<p>I've posted on here a few times before asking for advice/schools for transferring under a linguistics major. Although it's of course too soon to tell, I'm seriously considering changing my major to International Relations (from Linguistics/Philosophy) after working with Oxfam for the past 2 months. I would love to work with that sort of organization long term. Right now I'm attending SUNY Stony Brook (wanted to go to Berkeley-too much money). I'm not looking for schools that are strong in both fields - International Relations and Linguistics (also foreign languages) - so I can survey both.
Some schools I'm thinking of are U. Chicago, USC, and McGill. Unfortunately money is a huge object for me and my family, but I know U. Chicago is need-blind/give good F.A. and McGill isn't too expensive for a school of its caliber (just a bit more than a state school). I don't know about USC's financial packages, but for what it's worth, if anyone has any suggestions for scholarships for transfer students, I'd love to hear them. Although I love small cities/the idea of liberal arts colleges, I think that for what I want to do, I need a larger city. I'm also considering Reed and Swarthmore though, and I know both are good with Fin Aid and the latter is need-blind.
I need some suggestions, and I'll post my stats. I'm looking for a high caliber school. I would consider re-applying to NYU or B.U. (even though both were target/safety respectively and I got accepted as a freshmen) but they don't give much money at all</p>
<p>SAT: 2170 (660 M, 720 R, 790 W) (should I re-take to improve math)
ACT: 30 (only took it once w/o knowing anything about the test and I believe I can get at least a 32-33 if I retake it)
HS GPA: 94.something (unweighted), took 10 AP's
Rank: 10/265
EC from High School/Awards: ranked at 98th percentile for Spanish National Exam (level 5), 3rd in county/16th in country for French national exam (level 5), Spanish, French, German, and National Honor Societies, President of French Club, etc...many more clubs but those are the ones most important to me
Jobs: did tutoring in French and worked at Trader Joe's for the past year and a half
Current activities: Oxfam Action Corps in Manhattan - volunteering at concerts, attending meetings, leading activities at retreat, etc...I'm applying to be a change leader this year too. Also doing Food Not Bombs weekly. Here at the school, I plan on joining the Oxfam Club, Linguistics Club, and plan on starting an SSDP club (Students for a Sensible Drug Policy) to just name a few ideas.
Courseload this semester: Phi 108 (Logic and Reasoning), Phi 247 (Existentialism), Linguistics 101, French 311 Composition, Latin 111. Fortunately if I switch my major, these classes aren't completely irrelevant. And even better, I have an internship right now (from June to Nov) at my county's Democratic Committee, and I'm getting 3 poli sci credits for that. </p>
<p>So I'm a strong student and believe very academically capable. The thing that will hurt me most, I think, is that the school I'm at right now is not tier one. Would it help that I was accepted to tier 1 schools first round though? Also, I'm not sure how credits work but I'm a sophomore right now at SB because of AP exams...so would I have to have a major declared by the end of the year for some of the schools? Would I be applying as a junior or a sophomore, or would the school figure that out when it looked at my credits? I'd honestly prefer to transfer as a sophomore so I can get more out of the school. I guess it depends...ahhhh. ANY ADVICE?</p>
<p>Two more things and then I'll shut up (if anyone's still reading this, which I desperately hope because I need advice.) As I said, I'd prefer a school in a city, and ideally, I'd go to school in NYC. Would NYU be a good option if I entered as a junior and commuted for 2 years? And is there any chance in the world that I could get into Columbia? I'd ideally be in the city for two reasons: UN access and for the Oxfam Change leader thing, it'd be better if I stay in NY since one person is accepted from every state. Anyone know anything about Binghamton's international relations program? Here at SB it's not even offered as a major.</p>