<p>We just spent half of junior daughter's spring break going through "prospective student" and Russian department webpages and would welcome advice as we plan visits during two short trips to east coast and midwest this summer.
This is D: formative years in a microcosmic eastern Washington farm community, high school in a small DoDDS-Europe school, will be val or sal in class of 70 or so, GPA 3.9 unweighted, 4.1-4.2 weighted, SAT 1900 but hoping to improve, solid hs prep with APUSH last year (3), AP PhysB, Eng Comp and French Lang this year, AP Eng Lit, German and Spanish Lang, and Calc AB next year; I predict 4-5s in the foreign languages, but 3s in others are more realistic due to some test nerves; should have respectable SAT IIs in math and languages.<br>
Some community service but nothing major beyond NHS chapter requirements; other ECs: student government every year, cross country (definitely not college athlete), team manager for one other season per year, band, MUN (a lot of time fundraising for Hague conference), ISLI (not a pay program-competitive selection for week-long leadership conference with students from American/International schools in Europe), National History Day (4th place and major award at national contest for group entry last year; qualified and heading back to NHD again this year in different category); private piano lessons until this year--technically quite accomplished but it is a valued hobby rather than a passion. Teacher/GC recs will be very positive and can highlight details such as her self-studying French I and III during frosh and soph summers to get to AP in third year of classroom instruction, Spanish self-study prior to AP (I'm a native speaker, but D unfortunately only had "grandma-talk" skills until she got seriously interested in learning languages), some 300-400 hours with partner devoted to this year's NHD project with much research in French primary sources and has also developed significant video-editing skills as by-product, and she is a genuinely nice, responsible, adaptable individual.<br>
Looking ahead to grad school, she has her eye on the Monterey Institute of International Studies Master of Translation and Interpretation, in Russian. For undergrad, she wants a double major in Russian Studies and International Relations and is leaning toward medium-size LACs. She will also apply to UWashington and WSU since we are still legal residents, and geographically has only ruled out Texas/Louisiana (don't ask me why), Alaska, and Hawaii. She visited DU and spent a week at American DC last summer and will consider both, but was not at all impressed with American Paris after a visit last week, so crossed that off as an option to keep up on French while completing general university requirements as part of a possible American DC enrollment.<br>
East coast visit plans: back to American and also Georgetown (probably a reach) during the NHD week in June, then Gaucher in Baltimore, Swarthmore, Lafayette, Middlebury (seems to be best Russian program), and Emory. This will be a short trip; there will be more time on the second one, and I'd welcome suggestions regarding forays out of Colorado Springs and also comments regarding suitability of the June list--we're new to this process, somewhat handicapped by distance, and probably started the investigation a little late.
Of course, money is an issue--I think our EFC will be about equal to in-state full cost at WA state schools, and that will be a sacrifice. D sees herself being much happier as one of hundreds than one of thousands. With her stats, we may be setting sights too high for any significant aid, so again, I welcome suggestions regarding alternatives with good programs.</p>
<p>Suggest you don't rule out the top women's colleges--In connection with a visit to Middlebury, try Smith and Mount Holyoke--coming from Washington would also make your D geographically desirable at these schools and less of a reach than Swarthmore, Middlebury--academics would be of higher quality than at Goucher, Lafayette--smaller more initimate atmosphere than American. Both have good internship opportunities, good grad school admissions stats, and MHC has a very international student body.</p>
<p>take a look at washington and lee. it has an excellent interdisciplinary russian areas studies major that seamlessly integrates various subjects like the history, culture, language, customs, economy etc. of the mother country.</p>
<p>I think an interest in Russian will make your daughter an attractive candidate. The interest in studying Russian has fallen off the face of the earth at many colleges. I know that Swarthmore's admissions dean listed Russian as one of the areas he specifically targeted in this year's acceptances.</p>
<p>Although not ranked as highly as Georgetown, GW is better than AU.</p>
<p>My neighbor's child found that Duke,Yale W&M, UVa and believe it or not USC-Columbia had great Russian programs. She ended up at William and Mary.</p>
<p>I'm glad someone already mentioned Smith--the Russian department is small but people seem to LOVE the profs. You can also take classes at UMass, Hampshire, Mt. Holyoke, and Amherst (not sure how many of these offer Russian) to get a greater variety of course offerings. There's a Five College International Studies certificate program, an International Relations minor, or you could be a government major with a focus in IR or comparative government. </p>
<p>Smith has approved several programs in Russia for study-abroad opportunities, and runs its own programs in Geneva and Paris (plus Hamburg and Florence!) if she decides she'd rather live in France. There's a summer internship funding program available to all students in low- or unpaid internships, domestically or abroad.</p>
<p>And at ~2800 undergrads, Smith's definitely a small school but hardly claustraphobic. Her grades and test scores are certainly in the right range, and Smith cares a lot about essays and letters of recommendation. </p>
<p>Also, I'd never heard of NHD before coming to Smith (I was more the National Geography Bee type), but my best friend here placed 2nd in her state during high school, coached local teams when she started at college, and now judges the MA state competition.</p>
<p>One suggestion - have your daughter take the ACT to see if she performs higher than she did on the SAT. Often times there is a huge difference, and the ACT gives "score choice" so you don't have to report it anywhere no matter how many times it is taken.</p>
<p>When you visit the DC area schools you might also check out George Mason. One of my tennis friends is a Russian prof there.</p>
<p>Wonderful, helpful suggestions--I'm glad I asked. Please keep them coming.
D doesn't see herself happy at a women's college, although I see definite advantages. Her older sister and family are in Colorado, so that's the attraction there, but we really are leaning toward the east coast for proximity to us, as we are here fairly long-term, and also internship possibilities for her career interest seem better. Are there any schools that would consider D's having lived abroad desireable? Yes, it's a typical American high school, but still, it's in Germany.</p>
<p>Bard is the only college in the United States with its own liberal arts college in Russia, in St. Petersburg.</p>
<p>The Five-College International Relations Certificate program (Smith, Mount Holyoke, Hampshire, Amherst, UMass) headed by Vincent Ferraro is top-notch, and easily rivals what you'll find at the larger IR schools.</p>
<p>It's not exactly a LAC, but you might want to look at Wake Forest. German and Russian (sometimes jokingly referred to as the Department of Enemy Languages) are housed together, and both programs seemed to be quite strong for a school Wake's size. It doesn't offer a major in International Studies, but minors in International Studies, Global Commerce, etc. are offered.</p>
<p>My daughter is also interested in studying Russian, so we did a lot of research into this issue. My daughter will be attending Barnard in the fall, and of the LAC's, I think they clearly have the best Russian/Slavic Languages offerings by far, simply because the Barnard Slavic Language department is combined with Columbia's, and Columbia also has the Harriman institute. (I am in heaven over my daughter's admission to Barnard -- my daughter is also interested in a career as a diplomat; Barnard has a 5-year combined A.B./M.A. degree program with Columbia's School of International and Public Affairs that seems very attractive)</p>
<p>Other LAC's that seemed to have strong Russian programs were: Middlebury; Bryn Mawr; Swarthmore; Amherst; Wesleyan; Vassar; Connecticut College; Dickinson; Trinity; Bucknell; Bard; Oberlin; Grinnell; Mt. Holyoke; Wellesley. I based my determination either on the size of the faculty -- for a LAC I was looking for colleges that had at least 3 profs; or some other indicia of a strong commitment to Russian, such as a college-sponsored exchange program or a Russian studies center on campus. </p>
<p>You will find a list describing the Russian departments at the US News top-50 LACs here:
<a href="http://aatseel.org/departments/Russiancolleges.htm%5B/url%5D">http://aatseel.org/departments/Russiancolleges.htm</a></p>
<p>Note: you will need to double check information on this list. I found some errors - but it was invaluable as a starting point. </p>
<p>Also, if your daughter is a high achiever, you may want to keep options open to consider Ivies. If you can find a combination of a college with a significant commitment to Russian (large, tenured faculty) - but few students enrolled in the courses and even fewer majors, then a demonstrated commitment to studying Russian can be a hook. Yale, Columbia & Harvard all fit that mold. (Though as a soon-to-be Barnard mom, my feeling is that any female who prefers the LAC environment would als prefer Barnard to Columbia: same faculty, same opportunities, much more personal attention & smaller classes.)</p>
<p>Feel free to PM me -- I would be glad to share the information I managed to accumulate over the past year. We have had a rather surprising college admissions season in terms of good results. My daughter does not do well on standardized tests but I think that the Russian focus really made a difference in terms of admissions. Your daughter's grades and SAT scores are very similar to my d's -- and from what you say, I think that she would be seen as a very attractive applicant to Barnard.</p>
<p>Carleton has a good Russian program.</p>
<p>May also want to check out Boston College. It's a mid-size school (not exactly an LAC, but not huge). It has a strong Russian program - at least it did when we looked at it two years ago.</p>
<p>I learned Russian in college, and use it professionally. I second the recommendations of Barnard, Bryn Mawr, and Middlebury, and would also add Oberlin. Of course these schools differ greatly from one another in overall atmospherics and context. You daughter can also do quite well in Russian at UDub. And there are several major universities with strong Russian language programs (e.g., Wisconsin, Michigan, Berkeley, Indiana, Illinois, Texas, Kansas, UNC and several highly selective ones including Columbia, Harvard, Stanford, and others).</p>
<p>Amen to Russian in 5 College areas- terrific departments at Smith, Mt Holyoke, and Amherst. I loved my profs- though they are bit on the soft side but they do get you caught up with peers of other institutions eventually. The tenured profs are wicked brilliant in literature! The language side tends to be kind of weak only because Russian is such a hard language that the lecturer for Elementary tries to make it as painless as possible for everyone.</p>
<p>I would definitely watch out for "contact hours" in Elementary level Russian because if your D winds up with 3 (as I did), then if she tries a different program for Intermediate, then she'll find herself struggling... a lot to get caught up.</p>
<p>Someone mentioned GW so I will second that. I took Russian for a while and really loved it. I think the department is strong here (much more so than the other languages) and my classes were rigorous but taught me a lot. There are also intensive Russian courses in addition to regular level ones, I had a friend who did that and is now going on to do grad work in Russian and Eastern European studies at one of the top schools in the country. I think it's cool that your daughter is interested in Russian, when I started with it everyone thought it was totally irrelevant but I haven't found that to be true at all. I will be getting my master's in IR next year at Uchicago and currently intern at a think tank here in DC and Russian definitely still helps in both cases.</p>
<p>Prof Taubman at Amherst just received a Guggenheim Fellowship to continue his research on Gorbachev. He previously won a Pulitzer for his book on Kruschev - granted he is in Poli Sci - but how wonderful is that? Studying Russian (with his wife) and getting the world view from someone so knowledgeable in the country and its politics, as well.</p>