Am I missing any schools?

College Search & Selection
1

Really looking for International Relations/Poli Sci
I’m looking to be a consular officer or work abroad post undergrad.

Stats:
White, Jewish male- Philly Suburb Public High School
Strong EC’S
Copres/Cofounder MUN
Alternative sports club VP
Ultimate Frisbee Club Secretary

Interned in tenth grade for a state senator

Track team all four years- not very good, but stuck with it

Worked part-time job junior year

Boy Scouts- Currently Life scout- will have eagle hopefully by ED1

No awards besides Honor Society and French national exam award

Sat: 690 Math, 700 CR (Retaking August)

Sat 2 USH: 750
SAT 2 WH: 780

Ap’s: WH:5, EH: 5

GPA: 3.5 Unweighted, will increase decently semester 1 sr yr.

Looking to stick primarily to East Coast, but looking at Sciences Po in France and open to other regions as well.

Currently looking at Hamilton, Georgetown, Tufts, American, BU, Northeastern, Sciences Po, Brandeis,

Any schools worth checking out that may be a good fit?

2

Dickinson and GW might be somewhat less selective alternates to a few on your list.

3

Franklin & Marshall

4

For IR programs, consider Johns Hopkins (reach), GW, the University of Denver, and the University of Pittsburgh.

5

Take a look here. This is a VERY good list of the top 25 IR programs in the world, as voted on by people who work in the field: http://foreignpolicy.com/2015/02/03/top-twenty-five-schools-international-relations/

6

@gdubya The list is good, but not really compatible with OP.

7

@billcsho The OP wants good international affairs schools. I gave him a list of 25, with program’s selectivity ranging greatly. Most of the schools he’s already indicated are already in fact on the list. He can sort through which are within reach and which are unobtainable. Ohio State? For sure he’s got a shot. Harvard? Probably not!

8

@gdubya OP wants “good fit” schools with intended major, not just good international affairs schools. The top 25 are almost all reaches for him/her with 3.5/1390, not just Harvard, OSU is probably the only one as a valid suggestion.

9

If I want one of the schools on the list, where should i apply ED or EA to?

10

Just looking at recent statistics, GW enrolls 44% of its students from outside the top 10% of their HS classes, and should be at least realistic for you. Your SAT 1 total, even as stands, would be above average there. American would appear to be another relatively accessible option.

As a general caveat, however, I’d recommend caution with respect to an over-reliance on a major-specific list. For example, you might want to study geosciences or astronomy as an undergraduate, fields which, as far as I know, would be absent at Georgetown, for example.

11

What about costs? The conventional wisdom is that ED is ill-advised if you need a significant amount of financial aid.

12

@gdubya My D2017 wants to study IR. That list in Foreign Policy magazine is bogus. Columbia, which was kind enough to accept her, does not even offer an IR major.

13

I would apply EA to Michigan and Georgetown, but you need a third SAT subject for Georgetown (and I’d recommend a language one). They both non-binding and based on that you can figure out the remaining schools for RD.

Georgetown’s SFS program maybe the best IR program, however as someone said above you have to be sure you want to do IR as you won’t have too much flexibility in switching out.

14

^^ Columbia University lists IR as a subfield of the political science major.
http://bulletin.columbia.edu/columbia-college/departments-instruction/political-science/#requirementstext

The College of William and Mary and Foreign Policy magazine have produced that “Ivory Tower” ranking periodically since 2005. Columbia repeatedly shows up among the top 5 undergraduate programs.

15

@theloniusmonk do you think I have a solid chance of getting accepted ED at Georgetown? Also, I’m a legacy at Michigan and NYU, and my cousin goes to Michigan as well. Does that have any effect?

16

Legacy helps a little bit at UMICH but the also have so many alumni that it would not really make you stand out from the crowd. Your GPA is the major barrier for UMICH while your sat is just above the 25th percentile. It would be a reach even if you are from instate.

17

So Georgetown is EA and very tough to get into, tougher than RD which is unique. They don’t reject any EA applicants, so at worst you’re deferred. Georgetown looks for committed ECs, any time spent outside the country (volunteer, study abroad, not resorty summer programs). I’d recommend applying there as it’s non binding as is Michigan. Legacies help more with EA than RD at UM but cousins won’t help, (unless you’re last name is Brady, ha!). Anyway UM also is EA so given that these two have superb IR programs, applying early to both is a good strategy. NYU would be a match for you with your legacy, maybe even safety if you can get your SATs up to 1500.

I don’t know if the Columbia comment was directed at me, but yes it’s has an excellent IR, poly sci and given the location near the UN, would be great to attend. However given it’s a binding ED, I would apply RD even though the acceptance rate for RD is what 4 or 5%?

18

UMich is very unlikely due to the GPA. If I were you, I would save that applicant fee. They consider GPA to be most important and ~20% of enrolled students had GPA4.0 in HS. The admission average uwGPA is 3.87.