<p>Hi....my son is going into his High School senior year this fall and wants to major in International Relations/World Affairs. He wants to eventually work for the FBI, DHS, or an intelligence agency after Graduate School.</p>
<p>He is planning on applying to the following schools and this is how we are viewing his chance:
UCB - reach
UCLA - reach
Hopkins - reach
Georgetown - reach
Tufts - reach</p>
<p>USC - possible match
UCSD - possible match
Occidental - possible match</p>
<p>GWU- safety
OU - safety
UC Davis - possible safety</p>
<p>He is also considering applying to West Point and the Air Force Academy.</p>
<p>He is a very good student, but didn't do great on his SAT as he only scored 1900 on his first pass. He's scheduled to take the June one as well. His weighted GPA is a 4.33 and his unweighted GPA is 4.0. He is class rank as of last semester is 43/570 (around top 7%). He is on the Varsity Baseball Team and is a member of NHS and the Calif Scholarship Federation. He has been a scholar athlete for the last 3 years and is a Officer/Team leader for the Action Team.</p>
<p>I just wanted to ask if other parents or students who have gone through this, think we are on the right track considering what his stats are what he wants t do as a career. We have a trip planned to NY and DC this August and have tours set up with West Point, Hopkins, GW and Georgetown. I had forgot about American, but I guess we should probably go there as well.</p>
<p>Thanks so much for any advice.</p>
<p>Looks like you would prefer schools where costs would be the same as for the UC’s. Have you run Net Price Calculators for the non-UCs, especially for Tufts, Georgetown and Hopkins? Tufts doesn’t offer any merit aid, and I suspect there’s none at the other two. If those are going to be unaffordable, take them off the list. USC does offer merit, but that will depend on his final stats. Incentive to prepare for the ACT and SAT!</p>
<p>Given your son’s interests, do take a good look at GWU and American. Both can offer significant merit aid. The two schools have a very different feeling, with many students only liking one or the other. Make sure to set up interviews while you’re there on tour. GWU (and probably American) like to be taken seriously and not seen as alternatives to Georgetown which happen to be in DC. Eliot is a wonderful program. If Georgetown and/or Hopkins are unaffordable, consider swapping in the University of Maryland College Park. There’s an early application deadline for merit aid, which would bring costs in range of UC. </p>
<p>Davis doesn’t look like a safety. I’d suggest Santa Cruz, but that may not be a good fit for a student considering West Point.</p>
<p>Thanks Slithey…,great advice that we will follow. I also agree that Davis should be a possible match and definitely not a safety. Davis is the one UC school we haven’t seen yet, but we were thinking since it’s close to Sacramento, that there could be some internship opportunities there. I believe that USC and UCSD could be good for him If he can get in. Yes…we definitely need to get the cost of the school down around $30k which is what the UCs will run after living expenses. I know OU will give him $8k/year which would bring his total costs to around $30k, but I think some of the UC schools would be better for IR. </p>
<p>If your child is considering West Point or other military academies, wouldn’t it make sense to start looking into ROTC scholarships as they lead to similar outcomes? </p>
<p>Also, has he looked at the career web pages of the government agencies of interest to get an idea of what they are looking for?</p>
<p>@ucbalumnus…yes, many times. My choice would be for him to stay away from IR and go for something like accounting or engineering, but he loves military history and foreign affairs, so he wants to study IR or Global Affairs. I just worry about the job prospects while waiting to get hired by the FBI or other federal agency. He wants to get a Masters and plans to try to get as many internships as possible while undergrad, but once he graduates with his BA degree, I worry about what options will be avail to him. It’s not like he will have a technical skill with an IR degree. </p>
<p>I agree with “whenwhen” – ROTC scholarship should be considered, given the interest in West Point and USAFA. Most of the schools you have listed have both Army and Air Force ROTC. The Army, in particular, is an excellent path for the FBI and other federal agencies. The Army really does not care what you major in. The Air Force wants engineers.</p>
<p>I hate to ask, but what does OU stand for? Since you appear to be in California, my guess is that it is University of Oregon. However, around here it means Ohio University, and in Oklahoma it means U.Oklahoma.</p>
<p>@NROTCgrad …yes, we are from CA, but it stands for Univ. of Oklahoma. My dad and his Grandpa lives near Norman and we took a tour of the school back in Jan. and he liked it. Thanks for the advice about the ROTC programs.</p>