American vs. NYU vs. Wellesley

College Search & Selection
1

I’m hesistant on which college to choose. All of these colleges have their pros and cons but i just need some advice. I plan on majoring in International Relations so I want a school that will help me be a productive leader. I want to do more than just learn about international relations, I want to learn how to take action.

I really love Wellesley for its size and it’s community. I know it’s prestige is another reason why I would like to go. The grade deflation however has me worried as I don’t know if I’m good enough to manage the workload. Overall, I’m also indecisive about their IR program because I don’t know how good it is yet I do know that they have graduated many ambassadors and foreign service officers. (And two secretary of states) My goal is to work in foreign service and I know that Wellesley will be a challenge but that it will reap good benefits in terms of a career in IR. I also love that it is a women’s college but I’m not a big fan of the location. I’m also worried about internships and if being 30 mins outside of Boston will be enough to get involved in outside activities.

American is a great school and is amazing in IR. I know that it has seven tracks for IR and has amazing professors. However, I wonder if it compares to wellesley’s preparation for a career in foreign service. I know that in terms of financial aid, American is my most expensive option but is not that far off from Wellesley and NYU. Also, being in Washington DC is a great plus for internships and just for majoring in IR altogether.

I got into NYU’s Gallatin School and after attending the Weekend on the Square event, I wondered if I would fit into NYU. The idea of an individualized study degree attracted me at first but I wonder if it would hurt me upon admission to graduate school. I love NYU mainly for its location and internships and study abroad programs. I also live close to NYU and I believe that it would help me in adjusting to college life. However, i wonder if Gallatin will prepare me for my career and if I transferred to CAS, if i would get into their IR major as you need a 3.5 GPA for your first year. Also I wonder if the other programs are just better overall for IR. NYU is also my cheapest option(I got a lot of scholarship money from them).
But it isn’t that much more than the other three.

I really do need help and if you are thinking about these colleges or have attended them, please help me out. I’m trying to figure out where I should attend based on academics.

2

Congratulations on some great acceptances! I know someone who recently graduated from Wellesley with the same or similar major. They had a fantastic experience and had incredible opportunities. They got to know a very, very senior US diplomat pretty well through a Wellesley program. The student worked hard to secure internships and had several outstanding ones. They became closely connected to MIT and had many friends there, and took classes there as well. They loved the experience, did find the classes challenging, but ultimately in a good way. I do think students often worry more about “grade deflation” type things more than is warranted by the numbers. There is rarely a significant difference between schools in a similar tier, which these are.

Congrats on getting money from NYU. That’s not easy. I know a top, top student very well, who was accepted at NYU and offered a couple of cups of coffee for financial aid. Great school, I generally think it a little risky for a student to go to a school that has a high bar for acceptance into a specific program when they already have an acceptance that gets them into that program at another great choice. However, I don’t know anything about acceptance into this particular NYU program, and I like it when people bet on themselves.

I know American very well. It is terrific for your area of interest. It’s basically in a near-in, in-town suburban area of DC. There are some places to go around the campus, although there are a lot of busy commercial/commuter roads surrounding campus, so I don’t really find the area that walkable. At NYU, you are obviously in the city; at American in the near-in suburbs; and at Wellesley in a suburban town. I’ve done both AU and Wellesley to downtown commutes, but not for a while. As I recall, I don’t really think it dramatically more difficult to get to Harvard/MIT from Wellesley than to get from AU to downtown DC, especially some of the most popular nightlife areas in DC. Good luck!

3

Wellesley or NYU but would go for NYU as more it will probably open more doors and being in NYC has its benefits

4

I would choose Wellesley for a few reasons. First, I think you will get the best, well-rounded education there. Second, you will become part of an amazing alumnae network when you graduate. Third, Wellesley is the most prestigious of the three schools and while it may not have the name recognition that NYU does among the general public, I think it is considered more impressive in the circle of international relations. The Wellesley campus is beautiful and is not far at all from Boston and Cambridge. You will have plenty of opportunities to have summer internships in Washington if you choose Wellesley.

5

I went to the Diplomat-in-Residence website (https://careers.state.gov/connect/dir/) to see where the nearest DIR is to you. A DIR is a career foreign service officer who provides career, internship, and fellowship advice to students and others in the region in which they serve. My undergrad college, Spelman, is a host campus for DIRs in our region, so I was curious whether Wellesley was and if that was the special opportunity TTG was referring to.

Doesn’t seem that way - the one for that region is at Tufts, which is not far - but here are the undergrad institutions of the current DIRs: Northeastern, Spelman (hey-o! - in art), UT-Austin (English), three from Georgetown (foreign service), New Mexico State University, Howard University, Boston U (political science and education), Ohio State (comparative literature), Georgia College & State University, University of Pittsburgh (sociology), University of Colorado (international affairs), and UMass-Amherst.

What this tells me is that 1) people come into the foreign service from all sorts of undergraduate institutions; good, well-known ones are overrepresented, but all three of the colleges you are considering fall into that category; and 2) students study all sorts of majors before heading into the foreign service. I think that means you can worry more about the overall quality of education at the college rather than the college’s specific strengths in international relations.

Based on your own descriptions, you sound the most excited about Wellesley for what it actually is (“I love Wellesley for its size and its community,” “I love that it is a women’s college,” etc.) Your consideration of American seems to stem primarily from the IR program and what DC can do for you and not anything about the actual environment that you’ll be in. Your consideration of NYU seems to be somewhere in the middle.

As you have noted, Wellesley has a long list of powerful women who have been involved in politics and public life. Our only two female Secretaries of State are both Wellesley alumnae, as you pointed out. Four current U.S. ambassadors are Wellesley alumnae. Numerous judges, lawyers, politicians, activists, and other women in the public sector are Wellesley alumnae; I don’t think you’ll have any trouble finding opportunities to get experience in the careers you want. 30 minutes is pretty close, and my understanding is that there’s public transit into Boston and to nearby universities (someone correct me if I’m wrong!).

Of course, American and NYU are also great places to go and you can pursue a career in IR from either of those! I only emphasize Wellesley because it feels to me like you’re leaning there (and also as a women’s college grad I am biased, haha).

Do you know about American’s Washington Semester? It’s an opportunity for students from other schools to spend a semester in DC at American. The focus is on IR, public policy, political science and government, etc.