College List Help!

College Search & Selection
1

<p>I have been making my college list, but am worried that the schools I am interested in are too selective. Any suggestions for places to add? I prefer size to be more than two thousand, and less than 10, and in the general northeast area. I am pretty sure I want to study International Relations.
My GPA is 4.2 weighted (an A in an honors class is a 4.3), about 3.9 unweighted, and the only class I have gotten B/B+s (with A- 10th grade) in is math. The class is extremely difficult (a level above honors) and my school is one of the best in the state. My school has a lot of prerequisites for AP classes, so after my senior year I will have only taken 2 English (writing/composition), Biology, French, and Math, but all of my other classes are honors or above.
I have not taken the SATs/Acts yet, but based on practice tests, my Act should be around 34-36, and my SATs should be around 750-800 in each subject.
My main strength is languages, and I take both french and spanish. I taught myself spanish 1 the summer after freshman year, so am a year behind, but I still take it at the honors level. I am very close to fluent in french, and hope to go to french camp this summer. I have been teaching myself chinese for the last year and a half, and went to a chinese immersion camp for two weeks. Last summer, I went to tanzania for a month and a half, on a program where the students basically run the whole trip. We volunteered at a primary school and climbed kilimanjaro (I am hoping this will be helpful for essays). Before the trip, I taught myself some swahili, and am now learning some Italian. I also just applied for a scholarship program through the state department that would send me to China for six weeks to learn the language and culture.
I am in the National Honor Society, have done concert/marching band for all of high school (I am a squad leader for marching), and am in my school's honors chorus. I am in Model UN, and will soon be part of a club helping the school we volunteered at in africa (as soon as it is approved.) I have done ballet for the last five years, and am very involved in the school musical. I volunteered at my local art center for about 40 hours during the summer, and participate in my school's thanksgiving charity dinner every year. I also did flute ensemble sophomore year (the only year it was offered). I got 10th place in the french national test in 8th grade, 5th place in 10th grade, and would have been 7th place in 9th grade, but my school didn't turn the scores in on time. I am hoping to get in the top three this year/ next year as well. I also received the PTO service award in 8th grade (I was the only recipient). </p>

<pre><code> My college list so far is:
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<p>Yale, Brown, Columbia, Georgetown, U Chicago, Princeton, Stanford/Cornell/Tufts(maybe) </p>

<pre><code> For brown, in 7th and 8th grade I was part of a very unique program that lets students design their own curriculum, and learning was very project/ discussion based. I am hoping that this will help me for essays because of brown's open curriculum. Also, my mom went to medical school at georgetown, but since they have the best master's degree in IR, I want to go there for grad school, and am not sure I want to stay 8 years in the same place, assuming I get in :) I have been thinking about oxford, but don't know if I have a shot at getting in.
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2

<p>I really do believe that you will get into at least one of the schools on your list (you’re amazing!), but I’d add American and GWU. You’re a strong applicant, but there are strange stories of students like you not getting into any of their schools. What EA schools are on your list? What state are you in?</p>

3

<p>Great googly moogly, you need more safeties & matches. As it stands, your list is still a bit risky–because of emphasis that many of these schools place on essays, I honestly cannot say there is one school on there where you’ve got a guaranteed spot without more info about your writing ability.</p>

<p>If your test scores are as good as you say they will be, you should have no problem getting into these schools (they also have great IR programs):
-Syracuse University
-Northeastern University
-George Washington University
-American University</p>

<p>For safeties, also look into your state flagship/other local unis.</p>

4

<p>Yeah, I know that they are all practically impossible to get into. My writing is very good, and my teacher/ counselor recommendations should be great. Which of these schools do you think I have the best shot at? And how much will it help that my mom went to georgetown? I am still a junior, so I don’t know which of these schools I will apply to EA/ED, and I am in Pennsylvania. Oh, and I will not apply for financial aid (how much would that help)?</p>

5

<p>If you want to be considered for merit aid, also consider Boston U (strong with international relations) and possibly U. of Rochester.</p>

6

<p>Any other ideas of smallish schools (less than 10,000)?</p>

7

<p>Would you consider an LAC? Middlebury immediately came to mind when I read your OP.</p>

8

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<p>What about Johns Hopkins? On your list of colleges, it would be one of the easiest to get into (similar to Cornell), and it has a great IR program. In the ranking that lists Georgetown as #1 for a masters in IR, JHU is #2. International relations is the second-most popular major on campus. It seems to fit your search criteria fairly well: 5000 students, in the northeast, right between DC and PA.</p>

9

<p>Might look at Holy Cross</p>