, regression analysis, international economics) because most of them never took any quantitative classes in their undergraduate studies, so everything was crammed in the classes and that made it difficult.

 

However, if you are an international student who is able to attend an American school, the odds are you are an above average student and you will most likely find the classes bearable.

 

With that being said, I have to say that IRPS was good for preparing students to enter the private sector, and some American students joined the Federal Government. Overall, I would say they are doing fine and they found good jobs. Regarding the international students, you can find a job if you really put your mind into it (most Chinese students really wanted to stay in the US, so they networked a lot and got jobs).

 

Also, some students decided to pursue academia and some of them were able to continue with their PhD's. Those who were not admitted into PhD's had low GRE scores, while those who were had better scores. 

 

IRPS is good enough to get you something.

[bj430]

As a Korbel student, Korbel and DU in general have quite a few international students. That said San Diego as a city is definitely more diverse than Denver. 

 

If you are interested in focusing on the Pacific area, Korbel does seem to be lacking in this area as far as specific pacific country classes goes. Korbel focuses more on Asia, i.e. China, for that area of the world. You could still do research in this area through your class papers, though. From my experience in trying to plan my degree at Korbel, I would say that Korbel seems to focus more on work areas, i.e., human rights, development, security, etc., rather than regions. 

 

If you can visit either campus, I would strongly encourage it. I really liked Korbel when I visited and it was one of the main reasons in my decision to go to Korbel. Korbel does have a very good career services program and staff that will help you as soon as you join the school, if you are looking to go the professional route. If you wanted to pursue a PhD, I think Korbel has a strong academic program, and a few of the political theory classes are open to PhD and MA students, so you have the opportunity to meet PhD students at Korbel.