Chance Me! (International Relations/Government @ Georgetown, UCLA, etc.)

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

Hi all!

I am a white male from the southwest of Michigan at a rural, relatively strong public school. I have a pretty decent list compiled, as far as I can tell, and I wanted to know my chances as well as if I am missing any key schools.

I’ll start with my stats:

ACT: 35 (Reading 36, Writing 35, Math 35, Science 35)
SAT: 1470 (Reading 760, Math 710)
Subject tests: Taking Math 2, Literature, and World History in a few weeks
UW GPA: 3.87
Rank: 4-5 out of 230 or so
APs: Soph. year: APUSH (5)
Junior Year: Econ Micro (5), Econ Macro (4), APLAC (5), AP World (5)
Senior year (planned): AP Gov, AP Lit, AP Spanish, AP Art History, AP Calc AB, AP Bio
Essays: Fairly strong (dealing w/ my dad’s brain cancer diagnosis and the following responsibilities and changes that I underwent)
Recommendations: Great, from teachers who I truly admire
EC: 4 years of varsity tennis, 2 as captain
4 years as Class President
4 years of Key Club
2 years of NHS
2 years of mentoring of disadvantaged underclassmen
4 years in Math and Science Center
Exchange Program (3 weeks a piece) with me hosting and then me traveling to Germany
2 years of MUNSI @ UCLA
Work Experience:
Front of the house at local donut shop

I plan on studying International Relations or Government, depending on the university. I prefer a mid-size to larger school, after going to a smallish high school I would like a larger environment. After all of that, here is my college list!

Reaches:
Dartmouth
Cornell
Duke
Vanderbilt
Georgetown

High Match (?):
USC
UCLA (UC-Berkeley is not on my list, I did not like the school :/)

Match (?):
UVA
UNC-Chapel Hill

Low Match:
Tulane

Safety:
Michigan State (No UofM, I have problems with that school ;))

Anyway, thank you guys for checking this out and chancing me, if anyone has recommendations for other schools I would be happy to accept them!

2

Also, I am wondering if being in a fairly unique state in a rural area has any impact on college admissions.

3

Can you afford the OOS publics?
Remember that you will not receive any funding from the UC’s.
USC should be good.
Rural areas add to diversity of campus but maybe not so much at schools who receive hundreds of thousands of applications.

4

I think that you are well qualified for almost any college or university in the nation that offers IR & government majors–although I didn’t notice any reference to study of a foreign language in your posts above.

5

I might add George Washington as a match school.

I didn’t see Princeton Woody Woo or Tufts on the list. Add them as reaches as well

I would submit the ACT as it’s way better than the SAT equivalent.

Also UNC and UVA are not matches for OOS. Like UCLA they might be a reach.

6

@Publisher sorry! I am taking my fifth year of Spanish this year – AP Spanish. I really love Spanish culture and the language and am ensuring that I am fluent in it by the time I graduate from college. Thanks for your input!

@Hamurtle I walked through George Washington on the same trip that I toured Georgetown, I didn’t like it very much unfortunately. I was thinking about Tufts though, and for some reason, Princeton had skirted my mind. Thanks for responding :slight_smile:

General Question: Is it worth it for me to apply early decision at Dartmouth? I absolutely loved the school, but I think Georgetown is a better option for the field I am pursuing. But of course, both are extremely difficult admits, so would the ED advantage be worth it? I really am unsure on that.

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@“aunt bea” fortunately, I am in a good position to afford the OOS schools. I have great, supportive parents who are letting me take the reigns of my college pursuit. And yeah, I sort of felt that at UCLA and USC geographic diversity wasn’t important, while at Georgetown and Dartmouth it was a more relevant feature. Thank you.

8

For your intended major, I would choose Georgetown.

9

Any reason American University isn’t on your list? It’s also strong in your filed of interest. As long as you demonstrate interest, it should be a low match for you.

10

You are a competitive applicant. Your stats and ECs are great. Write amazing essays and you could get accepted to any of these schools

11

You don’t have any LACs on your list, but I would seriously consider Claremont McKenna since you have UCLA/USC on your list.

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@Hoggirl I’ll check American out. Thanks for the recommendation!

@Hamurtle I’ll check Claremont McKenna out as well, I am wary about such a small university, however.

13

I don’t think USC, UCLA, UVA (OOS) or UNC (OOS) can be considered a match for anyone.

14

Your list is basically all reaches, except MSU. Your first consideration is cost. With these kind of lists, you either end-up with a list of rejections or acceptance to a bunch of schools you can’t afford. The most you can take out in students for a 4 year degree is $27k. The rest has to be paid for by your parents. Since out of state tuition is about triple the cost of in-state, you need to make sure your parents can pay for these schools, otherwise, your wasting your time. As it stands with your current list, you’re GOING to Michigan State whether you want to or not. I still recommend putting Michigan down, as well as 1-2 other in-state schools. Strange things do happen.

15

@coolguy40 thanks for your response. Addressing the cost aspect, it is not a concern for my family. But I completely understand your argument with the addition of some more in-state schools. Unfortunately, Michigan lacks strong schools that I would be interested in attending in terms of my major + fit. I have a really poor personal history with UofM and it’s mainly my fault, but I cannot bring myself to apply there. Again, all my fault. I would like to find more match/safety schools, however. I just don’t know where to look exactly.

@suzy100 yeah I was kind of getting that vibe. I wasn’t sure hence my addition of the question marks. any recommendations for a relatively strong IR school that is a match/safety?

16

Tulane, with a 31% acceptance rate, is NOT a low match…

17

If cost is not a concern, Georgetown will likely be an available option for you.

18

@awesomepolyglot, Tulane’s admit rate in 2018 was actually 17.5%. Here are the “facts and figures”from the admissions office. http://tuadmissionjeff.blogspot.com/2010/05/class-of-2022-facts-and-figures.html

19

How firm are you in what you want to do?

I completely understand that GW is not an attractive school (esp compared to Georgetown & Dartmouth), but the internships are arguably even better than Georgetowns (partly b/c travel time is less but mostly b/c they are more flexible about term-time internships). I know several recent grads who had internships just about every semester + summers and walked straight into decent paid jobs in PP/IR after graduation. That might not sound that impressive from where you are, but the PP/IR field is notorious for extracting a lot of unpaid / poorly stipended labor from new entrants in the field. It is likely to be a solid option for you.

For Georgetown, are you looking at SFS or the College? SFS is the tougher admit- but is (imo) the better option.

Also, have you looked at JHU? It is a top IR school, has DC sites, and also has a 5 year combined BA/MA program/

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@collegemom3717 IR and diplomacy have been my passions for as long as I can remember. I think I’ll reconsider George Washington however, as it seems like there are strong opportunities there. I applied EA to Georgetown and to the SFS, it’s more difficult to get into, but I agree with you that it’s undoubtedly better. I have not looked into JHU either.

Secondarily, I’m putting my UofM grudge aside and applying there. I’m also considering William & Mary. I was caught off guard by the unlikelihood of getting accepted to most of these schools, thank you all for your help.