<p>Im a senior in high school trying to decide where to go to school. HEres a little about me </p>
<p>Lets see…Im valedictorian of my class, really social and outgoing, come from a small new england community, play three varisty sports, looking maybe for international relations or possibly pre-med but thats completely up in the air and most likely will change tomorrow, love boston, but also love outdoors, looking to broaden my horizons and have an outstanding eye opening educational experience </p>
<p>I recently got accepted into the AMerican University honors program with a nice scholarship that would allow me to perhaps go debt free into grad\medical school. However I also got accepted at dartmouth, BC, and tufts and am consdering those. </p>
<p>Can anyone give me any advice or tell me their experiences. I am unable to visit American so I really need some help!</p>
<p>Do you have the financial aid information of the other schools? You're really going to have to do some cost benefit analysis about which school is worth it. If you're thinking about Med School then it's very important you minimize that undergraduate debt.</p>
<p>AU debt free? im assuming you have a big expected parental contribution. im an independant with hardly any income and i will
still have close to 40,000 debt going into graduate school...that's with
pell grants/15000 merit scholarship.
Au is ranked 8th for IR in the country...but Tufts is perfect for that,
plus you love Boston already. have u visited?</p>
<p>Whoa, AU has a very strong casee then. While it may not seem so, you will hate paying back interest on undergrad debt for years and years and years. You're major issue with AU is going to be that it's very strong only in the social sciences area. Sciences get the shaft. AU doesn't have the depth if you plan to switch majors and want to get tasts of diff things. If you're paying full ticket then, head to BC or Dartmouth. If you want to take the calculated risk of doing International Relations at AU then go ahead. It's very easily as good as Tuft's program and the financial difference solidifies it.</p>
<p>Tufts is having endowment/financial issues. Look for it to go down in the next couple of years. </p>
<p>Georgetown is way above the rest, but the playing field between Tuft's, GW, and AU is being increasingly level. A committed student at any of those schools will succeed with about the same level of success. Regardless, Tuft's has the brand name which still holds importance. </p>
<p>That debate is largely trivial. The key issue here is just the huge disparity in the amount of money needed for the non-AU schools. It doesn't justify someone going to Tuft's for IR because AU has an excellent program in that. Tuft's has more dept in other programs. If I were paying anyways, Dartmouth and BC should trump Tuft's any day.</p>
<p>why is Tufts/Georgetown IR head and shoulders above American and GW? better professors? </p>
<p>MEC217 i say go for tufts which is excellent for IR and pre-med. American is prob not so great for sciences. But if you are leaning more towards IR then american debt free is prob your best option.</p>
<p>Well yea, the program as a whole is frankly - better. Stronger professors with a more rigorous curriculum. Tufts IR majors are required to take 8 semesters of a foreign language, something you don't see at American. Not to mention the Fletcher school which along with SAIS and Walsh is one of the best places in the nation to go to IR grad school. Undergrads have the opportunity to take advantage of these grad schools, which are again, the best in the country.</p>
<p>I think you will find the general academic caliber of your peers to be quite different when comparing American to Tufts, BC and Dartmouth. American honors might be a different story but this is only a small fraction of the student body.</p>
<p>American is obviously strong in IR but it appears that you may switch majors. I would strongly consider Tufts or Dartmouth over American unless the financial component swings the pendulum to American.</p>
<p>I don't think that American is the best school for you considering that you're still completely up in the air about exactly what you want to do. You've gotten into some very good schools, and they might be better for an undecided student. </p>
<p>I'd suggest going to one of the overnights at American, if you are willing to dish out the the money for the plane ticket. </p>
<p>There's also the option of going to American and transferring out if you don't like it. You'll save one or two years of high tuition that way. However, transferring can be a big headache and you might lose some credits.</p>