<p>Hello, I am looking at going into foreign relations/diplomacy so D.C. is obviously where I need to be, can you guys give me a little info about the different schools and what makes it different from the rest? Also why you like AU better? </p>
<p>thanks alot!</p>
<p>George Mason is a state school and offers many many programs. Not the hardest to get into and like many state schools, they accept a wide range of students. It’s a very large school and even with only 25% of students living on campus, that still puts you in a group living on campus that is much larger than AU, or CUA. Catholic is a good school but seems to have a more limited range of available programs. I’m sure you can find what you’re looking for at all those schools though. And of course, there’s G.Washington and Gtown, but they are in a different price range and SAT range.</p>
<p>GW and American’s SAT range are almost exactly the same. But they are very, very different schools, and if they weren’t in the same city, they wouldn’t be compared. More than half of GW students are in the liberal arts, with many in the sciences, and when you add in engineering, that’s almost two-thirds of the student body. While GW’s student body is twice the size of American’s, there are only half as many students in international relations. At American, international service, business, communications, and public affairs make up around two-thirds of the student body. AU’s school of international service is the largest such program in the U.S., and there are many more course offerings than virtually anywhere else (including Georgetown).</p>
<p>Johns Hopkins has more IR offerings.</p>
<p>Undergrad is not in Washington</p>
<p>The number of IR undergrads at JHU is dwarfed by AU, and has far fewer offerings.</p>
<p>Very true Mini, John Hopkins grad school in IR is renown, undergrad not nearly as well regarded.</p>
<p>In their last Common Data Set, of 1,464 graduating undergrads at JHU, only 221 were taking taking degrees in all the social sciences combined (including international relations). At American, the number is 10 TIMES that. Rather like an elephant and a flea.</p>
<p>Each school in DC is different…each is perfectly good.</p>
<p>My S wanted a mid-sized school with a real defined campus in a city. There aren’t many schools that met all of his requirements.</p>
<p>He knew he definitely did not like the big schools he visited. He didn’t want mega-sized classes. He didn’t want a sprawling campus. He wanted small classes and a compact campus because he felt he would make more use of things on campus if it all was easy to get to. </p>
<p>he felt that, although he liked a lot of small LACs (especially Dickinson) he was afraid he might outgrow the environment within a year or two.</p>
<p>He wanted to do stereotypical college things, like throw a frisbee on the quad. And study on the quad. And have class on the quad.</p>
<p>And he wanted to go to school in a city with all a city has to offer–jobs, internships, culture, restauarants, etc</p>
<p>AU had everything he was seeking: GW did not.</p>
<p>That is why S liked AU so much better.</p>
<p>Now that he is on campus, he is very, very happy with his choice. He’s met a very diverse, active, intelligent, ambitious group of kids. Academics are strong and wide ranging and he is learning outside the classroom as well as in it. Professors are fabulous and accessible. He has had no trouble getting all of the classes he has wanted, and his advisor is terrific. He hasn’t had trouble finding classes he wants to take; he is having trouble fitting all of them in.</p>
<p>His current academic plans are to major in international marketing, with an additional major in Spanish or Latin American studies, or maybe a double major? And he wants to fit another major or minor in Economics…or global politics or…</p>