Brandeis vs George Washington for international relations: which is better for an undergrad IR major?

For undergraduate international relations, George Washington usually has the stronger built-in advantage for a student focused on diplomacy, policy, and international organizations. Its biggest asset is location: being in Washington, DC means regular access to internships, speakers, embassies, think tanks, federal agencies, and policy nonprofits during the school year, not just over the summer. That matters a lot in IR because classroom learning and professional exposure are tightly connected.

GW tends to fit the student who wants IR to feel immediate and career-linked from the start. If you like the idea of mixing coursework with part-time internships, attending events at places like think tanks or embassies, and building a network while still an undergrad, GW has a real edge.

Brandeis makes more sense for a student who wants a more intimate, academically driven environment and is drawn to international studies through a liberal arts lens. You may get smaller classes, closer faculty access, and a campus culture that can feel more intellectual and less pre-professional. For some students, that leads to deeper discussion-based learning and stronger mentoring, which can be valuable if you are still shaping whether your interests lean more toward political theory, regional studies, human rights, economics, or academia.

Brandeis also has meaningful strengths in global issues, social justice, and interdisciplinary study, so it is not a weak option for IR at all. But compared with GW, it usually offers less day-to-day immersion in the actual policy world. If your picture of college includes frequent exposure to practitioners and easy in-semester access to relevant work, Brandeis will likely feel less plugged in.

So for a student already pretty sure about diplomacy, foreign policy, or international organizations, GW is often the more compelling undergraduate choice because the education extends beyond the classroom in a very direct way. Brandeis is more appealing for someone who wants a smaller-scale campus and a broader, more reflective academic experience while still studying international affairs seriously.