My kid (CA resident) wants to apply to a school with a good International Relations department and good business department, so that he can major in IR and minor in business/marketing (for practical reason). Can you recommend any school based on your kid’s actual experience of attending that particular school? So far, the below is the list my kid and I came up with. My kid’s stats are: 3.9 unweighted, 4.3 weighted, 33 ACT (35s in Reading and Writing), 221 SI index score in PSAT (he has a chance at being National Merit Semi Finalist), pretty good scores in SAT II Subjects, AP tests and good to very strong extracurricular activities that are related to IR major. He also speaks two languages fluently and conversant in two other languages. We feel that his strongest asset is his unassuming personality and responsible character. He tells us that he thinks out of around 450 students in his class, he falls among top 30 to 40 but definitely NOT in top 15, academically speaking; he matter of factly says there are many academically smarter kids in his school than himself.
Our attitude is as long as he gets into either UCLA or UC Berkeley (we expect him to get accepted at UCSD and feel like he has as good chance as other applicants to get into UCLA or UC Berkeley), any other acceptance is a bonus and a crap shoot. Honestly, we feel he has as much chance to get into Georgetown as UC Berkeley because it seems to me that UC Berkeley likes to accept out of CA applicants more than CA residents. We just want him to be happy and not care too much about making lots of money, but he has not given up on an idea that he can make lots of money, even though we emphasize that doing what he likes and helping people should be the primary focus.
UCLA
UC Berkeley
UC San Diego
Georgetown
U of Penn Huntsmann Program
Stanford (My kid says he would feel happy if he just gets wait listed because in his opinion Stanford is the toughest school to get accepted)
Brown
Harvard (just so he can say he applied and got rejected from)
Also, any hint on improving his chance of acceptance, such as contacting a professor, would be appreciated. So far, we did visit campuses of UCLA, UC Berkeley, Stanford and Georgetown.
Personally I would see what your budget is, Georgetown is great and the connection for poly science could be there, but so is Northeastern in Boston, same with BU and heck BC is even better, I personally am attending Northeastern for poly science and business management, we have a co-op program so for 2-3 6 months cycles I work instead of being in class and then I return back, great way to build connection and get your foot in the door. Really will be up to what you consider as your secondary choices, will they just be safeties that you can afford as a last resort, or secondary schools based on campus life and future connections. Like I said with the grade I see him having a great shot at gerogetown and u penn, I dont know much about the others acceptance rate, I know the schools just never looked at them particularly.
My DS from Cal was an IR major at Ohio State and had an excellent experience. OSU also has the Fisher School of Business which is very well regarded. With your son’s stats he would qualify for the National Buckeye Scholarship and one other one(name escapes me). My DD was also in the Honors Program there so if your son was accepted to the Honors Program he would be surrounded by some very smart students. Plus he would have better chances of acceptance at Ohio State than the other schools on his list.
American University’s SIS school is highly regarded. They also have the Kogod Business School (I’m less familiar with that). Your kid would be very competitive for the scholarships there.
You didn’t say what he wants to do after college, or what type of environment he would like, but my D who attended GWU majored in Intl Affairs and Economics and is making plenty in consulting. DC is a great place for young people.
If your son wants to apply to Georgetown School of Foreign Service, just be aware that they don’t allow double majors due to the rigor of the program. However, it does offer Global Business or International Economics majors.
For Penn Huntsman, be aware that program is crazy competitive - the acceptance rate is much, much lower than Penn’s overall acceptance rate. They expect a class of 50 students, 25 domestic & 25 international, with half of those numbers being male/female. Huntsman also has some extra expectations of applicants both regarding high school preparation + testing, which can be found on their site.
I second American + George Washington for matches/safeties as they have great IR programs + solid honors programs as well (if you’re worried about the schools not being challenging enough). They also have decent merit scholarships if you’re expecting to be full pay, topping out at $30 000 for American and $25 000 for GWU. You will have to demonstrate interest if you decide to apply, since they’re known for yield protection.
Thanks all for really informative posts. To further answer some of the questions, my kid is not certain yet whether he wants to go into Foreign Service/State Dept, NGO or international marketing etc. Yes, my kid is aware that Penn Huntsman Program has gotten incredibly competitive, so competitive that he’s even thinking about not applying. Specifically, I do agree that it might be a good idea to apply to one or two additional “safety” schools because aside from UCSD, there is some chance he could get rejected from all the schools on his list. IMO UCLA and UC Berkeley are very, very tough to get admitted particularly for engineering majors but they are no slouches either for IR/Humanities majors. This is one of few times I am SO glad my kid is not an engineering major because IMO it’s so much more difficult for engineering majors to get accepted into UCLA and UC Berkeley.
One question that came to my mind: If a school doesn’t have an undergraduate business department or school, does this mean he cannot minor in marketing or business, i.e., the school doesn’t even offer undergraduate courses in business or marketing?
You might be best looking at the offerings of the individual schools you are interested in. Many “liberal arts colleges” and universities do not offer pre-professional courses at the undergraduate level. And certainly if they don’t have an UG business major, they are unlikely to have an UG minor. Depending on the school there may be a smattering of “practical” courses; you’re just going to have to look at them individually.
This does not mean that students at those schools don’t go into “business” upon graduating; they just don’t do it with a “business” degree.
Additional info: We already told our kid that if he gets into a clearly “more prestigious” school than UCLA/Berkeley such as UPenn Huntsman Program, Stanford and Harvard – and he wants to go there – we will finance the costs, but he should try to get as much merit scholarships as he can. As I said before, if he can get into EITHER UCLA or Berkeley, he will be satisfied. If he’s satisfied, we as parents will be satisfied. It’s not clear at this point whether he will pursue a higher degree than an undergraduate degree. I am not a big believer in keep paying money to get additional degrees because I feel if you really wanted to, you can always attend a night school while working to make a living.
@QuirkyClarkie Yeah, my kid told me how competitive UPenn’s Huntsman Program has become primarily because they accept many foreign students. No offense to GW, but I am familiar with the area and I don’t like the campus because they really don’t have a campus. Lol I liked Georgetown campus. Haven’t toured American University’s campus yet.
@donnaleighg I see. I guess for certain schools, we will have to look at individual courses and contact schools directly. Not a bad way of demonstrating further interest in the schools. Lol
South Carolina’s international business program with the Honors college and the International Relations program. the International Business is the top ranked program in the country. Honors college one of the top ranked.
If you should be so lucky to get into Havard, and major in IR with an emphasis on economics and do well, you will have plenty of choices on graduation. But you will not be allowed to take any courses at the Business School - they are not even on the same campus.
My younger son, an IR major at Tufts, like American best of the three DC schools and got their top merit award with less than perfect grades and scores. His interest was security and the Middle East, and he did not find it easy to find jobs that interested him when he graduated. However International Trade and International Economics are both subconcentrations. Also I think at least half of the IR majors (and it’s one of the biggest at Tufts) either minored or double majored with Economics and they had a much easier time of finding jobs and internships.
My D is in Carolina’s International Business program. If your S is accepted into the Honors College (his stats look good for acceptance, but there are essays that play a big part in selection, too) and lists IB as his intended major, he would be a direct admit (much preferred to trying to transfer in as space is limited). Students majoring in Int’l Business must declare a second business major (Acct, Finance, Econ, etc.) plus take enough foreign language courses to equal a minor. At least one semester abroad is required.
I don’t know if an IB/add’l business/IR triple major is possible; but since he has a strong language background, that might free up some space for him to take more purely IR classes while still meeting all the requirements for the IB degree. He might contact the Darla Moore School of Business and/or the Honors College for more info.
Financially: Your S would qualify for in-state tuition plus an add’l $2,000 - $4,000, which at 2015-16 rates would put tuition, R&B and fees at $20-$22,000/yr. He’d get an additional $6,000 if he’s NMF.