<p>hi, i'm a junior and i have most of my college list decided, but i'm a little low on safety and match schools since i've been having trouble finding ones that have what i'm looking for. can you guys please help me with some suggestions?</p>
<p>what i'm looking for:
-good poly sci/international relations program
-needs to offer arabic
-politically active student body (preferably with both sides represented)
-not too big, under ~7,000
-i would love something close to dc, but any city would be ok (i think optimally i'd like to be near a city but not in it, but i'm flexible there)
-good amount of diversity, (i'm especially looking for a good representation of black students)
-i'm also trying to look for financial safeties, so public would be a big plus</p>
<p>schools i'm already planning on applying to:
-american
-claremont mckenna
-georgetown
-johns hopkins
-pomona
-swarthmore
-tufts
-william and mary</p>
<p>my basic stats:
-GPA: 4.35 by the end of this year (my weighted GPA is decent but low for a lot of these schools, but i have a good upward trend- mostly B+s in freshman year, mainly B+/A-sophomore year, then A-/A this year, all in honors/AP classes)
-SAT: 2350, 800 math level 1, us history test pending (at least 750 from what i can tell)
-ECs: probably my weakest area; i've been involved in 4 main clubs with leadership positions in 2, and i've had a fair amount of political involvement which should help. i feel like my ECs are the level where they wouldn't keep me out of a college but they probably wouldn't give me much of a boost</p>
<p>So I know that I need a few more schools that are more attainable, but do you think my list is good to start with? And what other schools should I be considering?</p>
<p>my UW GPA according to my school is i think almost 3.9, but if you recalculate it it’s probably more like a 3.6, but at a competitive high school (i’m still in the top 10%)</p>
<p>i think my family could probably afford 30-40K, so i’d look into any OOS publics as long as they’re not huge (i just really want to get out of MA, plus umass amherst is the only good public in my state and it’s way too big for me :(). william and mary seems like a great fit that would be at least a bit cheaper than privates- are there other public schools like that that are easier to get into?</p>
<p>I would encourage the OP to take a close look at Michigan, Chicago and Penn, each of which are exceptionally strong in Arabic studies, and excellent also in political science and (perhaps to slightly lesser degree) IR.</p>
<p>you have the credentials to look higher on the selectivity scale. you might not have a desire to do so, which is perfectly fine (i had the same feelings). but if you have a desire to look at UChicago, Ivies, and other upper-crust schools, don’t think you don’t have a shot.</p>
<p>I’m a bit biased, but I’ll go ahead and give a plug for Tufts (my school) and UChicago (my #2, where I almost attended). I know a good many students doing IR and Middle Eastern studies at Tufts, and we have very strong faculty and programmes in each. Most folks have found Arabic very, very difficult, but that is the nature of the language. Unless you’ve had experience with the language, I would advise against making the strength of the Arabic programme a decisive factor in your choice. I don’t know much about you, but given the experience which folks have had with Arabic, I can say that there is a non-trivial chance that you will not stay with it. It’s a ***** of a language (I have a bit of a background in hebrew, and I had trouble with just the transliterated arabic I had to deal with in my Intro to Islam class lol). But Tufts is very good with IR, and has opportunities for engagement in Middle Eastern studies both in the classroom and outside (frequent guest lectures and events, programmes through the Institute for Global Leadership, such as NIMEP–New Initiative for Middle Eastern Peace). Tufts is also really big on participatory study, including a lot of studying abroad and internships. As a centrist liberal, I sometimes find myself frustrated with the pervasiveness of what I feel to be a somewhat naively liberal mentality. But hey, college students interested in politics and IR tend to want to go out and change the world and advance issues of social justice. Moreover, the faculty is very tolerant of all reasonable and well-justified views, and Tufts is a great place for political dialogue.
Chicago is also a very strong IR place (in their Political Science major). You will have classes with professors who wrote the scholarship you study (Mearsheimer, Morganthau, etc). They also are very strong in languages. Both colleges are spectacular institutions where one can get an amazing social, academic, and life experience. </p>
<p>You’re not going to find much in the way of financial safeties which are not relatively large schools, but the University of Maryland at College Park is very strong in Politics and IR, has good language programmes, and is relatively affordable, both in- and out-of-state. It does not have the institutional deficiencies of a place like UMichigan.</p>
<p>thanks for all the great suggestions so far! :)</p>
<p>
thanks for the vote of confidence, but based on my school’s naviance system, with my grades a large portion of my list is already made up of mostly reach schools (plus a lot of the super selective schools just don’t appeal to me because they seem pretentious, which is a major turnoff; i might apply to brown though, mainly because my sister wants me to apply to an ivy)</p>
<p>
thanks for letting me know more about the school! it seems really great, which is why it’s the only MA school i’m looking at; unfortunately the location is still a major issue for me, since i have nothing wrong with MA but i’ve lived here for 17 years already and i just want to experience something else. i’ll definitely still consider it though! :)</p>
<p>and good suggestion with umaryland! it doesn’t seem like completely my kind of school, mainly because of the size, but especially in terms of a financial safety the location makes it totally worth it. it seems like for a safety i probably can’t find everything that i’m looking for, but i think i’m realizing that location makes up for a lot. </p>
<p>this is all really great so far! does anyone else have any suggestions?</p>
<p>Bard just got $60 million from Open Society Foundations to continue expanding its already impressive internatinoal studies and global initiatives, including a collaboration in the Arabic speaking world. Go to the Bard thread for more info.</p>
<p>I think that your list is terrific. As others have said, I would add Chicago for sure. It fits your criteria, is definitely not pretentious and has everything that you want. </p>
<p>I think American is a safety, but not a financial safety. </p>
<p>For a financial safety, it’s going to be difficult to find everything that you want. Public schools that are strong in Arabic are Ohio State and SUNY Binghamton. The latter only has 11K , is pretty small for a public and has very low OOS tuition. Ohio State has the Honors Program which could provide you some of the benefits of a small school. For international relations, you might as well consider going international like McGill and Toronto, which are large and impersonal, but are safeties for sure.</p>
<p>Check out DePaul in Chicago. They are one of the few schools with an Arabic major and I’ve heard they have a well regarded IR program. Is larger than ideal though</p>
<p>You should definitely consider Middlebury. IR and International studies are great and they just added an Arabic major. For financial safeties you might want to look at LACs whose median SAT scores are below yours----Macalaster, for example…</p>
That sounds really nice, I didn’t know that! I’ve actually seen Bard and it was really cute- I was kind of ruling it out because it’s in the middle of nowhere, but that’ll probably be a good safety to have. </p>
<p>
Thanks! And I’ll check out Chicago; it’s reputation for being super serious had kind of turned me off since I’m serious about academics but want to have fun too, but I’ll give it a chance. And McGill does sound like a good option for a safety- it’s not perfect but it does have good programs and it would be cheaper. </p>
<p>
Hm, I hadn’t looked at that yet- I’ll check it out :)</p>
<p>
I wasn’t really considering it before mainly because it’s in Vermont and because my mom went there and said it was pretty jock-y and I probably wouldn’t like it, but especially because I’m legacy, I have been looking more into it recently- I’ll probably do a visit in the fall, and that’ll help me make up my mind.</p>
<p>Thank you so much for all the suggestions guys! It’s sounding like I’ll have to go bigger for financial safeties, so I guess I’ll work on accepting that and looking into some of those schools. I’d still love more suggestions, but everything that I’ve gotten is really great- thanks for all your help! :)</p>
<p>the ‘where fun comes to die’ thing with UChicago is a joke. Yes, it’s very intense, and they have a theoretical approach to learning which is not right for everyone, but folks who go there–and know how to have a good time in the first place (which is the vast majority of them–have great social experiences.</p>
<p>^ok, good to know! i knew that a lot of the rumors were jokes/untrue, but i just had some doubts about how the atmosphere actually was- i guess i’ll try to visit it at some point to see if it seems like a good fit.</p>
it seems like a good school, but does anyone know whether or not it’s super catholic? i think i’d be open to going to a religiously affiliated school, but i want to make sure there’ll be some diversity</p>
<p>Have you considered a career with the military? Getting appointed (You have to start the process right now) to one of the academies could be great for you, and even better, if you are serious about serving, the education is first rate and free! Just a thought…</p>
<p>i’m an IR/political science hopeful, too, at a competitive, all-girl high school. we’re visiting harvard (just because we’re there); tufts; brown (my dad’s in love with it); yale; trinity (LAC in CT and a possible safety); columbia; princeton; georgetown; american; william & mary. i probably won’t end up visiting but am looking at dickinson ¶ and umichigan as likely fits/safeties.</p>
<p>oh and for what it’s worth, uchicago is AMAZING. we visited last month, and i am in love :)</p>
hm, i haven’t looked much into dickinson, but i know a bit and it sounds like that could be a good option- thanks for sharing!</p>
<p>
yeah, i am thinking about them- they just seem a little overly liberal and i’ve heard the political conversations there are really one-sided; does anyone know if that’s true? (and btw slitheytove, love your username :))</p>
i knew that a lot of the rumors were jokes/untrue, but i just had some doubts about how the atmosphere actually was- i guess i’ll try to visit it at some point to see if it seems like a good fit.</p>