<p>So I am worried about reading on these forums that so many people have interest in International Relations as a major. This current year I am studying in a small rural community in Chile as an exchange student (Rotary Interntional). I am originally from Texas and swim on my high school varsity swim team. I received my letter jacket sophomore year for my performance in 500 yard freestyle. I am now entering my senior year and starting to think about colleges. Bleh. So fast. </p>
<p>I am not exactly sure about my GPA. I am going to say about a 3.65 at lowest and I am ranked about 26/550 people in my class. </p>
<p>I have not taken the ACT exam which I plan to take in October. I hope to score about a 26-29. I doubt I will overdue a 29. </p>
<p>I was reading on the forums and it seems like a large quantity of numbers have interest in the International Relations field. My brother is currently at UT Austin and told me that it would be a great place to go (prices) and everything. My problem is that I am worried I am going to be stuck in a college with unmotivated people. UT Austin seems to accept about 50% of applications according to the website...and I am not even sure how strong the program is. Needless to say...I am not interested.</p>
<p>My wish...of course...would be to study IR at Tufts. However, I cannot afford it and it seems to be one of the most difficult to enter in the nation. It took a lot of guts to come here to Chile, learn Spanish from scratch, and do something different.</p>
<p>I really want a presitigious program with motivated students. </p>
<p>Any Tufts or IR students out there in top IR Universities? What did you do to get accepted?</p>
<p>What schools and universities do you think wouldn´t be out of my league to even apply to?</p>
<p>It seems like all the schools with the prestigious programs max $35,000 -$40,000 a year. Ridiculous. Did you guys receive scholarships?</p>
<p>What drove you to pick the school that you did?</p>
<p>Thanks.</p>
<p>American is probably a match and GW a slight reach. Both strong in IR. Will you qualify for need based aid or do you need merit aid? I don't think either of those are great with need based and for merit your stats will probably need to be in the top 10% of their applicant pool. Chile will help and shows dedication.</p>
<p>Hi nickdechile!</p>
<p>I'll be entering Tufts University this fall as part of the Class of 2010. I'm also very interested in pursuing their IR major (i applied to humanities/international focused schools). Difficulty-wise, Tufts is extremely difficult to get into; their acceptance rate/# who applied is right in the middle of the other top universities in the United States. For them, they want: </p>
<ul>
<li>The best students, who also have:
- International/humanities-focused activites and accomplishments.
Is that your unweighted GPA? If so, it's probably very low. Rank, however, is very good. The Chile bit is great - really sell that to Tufts or any other reach schools, especially for IR. Tufts is top-notch as they incorporate their undergrad program with the graduate Fletcher School of Law & Diplomacy.</li>
</ul>
<p>If you want to go to a prestigious prgram with highly motivated students, such as Tufts or another top academic school with IR (i.e. Georgetown) I say go for it! don't be afraid to apply to schools where you feel unsure about getting in. These schools, like the ivies and Stanford, Bowdoin, Duke, etc. are reaches for everybody. There is no "formula." But, at the same time, everyone has a weak spot. If you're really interesting in humanities/IR (like I am) show your prospective colleges everything that you've got, done, or can offer relating to your interests. If you're looking @ Tufts or GU's IR/IS programmes, for example, they'll love the Chile side, but will probably wonder why you, let's say, spent several thousand $$ on a summer med program (just theroetically - I know you probably didn't do that :) ). You WILL need top SAT/ACT scores - that's a given, along with the hardest HS curriculum possible. then throw on the extras. Can you take the SAT II's? If so, focus on the humanities - US History, English, Euro History, etc. Same with AP's. Have you taken those yet? </p>
<p>Feel free to ask if you have any questions.</p>
<p>Hi! If you're interested in IR, you should consider Johns Hopkins in Baltimore, Maryland(its IR program is ranked #2 in the country). I'm going there in the fall and I think that it's a great school. It's pretty expensive, but they gave me a lot of need-based aid so don't let finances stop you from applying. You can also do a 5 year BA/MA at SAIS(an advanced school for IR) in Washington DC. I got in ED and my GPA and class rank are almost the same as yours! Like any top college, you will need very good SAT scores, some SAT IIs, and rigorous classes. My advice - visit any college you are considering and see how you like it.</p>
<p>Actually, worldband, my unweighted gpa was 3.477 and weighted was only 4.02, with a rank of ~66/550 when I got in ED I this year at Tufts...so, if you can get that ACT to a 30, you have a good shot.</p>
<p>AU offers pretty good undergraduate merit aid packages if you can get your ACT score to 30+. The other prestigious IR programs are not so generous with merit aid. Believe me, ive been through this process(don't qualify for need but need merit).</p>