International Relations Major

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This information is part of the Colgate University catalog, 2024-25.

Major Requirements

Students are strongly encouraged to complete most required courses by the end of the junior year. As a general rule, the only requirements students can complete off campus are the elective and History courses as well as appropriate language courses; in all such cases, students must seek prior approval from the IR director.

For students seeking a major in International Relations and a minor in Political Science, no courses may be counted toward both.

, does not ordinarily count toward the IR major. Students who take  before deciding on an IR major must also take , but may count  as one of the two IR electives with written permission from the IR program director.

Students who have AP credit for  must take one additional elective course.

The major program consists of the following requirements:

Foundational Course

Core Political Science Subfield Courses

At least two of the following POSC courses:

Economics Courses

All of the following:

History Courses

One of the following:

IR Seminar

Unless the director grants specific permission, the seminar must be taken on campus. The seminar must be taken by the first term of the senior year, unless special permission of the IR director is granted in advance. Students pursuing honors must take an IR seminar in addition to the honors seminar.

One of the following:

Elective Courses

Two electives from the list below or students may substitute an additional core subfield course or IR seminar.

Language Requirement

For both majors and minors, reading proficiency in a Western European language equal to that attained by completion of two 300-level courses with a grade of at least C.

Alternatively, for students interested in a non-Western European language, such as Arabic, Chinese, Hebrew, Japanese, Russian, etc., the requirement can be satisfied by reading proficiency equal to that attained by completion of two 200-level courses with a grade of at least C. Students entering with AP credit in a non-Western language must take at least one language course at Colgate.

Students seeking clarification regarding their current level of proficiency should contact the language department or program in question.

To receive credit for courses taken off campus, arrangements must be made in advance with the director of the IR program.

GPA Requirement

Satisfactory completion of the IR major requires (1) a minimum GPA of 2.00 in the nine IR-designated courses, and (2) a grade of C or better in , , and the seminar.

Honors

Students interested in pursuing honors can find the additional requirements on the  program page.

International Relations Program

For more information about the department, including Faculty, transfer credit, awards, etc., please visit the  catalog page.