I wanna find a school on the east-coast, and should have a well-known IS program. Also, does anybody know how well-known is Vassar’s IS program?
Many colleges that have something like this major call it International Relations. Some of the best-known IR programs are at schools that appear high on the Foreign Policy “Ivory Tower” rankings.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inside_the_Ivory_Tower
Johns Hopkins uses the “International Studies” label and seems to have one of the strongest IR/IS programs on the east coast (along with Georgetown, Tufts, American University, George Washington, and most of the Ivies). At some schools (like Columbia), more or less good coverage of IR/IS may be hiding under a Political Science (/ Government) major.
You might want to check out Macalester or Oberlin (although they’re not on the east coast) in addition to Vassar. Either of those LACs may have a relatively strong contemporary peace and justice focus within their IS/IR programs, if that’s what you want.
Be sure to take a look at Penn. It has always had a strong, interdisciplinary International Relations program and international concentrations in Political Science and History. More recently, it’s investments in international relations oriented opportunities have skyrocketed. Check out this information on the newly built Perry World House:
https://news.upenn.edu/news/penn-create-perry-world-house-enhance-global-initiatives
http://www.thedp.com/article/2017/03/perry-world-house-bonnie-jenkins-tarun-chhabra-nell-crocker
http://www.thedp.com/article/2016/09/perry-world-house-opening-ceremony
https://penncurrent.upenn.edu/news/former-un-ambassador-samantha-power-to-keynote-perry-world-house-conference
https://news.upenn.edu/news/penns-perry-world-house-launches-inaugural-visitors-program
https://news.upenn.edu/news/penn-s-perry-world-house-announces-inaugural-undergraduate-fellows
PWH is revolutionizing the way Penn students from across the University engage with the most pressing global issues of this generation.
Also consider Penn’s new investments in political science/economics:
https://www.sas.upenn.edu/supporting-sas/giving-priorities/our-campus/ronald-o-perelman-center-political-science-and-economics
https://news.upenn.edu/news/penn-receives-25-million-gift-create-perelman-center-political-science-and-economics
And don’t forget about the New Penn Biden Center For Diplomacy and Global Engagement:
https://global.upenn.edu/pennbidencenter
http://www.upenn.edu/spotlights/vice-president-joe-biden-lead-penn-biden-center-diplomacy-and-global-engagement
About a decade ago I would have had some trouble arguing that Penn was truly competitive with schools like Columbia and Georgetown in the world of IR. Today, Penn’s investments in the area have truly transformed the IR education they can offer and have provided for incredible opportunities to engage with global issues from the first days of your undergraduate education onward.
Congratulations on your hard work and success! I see you went to a UWC. I’m very familiar with them and the Davis Scholars program.
I suggest you start with this list of Davis Scholar schools. Here is a list of schools that are partners in this.
http://www.davisuwcscholars.org/partners
The program will probably pick up a lot of the cost of the schools and, as an international student, that will help you very much in the admissions process. I’ll note also that you can google search for schools that meet full financial need for students. So, for example, if a student can pay $10,000 per year, the school will strive to cover the rest of the costs (some schools have more success achieving this goal than others). These are most often elite, wealthy, highly competitive schools. But one can find excellent schools that are more accessible in terms of admissions. For example, Wheaton College (in MA, not one in IL) is both a Davis school and meets full financial aid. You might research it and think about it as a school where you have a strong chance of receiving a lot of aid.
Others on the list that seem to fit your criteria would be Connecticut College, Denison University, Bates College, Colby College, Smith College (all women), Mount Holyoke College (all women), Macalester College (urban, Midwestern), Skidmore College, Trinity College, University of Rochester, Wellesley College (all women), and Vassar. Some are more competitive than others, including Vassar, but I’d think you would at least be a serious, competitive applicant at all of them. US schools definitely like UWC students, particularly at schools with 20% and higher acceptance rates.
Note that Smith and Mount Holyoke and Wellesley are all female. Wellesley has a stunning campus in a suburban town outside Boston. Smith and Mount Holyoke are in western Massachusetts. Smith is in Northampton, a very nice large-ish college town (not a city). The latter two schools are part of a five-school consortium (with Amherst, Hampshire, and University of Massachusetts–Amherst) that allows students to take classes at the other schools and otherwise take advantage of other opportunities at them. They are pretty close together. I know female UWC students, one from a Middle Eastern country, who recently attended Smith and Wellesley and had great experiences.
Here’s a link to the five-school consortium site for info on that:
Good luck!
@TTG Thank you so much for the reply and appreciation! I will look at all the schools you’ve included in your answer. I have done my entire research on both Macalester and Vassar and I really like them both, although Vassar a bit more. But I’ve found out that Macalester has more renowned and well-rounded courses in IS than Vassar. I know that I will end up EDing in any of these schools. Also, you have provided me a list of school, after looking at the stats I provided in one of my threads, right? I will upload a final list at the end of September, I request you to kindly have a look at it too. Thank you again! 
Yes, the recommendations were based on seeing your stats on other posts. I can’t really predict your chances of acceptance with great accuracy, partly because admissions decisions can just be unpredictable and partly because the UWC experience is a big plus, but hard to know how much at a given school in a given year. I also don’t precisely know what IB scores these schools would typically look for. I think you could definitely consider yourself a serious candidate at any of the schools though.
Vassar, Rochester, Wellesley, and Colby would probably be the most competitive schools that I mentioned, though most are very competitive, but not hyper-competitive, and that might vary somewhat year to year (Colby has gotten lots more applications in recent years). All female schools tend to be slightly less competitive in comparison to their peer schools. For example, I would think the quality of education at Wellesley is just as good as at a Williams or Amherst, top coed LACs with extremely low acceptance rates. Wellesley is really beautiful and offers lots of great opportunities. Hillary Clinton graduated from there and spoke at the commencement ceremonies this spring. Smith and Northampton (where it is located) have more of a “hippie” vibe. I personally liked Northampton a lot, but that’s just my personal preference. Mount Holyoke is probably in between; it’s campus is also very nice. Wellesley is very near to Boston, and the student I know who went there took classes at MIT and, I believe, Harvard. I’m not sure how that works.
Between Colby and Bates, both Maine schools, and pretty isolated, Colby felt a little more like a traditional New England LAC (liberal arts college). Bates felt a little funkier. We liked both a lot though, and they are very well regarded LACs. I feel like Colby has a strong international program, though you can research that; I’m not sure about that specific program at Bates. I know Colby likes UWC students because of the international dimension they bring. Trinity is a little more urban–in Hartford, CT. I don’t know about IS/IR programs, but it has a strong focus on languages. I don’t know the campus culture as well there. Rochester has a very nice campus just outside Rochester, NY. It’s a little larger than most of these, with about 5000 undergrads. Vassar and Connecticut College had been all female and still have a large % of female students. In general, most US LACs are predominately female, as almost 60% of all US college students are female.
Denison is in the Midwest but has a great campus and is a Davis school. At least as of a few years ago, Macalester gets a relatively large number of UWC students. I’ve been to every school I mentioned except Skidmore and Macalester, several more than once.
@TTG Hello! I hope you are doing great. I just have a few queries about the major. I actually want to pursue a career in the development sector i.e working with NGO’s and hopefully United Nations. I have done my research as what major should be taken if I wanna work in this area, and the most recurrent major was International Development (ID), combined with any other relevant major/minor. The problem here is, ID has a lot of Economics and I really really don’t want to study Economics, it is not something which excites me. I have explored a few other options as whether it is possible if I could do an undergraduate degree in International Studies/International Relations/Political Science (which has way less or no econ than ID) combined with a foreign language minor (French/Arabic, these are the official languages of UN and you get an edge if you have expertise in any of these), and then do my Masters in International development. What do you think about this? Also, it would be really helpful if you could just tell me any other subject options which might be relevant to ID and have less econ. Any help is highly appreciated!
Hello! I’m not at all an expert on careers in the development sector. So I can only offer some limited information and advice. I was an economics/government double major myself.
You might consider majoring in political science/government (some schools use the one name and some the other for their departments in this area). Typically a student can officially or unofficially concentrate in an area within this major. In my government major, I believe I could concentrate in international relations, comparative politics, American government, and public administration. At most, the IR concentration at my school required Economics 101 and 102 (the basic micro- and macroeconomics classes) and international economics. I imagine these would be good for you to take anyway if you are interested in ID. Econ 101/102 are usually textbook-based lecture classes and not an extreme challenge for a diligent student, unless it is just something that’s not their cup of tea. But, anyway, you can develop a good understanding of government and quasi-governmental structures and policy formation and implementation with this major.
As important, more or less, are internships and other practical opportunities in ID. Most schools now have offices that work hard to get students into these type positions, especially after sophomore year, although many students now start with them as early as the summer after freshman year. For example, you might find an internship with a company, NGO, etc. that does ID work the summer after sophomore year, then use that for another one after junior year. There are also conferences and other opportunities. Schools and faculty members are usually familiar with those. (And I urge you to get to know all professors. They generally like to know their students and can be a great help beyond the classroom.)
Students usually benefit from being pro-active in getting these internships, etc. It’s good to get to know the people at the school who help students with this, usually in the career office or something similar. If they know you and your interests they can let you know opportunities or even go find them for you. Some students work very hard at this, others ignore it completely. It would probably be a good way for you, though, to get some real-life experience that helps make you standout relative to another person who has a slightly more relevant major, like ID. In the end, if a person gets a foot in the door, it’s their performance that will determine their advancement, not the specific degree, especially since people move around among so many different jobs and careers today. I just heard the head of a medical school advisor at a college say that after biology major, and maybe chemistry, the most common major of their students who to go on to attend med school is philosophy!
As an aside, there is some real unfairness in the whole internship system. Interns provide free or very cheap labor. It’s difficult for students who have less financial support to work for free over a summer or two, including probably paying for housing and other costs. Often these are arrange through connections, and some students may not have as many useful connections as other students. Using the career office (or whatever it is called at a particular school) can help overcome this. Enlisting the people there to help find opportunities that are not only relevant but also work financially can be very helpful. The people in these offices usually love to help students who engage them and are willing to work hard on their end to make internships happen and then do a good job with them. Sometimes the school can provide support in terms of grants, housing, etc.
Perhaps others can weigh in with more specific career into, but I think all of this is pretty fair advice on the college side. Good luck!