I am a new resident of New York and am looking to start a master's in international relations. From the limited research I have done there seem to be two programs available in NYC- MIA through Columbia's highly regarded and constantly recommended School of International and Public Affairs, or City College New York's program. Although I would love to graduate from SIPA, I do not have the required economics undergrad classes and am simply not prepared to come out of grad. school 50K in debt. Anyway, if anyone has any thoughts on the CUNY international relations program or any other programs available in NYC I would be most grateful if you could share them on the board. Thanks, Nick Clark
I was an undergrad at CUNY Queens College last year, and although I can't comment specifically on CUNY City College's graduate program in International Relations, I will comment on CUNY in general. Those familiar with CUNY tend to view it in a very negative light, including many of those affiliated with CUNY. Admissions standards are abysmally low and the students tend to be unprepared for college level work. A recent President of CUNY Queens College referred to CUNY students as "sh*t in, sh*t out" (yes those were his exact words) and this is how the general public perceives CUNY, at least in NYC. I'm not saying that there aren't any good professors at CUNY or that all CUNY students are unprepared for college (there are definitely Ivy-quality students at CUNY, but the main reason they choose CUNY is because they can't afford to go anywhere else). In fact CUNY used to have a very solid reputation and hasmany notable alumni (Colin Powell, Jerry Seinfeld, etc.) although somewhere along the line things took a turn for the worse and haven't recovered. If cost is a major factor for you or if you plan on working in another state or country that's unfamiliar with CUNY's reputation you could take a look at it, but I certainly wouldn't recommend it. You'd be better off getting a degree via DL, even if your future employer has a bias against a DL degree he'll probably look on it more favorably than he would a CUNY degree. After all, why should an employer look positively on a CUNY degree when even a President of a CUNY college says CUNY graduates are "sh*t in, sh*t out?" Better yet, why would someone want to attend an institution whose leaders refer to their students and graduates in such a way?
Last year I did a through research on MA programs in International Relations I could possibly apply to, and a friend of mine, who was a former special rapporteur for the UN and is currently a senior officer at UNESCO, strongly encouraged me to contact the director of the CUNY’s Thomas Ralph Bunche Institute for International Studies, professor Thomas G. Weiss. According to my friend, Weiss is highly respected in his field, and was hired by the CUNY Graduate Center with the specific aim to improve the university’s academic standards. All of the above said, I don’t have any direct experience with CUNY—for personal reasons, I didn’t follow my friend’s advice, and applied to a MA in Ireland, where I was accepted). I would suggest, however, to have a closer look at the Thomas Ralph Bunche Institute for International Studies. Bests, Giancarlo
If you want to explore the distance education route, one of the most highly regarded master's programs in International Relations is based at Salve Regina University in Rhode Island - a school that is not discussed much here, but has an outstanding reputation.
Yes, Salve Regina is a very good school and their DL programs are widely ignored on this forum. Perhaps it's because the school is mondo expensivo (please note the "international" flavor If you're looking to stay out of debt then you might check out a non-US program. BG14 lists a few: U of Kent UNISA U of S Queensland U of Wales Also, check out Troy State U in Alabama Good luck, Jack
