About IR

Program Profile

For the last decade, International Relations has been among the top three concentrations at Brown—along with Biological Sciences, History and, more recently, Economics. We graduate around 135 concentrators per year. IR students are an interesting mix. In 2011, one-fourth of the IR graduating class came from outside the US (34 students representing 23 countries), and 40 percent combined IR with another concentration, with Economics being historically our largest group of double-concentrators. The most studied languages, by a large margin, are Spanish and French, but interest in Chinese and Arabic is increasing. In 2011, 12 percent of IR concentrators spoke Mandarin Chinese and another 12 percent spoke Arabic. Historically, ours largest track of study has been global security but more are becoming interested in political economy. More than half of all IR concentrators study abroad for one semester, and, for the last five years, we have had more female than male IR graduates (in 2011, approximately two-thirds of the graduating class were women).

Recent IR graduates have been admitted to top MA and PhD programs in international affairs and the social sciences as well as to top professional schools in law and business. Many are successful in obtaining fellowships to conduct research or teach abroad. IR graduates also enter a wide range of careers in areas such as consulting, corporate finance, investment banking, journalism, media, government agencies, teaching, and non-profit work.