<p>I have just graduated from a High School of 48 students in which the governance and administration is managed between both the student body and the faculty/staff body. In this school at least two students are elected annually by the student body to be voting members on each committee including the Board of Trustees and the teacher/student ratio was something like 1:2 in the 2009/2010 school year. Now I am working as a Viticulture intern, biding my time during the so called “Gap Year” I’m already a few months into and pondering some of the bigger decisions life has presented to me. I plan on traveling in Europe after the New Year to visit connections from a French Exchange I participated in and to learn more about the world before I delve into deeper education.
My education/future life interests are - or could be - Language (French), Psychology, History, Sociology, Soccer, Journalism, Music, International Relations (seeing as it fuses some psych, hist, and sociology), Art, Traveling, and Making the world a better place.
My question:
What’s a college/university in a city of 20-500 thousand people, domestic or abroad, that might cater to some of my interests? The school size could be anywhere from 100 to 12000 students.</p>
<p>I can’t tell if you consider participating in the governance of your school to be one of your interests. Most colleges allow it to some extent through student councils, but I don’t know if some stand out for allowing it more. When you mentioned incorporating sociology and history I thought of the international STUDIES majors that some schools offer. I am most familiar with Middlebury’s but you might want to look at that as an option on websites you check out. Requiring the city to be in the 20,000 to 500,000 range actually limits things quite a bit (eliminating Middlebury, for example, and another internationally oriented LAC, Macalaster, because I think Minneapolis/St. Paul is more than 500,000 people.) Johns Hopkins and Tufts are very much known for international relations or, if your stats won’t get you into those, maybe George Washington or American. A lot of great schools don’t have super music departments, so if that is a serious interest you have to look carefully. Northwestern might be interesting.</p>
<p>Perhaps University of Richmond.</p>
<p>I don’t consider involvement in the governance of the school to be a deciding factor but I would like to be in a school known for an accommodating atmosphere that allows for freedom and adaptation throughout the entire education process. Cities like Madison, WI, Ashland, OR, and Austin, TX inspire my ideal “college town” although I wouldn’t mind slightly bigger or locations in France.</p>
<p>We need more info: Grades and test scores for starters. Your financial situation-how much can you afford?</p>
<p>Consider Tufts, Middlebury…actually Hitch123 has good suggestions. Consider those.</p>
<p>Middlebury also has a Feb admit and may be very favorable about your gap year.</p>