<p>Hi, I’m an incoming senior trying to narrow down my college list and my plan for now is to have a double major in Communications and International Studies.
I know that to get into the International Studies program, one has to apply at the end of their freshman year, and I wanted to know how competitive this is; what kind of GPA I would need to have, how many students normally apply and any other requirements or extra steps I should take.
Thanks so much</p>
<p>I applied for it and got rejected. This past year 150 kids applied and 75 got it.
I was really surprised at not getting it though. My GPA was decent (3.4 first semester, 3.3 second semester), was a French major as well with 2/5ths of the major done already (4 300 level courses), took beginner’s italian with A’s in both semesters, expressed interest in learning more foreign languages, had high school extracurriculars as president and vice president of French club, travelled rather extensively growing up (6 countries, including France 4 times), wrote about the impact of living in a bilingual household (and only understanding one of the languages) for my application essay, and got accepted to become an International Assistant for the 2011-12 school year. Not to mention having a YouTube account where I post videos in French (which I get paid for by Google), and interact with about 1,000 French, Belgian, and Quebeckers… </p>
<p>And I got rejected. So you better be super qualified or an honors kid, the only people I know that got it were in honors.</p>
<p>Using that example, clearly the international relations staff heavily emphasizes GPA and other academic achievement credentials. Interesting.</p>
<p>I’m a rising senior and an IS major. The major is difficult to get into, but certainly not impossible. The key is that you need a strong GPA. It helps to take principles of micro/macro or other relevant IS courses (and do well) your freshman year. I had a 3.868 when I was accepted, which takes a lot of work but, again, is certainly not impossible. When I applied the average GPA for those accepted was a 3.75. But keep in mind this is dragged down just a bit by pre-med IS majors. International experience has a limited impact on your application, as the amount of time people have spent abroad directly depends on what opportunities have been presented to you. </p>
<p>Honors has absolutely nothing to do with it. A lot of bright people are in honors so they get higher GPAs and therefore they get in. If you take 3-4 IS courses your freshman year and get above a 3.8, you’re pretty much in.</p>
<p>could you tell me what IS courses are?</p>
<p>There’s only one real “international studies course”, the intro to international studies… besides that, the rest are actually in other departments (ie. political science, or economics, or history, etc)
But I’m guessing what ilk07 means is to take courses that will count for the major:
[Major</a> - International Studies Program - Boston College](<a href=“http://www.bc.edu/schools/cas/isp/program_of_study/major.html]Major”>http://www.bc.edu/schools/cas/isp/program_of_study/major.html)
so probably (not not limited to) micro/macroeconomics, history, or fundamentals of politics for your freshman year.</p>
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<p>I’m of the opinion that honors students receive first dibs on a lot of things at BC, including research.</p>
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<p>Seriously? Do you have sources for support? (Just curious.)</p>
<p>I don’t have any numbers, no. I am not in honors, nor have I ever wanted to be in honors, although I probably had a high enough GPA to be admitted after freshman year. But I live in honors housing and essentially all of my closest friends minus a couple are in the honors program. I know most of the rising seniors that have lived in honors housing (at least the boys), and I can say that they are a very intelligent group. I was also selected as a Dean’s Scholar this past year and can attest to the fact that the majority of Dean’s Scholars are in the honors program. </p>
<p>Research opportunities do often go to honors students (I’m assuming you are referring to Advanced Study Grants). But, leaving aside questions whether honors students are intelligent, this also seems related to the strengths of the honors program. All freshman in honors have a professor who knows them very well and who most likely has connections to other departments. This undoubtedly assists in finding research opportunities and procuring funding for them. I have been rejected for two ASGs, yet I did receive an undergraduate research fellowship this summer so I most definitely have not been shunned from research opportunities despite not being an honors student. Furthermore, I know of several presidential scholars who have been denied ASG funding; it’s a competitive grant.</p>