I know you said you wanted small to medium size campuses, but university of Maryland College Park has excellent access to government jobs and internships. a lot of students are in the learning communities which makes it feel smaller.
Fordham (Rose Hill) in NYC is also urban, but not downtown, is midsized, and has an actual pretty campus with grass and trees only a half hour subway ride to Wall Street and the UN. They also have the Ram van which runs frequently and gets you to their Lincoln Center campus directly.
For the past 5 years Students from my D24 school are admitted to BU ONLY if they apply ED. Our highest stats applicants have never been admitted, but none of them have EDâed. Applicants from our school with stats similar to yours have all been admitted if they ED. I know itâs just one data point but thought it might be helpful to know. Good luck!
Two other specific, practical pieces of advice from someone who just completed this process.
This is probably obvious to many but somehow I didnât think about itâŠif you are submitting test scores many schools allow you to self-report and only require you to submit official scores if accepted. We submitted official scores to 16 schools, which cost more than $300 total, and was totally unnecessary! Save your money and just self-report whenever itâs allowed and then submit official scores to the school you decide to attend.
SecondâŠIf you submit a lot of reach applications you are very likely to get a lot of deferrals and rejections. Even if you get in to your top choice school (hope so!) I can tell you from our current experience it still doesnât feel great to get a lot of defer/waitlist/rejections. My D has one friend who applied to 22 schools last year and received 18 rejections and 4 acceptances. Sheâs currently at a T20 school, so itâs all good. But the repeated rejections still sting.
It was touched on before, that IR is oftentimes bundled into Political Science, and is usually a sub-focus or specialization. This is a website that offers ranking comparisons between schools with IR programs by state, region, or exact major.
I used this when I built my application list last year. I donât know how much this may help you this far along in your college list process, but another resource at your disposal.
Knowing what I know which is far from complete info (which is why I defer to your HS counselor)âŠIU, Delaware, Temple, SUNY Albany are highly likelies/safeties (make the EA deadlines). UVM (maybe a highly likely), Pitt, American I would call targets. Get your Pitt app in by Sept 1, and itâs more likely. Wait until December and less likely. For American, demonstrate interest as others have saidâŠdo a virtual session, visit if you can.
Itâs up to you how many safeties you want to have (Iâm assuming they are all affordable). Some people just have one, and thatâs good for them. Others want to ensure they have a choice come springâŠand thatâs ok too. Whatever works for you. The good thing is you donât have to decide for a while what your final safeties are, or targets, or reaches.
Itâs ok to have a large list right nowâŠas you do research, schools will come and go. But, if you arenât merit hunting, I donât think you need to apply to more than 10-12 schools (again, up to you though).
For research, get on the schools prospective student mailing listsâŠconsider having a dedicated (appropriate) email for college info. Open emails the schools send you and read the info they are sending, click on links if itâs interesting to you, e.g., major related, or about a club you would be interested in. Do virtual sessions. Read Fiske guide, Princeton Review, Niche reviews, school websites. Visit campuses if you are able.
You have received a ton of good advice from knowledgeable posters on this thread. Keep the questions coming, and stay engaged hereâŠeveryone wants to see you succeed. (and do chat with your counselor!)
My opinionâŠmake sure at least one of your colleges has rolling admissions so that you have an admission decision very early in the cycle. Hopefully that will be an acceptance and that can help you focus a little more on the rest of your list.
IIRC, Pitt has rolling admissions so get that application done asap after they open up.
Then check for early action schools and get any of those done as well.
I disagree. At this point in the process, adding more schools is fine. Spend the next 4-5 months researching any and every school that is of interest to you. Make sure they are affordable. Then start paring your list down. Lock down a safety school or two. Find 10-15 match schools and a few reaches.
Paring your list in a dayâs time based on CC feedback isnât the way to do it. Definitely take the recommendations given here, but do your own homework. No need to finalize your college list in February. Good luck to you!
You are doing the smart thing starting early and a 3.78 UW is a very good GPA but understand lots of kids have that or higher especially at a lot of the schools on your list.
Just by way of example my D18 had UW 4.0 35 ACT 8-10 APs all fours and fives and got rejected at Princeton, Brown, UNC, UVA and waitlisted at Vandy. Accepted with great merit at Clemson and UDel. Went to Clemson and now in third year of law school at UF.
Also from my scrolling through the thread, I couldnât see the finance end of the equation. Will parents pay for the 80-90K a year schools on your list. Do you think you want graduate school, law school? Are you looking for any merit money?
Also I think until you have a reportable test score all this match, target safety stuff is premature. Let say you get a 35 ACT or 1520 SAT the classifications of some of these schools could become different. Especially if you are looking for merit. Similarly if you score a 30 ACT and 1300 SAT your chances are different. Clearly TO is an option but great scores can definitely change the classifications.
I suggest you slow down a bit. Take a few visits this summer to variety of schools, study hard for whatever standardized test you are going to take. Nail down your parentâs contribution to your college education and revisit everything next fall.
S24 is into IR and we have gone through the exact same process last year. He has higher GPA and ACT score, plus good amount of EC and leadership roles.
The key is have a good amount of safeties that have higher acceptance rate, especially those with rolling admission so that you would at least have backups.
There are some LACs that have IR, might not be famous but would have good acceptance rate.
School that has higher acceptance rate.
Seton Hall
Miami Ohio
ASU
For next level that you might have a chance, but it will be 50/50.
American U
George Washington
Lehigh
U of Charleston
U of Maryland
Indiana U
Higher level, lower probability like 20% or lower.
U of Washington
U of Richmond
U of Virgina
Tufts
John Hopkins
Middlebury
Georgetown U
S24 didnât applied to all of the above but a number of them. He has been accepted with merit from each one, currently waiting for a few as he applied RD to them.
Your list is long and reach-heavy, but I agree that it is still early. If I were you I would spend some time drilling down on the IR programs: courses, internships, study abroad opportunities, etc. Read faculty membersâ biographies and review their research interests. Also read up on your major, read bios of diplomats and retired diplomats.
Speak candidly about finances with your folks. If youâre their first kid, share current tuition numbers at some of these schools.
I agree with those who mentioned William & Mary Joint Degree Program with St. Andrewâs; I I also think Macalester, Tufts, Georgetown, GW & American should stay on. Most of those are all reach-y so I would add PITT, leave on SUNY-Stoneybrook, add CUNY. I like @AustenNut 's idea of SUNY Albany too.
Reed College is an excellent school but it is looking for a particular type of student. Remember that acceptance rates are not the whole story. Reed College is known for being intensely academic. If that is the kind of environment you see yourself in, learn more about the school. Fiske Guide provides a great overview of most of the colleges discuss so far.
It would be good if youâd share what type of experience and what type of college you see yourself at. To me, VTech and Reed are as different as possible. GWU and Macalester are like night and day.
Share with us the kinds of students you see yourself with and the type of campus youâd like to be on.
I agree with lindagafâŠthese two schools are quite different.
Reed is a fit school, small, about 1500 studentsâŠlearn as much as you can about the school and if itâs still interesting, visit in person.
Virginia Tech is probably a target for you. Does your school use Naviance or Scoir? If so use the scattergrams to help categorize schools (and your counselor).
More information would help us help you. You said you around 17%ile in the class, is that correct? Is 3.78 your unweighted GPA, core courses only? When you graduate will you have had 4 years of each core subject area (eng, SS, Sci, math, foreign language)?
Also I get what youâre saying with the different environments in the schools but I know Iâll be fine anywhere socially and what not. I liked the feel of smaller schools and the sense of community but I also liked the hustle and bustle of large ones. I donât really have a preference since Iâm quite flexible.
