A bachelor’s in international relations is usually a BA, and it exists under several names: International Relations, International Affairs, Global Studies, or a political science major with an international relations concentration. All of them are legitimate. What separates them is not the diploma text but three things in the required course list: whether you must take a method course, whether you must reach a level of language proficiency, and whether you can build depth in one region rather than sampling many.
This page explains the degree titles you will encounter, what the coursework actually contains, what the major does and does not qualify you for, and how to compare programs honestly.
Quick answers
Can I get a bachelor’s degree in international relations?
Yes. It is offered as a standalone BA in International Relations or International Affairs, as a Global Studies major, and as a concentration inside a political science major. Compare the required method and language courses rather than the title on the diploma.
How is it different from a political science degree?
Political science covers politics broadly, including American government, political behavior, public law, and theory. International relations is the outward-facing subfield: the state system, security, international organizations, and political economy. Many schools house both in one department, and the two majors often share half their coursework.
How many credits is a bachelor’s degree?
Approximately 120 semester hours, typically four years full-time. The international relations core usually sits in the junior and senior years, behind introductory government, economics, and a research methods or statistics requirement.
Do I need a language?
Not to earn every version of this degree, but you should treat it as required anyway. Language proficiency is the most common differentiator in international affairs hiring, and it is the hardest thing to add later. Ask each online program how language courses are delivered and whether proficiency is tested.
Will this degree get me a job at the State Department or the United Nations?
Not by itself. Federal foreign affairs hiring runs through competitive processes with their own exams, assessments, and clearances, and international organizations hire globally against candidates who usually hold graduate degrees. The bachelor’s makes you eligible to compete for entry-level roles. It does not shortlist you.
Is a bachelor’s enough, or will I need a master’s?
For most professional international affairs work, plan on a master’s. The bachelor’s is a solid analytic undergraduate credential that supports business, compliance, communications, and analyst roles, but policy and international organization hiring skews graduate.
At a Glance
- Common degree titles: BA in International Relations, BA in International Affairs, BA in Global Studies, or political science with an international relations concentration
- Typical duration: 4 years full-time
- Credits: Approximately 120 semester hours
- Core skills: Comparative and international theory, research design, regional depth, writing for decision-makers, language
- Accreditation: No programmatic accreditor for international relations; verify institutional accreditation
For a full map of this program area, start here: International Relations Program Guide
Schools to compare
How We Rank Schools
Every school list on this site is ordered by the BOC Score, computed from the most
recent school-level data published by the U.S. Department of Education (College Scorecard and IPEDS).
To qualify, a school must be currently operating and accredited by an agency recognized by the
U.S. Department of Education. Each eligible school is then scored on five measures, percentile-ranked
against schools at the same credential level:
BOCSCORE
- Graduation rate 30%
- Median earnings, 10 years after entry 25%
- Average net price (lower is better) 20%
- Retention rate 15%
- Fully online availability 10%
Schools without enough outcome data appear after ranked schools, without a score.
Advertising never affects these rankings. Read the full methodology.
Graduation rate
93%
Median earnings, 10 yrs after entry
$102,772
Avg net price
$12,116/yr
TuitionContact school for pricing
Key stats
- Retention rate: 98%
- Programs offered: 64
Source:IPEDS · College Scorecard
Graduation rate
97%
Median earnings, 10 yrs after entry
$124,080
Avg net price
$13,807/yr
TuitionContact school for pricing
Key stats
- Retention rate: 98%
- Programs offered: 100
Source:IPEDS · College Scorecard
Graduation rate
89%
Median earnings, 10 yrs after entry
$71,588
Avg net price
$6,541/yr
TuitionContact school for pricing
Key stats
- Retention rate: 97%
- Programs offered: 172
Source:IPEDS · College Scorecard
TuitionContact school for pricing
Key stats
- Retention rate: 96%
- Programs offered: 30
Source:IPEDS · College Scorecard
Acceptance rate
7%
Graduation rate
93%
Median earnings, 10 yrs after entry
$77,779
Avg net price
$19,285/yr
TuitionIn‑state$65,420
Out‑of‑state$65,420
Key stats
- Retention rate: 97%
- Programs offered: 42
Source:Accreditor: Western Association of Schools and Colleges Senior Colleges and University Commission · IPEDS · College Scorecard
Graduation rate
85%
Median earnings, 10 yrs after entry
$75,790
Avg net price
$15,564/yr
TuitionContact school for pricing
Key stats
- Retention rate: 90%
- Programs offered: 193
Source:IPEDS · College Scorecard
TuitionContact school for pricing
Key stats
- Retention rate: 95%
- Programs offered: 52
Source:IPEDS · College Scorecard
Graduation rate
98%
Median earnings, 10 yrs after entry
$100,533
Avg net price
$23,777/yr
TuitionContact school for pricing
Key stats
- Retention rate: 99%
- Programs offered: 118
Source:IPEDS · College Scorecard
The main undergraduate pathways
Standalone international relations or international affairs major
The most direct route. The major credits go to international theory, international political economy, international law and organizations, comparative politics, a regional sequence, and usually a methods requirement. Verify whether the program requires a research design or statistics course. Programs that do not are common, and their graduates compete poorly for analyst work against candidates who can defend a data claim.
Global studies
A broader interdisciplinary version that pulls in anthropology, geography, history, and cultural coursework alongside politics. It suits students interested in migration, human rights, environment, and culture across borders. The tradeoff is less coverage of security, formal institutions, and political economy, which is what policy and risk employers screen for.
Political science with an international relations concentration
Common at schools that never built a separate major. You take the political science core – American government, comparative politics, theory, methods – plus a block of international courses. This is often the stronger transcript, because political science departments are more likely to require statistics and research design. See the political science program guide for how those concentrations are structured.
Pairing the major with a hard skill
If you want the international training and a marketable technical lane, add coursework in economics, statistics, or accounting and compliance, or pair the major with international business. That is a deliberate second skill set, not a substitute for the major. Employers hiring for trade compliance, sanctions screening, or market analysis look for the second thread on the transcript.
Typical coursework in a bachelor’s program
| Course Topic |
What You Learn |
| Introduction to International Relations |
The state system, anarchy and cooperation, the major theoretical traditions and what each predicts |
| Comparative Politics |
How regimes, parties, and institutions differ across countries and why those differences matter |
| International Political Economy |
Trade, finance, development, and the institutions that govern them |
| International Law and Organizations |
Treaties, sovereignty, the United Nations system, and how enforcement actually works or fails |
| Security Studies |
Deterrence, alliances, civil conflict, terrorism, and the tools states use short of war |
| Research Methods and Statistics |
Research design, causal inference, and reading quantitative evidence critically |
| Regional Sequence |
Sustained coursework on one region: its politics, history, and current disputes |
| Foreign Language |
Proficiency in a language relevant to your region |
| Senior Capstone or Thesis |
A researched paper or policy analysis defended against evidence |
Skills you may build
- Writing a short, defensible analysis for a reader who has ten minutes, not ten hours
- Reading a treaty, a communique, or an agency report for what it actually commits anyone to
- Using comparative evidence without overclaiming from two cases
- Handling quantitative evidence, if your program requires the methods sequence
- Working in a second language on primary material rather than translations
- Distinguishing what a theory predicts from what you would like to be true
Prerequisites and course sequencing
The international relations core generally sits behind an introductory government or world politics course, an economics principles course, and sometimes statistics. Upper-division regional and functional seminars often run on a rotation rather than every term. Before you enroll, confirm:
- Whether statistics or research methods is required, recommended, or absent
- Which regional sequences are actually offered online, and how often
- Whether language courses are taught by the institution or outsourced, and how proficiency is assessed
- Whether the capstone is a research thesis, a policy memo portfolio, or a simulation
- Whether any internship or practicum is required, and whether remote placement is permitted
If you are moving faster than a standard four-year plan, compare accelerated international relations programs. Compression is hardest on the language requirement and on the capstone, both of which need calendar time rather than intensity.
Transfer credits and degree planning
Transfer credit can shorten a bachelor’s substantially, particularly for general education, introductory government, and economics principles. Rules vary by institution, so confirm:
- The maximum number of transfer credits accepted
- The minimum grade required for a course to transfer
- Whether credits apply to the major core or only to general electives – introductory and language courses usually transfer, upper-division seminars often do not
- Whether prior language study can satisfy the proficiency requirement, and how it is tested
- Residency requirements, meaning a minimum number of credits completed at the institution
See Affordable Online International Relations Degrees for more on managing total program cost.
Accreditation and program quality checks
There is no programmatic accreditor for international relations at the bachelor’s level. Verify that the institution holds accreditation from a recognized institutional accreditor through the U.S. Department of Education database.
Associations of international affairs schools and model United Nations affiliations are useful signals of activity, but they are not accreditation and they do not evaluate degree quality. Institutional accreditation is the check that matters.
Building evidence while you study
Because the degree does not certify anything, what you can show at graduation carries the weight. Practical habits that pay off:
- Keep two or three polished writing samples, ideally short analytic memos rather than long seminar papers
- Push the language as far as the program allows, and document the level honestly
- Take the statistics course even when it is optional, and keep a project that shows you used data
- Choose one region and stay with it long enough to follow its actual politics, not just its history
- Look for internships with agencies, nonprofits, or firms doing international work, and start early – federal internships in particular run on long lead times and often require citizenship
Bachelor’s vs a master’s in international relations
A bachelor’s is analytic undergraduate training. It is a complete degree, it is respected, and it does not open the doors most people picture when they choose this major. An online master’s in international relations is the professional credential for policy analysis, international organizations, and development work, usually built around a functional concentration and a capstone. If federal foreign affairs work is the goal, read how to become a diplomat before you plan a graduate degree around it, because the selection process does not care which degree you hold.
Compare degree options:
Data verified: September 5, 2026.
Salary, employment, and tuition figures on this page are sourced from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (OEWS May 2025; Employment Projections 2024–2034) and the U.S. Department of Education College Scorecard (2023 cohort). The source agency and data year are cited inline with every statistic.
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