<p>I am a rising senior this year. I need some advice on college search.</p>
<p>I'm a A/A- student. Hopefully I will get SAT score of 2100 to 2200. I don't have many extracurricular activities.</p>
<p>I'm looking for colleges with strong POLITICS, PHILOSOPHY, INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS and (generally) SOCIAL SCIENCES course offerings. </p>
<p>I would prefer a college in New England or Mit-Atlantic area. I hope it could be a college with long history and rich culture but it is not very conservative. I would appreciate more individualism and diversity on campus. I prefer a campus setting of suburban or small town.</p>
<p>Here's a summary:</p>
<p>A/A- student</p>
<p>SAT: 2100-2200</p>
<p>Majors/interests: social science, politics, philosophy, international relations</p>
<p>Location/setting: New England/ Mid-Atlantic, suburban/small town</p>
<p>culture and history but also individualism and diversity</p>
<p>I hope you can help me with my college search. I would love to hear from all of you.</p>
<p>I agree! It was my first choice and kind of my dream school. Especially because I love D.C. But I changed my mind and now have no first choice after I heard Georgetown is a little more conservative and less diverse than other top schools. Is that true though?</p>
<p>Tufts, George Washington, and Johns Hopkins are also strong intl.relations/ social science schools; they are generally considered more liberal than Georgetown.</p>
<p>What kind of budget do you have to work with? If your family can pay $60,000 each year, you will have a lot more options than if you need to find a place that will offer you good financial aid. For ideas on that topic, spend some time in the Financial Aid Forum.</p>
<p>Diverse often means…people like the student. I know that sounds cynical, but after reading post after post, when kids say that they want diversity, the underlying factor is often that they want kids with their ethnic or religious background. Asian kids want other Asian students. Hispanic kids want other Hispanic students. Muslim kids want other Muslim students…and so forth. </p>
<p>A school can have lots of Black kids, lots of Jewish kids, lots of Hispanic kids, but if there aren’t many Asian kids, then an Asian kid will often say that the school isn’t diverse. (just using those mixes as an example…the order or mix could be any.)</p>
<p>Shi…how much will your parents pay each year? Are you a US student or int’l?</p>
<p>So far no one has suggested a school that is either suburban or located in a small town. NE and the mid-atlantic states are the motherlode of LACs in small towns with strong programs in the disciplines you cite. Off the top of my head: Bowdoin, Amherst, Williams, Bates, Haverford, Swarthmore, Middlebury, Dartmouth. This only scratches the surface, and most of them are reachy. </p>
<p>Assuming that you actually achieve the upper end of your projected SATs, the major problem for you will probably be weak ECs.</p>
<p>Do you need FA? Are you an international student?</p>
<p>Tufts is near Boston, but is actually in Medford, and when I visited, it had a pretty suburban feel (lots of residential areas). They also have a great IR program and politically active students.</p>
<p>Yes, I’m an international student. I go to a boarding school in MA. I’m fortunate that I have full support from my family so that I don’t need financial aid. I do have a couple of ECs just to put on the list but, after reading many posts here and doing some research, I can’t find one particular EC that I was very dedicated to. </p>
<p>To respond to zobroward and mom2collegekids, I agree with mom2collegekids. I think it’s be understandable that kids, especially minorities, look for colleges where there is “diversity”. Because they feel more comfortable being in an environment with more kids of their own race/ethnicity. I’m from China and to be honest I do associate more with Chinese/Asian kids. I don’t think it’s a problem and I do socialize with other kids as well. I find this perfectly okay.</p>
<p>On the other hand, I do think being on campus where there are representations of different cultures is part of experience that every student should have. My high school is pretty diverse and I did learn a lot about respecting people and ideas that are different from my own. </p>
<p>Consolation, thank you for suggesting those schools. I think I would prefer universities than liberal arts colleges. I have had it enough in a boarding school and I would like more space in college. Aren’t they stricter than universities? That’s what I heard…Correct me if I’m wrong.</p>
<p>Generally speaking, the reach/match/safety options for a full-pay international student who has been educated in the US will be very similar to those of a US applicant who has been educated in that same school. This means that your best advice is probably to be had in your own school’s guidance office. Drop an email to the person responsible for college advising, and find out his/her suggestions.</p>
<p>Yes, happymom is right! If your parents are paying for a boarding school in Massachusetts, then part of what they are paying for is individualized college guidance! Take advantage of it.
In the meantime, there are plenty of threads in here already about schools that are good for IR, PolySci etc. Start with those, do a little research, then come back with specific questions.</p>