I always recommend people interested in IR check out the undergraduate portion of this list:
One of the interesting observations is that Duke, say, is only ranked 26, Boston University is only ranked 41, and Boston College isn’t on the list at all.
That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t apply to Duke or BU (or BC if it really sings to you). But there are a decent number of colleges that are not as hard to get into as colleges like those that are higher ranked for IR.
Two of the really obvious ones are George Washington and American. It is hard to beat being in DC if you are an IR person, and those colleges really leverage that.
William & Mary is another great IR college and they have a really cool joint degree program with St Andrews as well (you spend 2 years at each), with IR being one of the allowed majors. Also hard to beat actually spending time in, and getting a degree from, an international school like St Andrews if you are into IR.
Finally, the Korbel School at the University of Denver is a great IR school in a great city, and the University of Denver has a fairly robust merit aid program. Syracuse is a great choice too, but if you are looking for a different vibe/setting, I think the University of Denver merits serious consideration.