What Are My Chances: Schools for IR

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>Hi! This is my first, and probably only post, so please excuse any mistakes I make in here.</p>

<p>I am currently a rising junior looking to major in International Relations and possibly minor or double major in Russian/Russian Studies. I come from a state-funded boarding school for grades 10-12 with non-standard curriculum (no AP's, no state requirements for course content) and am frankly not very involved with sports or music. There is no way for me to play lacrosse on a team at my school and choir has consistently not fit into my schedule. Unfortunately, due to my lack of standardized curriculum, I do not think any SAT II's (which I plan to take in the fall) will turn out well, but they are nonetheless required by a lot of the schools I am applying to. With that, here are the schools I plan to apply to:</p>

<p>EA:
UChicago
Georgetown SFS</p>

<p>RD:
If denied from Georgetown SFS or UChicago EA:
Tufts
George Washington
American
Dartmouth
Brown
Princeton
Harvard
(If deferred from either school, will reapply)</p>

<p>RD:
If accepted to Georgetown SFS or UChicago EA:
Harvard
Princeton</p>

<p>Scores:
34 ACT
216 PSAT (likely for National Merit Finalist)
2250 SAT (670 Writing, 780 Reading, 800 Math)
Waiting on SAT II's for French, Biology, Chemistry and Math II
Waiting on AP Calc scores</p>

<p>Current UW GPA: 3.86
Straight A's freshman year at homeschool, 2 B's sophomore year, 3 B's junior year (Note: the school I am at now is considered to have a very rigorous curriculum)
Double Language in French and Russian, will be in Russian III and French IV/V next year</p>

<p>Attended Georgetown Summer IR Institute between soph and junior year
Completed research on international patent law and trends in pharmaceutical markets junior year
Currently working as an ACT/SAT tutor
Currently working as a Scholastic Bowl question writer
Living in Russia this summer through a scholarship program</p>

<p>Extracurriculars:
Midwest JSA (student-run debate organization) Chief of Staff or Expansion Director (waiting on decision), (JSA was only available at my current school), worked as a Midwest Expansion Agent junior year
Scholastic Bowl A Team Member since Junior Year: Top-ranked national team, one of the top scorers, have been playing since freshman year
Hatikvah (Jewish Cultural Club) President, member before
Law Club Board Member, new club next year
Member of Chicago Council on Global Affairs
Ambassador for National Campaign for a Presidential Youth Council</p>

<p>Extra Information:
Caucasian from Illinois, parents are divorced and one is unemployed</p>

<p>If you have any questions, feel free to ask! Thanks.</p>

2

<p>Consider also W&M as it is also very strong in international relations. I also don’t think you “reapply” when you are deffered. It is simply carried over to RD and they look at your application again within the context of the RD applicants. You have strong interests and it definitely shows in your ECs. Have you already taken the SATIIs? If not, I would say that definitely take your summer to study for your SAT II’s. You may not have an exorbitant amount of time to study for those during the school year, but summer is a good time to get ahead. Also some schools like W&M don’t require SAT IIs, so that would be interesting to note, if you really are worried about them</p>

3

<p>My counselor suggested W&M to me, but I think it would be more of a backup than anything. Thanks for the suggestion!</p>

<p>Alright, I didn’t know that was how it worked.</p>

<p>I took the French SAT II and having only taken French III, I did not think it went that well. I think I left probably 2/5 of the questions blank as I just did not know the vocabulary or grammar terms. I had studied specifically for the test before though, although I was expecting a poor score. No results back yet as I took it like a week ago.</p>

<p>Yeah, this summer’s busy for me as I will be spending it in Russia and then in Croatia on vacation. I’ll take you up on your advice though!</p>

<p>Again, thanks for the quick response.</p>