I am going to throw out another reach school suggestion for you and it may seem a little odd : Georgia Tech. Their Sam Nunn School of International Affairs is much more focused on science and technology than other programs seem to be and may be a good fit for you. As a public university, they are very generous with AP credits so I would think you could add a minor or second major in comp sci. Out of state cost of attendance would be somewhere in the $50k range.
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Given what you’re saying, it doesn’t sound as if a full CS degree would be a necessity for you. It isn’t even clear that the programming/software engineering aspect of the field should be your emphasis. There’s lots of employment on the data science side of things, and that has tons of overlap with poli sci. Some programs, like Emory’s QTM majors, would give you a strong foundation without doing a separate degree at all, and you can always add more coursework in specific areas of interest. When applying for jobs, it will matter more what your skills are than what your degree says… and you can always get more training post-college, too.
For urban + sports + warm weather and California aesthetic… USC! Here’s a profile of a USC student pursuing a career in the foreign service: From USC student to the U.S. Foreign Service | USC Gould School of Law
Emory seems like a great fit academically, and in terms of urban-ness and aesthetic. They are unusual in that they also have a smaller campus outside the city (their original campus before the Atlanta campus was established), and some students do their first two years there. (There’s a shuttle between campuses, so the Oxford students can still get to the main campus and the city). When you apply, you can apply to one or the other, or both. All majors are available either way, but I’m not sure about sports. (Emory is DIII.)
FWIW, Emory students can also cross-register at Georgia Tech, which is strong in both International Affairs and, of course, CS. I believe GT itself would make budget for you as well - might we worth looking into applying there too, but applying to CS might not be your best plan, and you’d have to look into your potential access to CS/DS if you applied for International Affairs. Great program, though, and there are a ton of computational minors that could work: Programs | Georgia Tech Catalog. When I flew to Paris a few years ago, I ended up sitting next to a GT IA student on his way to an embassy internship, I think in Morocco. (John Kerry was on the flight with us, too, which was exciting for my seatmate!) It seemed like he was getting really great opportunities. Anyway, GT checks a lot of boxes, albeit maybe not the aesthetic one as much as Emory… but urban, plus academic strengths, and D1 sports.
Penn State could be great program-wise, but it’s anything but urban, and maybe not scenic enough to compensate. And it might push the budget envelope too. Another state flagship with a strength in international affairs, and some strong tech hybrid programs, is Indiana University. Bloomington isn’t a big city but it’s a great college town that wins over a lot of people who wouldn’t have expected to like Indiana. Non-resident sticker price is around 60K all-in, and there are some merit scholarships although I’m not familiar with any details. The Cybersecurity and Global Policy program might be of interest, if that focus would be okay with you. There’s also an excellent Public Policy Analysis major in the renowned Kelley School of Business, that might be worth a look - I know you aren’t looking for a business degree, generally, but the skill-set that this major covers could position you quite well. There’s also an International Studies major in A&S that you could supplement with a CS or DS minor.
I thought about suggesting Rice - the campus aesthetic and urban access are great, and the undergrad experience, with the residential college system, is fantastic too. It’s unlike Stanford in that even though it’s D1, sports fandom is pretty muted. Much of the “spirit” is channeled into intramural competitions between the residential colleges… but that might work for you! The CS major might be more than you want to take on, and there isn’t a CS minor, but there is a Data Science minor which includes a programming foundation, and you could always take more classes than it requires. Rice has an “open door policy” with regard to majors, so you could apply to the School of Social Sciences (which has majors in Poli Sci or Social Policy Analyisis) and still be free to pursue CS/DS to whatever extent you choose. Financial aid is generous here, too.
Based on what you’ve said, Claremont McKenna might be a decent fit after all, even though they don’t have a full CS major. It’s probably the “sportiest” of the Claremont Colleges, and Gov or IR with a data science minor, and additional CS classes as you see fit, could cover the bases just fine for you. Pomona could be great too, and has a more Stanford-like aesthetic (although all five campuses abut one another and you can enjoy the aesthetics - and social scenes - of all five, no matter which you attend). The town of Claremont is very pleasant but kind of sleepy-suburban - it’s a bit of a train ride into the urban part of LA, but students do get into the city. DIII teams are divided - Pomona and Pitzer share teams, and CMC/Mudd/Scripps share teams, so you’d be looking at different teams/coaches at CMC vs. Pomona. Pomona’s aid is likely a little more generous than CMC’s, but run the NPCs and see how they look.
Agreed that Macalester is worth checking out as well, but it fails on your weather criteria, lol.
ETA, I see GT was already suggested while I was editing, haha, but I’m not going to take the time to revise.
Good luck!!
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Pitt is another new one, thanks for the rec! And going back to school is definitely a possibility, but I’m just trying to avoid that additional cost and time in the long run.
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Honestly, before I made this post I wasn’t really aware of the data science option, but after looking into all the programs I was recommended, it’s definitely a great way to combine my interests.
I wasn’t actually aware that Georgia Tech had a strong IA program, and looking at their website, they have a lot of STEM coursework which looks promising. I see info on their website about getting in for CS, then adding a major in IA, but not the other way around. However I’ll likely be visiting them this fall, so hopefully I’ll learn some more then.
Thank you for your recommendations. As a kid with barely any knowledge of the college app process, you all have made my life so much easier!
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Thank you for the Georgia Tech recommendation. I thought their IA school was on the lower end, but I stand corrected.
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What about UPenn as another reach? I’d be able to double major in something like IR and CS (although getting into both would definitely be a struggle).
If you visit Ga Tech (as you noted), make time for Emory and UGA. Yes, UGA.
Their International Affairs program is also renowned /well known, about an hour 15 away.
It’s a strong public university (i.e. ranked highly) and it can meet your quant needs as well.
International Affairs Major - University of Georgia (uga.edu)
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Admissions to CompSci programs is incredibly competitive, and it is a very demanding major. You should consider that when applying to programs. You may want to look at programs that marry tech and public policy fields. For example, CMU has an Engineering and Public Policy program where students take classes in the engineering college and school of urban and public affairs. This may not be the best path, however, if you want a career in the diplomatic corps, and want CompSci as a back up, but it is worth investigating.
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If foreign service is the plan then I echo @NiceUnparticularMan and American University where the school of intl service is very highly rate and you will get substantial merit for your stats provided you demonstrate serious interest. And you can do CD or DS. They track and will reject high stats people they don’t think really care - Visit, attend webinars, open every email, etc. Also, with lesser stats my S24 got enough merit to get it down to $60k per year.
W&M as well. More rural but great opportunities and new school of data science. Tons of W&M people on the hill. Can’t go wrong there.
University of Maryland has very strong CS as well as an info science degree ( that can be customized to be more CS like or more DS like) plus good Poli Sci that has options to be very quant focused. It is similarly close to DC and internships during the school year which is great because you aren’t competing with all of the summer crowd. About $56k without merit which is hard to come by though you might get some.
Two thoughts
- Why dual degree? That’s 150 credits usually not 120 so it’s like an extra 1-2 semesters. Just do a dual major instead. No?
- CS degrees can get you into software engineering jobs or data science. But, CS programs require a lot of stuff that you may or may not be interested in (operating systems, networking, etc). Data Science might get you what you need if your goal is to analyzed data not write apps, manage systems, and such.
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Yeah, looking among the greater DC area colleges (which includes colleges in Maryland, Virginia, Delaware, and even up to PA a bit) is a pretty good idea if you are interested in a serious exploration of foreign service. That still covers a huge range of colleges in terms of format, setting, selectivity, costs, and so on.
Of course many other colleges across the country send plenty of kids to DC for internships, sometimes semester in DC programs, and so on. So that is meant to be an inclusive, not exclusive, suggestion.
And then these days, most schools with any sort of serious “policy” focus have been adding some version of data science too. Just makes sense in our current world.
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To answer your questions, as per my research, a double major would be in two separate, but somewhat related fields, while a dual degree is in two independent areas of study. That is why I’m interested in a dual degree, because IR and CS are not really related in terms of coursework but together, they’d open up more doors for me.
You might be fine to minor in IR. I think and my kid is doing it - IR is a tough major job wise. Organizations - government or otherwyse - need hard skills - like CS.
If you have enough AP credits, you might be able to place out if some gen Ed’s or to use the IR classes to cover some CS gen eds.
You are interested in IR - and that’s reason enough to study. But it’s secondary to your job desires although you never know where the market will be in 5 years. Many CS grads appear to be struggling this year as an example.
Follow your heart. Life is long. If you want to take an extra year or semester, it’s fine. You’re young just once.
Just realize there are costs - both lost income and extra tuition.
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Brandeis may be an option. I know this combo is possible as a neighbor just graduated with the same majors. He did look at many of the others mentioned and ultimately chose Brandeis, so might be worth a look. Especially if you will be in the area checking out Tufts.
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Just here to echo the W&M recommendation. And to note that they really do make it easy to double major. That’s been a thing for them for a long time (example, I graduated from there 30 years ago, double majored in IR and Biology, minored in French). As long as you come in with some AP credits, it’s pretty doable. So you might be able to get both in.
But urban setting, it’s not. My understanding is that there is more within walking distance than their used to be, but still. It’s called Colonial Williamsburg for a reason. 
(That said, I also spent significant time studying in the backyard gardens of those colonial houses when i just wanted a quiet space - students get in free - and it doesn’t get a whole lot more scenic and picturesque than that.)
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Being a history buff, I wouldn’t mind exploring Colonial Williamsburg in my free time 
. And I definitely have a lot of AP credits, so that seems like a real possibility. Thannks!
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Perhaps this is just a misunderstanding and semantics. There are at least three versions of this
A dual major is fine even in very different fields. Usually you get one degree because both are in the same schools. Sometimes you get degrees from two schools at the same university like a BS in a science and a BA in Arts. But you have to meet the needs of both usually with a limit on how many credits can count to both. I think this is what you describe and would be sufficient in most cases.
A traditional dual degree is two degrees done in parallel instead of consecutively. Fewer people do this electively as it often requires 150 credits min versus 120 credits min for a dual major. It’s cheaper than going back and getting a second bachelors (doing the whole 120 credits twice) but it is likely just more costly that a dual major.
In between are defined dual degree programs where the curriculum is designed to get you two specific degrees in a progression or a related pairing. This addresses the conflicts between programs. Good examples are 4+1 BS/MS dual degrees or Penn’s BS in CS + BA in IR.
So what exactly are you looking for ?
I wouldn’t be opposed to just minoring in IR either, it would still definitely open up doors in the foreign service, but I’m really just opposed to taking extra semesters and going back to school. The only exception would be a structured 5 year program like Emory and Gtech’s BA + Engineering program.
Based on what you’re describing, the dual major or defined dual degree programs are what I’m looking for.
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Given you’re a history buff, Gettysburg has fantastic merit.
You might seek a school like Case Western where it’s easy to have multiple majors…if it’s not come up.
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Programmer here. For computer science, it doesn’t matter where you go to school. Rutgers is a very well recruited school for Comp Sci. Virtually all of your credentials will be built with on-the-job training. The degree just gets your foot in the door. I can say the CS is much more employable than Poli Sci. In my opinion, majoring in both wouldn’t help you, except giving you college burnout.
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