Schools strong in IR or Environmental Studies

College Search & Selection
1

<p>Hi! I'm kind of new to CC, but hopefully you guys can help me out.</p>

<p>I'm an Asian male for pretty competitive SoCal public school.</p>

<p>Academics:
GPA: 3.902
Unweighted GPA: 3.67
APs</p>

<p>Sophomore year
AP European History (5)</p>

<p>Junior Year
AP English Language (5)
AP US History (4)
AP Environmental Science (4)
AP French Language (4)</p>

<p>Senior Year
AP US Government
AP Calculus AB</p>

<p>I have also taken like 6-7 honors classes.</p>

<p>SAT score (superscored): 2230 (720 CR, 720 Math, 790 Writing)
SAT score (one sitting): 2200 (690 CR, 720 CR, 790 Writing)
Subject Tests: French (reading) 760, Lit 730, US 720</p>

<p>Extracurriculars:
Classical Vocal Ensemble, bass section leader (10-12)- We have always placed 1st place gold, superior rating in national festivals.
JV Tennis (10-11)
Peer Counseling (12)
Humanities Tutoring (11)
ADSKIP (tutor freshmen struggling in English) (9-10)
Chinese School (12 years)
Speech and Debate (12)</p>

<p>Awards:
Honor Roll/Distinguished Honor Roll (GPA 3.5+ /3.75+)
Silver Star Award (GPA 4.0+)
National Merit Letter of Commendation
AP Scholar with Distinction
99 Ranch Market Scholarship- awarded to students attending Chinese School in Southern California who show academic excellence and extracurricular involvement.</p>

<p>Work Experience:
I have worked at my parents' restaurant 12 hours a week since freshmen year.</p>

<p>Underrepresented minority outside of California?
Fluent in Mandarin Chinese
Excellent recommendations
Above average essays
Recent San Diego wildfire victim</p>

<p>I would like to go into either international relations or environmental studies.</p>

<p>Here's my list so far, so you can chance me for these or suggest other ones:
UCLA
UCSD
UCSB
SDSU</p>

<p>Pitzer College
Occidental College
USC
Seattle University
Whitman College
Tulane University
Boston College</p>

<p>I would like to attend a smaller college, but my parents made me apply to UCs and USC. I'm not opposed to leaving the West Coast, but only for a pretty good school with good financial aid.</p>

<p>Thanks in advance and hope to hear back soon. </p>

<p>(I also posted in What's my chances, but I figured posting here would also be helpful.)</p>

2

<p>Since you chose Pitzer, Claremont McKenna and Pomona of the same consortium might be an option as well.</p>

3

<p>Your list looks good so far. </p>

<p>Hmmm…how about Lewis and Clark?</p>

4

<p>How about Bowdoin? We were very impressed with the environmental studies program there. Most LACs seem to cobble an environmental studies program out of existing classes in other depts. Doesn’t appear to be the case at Bowdoin. Check out the course catalog. Not sure about financial aid situation but check it out.</p>

5

<p>Oregon State has an amazing environmental science program. You should probably look it up.</p>

6

<p>IR and ES are both extremely strong departments at conn college</p>

7

<p>Your grades and SAT are plenty good enough to get you into Whitman. Your race won’t help you get in, but fluent Chinese will.</p>

<p>I strongly suggest that you MAKE your parents come visit the college with you. You’ll have an easier time convincing them that Walla Walla is a good idea if they’ve been there before. Whitman tour guides have a habit of winning over skeptical parents.</p>

8

<p>If you don’t mind leaving the West Coast, what about Johns Hopkins? It’s fairly small (~4500 undergrads) and has a pretty good program in earth/environmental science; IR is obviously strong. </p>

<p>Allegheny, Colby, Dickinson, and Middlebury are also worth consideration.</p>

9

<p>Middlebury seems to suit your needs perfectly (except perhaps for the cold weather). It offers one of the nation’s premier (and oldest) environmental studies programs, and also is strong in international studies and languages.</p>

10

<p>Thanks so much you guys! I really appreciate everyone’s input. Your helpful (and timely) suggestions all turned out to be great schools. Haha, I wish I could apply to all of them, but applying to 11 more schools would be a bit ridiculous. </p>

<p>If anyone else can recommend other schools, please feel free to post. :)</p>

11

<p>how about brown, dartmouth, Penn, Chicago?</p>

12

<p>I saw the title and thought Middlebury!
two of its strongest programs (the ones it brags about most) are international studies and environmental studies</p>

13

<p>Georgetown’s Walsh School of Foreign Service has a major called Science, Technology and International Affairs. Within that major you have to choose a subfield of study, a choice of which is Environmental Studies. This is a very good way of applying Environmental Sciences to IR.</p>

14

<h2>On the west coast, I second Lewis & Clark College.</h2>

<p>The one school I’d say you must apply to is Middlebury. Amherst just finished assessing 120 environmental studies programs in preparation of their on Envi Std. major; Middlbury College had the best undergraduate environmental studies program hands down (it’s also the oldest and by far most comprehensive).</p>

<p>They also has one of nation’s best language programs and are great in all fields of international studies, from politics & economics to comparative literature.</p>

<p>Even if you’re not too keen on the weather, I would still apply for now and take the free visit on acceptance weekend to decide for yourself.</p>

<hr>

<p>I’ll also note that Amherst College has a new environmental studies major and possibly the best financial aid in the country.</p>

15

<p>Haha. I’m sorry to tell you guys that the regular decision deadline for Middlebury has passed. I know, why did I wait so long to research? Unfortunately the weather and distance and the impression I got from reading reviews initially turned me off to the school.</p>

<p>However, I would like to say that I added American U and Lewis and Clark to my list thanks to your guys’ advice. (Thank god for late deadlines and free online applications.)</p>

16

<p>Cre8tive1,</p>

<p>I’d be interested in seeing that survey, any link to it? Now, I agree Middlebury has an incredible Environmental Studies program, but I think it’s funny they tout it as the oldest program in the U.S.. “Environmental Studies” have been studied long before 1965, just under different names, like Natural Resources, Conservation, Foresty etc. (I admit, there are slight differences and emphasis, but I’d argue they are negligable.)</p>

<p>That said, I’d say the top programs in Environmental Sciences/studies are:</p>

<p>Berkeley, Bowdoin, College of the Atlantic, Cornell, Duke, Michigan, Middlebury, SUNY ESF, Yale, </p>

<p>A handful of lesser known/less prestigious colleges (in the terms of CC), have good programs </p>

<p>With the exception of SUNY ESF, and College of the Atlantic, all of these have decent IR programs.</p>

17

<p>Connecticut College also has a great E.S program! They have a 700 acre arboretum attached to their campus so there are great opportunities for fieldwork there. Check it out.</p>

18

<p>Oberlin has a great enviro studies program. Our new environmental studies building is great, and it’s one of our best majors.</p>

19

<p>Ditto: Carleton College’s
Environmental and Technology Studies (ENTS)
[Carleton</a> College: Environmental Studies: Environmental and Technology Studies](<a href=“http://apps.carleton.edu/curricular/ents/]Carleton”>http://apps.carleton.edu/curricular/ents/)</p>

<p>The program is supported by an 880 acre arboretum adjacent to the campus, a renowned geology program that turns out more phd’s than any college or university in the nation, and an administration whose commitment to the environment and sustainability led to the the first utility grade wind turbine in the country to be owned by a college.</p>

<p><a href=“https://apps.carleton.edu/campus/sustainability/[/url]”>https://apps.carleton.edu/campus/sustainability/&lt;/a&gt;
[Carleton</a> College Cowling Arboretum - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia](<a href=“http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carleton_College_Cowling_Arboretum]Carleton”>Carleton College Cowling Arboretum - Wikipedia)</p>