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

What state are you a resident of? If New York, I would swap out Stony Brook and replace it with SUNY Albany as the latter does have Russian majors and as the state capital, there are also a lot of international/global-looking opportunities there as the state tries to attract investment from foreign countries/companies.

With your interests, I’m surprised by a number of the schools on your list, and I’m surprised that some other schools haven’t made it on.

If this was my list with the preferences you’ve mentioned, these would probably be my ruthless cuts:

Extremely Likely (80-99+%)

  • Temple
  • U. of Delaware

Likely (60-79%)

  • SUNY Stony Brook (49% admit rate for students entering in fall 2022)
  • U. of Vermont

Toss-Up (40-59%)

  • American (depends on how much demonstrated interest you show)
  • Connecticut College
  • George Washington
  • UC – Irvine (thanks to @Gumbymom)
  • U. of Maryland
  • U. of Washington

Lower Probability (20-39%)

  • Bucknell
  • Lehigh
  • Macalester
  • Skidmore
  • Trinity
  • U. of Richmond

Low Probability (less than 20%)

  • Boston College
  • Boston U.
  • Bowdoin
  • Colgate
  • Cornell
  • Dartmouth
  • Georgetown
  • Northeastern
  • NYU
  • U. of Pennsylvania

But as I said, there are some surprises in terms of what’s not on your list. If this was my list, I would investigate the following schools further:

Extremely Likely (80-99+%)

  • Seton Hall (NJ): About 6k undergrads

  • SUNY Albany: About 12k undergrads

  • U. of Denver (CO): About 6200 undergrads

Likely (60-79%)

  • CUNY City College: About 12k undergrads

Toss-Up (40-59%)

  • Fordham (NY): About 10k undergrads

Lower Probability (20-39%)

  • Brandeis (MA): About 3700 undergrads in this Boston suburb, and if you have a good test score

  • Dickinson (PA ): About 2100 undergrads and super strong in international studies

  • U. of Rochester (NY): About 6800 undergrads, and would flip to the toss-up category if you have a good test score

Low Probability (less than 20%)

  • Tufts (MA): About 6800 undergrads
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