Objective: International Relations or International Relations with German (study abroad year incorporated)
SAT I (breakdown): 1410 700 R, 710 M
ACT (breakdown): N/A
SAT II: US History: 740 Germany with Listening: 580 (should i not report my german score?)
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.65 Weighted: 4.22
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): idk
AP (place score in parenthesis):
IB (place score in parenthesis): will take IB Econ, IB ESS, IB English, IB Math 2
Senior Year Course Load: IB Economics SL, IB French 2, IB Environmental Systems and Societies, IB English 2, IB Math 2, TOK
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): State Department Sponsored Study Abroad Year in Germany
Subjective
Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): Water Polo (3 Years), Speech and Debate (2 Years), Muslim Student Association (3 Years, President and Vice President), a year in Germany (Junior Year)
Job/Work Experience: Worked at a Farmer’s Market for 4 years
Volunteer/Community service: Internship on a Congressional Campaign, Working with Refugees in Germany, Created a cooking class to foster cooperation between Refugees and native Germans, taught german in a school in my hometown, Intern on a local project to maintain the health of the creek
Summer Activities:
Essays: 8/10 a good essay that highlights my transition to adulthood and my experience in germany.
Teacher Recommendation: 7/10, he likes me but not very close ( I never read it)
Counselor Rec: 8/10 same story as my teacher ( I never read it)
Additional Rec:
Other
Applying for Financial Aid?: yes
State (if domestic applicant): CA
Country (if international applicant):
School Type: Public
Ethnicity: White and Asian (Arab and Filipino)
Gender: M
Income Bracket: >100k
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): Mixed Race
How much homework have you actually done about St Andrews, about St Andrews admissions, about IR at St Andrews?
Starting with the IR + German course, this is what you will study in first year:
=> Introduction to IR: theoretical approaches and concepts including realism,liberalism, sovereignty, statehood, power, nationalism and globalisation.
=> Foreign Policy Analysis and International Security: foreign policy making and the importance of security to this process. Factors that shape individual states’ conduct of foreign policy.
=> German.
That’s it.
Then there’s second year:
=> Theoretical Approaches to IR: constructivism and the English School, radical Marxist and
neo-Marxist perspectives as well as feminism, postmodernism and postcolonialism.
=> Issues in IR: how theoretical approaches to IR relate to issues that confront those engaged in global politics. Issues covered include terrorism and asymmetric warfare, weapons of mass destruction, ‘new wars’, humanitarian intervention, human rights, religion, aid and development, environmental politics and regionalism.
=> German
In 3rd & 4th year you get to choose your modules from a list of about 12-15 IR topics.
If that is what you want to study, there are some things you should know about admissions for StAs:
- you will not get meaningful financial aid
- your ethnicity, school type, gender, income and hooks are completely irrelevant to your application
- your GPA is of secondary importance
- your essay topic is completely irrelevant: they do not care *at all* about your transition to adulthood. They care about why you want to study IR w/ German, and what makes you a good candidate for the course.
- The ECs that StAs will be most interested in are those that are relevant to your course. As presented, yours do not say "IR" very clearly
- IR is a very popular course, especially among US students, and the most competitive for admissions.
- You need *at least* 38 IB points. Of all the admission variables, this is the most important and is a deal breaker.
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as soon as i posted this, I took it off my list. I dont want to live in scotland anyway