College list too long? [NY resident, 3.78 UW GPA for International Relations]

College Search & Lists
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Ah! I think my college list is too long!
My friend and I were comparing our college lists and I realized I think I have too many. I am aware that the common app only takes 20 colleges but I would use the coalition app for the excess. Any advice on schools to remove? I’ll give my stats for context.
3.78ish GPA
NY resident
Male
White
LOOKING TO MAJOR IN INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
most electives taken were humanities or social sciences
94.6 overall average
Honor roll
Heavily involved in extracurricular activites
Leadership roles in two clubs
Intermediate-level proficiency in Spanish and Russian
Comes from a somewhat competitive public high school
Taking mostly honors and APs

College preferences
Medium/smaller size
Study abroad
Access to internships
Public transport
Good campus
Urban/suburban
(clearly not all the colleges fit in these boxes, but just an idea for people to look at to advise me as to what colleges to remove)

THE LIST
American University (safety)
Boston College (reach)
Boston University (match)
Bowdoin College (reach)
Bucknell University (match)
Connecticut College (match)
Colgate University (reach)
Cornell University (reach)
Dartmouth University (reach)
George Washington University (match)
Georgetown University (reach)
Lehigh University (match)
Macalester College (match)
NYU (reach)
Skidmore College (match)
Northeastern University (reach)
SUNY Stony Brook University (safety)
Temple University (safety)
Trinity College-Connecticut (match)
UCal Irvine (match)
University of Delaware (safety)
University of Maryland-College Park (target)
University of Pennsylvania (reach)
University of Richmond (match)
University of Washington-Seattle (safety)
University of Vermont (safety)
Wesleyan University (match)

THANKS SO MUCH!!!

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I was in your shoes last year, nearly exactly - I ended up applying to 18 institutions for IR/Global Health. From what I’ve experienced, the number of college applications you do is subjective to the effort you’re willing to put in. A large amount of applications will take a long time. I was running up to the deadline for several institutions, my last one being to Occidental in mid-January. I’d caution you if you’re more of the procrastination type because supplemental takes a long time to draft and edit.

Some things I’d note on your application list are the ways you’ve classified some institutions:

UC Irvine - Should be a reach. Anyone OOS for any UC school is going to be a reach, considering the large number of applications they read over and the percentage of the incoming class is usually, if not required, to be mostly, in state-students.

Lehigh - Should probably be moved to a low-reach, high match. Lehigh holds a 30% acceptance rate, and is still somewhat selective with their acceptances. A 3.78 GPA is a really good GPA, and it may help you to submit a test score if you fall within their upper boundaries. You can find more of the 2027 class profile here: Admission Statistics and Class Profile Information | Lehigh University

Boston University - Same deal with Lehigh, Boston University (to my knowledge) is still very selective. They received 80,000 applications for the class of 2027, all for a small amount of spots. In addition, over half of their profile EDed, take that as you wish. From their class profile, you lie on the lower end of their mid-GPA (3.8-4.0) [Class Profile | Admissions]. Again, a potential test score may boost you up. You can find more on their CDS: https://www.bu.edu/asir/files/2023/03/cds-2023-C.pdf

There may be more, and obviously, this was subjective to how I saw the application process. I’ll leave it up to other parents, who are more knowledgeable on the topic.

It may help you if you note if you’re going to apply test-optional or not, alongside a vague budget if you have one. Congrats on your achievements though, you’ll be a strong applicant.

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Test scores? (required for Georgetown)

Budget?

BU and Wesleyan are reaches, simply due to below 20% acceptance rate.

UC Irvine seems like an outlier and requires a different (involved) app. Why is that on the list?

UVM, American, Washington are matches, not safeties. Make sure you demonstrate interest there, and at any school where that plays in to the admission decision.

The greater the number of applications, the greater number of essays…it’s difficult to manage.

Are you planning to apply ED anywhere? Make sure to get EA apps in at every school that offers it.

ETA: Dartmouth is rural, why is that on the list?

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Do you have a test score? What AP’s and scores? I assume the gps is uw? One of my kids applied to 20, higher stats but just safeties/matches since she needed merit. It was A LOT. She didn’t plan on that many but added RD applications since it was during COVID so she couldn’t visit campuses.

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Hi! Dartmouth is in the list solely because I love New Hampshire and Dartmouth campus lol. I also liked their international relations and government programs

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Another thing I’d like to throw into this is application cost. Something that I didn’t initially consider is how expensive applications are. Usually, applications can cost you $75.00 and upwards. The more applications you have, the more you or your parent is going to have to pay.

You should try and also tailor your lists to include schools where you can easily find/obtain fee waivers or have free applications. I’d consider swapping out some schools for Seton Hall and their school of diplomacy, and Miami Ohio.

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Your list is too long, and you have WAY too many reaches. IMO, you have some misconceptions about some of the schools you believe are matches and safeties.
BU: REACH
Macalester: REACH
Skidmore: REACH
UCI: REACH
UW: REACH
Wesleyan: BIG REACH

Some of your match schools are quite reachy now because they have become very popular in the last few years. U Richmond in particular. AU is not a safety really. It’s a match I would say. Same for UMD and UDel. Not safeties any more.

So I’d say your only safe schools are Stony Brook, UVM and Temple. Which is fine, because you only need one true safe school.

Whittle down your list by eliminating the ones you really aren’t that interested in.

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May I ask why you believe skidmore would be a reach?

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I’ve also removed Wesleyan since they don’t have my specific major. I have shown demonstrated interest to BU. I attended a summer program there

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If you’re worrying about demonstrated interest, your main concern should be showing interest with American. American takes demonstrated interest very very seriously, more than BU does (From what Im reading on their CDS).

Edit:
BU’s CDS:

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image795×680 60.7 KB

AU’s CDS:
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image909×622 75.6 KB

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Because your GPA is below the average of accepted applicants and you are unhooked. It is a highly selective school with around a 23% acceptance rate and uses holistic admissions. You can improve your chances by working really hard to bring your GPA up a bit. Being male will also help a bit. Show genuine interest.

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I’ve attenes info sessions and am planning to visit campus

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That’s good. But it’s a reach. Not a match.

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Alright thanks

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UW Seattle doesn’t have an international relations major. The International Studies major is now closed for applications (that is, discontinued). Were you thinking of the Global and Regional Studies major?

Edit to add, or did you mean to major in Political Science?

I agree with other posters that UW Seattle also isn’t a safety.

Since you emphasized your desire to major in International Relations, perhaps going through the list and removing schools that don’t have the major might be one way to narrow down the list. I only checked this one school.

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As others have mentioned, a few schools are mis-categorized. These schools should all be reaches:

BU
Macalester
Wesleyan
Richmond
Irvine
Skidmore
Washington

There are matches not safeties:

American
UVM

I would recommend 1) limiting the number of safeties, as you only need one sure thing. Maybe keep two just to ensure you have some options.

I would also limit the number of reaches, especially the highest reaches, which would be: Bowdoin, Wesleyan, Dartmouth, Georgetown, Cornell, Penn. Northeastern, BU, and BC will also be pretty tough admits and should maybe also be included in the high reach category.

Some of these might be a bit more attainable with a test score - do you have one?

I would first recategorize your list, as suggested, to make sure you have your safeties, matches and reaches correctly listed. Then trim your safeties a bit (1-2 that you love the best) and really cull down your reaches to a manageable level. Visiting some of these campuses could help with this a lot. Many students learn they have pretty strong preferences once they are on a campus. For example, a common preference that often reveals itself once on campus is that many students, upon seeing BU, GW, and NYU realize they really do, or really do not, love an urban campus. You may also realize that some campus cultures will not be a great fit - for example, a student who loves Macalester may not love the culture at University of Richmond.

Also, want to echo others’ suggestions to show a ton of interest in American. Make sure, for American, to click on any email that’s sent to you, and then click on links within that email. Reach out to the admissions officers once or twice with questions. Show up for any online seminars. Really show them the love. An in-person visit would really help. Since you have several schools in the area that are of interest, hop on a train from NY down to this area and see American, GW, Georgetown, and Maryland. Then, take a another train down to Richmond and you can get a sense for that vibe as well. You get a nice selection of midsized, large and small schools, and a range of matches and reaches.

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Personally 20% acceptance rate is my cutoff for reach schools, but I don’t disagree relative GPA will come into play when categorizing schools.

UWash non engineering/CS OOS acceptance rate is 46%, so I would call that a match for OP. Don’t know the specific acceptance rate for majors that OP is considering.

Skidmore around 23% (similar for male and female), so that too I would call a target. Do you have a source for OP’s GPA being relatively low for Skidmore (I don’t see GPA in last few CDSs).

UCI OOS acceptance rate for Fall 2023 was 47%, so target there too (don’t know specific IR acceptance rate) UC student data | UCOP

@gb3838 Do you know your approximate class rank?

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At least top 17 percent I believe? May be higher

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Top 80ish

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Important to maximize foreign language proficiency if interested in a career in international relations. Accordingly, make sure that you will be able to continue study of the Russian language in addition to continuing in the study of Spanish.

Another path to consider is the study of International Business (U of South Carolina is one to consider). Foreign language ability will likely be a requirement in this major as well as in IR.

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