<p>You have a good shot at getting in, especially with a unique story like yours (being Egyptian and coming from immigrant parents). Stanford’s ranked #1 in international relations by US News and has a strong Arabic program as well. In fact, Stanford is currently beefing up its Middle Eastern studies focus. Decades ago, Stanford had the choice of focusing its efforts more on Soviet studies or the Middle East, and chose the former, which obviously wasn’t the best idea because the Soviet Union eventually fell (although some of Stanford’s scholars, like Condi Rice, have proven useful for IR with Russia - that’s why Rice was tapped for Secretary of State). More recently it’s recognized the need to pour more resources into its Middle East offerings, so it’ll be offering more classes, study abroad, overseas seminars, etc.</p>
<p>[The</a> Stanford Review Stanford Optimistic About Study Abroad in Middle East](<a href=“http://stanfordreview.org/article/stanford-optimistic-about-study-abroad-in-middle-east]The”>http://stanfordreview.org/article/stanford-optimistic-about-study-abroad-in-middle-east)</p>
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<p>[Stanford</a> slow to build offerings in Middle Eastern studies | Stanford Daily](<a href=“http://www.stanforddaily.com/2011/01/25/stanford-slow-to-build-offerings-in-middle-eastern-studies/]Stanford”>Stanford slow to build offerings in Middle Eastern studies)</p>
<p>If Stanford’s your first choice, it’d be worth it to apply SCEA.</p>