GWU vs Smith College vs University of Texas (Austin) vs Mount Holyoke College

<p>I recently was admitted to all of these schools and am having trouble choosing. My intended major is International Relations.I was wondering about the strength of the program at each school. When it comes to my financial situation UT and Smith gave me no financial aid, MHC awarded me a 15k leadership scholarship, and I've yet to see my package from GWU. My parents are currently willing to contribute 30k to my college studies, my EFC is a little over 57k, and I do not mind taking out loans.The cold weather slightly deters me from going to an east coast school, but the small class sizes, awesome alumni network, and amazing opportunities are a plus. UT is close to home, has an amazing alumni network, a lot of school spirit, and is an awesome city, but the classes are huge. What's your take on this?Can anyone expanded on the pros and cons of each school and their program?</p>

<p>UT has price, weather, and boys going for it. I don’t know if its IR program is better than the others listed, but I imagine it is pretty good. You have to study a language and study abroad at UT, yes? </p>

<p>The classes are huge for some first year courses, but they do get smaller as you specialize. The university prides itself on putting the most scintillating lecturers in those big classes. Any chance for moving into Honors second semester?Would that get you smaller classes sooner?</p>

<p>Have you visited all of these schools? Smith and Mt. Holyoke are about as different from UT as I can imagine. Small v Huge, uniformly uber liberal v more diversity of opinions, New England reserve v Texas friendliness, cold weather v warm weather, Division 3 athletics v mega sports. </p>

<p>If you haven’t visited and are able to, you should check out Smith and Mt. Holyoke - they are not everyone’s cup of tea. And by the same token, neither is UT. </p>

<p>Almost everyone seems to like GWU, so in many ways that would be the least risky choice and its int’l relations dept is highly regarded. Lots of internship opportunities in DC.</p>

<p>UPDATE: \m/ hook em’ class of 2018.
For those of you who don’t know I’m going to UT Austin</p>

If you have time to respond, I’d really like to hear how satisfied you have been with your decision to go to UT. In the same position for the Class of 2019. Admitted to both GWU (honors) and UT (LAH honors). Want to study International Relations. Are you happy with your choice? What are the pros and cons of an IR major at UT? Thanks so much!!

The poster hasn’t been on the website in over two months. @jkdreamers, if you get this, can you respond to the question?