Match Me - VA junior looking for college with academic culture and good food! [4.0 UW, 1520 SAT, Likely IR/History]

I immediately thought W&M too.

I would encourage you to apply to W&M just so you have more options. It will only cost a wee bit of time and money and if you apply you are not saying you want to go there. If you go back and visit and still don’t vibe with it it’s their loss, but on paper/screen it seems like a great fit for you.

Do you have any feelings about Duke? I think they do Tuition Exchange too (have a professor friend there). I find that Duke is not super chill or nerdy in a D&D way that W&M would be but you might be able to find your people there. Dukies tend to run a little competitive but your grades sound like you’ve got what it takes there. They do have harp instruction. Harp | Department of Music

Durham is a super foodie town. Multiple award winning restaurants. Great farm to table scene. Not sure about food at Duke itself, but I would imagine it is good. UNC-Chapel Hill has good food too. Won’t be on the tuition exchange, though.

This might be helpful re Harp:

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If you wish to continue to be involved in music in college, Gettysburg has the Sunderman Conservatory and non-majors still get to play in ensembles, take private lesons, etc.

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Oh, on this point … this was a summer session? Just as campus tours (regardless of school) on weekends / on breaks lose some of the “magic” of the place, summer sessions don’t really capture the real spirit of a student body. If the vibe’s not there, the vibe’s not there, but I’d encourage you to not overindex on any school’s feel based on summertime vibes. No campus visit will capture the entirety of the student experience, but the closer you can get to a “normal” day on-campus, the more closely your visit will reflect a normal “day in the life”.

Regardless of where you end up, I’m excited to see how this journey goes for you. Please do keep us posted!

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I was thinking about this, too. A summer session will be very different. Students just keeping their heads down to get a class out of the way, most probably not living on campus. Since so many think WM is a great fit for the OP, maybe another look during a regular session might be worth it.

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Note that some graduate programs, particularly PhD programs, are funded by the institution you attend.

As examples, here you can read some brief, subjective comments on several of them: Struggling with D21's List. ED & ED2: Amherst, Hamilton, Wellesley, Vassar - #7 by merc81.

Based on some of your comments, look into Haverford, Swarthmore, Vassar, Reed and Carleton.

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Completely agree with AustenNut and encourage you to find out if your parent qualifies for tuition exchange. If so, it’s a fantastic way to save tons of money.
My D23 had almost identical stats to you and in addition to her major, wanted a school that was strong in theatre/music. It’s a competitive process, but she was lucky and received tuition exchange at USC with 80% off tuition.
If eligible, some other additional Tuition Exchange schools you may want to check out:
Occidental in LA–have a unique UN internship program
Skidmore
Boston University
Fordham
Pitt–Great honors program and they give full tuition awards

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Thank you so much for such a detailed response! I’ll definitely look into all of these schools

One question about UGA - I’m open to the possibility of joining a sorority, but I’m not sure that I would do great at a school that is super Greek life oriented. Is UGA like that?

For schools I have taken tours at:

  • UVA
  • VT
  • JMU
  • W&M
  • W&L
  • VCU

@AustenNut

Thank you so much for being so helpful with all of the numbers! If possible, I would love to do MUN in college, but it’s not at the top of my list of priorities! I think pre-law could be second in terms of career ideas and would be open to any suggestions, but I do absolutely adore my IB Global Politics class and MUN so I assumed that IR would likely suit my interests most.

Also - I probably should have clarified this but my job is teaching ballroom-style dancing (think waltz, foxtrot, jitterbug) not really like rap or ballet!

I would love to sing a Capella in college, but I’m not sure if it is at the top of my priorities list!

@NiceUnparticularMan

Thanks so much about Denver and Macalester - I’ll be sure to add them to my list!

Also, when looking over the list you linked, I noticed that Georgetown listed pretty highly! Do you think that would be a good reach for me to try for?

@goldbug

Guilty about a Capella?! :scream:

Anyways I’ll make sure to reach out to the conductor if my mom and I decide to tour Princeton! Do you have any other suggestions regarding the ivies? Should I apply?

Seriously thank you for all of the help!

@Sweetgum

I… have never thought about Duke! I have diehard UVA basketball fan parents so it’s always been hated on just for basketball, but I’ll take a look at it! Do you know what my chances would be like there?

HarpColumn my love :smiling_face_with_three_hearts::smiling_face_with_three_hearts: very familiar with the harp directory - it super helped when I was reaching out to schools!

@sillinessforBschools

Nice! I definitely will look into Gettysburg! Just to help me organize a list, do you know if it would be a match or a reach?

@LionsTigersAndBears & @lkbtnc

I’ve actually been there multiple times! I’ve attended 3 MUN conferences there, taken a tour, and attended summer session!

@merc81

This may be a stupid question, but what are the chances I would get scholarship money for law school? Is it commonplace?

@Merimom23

This may be unachievable/unrealistic, but I’d love to hear about your daughter’s list! It would definitely help me shape my own and get an idea for format!

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I attended UGA many moons ago and was in a sorority. My niece is a current sophomore, and we know many, many students there as it is our state flagship. About 25% of the kids participate in Greek life so there are plenty of social opportunities if you are not interested, both on campus and in Athens. I think Athens is a fantastic college town, but obviously I’m biased. :slight_smile:

If you are interested in rushing, I think UGA has a fairly typical “Southern school” recruitment experience, which may or may not appeal to everyone.

Conversely, my D attends W&L which is 75% Greek, but their recruitment process was low-key and inclusive. So wherever you attend, it is worth looking into the Greek experience past the percentages.

Best of luck! I have no doubt you will have wonderful options next year.

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I don’t honestly have Ivy suggestions – it’s something we fairly quickly ruled out as infeasible for our son and as I’ve shared, I’m even a little ambivalent about the one I loved as a student.

On the not-Ivy front, where I’ve been doing a ton of research recently, I’d encourage you to check out Bates College (which has a lot of history and policy majors, a ballroom dance team, an orchestra, and a highly regarded dining hall experience), Wesleyan (strong music department w/ lots of performing ensembles, large # of students majoring in policy/international studies), and maybe Dickinson (wild card but they have a high rate of students studying abroad and their most popular major is international business.) The first two are reaches for just about anyone but you’re a super solid candidate and if you loved one you could always apply ED. Dickinson would be more of a match/likely as long as you (as they say in these parts) “show them some love.” Oh! Tufts also has a strong IR program and is in a generally favorable location for someone with diverse interests in the arts and humanities. Hard to beat the Boston area for student life…This, too, would be a reach but they like ED students. I’d make a point of visiting them as well.

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Here you can read one article on this topic:

Great recommendation! Duke’s food was excellent. New building with a dozen plus external vendors that accept card swipes. All these various food providers are periodically reviewed and compete to stay on campus.

This was 6 years ago and was memorable enough that my kid still talks about the crepes.

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I totally understand about the basketball!! UNC alum here and can’t believe I suggested it for you but it’s definitely worth a look. Just don’t go all “Cameron crazy” on us.

I don’t really know what your chances would be but your grades and scores are excellent. Maybe ask your guidance counselor? If other students from your school have been accepted there the counselor would be able to give you an idea.

You can also look at the Common Data Set for any school you are interested in and see how you compare to their accepted students. Just do a search on “common data set” and the school name. Here’s Duke’s: https://provost-files.cloud.duke.edu/sites/default/files/CDS%202021-22%20FINAL_2.pdf

Section C will tell you accepted students grades and scores. Your SAT compared very nicely. The 25th percentile SAT score is 1490 and the 75th percentile is 1560. They don’t list the GPA but yours is great.

Yes! Absolutely.

DC is basically the global center for IR, and the Walsh School of Foreign Service is legendary and extremely well-connected for experience opportunities (note despite the name it is very much not just about preparing people for foreign service). Georgetown is excellent for History too (randomly, I actually have a good friend who is a History Professor there). You could easily combine both interests with something like the IHIS (International History) major in Walsh (this is just an example, though):

It has an actual campus despite being a city school. It is nominally Catholic out of the Jesuit tradition, but that doesn’t really mean much in practice other than that it has a strong classical education tradition with a robust set of core requirements. Some people don’t like that but I think others value the exposure they get to a lot of different areas before they decide on a major.

Finally, you’d want to visit, but I could see the vibe really clicking with you based on what you have described.

Bonus answer, this is completely possible if you nail the LSAT. Actually, GULC (Georgetown’s highly-regarded law school) is one of the ones that offers merit to high numbers applicants, so even if you don’t go there for college there is always a round two possibility . . . .

Maybe I missed it but I don’t see anyone mentioning Rice. Campus food is better than decent, very easy access to loads of good food in Houston. It may not come across as a strong IR school, considering that they don’t have IR major; however, I know their students take internships in DC at think tanks like Atlantic council.

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(My S21 attended DukeTip at Duke in Summer 2017.
He sent pix of the crepes!!! The food was fabulous and I believe they had just opened their new dining hall or building.)

And OP: my S21 son is in DC at GW. Can’t say enough about the amount of special opportunities that exist when living in heart of DC and Foggy Bottom. His gf is a student at Georgetown. Both are IR majors. They met overseas while advancing their foreign language skills.

DC is awesome.

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On your question about scholarships to law school…yes there are a reasonable amount of scholarships for students whose GPA is over 75th% of the schools GPA and over the 75th% of the schools LSAT numbers. In 2021 my DD who graduated from Clemson with BS economics got full tuition scholarships to UF, UMinn, and ASU. When UF threw in a living stipend that sealed the deal for her.

The key is great grades and great LSAT scores.

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Speaking of Tuition Exchange, I went back through and bolded the schools that participate in TE and indicated whether it was set rate, other tuition (contact the school to find out what it means), or full tuition.

Some others that have been mentioned include:

American (D.C.): Set Rate
George Washington (D.C.): Other Tuition

Also, I’d take a good look at Seton Hall (NJ). It offers full tuition TE awards and its School of Diplomacy and International Relations seems like it’d be a really good fit for your interests. It takes advantage of its location near NYC for connections at the UN and such, but there are a ton of other opportunities.

Johns Hopkins has a great international relations department (and music school), but you’d want to see how your family feels about that part of Baltimore. Johns Hopkins is a part of the Baltimore Collegetown consortium which allows students to take classes at the other universities, so you could take a look at Loyola Maryland or Goucher (both of which are TE schools) to see if either of them might be a fit.

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It should be a match, although they got many more applications this year. Whether it is a reach or a match for substantial merit money is unclear. They even have some music merit money for non-majors.

I saw BU get listed above- I wouldn’t think that would match what you are looking for given the type of campus you described as ideal.

Don’t get me wrong, D22 LOVES Rice and I recommend it to everyone constantly…but if food is truly a high priority, I’m not sure Rice is near the top of the list for that specific issue. There’s been a lot of turnover in the food service staff, and the food has gone from “pretty good” to “meh” in the last few years. I have experienced this myself on several visits over time. D22 - who is admittedly picky - rarely ever eats in her nearest servery (Rice’s term for “dining hall”) now, despite having a comprehensive prepaid meal plan. I’m told that some of the other serveries are better, so YMMV.

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My impression is that the servery at Martel is good. There’s a Chinese chef there :slight_smile: