With your sterling academic record and your interest in languages, I’m wondering whether you’ve considered Middlebury, which is known for its language programs and international study.
While you have several Ivies, I’d take a look at Brown because its strengths match your interests.
The Ivies (Brown) and the Little Ivies (Middlebury) say that they will meet 100% of academic need for accepted students, which should address your need if you are accepted.
I am going to put in another vote for Middlebury - they have Arabic (and a very strong language program overall) and are likely to be very generous with need-based aid. At a minimum it’s worth running the NPC there. Of course, it is a low reach but I think your profile could be attractive to them. UNC and UVA are also worth a look as they do meet need for OOS students and have good Arabic programs. If Arabic is a MUST, you should eliminate any reaches that don’t offer it and replace it with some that do.
Yeah, I’m not opposed to looking at schools with “political science” or “government” majors rather than explicitly defined “international relations” majors if, in essence, the majors focus on the same general topics regarding IR.
Language Flagships are a good idea! Hopefully this Labor Day weekend, I’ll be able to compile everything from this discussion and sift through schools; I’ll add these to the list.
I agree—I don’t want to register at a nearby school; I would rather just take Arabic classes at the school I am attending.
I will definitely be asking for multiple professional judgement reviews then! Thank you!
Very good point: I’ll make sure I get in touch with the professional and not the intern 
I see what you’re getting at; I’ll trust you on this one and add Colgate to the “reconsider” pile with an asterisk for “talk to a financial aid officer.” The stats for Colgate’s “submitted scores profile” are certainly interesting. Thanks!
Okay, I’ll make sure to check FSU out with the international first year program. If transportation works out, it could be a good option because of the OOS tuition waiver! Thanks 
Thank you for your help! I did not realize that families making under $150k get full tuition, which definitely seems affordable with some extra merit added on. I’ll check out all the programs relating to my major and interests, and if I have any additional questions, I’ll be sure to reach out!
Yes, I would apply Early Action. Thanks for the tip!
Glad to hear that I’m not totally delusional I have been looking for programs that cover “study abroad-specific” expenses like Swarthmore (many others as well, it just came to mind first). I haven’t heard of schools that charge costs based on the international school, so I’ll look into what schools (including Bates) do that.
It’s one or the other to get in-state costs. You can go abroad to one of their facilities or they can just give you a waiver - and with a 1580, they likely would. Of course, you can go abroad.
Their locations are pre-chosen - I don’t believe there’s a location for Arabic - London, Florence, Panama City, Valencia.
For regular study abroad, they have 45 exchanges - but none with Arabic.
You should check with them about studying through other universities and transferring back. They don’t show on the website.
If not, FSU might not be the right choice for you. I know I suggested it but you might reach out to the faculty below and ask if they help students find Study Abroad opportunities as they have a Middle Eastern studies major (with both Hebrew and Arabic).
Zeina Schlenoff | Department of Modern Languages and Linguistics
Both Brown and Middlebury, while good schools, didn’t meet what I was looking for in financial aid. Learning from the past couple days, I could talk to a financial aid officer or ask for a professional judgement review, but I would only want to do that with schools that are close to what I want. Brown had a $25k parent contribution, while Middlebury had a $26k parent contribution and $3.5k in student loans.
While it is a great fit for me, Middlebury wouldn’t work financially (the NPC said $25k parent contribution and $3.5k loans), so I’ve refrained from adding it to my list. I have briefly considered UNC and UVA, but not in much depth, so I guess they deserve some more time. However, I did ensure that all my reaches (and safeties) have Arabic programs, which is good.
Whoops, realized I put the wrong SAT—I got a 1560, with a 780 split (the latter was correct in the original post). Hopefully that doesn’t fundamentally change anything, just wanted to point it out.
It seems like multiple people have good thoughts regarding FSU, so later today, I’ll check them out.
OP- not to complicate your financial calculations, but some colleges will not allow you to “stack”. So if you get $50K in need based aid, and win a 10K outside scholarship, the school could (some do) reduce your need based award by 10K, under the assumption that since your “need” has gone down, your award should as well.
Another wrinkle. But make sure you are not double counting when figuring out if a school is affordable or not.
And I’m a little confused- you are assuming that a college WILL consider the overseas help to family as a necessary expense- or just hoping that with Professional Judgement they will? Again- just to make sure your list isn’t overly loaded with “let’s hope this works out” places. You are a fantastic student and you are going to get a terrific education wherever you land. But having one rock solid “we can afford this even if….” school on the list is important.
Study abroad is fantastic. I did it. My spouse did not (engineering major, couldn’t fit in the courses in the right sequence, family could not afford any extra time at college). My kids did not– for various reasons, all academic. One won an overseas fellowship to work and study for a summer– discovered after the fact that there was exactly one application to this fellowship this year (exactly one, can you imagine? So kid won it, there was no competition). Kids had many friends who did a post-grad semester overseas (i.e. after getting the Bachelor’s). So there are many ways to get that overseas experience even if “junior year abroad” doesn’t work….
Back to majors - please don’t just look for only IR majors - some schools call it IR, some International Affairs. Others house it in poli sci (like I showed you with UAH). Others in International Studies.
American U is interesting - on your initial list (although I’d remove it given budget needs). They are renowned for IR - except for one thing. They don’t have an IR major.
Their degree is in International Studies and is contained within the School of International Service. The IS degree has 8 tracks and 6 geographical areas of focus- none of which are called IR but some would rival it. It would work academically but it’s not IR - and that’s why you need to look deeper at each school academically.
The arrangement at Bates is this: you pay a place-holder fee at Bates (to hold your spot while you’re away). It’s not much, and would be covered by financial aid. We paid the rest (tuition, room/board, fees) to the American agency that runs the program. Tuition and room/board are equivalent to University of Amsterdam would cost for international students, and fees are what the educational travel agency charges. So most of our costs for this semester are not paid to Bates – just the placeholder fee. This means that every study abroad program has different costs, but it’s all likely to amount to a lower tuition than a typical semester at Bates.
I think there are some schools that handle it this way. Regardless, make sure that study abroad costs are covered by financial aid.
(Btw, Bates doesn’t have Arabic, so wouldn’t be of interest to you, probably – just using this as the example I know best. I suspect there are schools that offer what you seek academically and also use this model for study-abroad costs.)
Brown is where one of my kids just graduated from and they worked with us on our financial aid package. If it seems like it would be a good fit academically and socially, I would definitely keep it on your list.
Something to know for Brown and potentially some other schools. Brown is a “no loan” school so your package won’t include any loans. However, you can ask for federal loans as part of the package and they will include them in addition to what they have already offered, which would bring the immediate family contribution down. Also when you are comparing costs between schools, make sure you categorize the package as with loans or without loans when you compare them.
One more thing— Brown is one of the few colleges who hires a LOT of undergraduate TAs (as opposed to graduate TAs). These positions are fairly easy to get sophomore year and above (at least in CS and math) and pay pretty well, thus making it fairly easy to earn a good amount during the school year. I’ll try to get the dollar amounts shortly.
Brown also doesn’t include home equity, if that is helpful.
Definitely worth checking each college but aid should always cover it afaik. As another example, at NYU the study abroad tuition cost is set at the same as studying domestically, but housing costs will be variable (as indeed they are on campus).
