Math Want to go to humanity grad school with math degree?

[PhysicsMonk]

I graduated with a math degree in 2010, and been working for my dad ever since. My intention is to get into a graduate program in international relation this year, with the long term plan of being a professor in IR. I need to convince graduate school to take me, because I have no research experience, and grade are not great. Can anyone give me some suggestions?

 

[Mépris]

E-mail the specific departments you're interested in and see what they have to say. They'd know best...

I suspect it would be substantially easier to get into an MA/MS program, as opposed to a PhD. Obvious places to look at are the LSE and Sciences Po'.

Minimum entry requirement: 2:1 in international relations, politics, history, sociology, philosophy or related disciplines

http://www2.lse.ac.uk/study/graduate/taughtProgrammes2012/LSE-SciencesPoDoubleDegreeinAffairesInternationales-Relations-PoliticalEconomy.aspx

This might also interest you.

I doubt you'd be asked to do a second bachelor's degree despite what is said above. I'm sure there's ways around this. IMO, it's substantially easier to prove that you know a thing or two about the French Revolution as opposed to say, partial differential equations. Then again, I might be wrong seeing as I'm just an 18 year old who spends an unhealthy amount of time reading and talking about higher education...

 

[Mike H]

Your best bet is to check out the admissions information schools put online, and carefully look at the student profile they present, as well as any student highlights on their webpage. Of course, you should feel free to email them as well, as noted earlier.

My impressions of US-based IR programs is rooted in having witnessed the process my then-significant other experienced a while back, although she was interested less in academia and more so in non-profits/NGOs (which is where she ended up and is to this day). If you already have some economics coursework from your previous mathematics education, that is certainly a plus (if not essentially required by some programs) as well as any language skills you possess. The breadth of people that IR programs admit is pretty broad, so you aren't automatically excluded just based on the content of your undergraduate degree. Generally, though, if you can obtain relevant work experience of some sort - which doesn't necessarily have to be international in scope - it's a plus. Also, it will depend from school to school, but some will require a master's degree (or expect that you are in the midst of completing one) when you apply.