Chance an aspiring International Relations/ Philosophy major at top 20s', UMich, Georgetown, and BC! [3.99/1530]

Chance Me / Match Me!
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Current Senior

Stats:

Applying: Princeton REA as well as Umich EA; Other non stem t20’s RD

Large public School in small rural state

Plan to go into: International Relations / Poli Sci / Global Affairs w/ Philosophy minor

UW GPA: 3.998

Weighted: 5.19

Class Rank: 1/848

AP Classes by end of HS: 15

AP Exams: Four 5’s and Four 4’sSAT: 1530

Also fluent in German and dual citizen

ECA’s:Varsity Soccer and Volleyball

Target Employee 4 year’s

Philharmonic Orchestra 4 year’s

Speech Team: 4 years, captain, State champ in IX, and 2nd in nation for World School Debate

Model UN: 3 years, President, honorable delegate at uchicago International mun

Youth Civic Engagement Council (Work w local Government to bridge gap between students and professionals) : 2 years, Inaugural Member

Large High School Global Business Competition: 3 Years, Lead Coach where I directly manage 3 other coaches, host webinars, coach high schoolers around the world, and grade reports submit high school and uni students

^Started a newsletter through this same organization: 2 years, founder director and editor, sent to 10,000 people each month, team of ten teen writers from around the world writing about culture

English Tutor: Online volunteer English tutor of underprivileged children in South East Asia

Project Director and Outreach Coordinator at large policy non profit

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My goodness, I think you may be president one day - or cure world hunger.

Extremely impressive.

I have one question for you - what is the budget?

OK - I have a second question? If the budget is less than $80K and some schools $90K, do you qualify for need based aid?

Third question - if the answer is, I do need money, then I’d ask - what state do you live in?

Thanks

I’d imagine you’d have a good chance at BC - current cost is about $86K. Michigan as well - current cost - currently over $76K the first two years and $80K the last two - and all these are going up.

Gtown and Princeton - certainly possible but not easy.

Scary as it seems, 1530 is a tad low for Princeton - above the 25th percent but ten points below the 50th. I imagine inconsequential - it’s just a hard admit!!

Gtown has its own application and you’ll need to send in all your test scores - so if your score is a superscore, they’ll see all that made it up.

But I think Princeton and Gtown are possible but I’d call Michigan and BC a match. So you’d still need that assured school - although I’m confident on BC and feeling ok about Michigan.

But if you can’t afford them or if your family doesn’t want to afford them - then they’re not a match.

And plenty of people are like that - it’s why I ask. I wouldn’t even let my kids apply to those schools - so if you don’t have need, make sure your parents are ok spending $375-400K over four years when they can spend - $70K, $100K, $200K, etc.

Great profile - I wish you well.

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With respect to your greater college list, these sites may help you refine your choices:

You also may want to look into colleges with an available major in public policy, which relies on the fields of political science, economics and philosophy for its foundation:

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Congratulations on some wonderful achievements in high school. I would get an annual budget for college from your family. Assuming these schools will be affordable, I think you have as good a chance as anyone (maybe better) to be excepted.

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From OP’s previous thread, it appears as though the budget is about $20k/year for “Top 20s”:

@bolzn, are you still guaranteed to get free tuition at IU? If so, that’s a fabulous safety for you.

You have a definite shot at all of these schools, but they’re reaches for pretty much everyone, including you. Even if your odds are 2 or 3x greater than the “average” applicant, that may mean you have a 10-15% shot rather than a 5% shot. So within reach, yes, but odds for an acceptance are not in your favor.

With your budget, why is Michigan still on your list? Do you have any German/EU schools on your list?

If you’re happy with IU, then you can keep up with your reaches or IU list. Did you look at any of the other recommendations from the other thread?

  • George Washington (which also has full tuition scholarships for which I’d think you’d be competitive)
  • Tufts
  • Dickinson
  • U. of Mississippi
  • College of Charleston

(rationale for those was in this post)

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Thanks for this.

Thanks for looking back. I always forget to do that.

So then it depends on what OP will qualify for at Gtown, BC, and Princeton.

I would say this - IU and it’s Hamilton Lugar school is EXCELLENT. The previous said tuition will be free - great deal - and if this budget is $20K, this works (room and board will be less) and perhaps there other other scholarships for study abroad,etc.

I wouldn’t hesitate to attend - if affordable vs. the others.

OP:

Strangling yourself or your family financially for most any degree, but especially a degree in IR, for many years is not good.

You have to look past the names - and you also have to look at majors and IU is top notch. In fact, for grad school, it’s MPA (and there are shared components with poli sci/IR, etc.) is rated #1 year after year, ahead of Harvard.

So if IU is a worst case, it’s a heck of a worst case.

Again, you have a shot at BC and Michigan (not at close to $20K). I think a decent shot at BC. And Gtown and then Princeton but these will be tough - especially Princeton.

If the budget is tight, have you considered W&L and it’s Johnson Scholarship or SMU and its Presidential?

Best of luck to OP.

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thanks for the reply! as far as costs, with financial aid most t20’s are <20k, with Princeton being <10k and many others <15k, so cost isn’t too much of an issue with the schools that have good financial aid. I’m also looking at a pretty high chance for free tuition at Notre Dame, w/ financial aid Notre Dame would then be completely free, which is VERY hard to pass up, if I get in, especially with the new BA in Global Affairs. As far as European schools, I’m not really considering them that highly. I’ve had plenty of family go to school over there, but I really value the American college experience (sports teams, large alumni network, etc), so looking more for American universities. As fair as SAT scores, I’ve heard anything 1500+ is typically good, especially for someone not applying STEM. Should I still submit a 1530 at schools like Princeton then? Thanks for all the help!

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New = ehhhhh - you may not be the first but you can be assured they likely already had global leanings - but not a formal major - i.e. in poli sci, etc. It’s typically multi disciplinary - sometimes they call them Studies or sometimes Affairs. It’s like Neuro - a hot new majors but most schools had some form of it under a different major.

Interestingly, their language requirement is pretty low level - just six credits. My daughter needs to do three years as part of her Global major.

I’d say this - if IU works for you - and it truly is wonderful in the poli sci/intl area and especially strong in languages - but if it works for you and the NPCs are coming in budget - your chance me doesn’t matter too much in this sense.

Let’s say you get shot down at BC, Gtown, and Princeton -and I’m not sure why you have Michigan. But if you have IU at room and board only - that’s nothing to sneeze at.

There are other meets needs schools strong in Intl - Macalester, Emory, UNC (a better sub than Michigan as they meet need), Rochester, Lehigh, Connecticut, F&M, Miami Florida.

If a smaller school is your preference, look at some of the other meets needs as a back up - just in case.

But I think you’re sitting pretty. While I think BC is likely, I’m not sure I’d pick it over IU in this major…or if UND is completely free, that’s a home run (although I don’t love new programs).

Either way - given your fall backs - shoot for the stars and if you fall short, you’re still in a much better position with IU than I think you realize…if that makes sense.

Hamilton Lugar is really really good. We checked it out a great deal…my daughter just didn’t love IU near as much as where she went.

Good luck.

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