<p>I'm looking at colleges and I am so lost. I know what I want to major in, but that's about it. Would y'all mind giving me suggestions (safeties, matches, and reaches) based on my stats.
And I want to double major in economics and international affairs. </p>
<p>GPA: 4.3 (weighted) 3.92 (unweighted)</p>
<p>Course Rigor:
-I've always taken Honors and APs where available
-However, in math I am not taking the highest level course, I'm in Precalc/Trig this year whereas some of my friends of taking AP Calc this year
-For my electives I've always taken Spanish as one and then freshmen year I took art, sophomore year I took fashion marketing, and this year I'm taking AP Econ and Leadership (SGA)</p>
<p>SAT: 1980 (CR:700 M:660 W:620) I didn't really study so I know I should be able to raise my score by about 150-200 points.</p>
<p>Extracurriculars:
-Girl Scouts (Bronze and Silver Awards and I'm working on my Gold) since I was 5
-Competitive Dance (think 15-20 hours a week, 6 days a week) since I was 4
-I played field hockey in 9th and 10th grade but had to stop because of an ACL injury
-Math League 10th grade
-DECA 10th grade
-I joined Key Club, History Honor Society, National Honor Society, Student Government, and Model UN (I'm vice president) this year.</p>
<p>Other:
-I won first place at the school, regional, and state level for National History Day
-I was a Girl Scout Congressional Aide last summer (a mini internship at a congressman's office)</p>
<p>Thank you!!
:)</p>
<p>I can help you, but I need more information. What type of school do you want? What do you like to do (are you a sports fan, etc.)? What part of the country do you want to be in (I really can only give valuable info about the South and Mid-Atlantic). I assume that you want to study International Business? Depending on your Spanish proficiency, I would look at:</p>
<p>Penn (Huntsman Program)- REACH
Tulane (Altman Program)
Richmond
Duke, especially if you raise your score a bit
Vanderbilt, especially if you can raise your score
Miami
Wake Forest
Elon
W&M
Rice, especially if you can raise your scores
Bucknell</p>
<p>If you want smaller schools:
Davidson
Gettysburg
Dickinson
F&M
W&L
Rhodes</p>
<p>If you want larger schools:
South Carolina
Kentucky (Global Scholars Program at Gatton)
Alabama
Florida
Oklahoma
UNC
UVa
Penn St.
Ole Miss
Florida St.
Clemson
Auburn</p>
<p>I hope this can give you an idea, although it is a bit regionalized.</p>
<p>um, first question: what can your parents afford, OP? there’s no point dreaming about colleges your family will/can not pay for. pick some of these schools and ask your parents to use the info from their 2012 taxes to run the “net price calculator” at each school you pick. everyone needs to understand just how much money you’re going to be handing over to a college in a couple years.</p>
<p>I can go anywhere, my dad’s military so I have the GI Bill and they can pay the rest. For location I just want to stay on the east coast and would prefer if the school was not rural. Thanks :)</p>
<p>Hey, my intended majors are econ and IR as well! I am a senior, and just finished applying to schools, so I can provide some insight. I am from the West Coast, so those are the schools I know the most about. Also, you should know I am not a fan of undergraduate business degrees.</p>
<p>East coast:</p>
<p>Georgetown SFS- International Economics major within SFS (biased because already accepted)
Columbia- Good econ/poli sco. Has a ton of global development related stuff. Technically no IR major.
Princeton- Great econ, has Woodrow Wilson School for IR and Public Policy
Harvard- lots of good gov/econ stuff. Technically no specific IR major.
Yale- Jackson Institute for Global Affairs (pretty new program). Has global development track. Econ is good too.</p>
<p>West coast:
Claremont Mckenna or Pomona if you want a LAC. Both have IR majors, but the schools are different (so do some research). CMC is more practical and Pomona is more theoretical. Pomona has a great public policy program though.
Stanford- Apparently they’re really good. I haven’t actually done any research into them though (ironic, because Stanford is probably my top choice).
Berkeley- Econ and poli sci are great, but there is no IR program.
USC- Pretty good IR program. Econ is very meh though.
UCSD- Pretty good IR, don’t know about econ</p>
<p>Midwest/south
Rice- Pretty good at econ/poly sci. Has very good policy stuff.
Chicago- Great econ</p>
<p>I applied to all of these except Columbia (too expensive) and Chicago (not a good fit).</p>
<p>I here George Washington and Georgetown are great for international affairs</p>
<p>maymay, Economics and international affairs are common departments and good departments can be found at dozens of colleges and universities. Your grades, scores and ECs are good enough to get you in. Now it’s up to you to narrow the field to a manageable number.</p>
<p>First, as jkeil notes, tackle the money. If you need financial aid, you must understand the types available and what you may be eligible for. First step, talk to your parents. If they’re unclear ask them to use an on-line calculator to get an idea of who much need based aid you could get. If that works, you can build a wide list. If it’s not enough, you’ll have to look for schools that offer merit aid, which is a more restricted list.</p>
<p>Second, think about what you want in location, size and atmosphere. If you don’t know do some reading, ask some questions, talk to friends and classmates, try to visit some different types of colleges near your home. Your counselor may be able to help.</p>
<p>Once you come up with one or two colleges that seem right, you can look for others with the same personality and environment. The ultimate goal is to find a balanced list – reach/match/safety, all of which are appealing choices.</p>
<p>I’ll try ranking some of the above schools in the eastern half of the nation based on where your stats are right now: 1360 and 3.92 and without knowing how many AP courses you will have or what their scores are. I’m concerned too about the math situation, as higher-level math is important to econ majors.</p>
<p>Reach: Richmond, Johns Hopkins, Duke, Vanderbilt, Wake Forest, Rice, Davidson, Washington&Lee, UNC, UVA, Georgetown, any Ivies, Chicago, Tufts</p>
<p>Match: Elon, Bucknell, W&M, Gettysburg, Dickinson, F&M, Rhodes, South Carolina Honors, GWU</p>
<p>Safety: the rest of the state schools</p>
<p>Thank everyone this helps a lot! I took AP World last year and got a 5 on the test, I’m taking APUSH, AP Lang, and AP Econ this year. And next year I am planning on taking AP Lit, AP Comp Gov, AP Calc BC, AP Environmental, AP Spanish, and AP Statistics.</p>
<p>Does anyone else have any input?</p>
<p>You’ve had nine responses, some of which are pretty thorough. You haven’t answered some of the questions that might have evoked more details. You’ve had 179 looks. I think that most people feel that you’ve got enough info to work with. As noted, there are many more schools in your fields of interest, but you haven’t given us any reason to think the schools that have been nominated aren’t enough. Come back and see us when you have things more narrowed down. Concentrate on doing well in those math courses. You’re going to need them.</p>