<p>Right now, I am completely torn between two schools: American U and Mount Holyoke College.</p>
<p>If I attended MHC, I would be much closer to home. I have visited the campus and fell in love with it (especially the library). I have not visited American, but have done a good amount of research on the school. I want to major in International Relations and I know that both schools boast amazing programs. American has the advantage over Mount Holyoke in terms of location and endless internship opportunities. However, Mount Holyoke really good internship programs as well and a strong alumni network. From my understanding, Mount Holyoke gives more FA than American, which is a huge factor in my decision. I plan to apply ED to American or MHC, but have been leaning towards AU for over a year, however this is suddenly changing. I'd really appreciate any insight on both schools. Thanks in advance.</p>
<p>Average % of Need Met - Mt. Holyoke = 100% </p>
<p>Average % of Need Met - American = 93% </p>
<p>But remember your “need” is calculated by the schools & how badly do they want you to enroll? Going ED is very risky if you need to consider financial aid. If you feel both schools are going to admit you anyway, why do that? Why not just go RD and then you can compare the financial aid packages? Waiting until April 1st may save your family a lot of money, (especially if you consider all 4 years, not just the first year)</p>
<p>I agree completely. You cannot go by averages of need met, and you do not know exactly how EFC is calculated. My older son was offered a package from a school that met 91% of need on average. He was offered a 1/3 tuition scholarship, so it seems that the school wanted him to attend. Well, the financial aid package was just not enough. Another private school that met less need (about 85% on average) and did not offer him any merit aid, ended up being much more affordable for us after the financial aid package was in. Additionally, we are middle to upper middle class, so we were not a “high need” family.</p>
<p>IR is a very competitive fields, as you know, and to have a good chance at long term success, you need a great education. I am sure you can get DC internships from either school, but where will you get the better training in writing and analytical thinking? At which school can you be sure you will emerge fluent in another language, and hopefully a difficult language? (The State Department, for example, gives preference to applicants with Arabic, Russian or Chinese). Also consider what coursework you should have to supplement the IR major. A strong backing in economics is, IMO, also very important.</p>
<p>MHC is much more selective than AU. If you are a high-caliber student who could gain admittance to MHC, you may be able to get the lure from AU in the form of merit aid.</p>
<p>This is yet another factor that should be making you lean toward RD.</p>
<p>Average % of Need Met - American = 93%
<<<<<</p>
<p>This is only relevant IF the OP knows what her family’s EFC is…and if she knows if they can meet their EFC (if there is one). </p>
<p>Plus, meeting need can mean $100+k in student loans, unless MH has a “no loan” policy. Do they?</p>
<p>But, if her family has an unaffordable EFC, it won’t matter what either college give her for aid - because they aren’t going to cover that unmet EFC.</p>
<p>I don’t think I would let my daughter apply ED to a school that we have not visited.
FWIW & not that I have visited both campuses (we visited MHC) but I have read/heard that AU is very different (space constraints, larger classes, not as much community feeling).</p>
<p>I agree with what everyone else has said. If aid is a really big factor, you should apply RD to a number of schools so you can at least compare offers. </p>
<p>One thing to think about in terms of IR and American is that at American you’ll be at a big university, with A LOT of other IR students, and they all came to DC for the same reason you did: to be near the power center of jobs and internships in the IR field. There’s going to be a LOT more competition for every resource at American, and the places you will be applying to for internships will have many many more applicants coming at them from inside the DC-MD-VA area. Yes, going to a DC school makes it easier to do internships in the fall or winter, but it also means you’re going to be part of a big pack of kids, equally determined, with equal academic credentials, competing for a limited number of spots. </p>
<p>Which is all to say that I think going to school in DC is actually less beneficial to you if you want to study IR. Going to GRAD school in DC is totally different, and extremely beneficial, but for undergrad, I would opt for MHC (or Moho, as we Smithies call it). It’s smaller, there will be more resources and they will be shared with fewer people. You’ll also get more attention from career services and alums when you’re trying to find internships and network (very key for a future in DC).</p>
<p>Mount Holyoke is not a slam-dunk admission for you. Their common data set appeared to require a user name and password to access (what’s up with that?), but I did a quick search for average SAT/ACT/GPA. The average ACT score is 27 -28, and the average GPA is 3.5. Not knowing how your GPA is calculated (I find GPA to be nearly meaningless, as there are so many variables to its calculation), I would say that from your ACT score alone you may have trouble with admittance there without a hook. Do you have any hooks for admission?</p>
<p>I would suggest visiting AU before making a decision. S attends AU and loves it. Plan however was GW. He went and visited GW and hated it. AU was a back up since we had driven down there needed to see more than 1 campus. </p>
<p>S applied ED to AU and did get most of his tuiton in a scholarship for 4 years as long as he kept a 3.2 GPA (his GPA is a 3.8/3.9) and he’s in his final year. He has loved it there.</p>
<p>I wouldn’t recomment doing ED to a school if you haven’t visited the school however.</p>
<p>I would agree about visiting AU. My son toured both AU and GWU and ultimately went to another school. Both AU and GWU have very different feels. Of the two, my son ended up not even applying to AU, applied and was accepted to GWU, went elsewhere.<br>
Do not forget to factor in the cost of going to a school which is further away. Plane flights, etc. add up quickly. And you really should have some financial and admit backups/safeties. It doesn’t sound like MHC or AU is that for you.</p>
<p>Also, many schools now do offer that “Washington Semester”, it is in all the Guide books, typically under their little special features section. That could be a way to spend some time in DC, through the college you enrolled at. So you don’t necessarily have to be in DC as an undergrad for all 4 years. There are other options out there! Guess we have given you a lot to think about! </p>
<p>S has interned at home every summer and on Christmas break at home - not in DC and has been PAID for all years. Not sure that just because you are in DC you need to intern there. He has picked visited many of the embassies and interviewed for papers many ambassadors which he has enjoyed.</p>
<p>Thanks for the replies, everyone. I appreciate them.</p>
<p>FA is a factor, but I have already spoken to AU’s financial aid office and will be speaking to MHC, shortly. I still have awhile to fully come to a decision, so I am trying not to rush this at all. I have also spoken to my parents about this in-depth. </p>
<p>@Deja - I didn’t post my ACT score or any score for that matter. </p>
<p>Yeah, MHC is a lot more prestigious than AU and in the end, both schools have amazing IR programs. MHC would be a better choice, especially for location as I am less than 20 minutes away from MHC and a number of people in my school actually know various people from their admissions office because we are so close.</p>
<p>Speaking to the FA offices is a good idea, but in the end, you won’t be able to put them to the test until you get your offers. It’s still probably a better idea to wait and compare. By not doing so you really cheat yourself, and not just out of need-based aid. Merit aid is often not as generous to students who apply ED, esp at schools that offer limited merit aid (like MHC). Schools want to save merit money to lure in students who won’t be legally required to attend if admitted, so while ED doesn’t eliminate you from the merit aid competition (and no FA office will tell you it does) it makes you less competitive. </p>
<p>And RochesterMom, it depends what you want to do when you graduate. If you want to work in DC, esp. in IR, it’s really important to intern in DC at least once. In the DC job market, knowing people or knowing people who know people is crucial. Without personal connections and without a DC-based organization on your resume, it’s going to be very, very, hard to hack it. Exceptions to this would be if you worked in a district office for a senator or congressperson, it’s easier to get into their DC offices cause you at least know someone. But for most Hill jobs, you need to have interned on the Hill. For most think tank jobs, you need to have worked in a think tank. You don’t need to go to school in DC to get that experience, but you’ll need it if you want to work in DC later.</p>
<p>I was thinking, wow, good advice about DC and only then looked at the poster. Well, it figures. Good advice. (Though the Hill/think tank experience can also benefit in the other category as my D demonstrated. But it doesn’t change the essential point.)</p>
<p>Oh…I’d also choose MHC over AU based on what I know about MHC, our impressions of AU when we visited, and D’s experience taking a class at AU after her bachelor’s degree.</p>
</p>
</p>