<p>I'm from Beijing, China, and I want to major in IR or Int'l Affairs.</p>
<p>Both GW and Tufts offered me admission. And I totally have no idea about where I am going.</p>
<p>GW-Pros:
1. In DC = lots of intern opportunities
2. My BFF is a Colonial!
3. I love DC!!!
4. I'm an int'l student, and DC has DIRECT flights to Beijing.</p>
<p>GW-Cons:
1. Tuition+Room+other fees= almost $59,000 for int'l students
2. GW has no campus. If you're not in the classroom, then you're on a street in DC!</p>
<p>Tufts-Pros:
1. In Boston. Being closed to Harvard is cool
2. Tufts has way few Chinese people. I don't wanna hang out with people who speack my native language for four years.
3. The Fletcher School is awesome.</p>
<p>Tufts-Cons:
1. It will take me 24 hours to get back home
2. In Boston, less intern opportunities</p>
<p>So please help me decide. Thank you sooooo much!!!!</p>
<p>GW should be the clear choice, specially for the long term!</p>
<p>Our office works with multi-national corporations and firms (and universities with satellite branches outside of their respective countries), including firms in Beijing. Based on personal experience, you most likely will not have to explain yourself when these multi-national corporations and firms, especially those outside of the U.S., ask where you graduated from. GW is a very recognizable university name world-wide! </p>
<p>It is a further advantage for GW to be located in Washington, D.C. </p>
<p>Just a thought on the long-term point of view.</p>
<p>I am in the same position! I am looking at attending on an NROTC scholarship, however, and have been offered an athletic scholarship from GW. This means GW is nearly free…i.e. I just need to cover extracurricular costs. Tufts is ranked slightly higher on the IR rankings, but I am guessing that the difference between 7 and 9 on the IR rankings is next to nothing. The only difference I can see between the two is A.) Cost and B.) any difference that the NROTC programs have. I do have to learn Russian or Arabic in college for the Navy, does Tufts have an advantage over GW in terms of a language program? It is very possible that I may have to major in Middle Eastern or Russian Studies rather than IR as well. Which choice will benefit me if this is the case?</p>
<p>Had the same choices. I chose GW.
BTW, haoyukevinwang, Tufts really is not in Boston- it’s in a suburb near Boston- a train ride away. Also- did you visit GW? It’s not a traditional campus for sure, but I still think it has a campus feel, much more so than NYU or BU. And Washington is a very international city- no shortage of people from all countries of the world, including China. Also- much nicer weather.
Is Tufts really that much cheaper?</p>
<p>Midway- think of the internship opportunities in DC. If you can attend GW for almost free, you should come! I don’t know the answers about the Russiona /ME studies, sorry.</p>
<p>Hao…</p>
<p>Tufts is not in close proximity to Harvard. Cambridge and Medford/Somerville are a world apart. (Or at least a train ride, as Schmohawk pointed out)</p>
<p>The Fletcher School is actually a graduate school at Tufts, if I am not mistaken, although I will grant you that Tufts is well known for undergraduate IR.</p>
<p>Midway,
Tufts does have a very strong language program, however, GW teaches both Arabic and Russian.</p>
<p>I don’t know the relative merits of Tufts vs. GW for Russian studies, but there are ample Russian language, literature, film, history, poly sci courses etc. at GW. In Elliott, you can major in Int Affairs and choose Russia/Eastern Europe as your regional area of interest. You can easily add a minor in Russian language and literature, and if you are ambitious, you can double major in Int Affairs and Russian.
I think the same scenario applies for Arabic and Middle Eastern Studies. Arabic is pretty popular at GW.</p>
<p>Thank you for the advice. By the way, where did you find the IR ranking? Do you mind giving me a link?</p>