I need help choosing a career/college! I'm interested in travel and foreign affairs and currently have a 4.0

Question

I'm currently a freshman in high school with a 4.0 GPA and involved in many extra cirriculars. I would like some college recommendations.

I also need some career guidance. I am interested in travel, foreign affairs, ect. I don't care about the pay, as long as the job is interesting and offers a wide range of opportunities.

Thanks!

I am currently taking French & Mandarin

Answer 1

You could go into International Relations (great for diplomats, etc) or International Law. Another choice is International Business/International Business Economy that would let you work for a international corporation and do plenty of travelling.

Answer 2

With a 4.0 GPA you'll probably have your pick of colleges. You should choose one that suits your style best (small, medium, large) and which offers the courses that are of special interest to you. My favorite college town is Boston, and they have a variety of top schools there from which to make your choice.

I would definitely recommend that you choose a university with a good Junior Year Abroad program. This way, you can get a bit of international "exposure". And everyone who's been on one has had a blast.

Your career choice will be dictated your own interests and abilities. You don't need to narrow your choices at this stage. As a college undergrad you might choose to concentrate on your languages, and throw in some poli-sci and business courses. Or pursue engineering, archeaology, the sciences, or whatever. Again, your interests will determine your path.

In the meantime, think about looking into companies whose services/products interest you and applying for summer internships. In my experience, internships programs require that you be a college student. However, if you're a particularly motivated high school senior you might be considered. This is a valuable way of getting experience, finding out if you like a business or industry, and looks very good on the resume.

As to careers, here are a few thoughts, just so you can see the scope of jobs that deal with the international arena: A) Foreign news correspondent (print or TV); B) Diplomatic Corps; C) Physician with "Doctors Without Borders" (Medecins sans Frontier); D) Oil well firefighter with Red Adair; E) Intelligence analyst with the NSA or CIA; F) Bush pilot; G) Global policy political analyst; H) Maritime lawyer; I) Archeologist .... And, the list goes on and on!!

I believe you've made good language choices, especially with the Mandarin. China will only become an increasingly more important member of the global community, in both the political and business sense. It will offer a lot of career opportunities for those with the language skills and cultural knowledge.

I hope you find some of this useful!

Answer 3

First of all you need to take a foreign language. Other than English, French is viewed as a major diplomatic language around the world and is easy to learn.
Also, you might consider political science. The diplomatic core looks for people with language and political science.
When you graduate, consider the peace corp. This is another springboard for life abroad.

Answer 4

If you don't care about pay and 4.0 GPA then you don't have to worry if you will get a job somewhere or not. Just keep on study hard and maybe someday you can work at travel agency.

Answer 5

i would recommend taking a lot of foreign language classes and using that as a major or minor in college. to deal with people, psychology would be an excellent field to go into. you could do government work, or maybe work with large companies who do foreign correspondance.