Hey all - I’m applying for college in the fall and have a pretty solid list worked out: I plan to major in IR, so I’m looking at Yale, Georgetown, Tufts, Pomona, Brown, Barnard, Stanford, and Wesleyan. (You can go to my profile to check these out with my stats if you want.) Obviously, what’s missing from this list is safety schools. This is because I have a few things I really don’t want in a college that have made it hard for me to decide on safety schools:
No state schools (too big), or any huge schools for that matter
No schools in the middle of nowhere
No schools people haven't ever heard of
No schools without any kind of athletic spirit
No extremely conservative schools
No schools that are inordinately focused around Greek life
Must have somewhat reputable IR program
I’ve come up with a few schools that could work for me (Occidental, Macalester, GWU) even though they each have their own drawbacks (Occidental & Macalester are a little on the small side for me while GWU is on the larger side; none out of the 3 are really that safe of a safety school). If anyone has any other schools they think I should look into as safety schools, I would really really appreciate it!! Thank you
@NASA2014 My preferred size range is about 3000-7000 - I go to a tiny high school, so I want to be able to experience a larger environment but still be part of a very definite community I won’t get lost in. I’m not set on a liberal arts college but I do like a lot of the features of LAC’s (small class size, knowing your professors, general intimacy.) However, I’m not as drawn to other things I’ve seen as common occurrences in a lot of LAC’s: lack of athletic spirit, extremely small size, huge core curriculum, or physical isolation from cities. So I’m pretty 50/50 about attending one.
Wake Forest could definitely work as it’s not too isolated, has great athletics, and is in your preferred size range. I’d also second GWU. Gettysburg also has a very highly regarded IR program. While it’s slightly smaller, they have a programs where you can intern in D.C. You’d also likely get merit aid. Best of luck!
Have you and your parents run the Net Price Calculators at each website? If not, then do that soon, so that you know which of these places are likely to be affordable. If it turns out that money will be an issue in your choice, pop over to the Financial Aid Forum, and read up on merit-based aid. There are a number of places where Tufts-level stats will guarantee admission and significant aid.
Perhaps apply EA to a school like Tulane, Fordham, Villanova? If you get in EA, then it automatically becomes a safety (assuming cost is not an issue).
It’s a private school with ~5600 undergraduates.
It’s less selective than Macalester, GW, or Occidental.
It’s not in the middle of nowhere.
It does show up in Foreign Policy magazine’s “Ivory Tower” rankings of top IR programs
(at the Master’s degree level anyway). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inside_the_Ivory_Tower
@boolaHI 2230 SAT (800 W 750 CR 680 M), 3.97 GPA, no class rank, no AP’s offered at my school but self-tested Spanish Lang (5) Spanish Lit (4) and English Lang (5). You can find more details on my profile if you want EC’s or anything else
@whenhen I will look into Syracuse… Iowa isn’t really an option. Do you know if Syracuse has an honors college/ what the details are exactly of their IR program for undergrads?
@par72 I’ve heard both of those schools are staunchly conservative… as a lifelong liberal I’m not sure I would enjoy that kind of political atmosphere. Correct me if I’m wrong!
@whenhen thank you for the suggestion, I know it would be a safety school but part of me is worried it wouldn’t be academic enough… I really am passionate about my education so I don’t want to spend college in a place where education isn’t priority.
How about American University in DC? Their school of international service is well known. It’s urban, reasonably liberal, not focused around greek life. Not big into sports, though. http://www.american.edu/sis/
@N’S Mom I have thought about AU, but I worry that its urban location would take away from its campus feel. It seems almost similar to schools like Northeastern or NYU - very integrated into the city, with not as much of its own isolated campus. Correct me if I’m wrong about that.
You are wrong. AU is set away from downtown DC, unlike Gtown and GW which are right in the middle of DC. AU is about 20–minutes from the center of DC, but still on the major train lines.
I think you might be thinking of GWU. George Washington’s campus is very integrated into the city. AU is a good deal outside of the main part of DC, a bit like Tufts.
Pomona is very well known in academics, but is an outlier and obscure insofar as brand recognition relative to your other choices, as well as other colleges suggested, e.g., ASU, Wake Forest, American, etc. Are you planning to go to grad school?
