Advice from Graduating International Studies Majors

At the end of each term, as part of their required Exit Interview, our graduating seniors are asked, "What advice would you give to an entering international studies major in order to help him or her succeed?"

Here (unedited) is what they have had to say in the past:

Study hard, do your homework, and attempt to take all the political classes at once.

Immerse themselves in what they do. Read, watch, listen, think. Push yourself to express what you've learned.

To find a specific area or niche (Pol. Sci., business, Area Studies, History, Law, etc.) and try to relate the curricula of all courses to that area of interest.

The advice I would give them is to get to know their professors in this department. Each have their own significant way of helping students succeed.

I would suggest that they attend class! I would also suggest that they be continuously thinking about how all their classes are related to each other. I would also tell them they need to constantly strive to keep up with current events. This is a definite requirement for a IS degree.

1. Gain all kinds of knowledge as much as you can because international studies major requires huge amount of information. 2. Try to accept all the cultures.

Know your faculty, peer contacts, and maintain a relationship with your advisor, go to class, do the work, and don't get behind. If your teacher doesn't know what you look like when se sees your name then either you or the teacher is doing something wrong. But it's still the student's responsibility to remedy it.

First of all a person needs to be interested in international issues related to politics, economics, and cultures, as well as will[ing] to travel and learn other languages, in order to work with international community in future. Being passionate about those topics, along with easiness of learning about them would help with succeeding in this major.
You need to love the field you will be working in.

1. Schedule you classes in advance to know what you need to take each semester. 2. Talk with your advisor. 3. Get to know your professors, they are good people. 4. STAY ORGANIZED!

Get a business concentration.

Read the required readings and do as many "homework" assignments as possible, preferably all of them since they are essentially free grades.

Be careful to choose your major. Once you decided to study in this field, do best as you can.

1. Make sure you read and study all the handout given in class. The handout reflects the test. 2. Make friends with your professors, not enemies, as they are the ones who will bend over backwards when you need help or are stuck. 3. Make sure you read all the directions and requirements before doing anything. 4. Lastly, ASK QUESTIONS. It is entertaining and you learn a lot. It widens perspectives--unexpected questions, unexpected answers.

Attend class, the attendance clauses in the syllabi are not for show only. If I had better attendance I would have been an honor student.

My best advice is to be as much involved in extra-curricular activities, student organizations during his/her first years of college. Later, I would advise to participate in activities regarding IS off campus and later pursue and internship.

Sample many different regional studies to get a better overview and set a long-term plan and stick to it with class and start looking for jobs and internships asap.

First of all, I would suggest to make sure he/she is interested in the major he is going to enter because is it really important to enjoy and like the major you will be studying. He/she will have more fun if he/she will like the major and are interested.
Second of all, he/she also has to got to advisors and carefully plan what classes to take what not because if he/she will do that, he/she might graduate not on time.
Third of all, tried to watch a lot of news, read newspapers about the current events in the world because it will help her/him to understand the material he will be studying.
Finally, try to give your best! Do not be lazy! Professors do not like lazy students with many excuses.

Advice that I would give to an entering international studies major would be: be prepared to read. This is a great program, but I was caught off guard when I first entered the program by the amount of reading that was expected of me.

The most important thing is to come to class and follow the instructions that teachers give.

First, be ready to be used to reading a lot. Then make a good arrangement of all the courses to take. Don't wait to the last minute to do your paper, especially research paper.

I would tell them to really become involved. Keep up with the current issues and how what you have learned applies to them.

Take upper and lower classes all together to avoid taking many hard classes last and together.

I would tell that person to attend class every day. Our department is very big on that (haha). I would tell him to take advices of the professors seriously and implement them on time. The courses aren't particularly too difficult just a lot of hard work.

Don't think you can walk right through this major, while it is fun you have to be willing to work hard and be open-minded. I would say if you are a close-minded person then this is not the major for you., but if you walk into this major with an open mind then you will do okay. Don't be shy because there are so many presentations that you must be comfortable to talk to people. This major is for a people person who doesn't mind speaking his/her mind and being able to be around people without being shy.

Last updated: 2009-08-15 17:44
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