<p>I'm a junior and time has come for me to start building a realistic college list. </p>
<p>About me:
Female, extremely competitive private school, CA
No rankings
GPA: 3.74/4.14, will be a bit higher by the time I apply
SAT: took this weekend, expecting 2200s, retaking in March to break 2300
ACT: taking in 2 weeks, expecting 34</p>
<p>Note: Since my school is so competitive, I thought I'd give a better idea of average GPAs of accepted students at my school minus recruited athletes (I modified data from Naviance)
Berkeley-3.73, Brown-3.77, Columbia-3.64, Cornell-3.82, NYU-3.66, Vassar-3.78, Yale-3.95</p>
<p>Prospective Major: International Relations, International Studies, Political Science with an IR concentration</p>
<p>Things I Would Like In A School:
2000-15000 students
East Coast or Midwest
Rural/suburban/urban doesn't matter, but must be within an hour of a city
No heavy core
Lots of school spirit is a plus</p>
<p>Cost is not a problem, I will not be applying for FA</p>
<p>It would also be super helpful if you could try to classify schools as match/reach/safety!</p>
<p>*Prospective Major: International Relations, International Studies, Political Science with an IR concentration</p>
<p>Things I Would Like In A School:
2000-15000 students
East Coast or Midwest
Rural/suburban/urban doesn’t matter, but must be within an hour of a city
No heavy core
Lots of school spirit is a plus*</p>
<p>I don’t know if all these schools have IR programs or IR concentrations…just thinking about size, spirit, hour of a city, etc… A variety of reach, match, safeties…</p>
<p>What about Notre Dame (are Catholic schools OK even if non Catholics happily go there?)
Georgetown
Boston College
Vanderbilt
American U
GWU</p>
<p>You should look into Tufts. It has a fantastice IR program, one of the best in the country. Around 5,000 undergrads, right outside of Boston. There is a subway stop that takes you to Cambridge and then Boston just a few blocks from Campus. It is hard to know about match or not until you have your SAT scores. I would think that it would be a match to low reach for you.</p>
<p>I’m inferring that your high school is very academic, and selective. If so the A- average you have translates to a high A for other schools. Also since your school sends students to the most selective colleges, the admission committees would know how to interpret your grades in relation to grades of previous acceptances from your high school, and with grades from applicants from other high schools.</p>
<p>So the bottom line is that you would have a good chance at the very best of colleges/universities, including the Ivies.</p>
<p>I’m curious though why you’re posting the question on CC. Your school no doubt has a very strong and knowledgeable college placement office. They should be able to answer your request based on what they know about you. And very likely they have strong relationships with the colleges that are likely to be a good fit, so they could advise you on your application.</p>
<p>Oh, yes, my GC will of course be advising me. My GC wants us to do some research on our own before we meet so that we can have ideas in the conversation. So my GC suggested finding about 25 colleges, doing some research and coming up with reasons why we like the school, before she starts giving ideas.</p>
<p>If you consider Burlington Vermont a city (the largest City in the State with a large university), Middlebury is 45 minutes away and has a renowned language program with both international relations and international studies majors. At 2400 students, it is one of the larger liberal arts colleges.</p>
<p>If you are getting 2200, then re-taking the SAT is a no-brainer. A Yale adcom visited my school, he said that they see absolutely no difference between a 2200 and a 2300, so save the money that you were spending on the SAT and buy me a box of Krispy Kreme! Apply to any school that you want to, you are a very competitive applicant!</p>