Chances at the Schools Listed?

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

Hi All!
About to enter my senior year so it’s that exciting, but nerve-wrecking time of year…I’m applying to colleges!!! Can you please tell me the chances you think I have for the schools I’m considering? Also, PLEASE feel free to recommend any colleges that you think I should apply to. I want to major in international relations/affairs and either minor or double major in a foreign language, possibly Spanish or French or Arabic. I love a city school (big or small city) and it doesn’t make a difference to me if a school doesn’t have an “enclosed” campus (although that’s sometimes quite nice). I don’t have many limitations so if you have a school in mind that doesn’t fit my listed criteria, I’m still open to it! I’d generally like to stay in the East/Northeast and Mid-Atlantic area. I like a mid-sized school, but as I said, I’m open to a anything. I’m Catholic so I would attend a Catholic school but I am not obligated to. Here is my resume:

I guess you could say my “dream school” is Georgetown University, specifically the SFS (School of Foreign Service), where I want to study international relations.

Schools I’m Thinking About (some are reach/safety/target):
-Georgetown (already listed)
-William and Mary
-University of Virginia
-George Washington
-NYU
-American University
-Boston College (maybe?)
-Providence College (also a maybe?)
-College of Charleston (maybe?)
-The New School (NYC)

Schools I Considered but Decided Against (but would be open to reconsidering):
-Vanderbilt
-Northwestern
-BU
-Wash U
-University of Georgia
-University of Michigan
-UChicago
-Columbia
-Barnard (but they don’t have IR undergrad)
-Washington College
-Richmond
-any of the other 7 sisters schools (too small)

…I’d be open to maybe considering some small/liberal arts schools, but I find that oftentimes they are too liberal. I am open to different ideas but I find myself to be more of a centrist, perhaps leaning towards the more preppy schools but I’m also still somewhat into the granola type ones. Please help me as best as you can!!! Thank you!!!

GPA: 4.41 (weighted bc i take honors…not sure what it is unweighted but my school uses a scale of 4.0)
ACT: 31 composite, 32 superscore (35 English, 32 reading, 27 math, 29 science, 10 writing)
SAT II: French reading (No listening)- 770; Spanish reading (No listening)- 750; US History- 650 (I know it’s weak)
APs: French (4), Art History (3), APUSH (4)
Senior Year Course Load: AP Lang & Comp, AP Gov, AP Euro, AP Spanish, Honors Myth, Calculus
Awards: Gold on National Spanish Exam 10th Grade, St. Michael’s Book Award (junior awards), AP Scholar Award, High Honor/Honor Roll

Subjective

Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): 200 hour Registered Yoga Teacher (got my certification a few days ago!!), co-founder and officer of Model UN, French club secretary/president, participant in Scottish Cultural Exchanged organized by my school (attended and hosted), Gifted and Talented Club, Hand in Hand Club (officer and member- club where children with special needs come to our high school for after-school “events” and we bond and do activities with them), lector at my church, multicultural club, National Honors Society (NHS tutor), heroes and cool kids member- (club where we teach middle schoolers about dangers of drugs and alcohol, bullying, sportsmanship, and academic integrity…travel to them a few times each year, leadership club), Peer Mentor, literary magazine, Spanish Club, yoga/meditation club member and teacher, xc and winter track freshman year only

Job/Work Experience: tutor and babysitter, CPR certified

Volunteer/Community service: planned an annual prom just for the special needs students at my high school and organized a committee and fundraising events for it, head of local youth group, volunteer as coach at sports program for special needs kids year-round (basketball, soccer, baseball), went on church mission trip to Washington, D.C. and Haiti, Roll Call Dance- participated/volunteered in dance that included and raised money for people in wheelchairs, sponsored an underprivileged boy in my community for his confirmation

Summer Activities: pre-college summer program at Columbia for creative writing (grade 9), Middlebury College French Immersion “Study Abroad” Program in Quebec City, Canada for 3 weeks (grade 10), Georgetown University International Relations Institute (grade 11- this past summer, 1 week), Mission trip to D.C. (grade 9) and Haiti (grade 11) (aforementioned), Girls State Delegate this past summer (American Legion Auxiliary Jersey Girls State)

Essays: I’m nervous about this. I’m doing my best & I feel confident, but who really knows?
Teacher Recommendation: should be excellent
Counselor Rec: should be excellent
Additional Rec: I was going to ask my pastor to write my rec for me since he’s a Gtown alum
Interview: N/A
Other

Applying for Financial Aid?: No
State (if domestic applicant): NJ (New Jersey)
Country (if international applicant): N/A
School Type: public
Ethnicity: White
Gender: Female
Income Bracket: idk, but not eligible for financial aid
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): none :confused:

PLEASE be HONEST!!! And give recommendations and tell me what your thoughts are!!! SO grateful you even took the time to look at this. Wishing you love and light :slight_smile:

2

– Barnard students interested in IR typically major in poli sci with a focus on IR. The Barnard faculty is top-notch. Barnard undergrads can also enroll in some courses at SIPA, and there is a combined 5 year BA/Masters program with SIPA, albeit extremely difficult to get into.

My Barnard-grad daughter was a poli-sci/IR major and got a job working with the UN immediately after graduation. My DD then would have been on track to get into a strong master’s program for IR, but ended up taking a different path.

You pretty much need to plan on a masters or PhD sooner or later for an IR-focused career in any case.

There may be other reasons you might want to pass on Barnard – you said you aren’t eligible for need-based financial aid so you might want to aim for a school likely to be more generous with merit money. It’s just that the reason you gave (no IR major) doesn’t make a lot of sense, especiallly when you have colleges like The New School on your list.

As another suggestion – probably a safety for you, but you might want to look at Seton Hall’s School of Diplomacy and IR. Might be a potential for some merit money there. (You probably need to have a talk with your parents about budget, given that you wrote “idk” for income bracket).

3

Thank you very much! I was wondering about that. That’s amazing that you daughter did so well! I don’t know income but I’m fortunate that finances aren’t a concern for me for college. It’s just a matter of getting in and finding the right fit, so to speak. The New School has a global studies degree which is why I have it. I’m only really applying to schools that offer what I want to major in.

4

You should reconsider Richmond in my opinion. I had an absolutely wonderful experience there and think it’s a hidden gem with what it offers as a college academically and as a whole

5

It seems like it doesn’t matter what the price of college in your case is at least what i can see from your list. If you want to go to a top tier school I highly recommend a program for standardized test improvement. You’ll need a 32 range to get your application read, and will be on the lower end of competitive with that at the top tier schools. That being said the schools on your “official” list seems good for the level you’re at. That being said the second list looks really selective and i bet you could get into those schools with score improvements.

6

But I think you are mistakenly focusing on the name the school has assigned to the major rather than actual degree requirements and courseload. If you are even remotely competitive for Georgetown SFS, then you are also competitive for Barnard – and it makes no sense to pass over Barnard because they have subsumed their international affairs major under poli sci but keep a much lower ranked, unconventional school like New School on your list – unless there is something that particularly attracts to you to the New School program. No offense to New School – my daughter seriously considered their grad program, and really like the faculty she met-- but by any conventional metric, New School is pretty far down the ladder in terms of ranking and prestige. So you might want to dig deeper and figure out what courses you would typically expect to take in your chosen major. At the undergrad level, “international relations” is generally considered an interdisciplinary major, and it really can be all over the map in terms of course focus.

So yes, look at fit – but look deeper.

7

Tufts would also fit the bill for you but is another tough one to get into. The IR program there is very highly regarded.