IR Major Choosing Between Tufts, Middlebury, Northeastern, and American (Global Scholars)

College Search & Selection
1

<p>Hi, my name is Eliza. I'm a senior from California interested in languages and international relations. I've been accepted to Northeastern's honors program, Middlebury, American's Global Scholars Program, and Tufts. I was waitlisted at Harvard, Penn, and Georgetown (my #1 choice). I would love any input that would help me chose! I'll be visiting them all again over spring break, and I'm well aware of my very, very slim chances of getting off any wait lists. Here are my current thoughts about each of the schools:</p>

<p>Northeastern I fell in love because of the opportunities I would have to travel. It's not, however, as prestigious and would make getting into grad school more difficult. In addition, it doesn't have the same caliber of professors, and the classes tend to be large. </p>

<p>Middlebury has an amazing language program and is full of talented students. I've wanted a city school, however, and Middlebury is very, very remote. Also freezing. They did give me the most aid ($50,000 all in grants).</p>

<p>American's Global Scholars Program is definitely attractive. Being in DC would be great, and I know that it's a good program, but American as a whole isn't as rigorous as Tufts or Middlebury or the general students as motivated. It's a very small program (only 25 students), and I don't know if it would be too insular. In addition, I'm not sure I want to finish my BA in three years. Global Scholars is the program I know the least about--I've found little information about it apart from the description on their website. They also gave me the smallest amount of money, and it would be quite a stretch financially.</p>

<p>Tufts is an amazing school, and I got a really happy vibe when I visited. I also know it has one of the best IR departments in the country. They gave me plenty of financial aid.</p>

<p>I'm going to stay on the waitlist for Georgetown (and probably Harvard) and do everything I can to get off it, but since it's very unlikely to get in of the WL, I want to fall in love with one of the school's that's actually accepted me. If you have any information that could help me decide, I would really appreciate it! Thanks so much.</p>

<p>P.S.: I'd also love any suggestions about what to do when visiting in order to make the best decision.</p>

2

<p>I would narrow the choices to Middlebury and Tufts. They both have sterling reputations in international studies, and obviously Midd is one of the best colleges in the country for language pedagogy. If you want a city school, then obviously Tufts is the way to go. I’m not sure why you applied to Middlebury if that was one of your criteria. </p>

3

<p>I have a (junior) D at Tufts who started off as an IR major, then switched to something completely different, but is still doing many of the things that an IR major does. She’s had astounding travel opportunities–a mix of funded travel for research/internships, travel with a friend to the friend’s home country, and classic study abroad. </p>

<p>You can take grad classes at the Fletcher school as an undergrad, even as a freshman. There’s also the unique to Tufts EPIIC program <a href=“http://www.tuftsgloballeadership.org/program/epiic-0”>http://www.tuftsgloballeadership.org/program/epiic-0&lt;/a&gt; where students study a topic of global import, and then conclude the year with a weekend seminar on that topic. </p>

<p>Midd is justly famous for their language programs, but for what it’s worth D1 found during her study abroad that even with two years of language from Tufts she was well prepared for attending class and writing essays in her language. </p>

<p>If you really want American I’d suggest working with their FinAid folks to get better aid; you could also try upping your aid with Tufts based on the (wonderful!) Midd offer. </p>

<p>As a parent, I’d prefer to see my kid going to a school which offers more choices because students may change their major. American for IR or Poli Sci is great, but what if you go off in a totally different direction?</p>

<p>When you visit: take notes. Ask folks what they like and hate about the school or the program. Ask them about grad school acceptances and what people do after graduation. Then make up pro and con lists and figure out what works best for you.</p>

<p>Congrats on all the great results! </p>

4

<p>SlitheyTove, thanks for the advice–especially about trying to up the offer from Tufts, which she’s strongly leaning toward. That would be great. She also wants to visit the Global Scholars program at American, and we would need to get some more money to make that really competitive in her choices. </p>

<p>My guess is my daughter will continue her studies in Arabic at Tufts. She’s had two years with a tutor weekly and did the NSLI-Y program in Morocco last summer. So perhaps she can place out of the introductory class for those with no exposure.</p>

5

<p>You’ll want to ping mathmom, whose son is a senior at Tufts in IR. He’s been taking Arabic and did study abroad in Jordan. </p>