which top tier schools…?

Georgetown I would think because location-wise it’s right in DC. Great for international relations too.

It’s hard to really rank programs because some of the professors in the big name universities aren’t as helpful as the ones in small liberal arts colleges.

I personally like MIT’s political science department. It’s a pretty big surprise because it’s a techy school… but the department is amazing with connections galore. If that’s not the right school for you… Harvard down the street ain’t bad either. :o)

All the top schools have good programs. The location of the school does tend to make a program lean towards a general geographic area. Georgetown provides convenient access when dealing with Europe/Africa. Stanford provides convenient access to Asia. Still, try and check out the individual professors. They sometimes move around tho so don’t get hung up on one particular teacher. I had a friend choose to go to an East Coast school for a famous Int’l Business prof, and the prof left right before my friend started school there.