Help a rising junior?

College Search & Selection
1

<p>I'm about to be a junior at a private school and I'm beginning to come up with a list of colleges I should apply to.</p>

<p>I will probably be majoring in international relations or political science with a minor in a foreign language, so I want a school with excellent programs in these subjects. I might change my mind, though, so very strong general academics is preferred. </p>

<p>I don't want a school that's huge (10,000+ undergrads) or tiny (under 2,500). I'd like a school in California, Mid Atlantic, Canada, or New England only. I'm also looking for schools abroad but only if there are scholarships available to international students (I don't even know if schools like this exist haha). An urban campus is preferred (and still actually have a campus), but suburban or rural are OK too, as long as students aren't bored on the weekends. I also don't want a school that is extremely liberal, so that rules out Vassar, Wesleyan, etc.</p>

<p>I pretty much want a small to mid sized university with a focus on undergraduate students who are interested in politics and languages with a lot of diversity.</p>

<p>Right now my top choices are:
Middlebury, a little too small for me, but its study abroad and language programs are too strong to pass up
Georgetown, perfect location, not sure if I should apply to SFS or not
Yale, I've always loved it and they just received a $50M gift to expand their international studies program.</p>

<p>I have an excellent instate safety.</p>

<p>Stats:
I will graduate with around 8-9 APs, 9 years of foreign language (+3 of self studying Arabic), 5 of history/social science, 4 of other academic subjects, and 1 of arts. I will also graduate with 12-16 credit hours of community college classes. (3-4 CC classes)
By app time, ECs will include four years of tennis, two years of swimming, three years of crew, MUN, Diversity Club, Debate Team, writing awards
Community service: A few hundred hours mostly at a center helping new immigrants, and a few with Habitat for Humanity
Work experience: fast food place
Summers: pre-college programs, job
Academics: ~3.6-3.7 UW GPA, upward trend, no idea what I will get on my SAT but I'm projecting around a 2100 with 750 CR, 650 M, and 800 W based on practice tests. </p>

<p>I'm also a first generation college student and an URM since I will be checking caucasian and native american on the common app. I emailed colleges my situation and they said check all the apply and with whom I identify, so that's what I'm doing.</p>

<p>thanks</p>

2

<p>You could look at the Claremont Colleges in CA. You don’t want a very large school so that rules out most of the UCs. Also, LACs in the northeast are strong in IR/Poli Sci…some are on the smaller end (Amherst and such) but you could look into them.</p>

3

<p>take a look at tufts, it seems to fulfill a lot of your requirements</p>

4

<p>Yeah, I feel like the Claremont Colleges would work for me because of the consortium. I really like CMC.</p>

<p>I actually visited Tufts last summer and liked it a lot. I didn’t really like the town, though, but Boston is so close it really doesn’t matter.</p>

5

<p>yeah i definitely agree with you on the town. beats durham but still not nice.</p>

6

<p>bump .</p>

7

<p>What about American?</p>

8

<p>Macalester College in St. Paul, Minnesota. Small personalized college in urban setting known for international emphasis. Kofi Annan (former Sec’y-General of the United Nations) is an alum. Lots of international students. High academics.</p>

9

<p>Thanks for the suggestion but I don’t want to go to college in the midwest. I’ve lived here almost my life and need to leave haha</p>

<p>clockface, do you think I could use American as a safety?</p>

10

<p>If your SATs end up being like you predicted then yeah it’s a safety</p>

11

<p>bump .</p>

12

<p>Do you guys think University of Miami fits this criteria?</p>

13

<p>Have you checked out BC BU or Northeastern. BC located a little bit away from the city but NEU and BU being inside the city.</p>

14

<p>BU and Northeastern are too big for me but I have look at BC. I will probably replace one of the really hard schools on my list with BC as a low reach/high match.</p>

15

<p>American, GW, Georgetown. The schools in D.C are great for what you’re looking for.</p>

16

<p>I would apply to American but from what people have written on here I don’t think it’s a good school for me. People have said it’s hard to get into the city, the students aren’t really in shape, the athletics aren’t good, and not many people like being there. I will probably still visit though since I’ll be in the area.</p>

17

<p>Well it is in the best and saftest part of D.C, and I think that the transportation was alright.
And if you do visit George Washington and you are interested in the more traditional college campus (as opposed to random buildings in the city as dorms), make sure to visit the Mount Vernon campus.</p>

18

<p>What experience do you have with American? What do you think of the people there?</p>