Hello! I was wondering if you guys could provide me with a good list of soke public colleges with good international relations/ poli sci departments? I’d love an academically focused school with a good campus 
if you have any more questions or want more info lmk!!!
PS( I have 96/3.8ish GPA, high 1300s SATs, mostly honors and APs)
where do you live?
What do you seek - in regards to urban, rural, suburban…large, mid, small…what kind of weather…do you want greek life, etc? Is there a specific area of the country you want to be?
Any budget concerns - college can cost as much as $400K during your four years.
Many schools will fit the bill so it helps to know what you are seeking.
Thanks
These sites should offer you ideas based on your academic interests:
Price limit and state of residency?
The price you are likely to see at state universities depends on whether you are a resident of the state that subsidizes the state university.
To be honest, I don’t mind about the size or the school in enrollment. I’d like a more medium sized school and probably not a small school if I would an attend a public. I am an NY resident but I AM NOT plannning to only look at SUNYs. Please give me recs outside of SUNYs. Weather, not a concern. Prefer urban or large suburban area with access to internships. I expect certain levels of Greek life, but I really don’t plan to join. I hope that by attending a public I would save money compared to privates, to be frank I’m not too aware of my finances, my parents aren’t all that open. Thanks
Even if they don’t disclose all their finances to you, they should give you a budget to work with. Please ask them for a firm number. If they say there’s no limit, please ask them explicitly if $90k per year will be ok.
Hello! 90k isn’t gonna be ok haha!
We have money saved to pay off loans and tuition straight up, but I do plan to go to grad school. I can’t imagine that many public unis would be close to 90k, would they?
Rule of thumb, I definitely don’t want more than 100k in debt.
Maybe not $90,000 but there are plenty already that are in the $75,000 a year range for out of state students.
Please get a ballpark budget for annual college costs. I have a lot of suggestions, but many are quite costly.
There are many public universities that will be quite expensive for out-of-state students. For most, part of their mission is to provide affordable education for their state’s residents NOT for students from other states.
Why are you focused on public universities if you aren’t looking in state? Private colleges and universities are often less expensive than public ones for OOS students.
OP- your budget is key.
Rutgers- fantastic for anything poli sci related. is it worth paying the premium vs. Albany because you are a resident of NY and not NJ? Only you and your parents can answer that.
Please get a firm number, do some research on how loans operate (hint- nobody is lending an 18 year old 100K so that’s not even an option) and then we can help you with a list.
Really? Private tend to be less expensive? I’ll make sure to tell my parents that huh? I haven’t been gunning to look at all these public unis. Again, they are not comfortable with finances, and I don’t know how comfortable I am sharing this online. All I am looking for are some recommendations. All I know is that, I don’t want to have to spend more than 50k a yr on public unis. Also looking for school with decent merit aid. Thanks
As others are also pointing out, while in-state publics are often among a given applicant’s less expensive options, out-of-state publics may or may not be all that competitive with privates–it depends on whether or not the applicant would qualify for need-based aid at the privates, possible merit, and so on.
To check out need aid, you should run the Net Price Calculator available on their websites–you will need detailed information from your parents for that. For merit, you have to look up what each college says they have available, and then there are other ways of looking up how many people actually get it. It is complicated and we can help if you narrow in on some possibles.
In terms of looking for IR colleges, I like this Foreign Policy list as a starter:
There are a lot of great publics on that list, but also some privates where you might qualify for merit.
I’d definitely check out the University of Denver, for example–it sounds like exactly what you are looking for, so you can run the NPC and also look into merit. If you would be willing to consider a Liberal Arts College, Macalester has a fantastic location in the heart of the Twin Cities and merit, although it might be harder to get than at Denver.
In terms of publics, one thing to note is the original Big 10 universities have a sort of cooperation in IR and pretty much all are good options. You might want to at least check out Ohio State in Columbus and Minnesota in the Twin Cities again.
First one I thought given your stats and mid size is College of Charleston where my daughter is doing a double in Poli Sci and Intl Studies, focused on the Relations part.
It’s urban, has some greek life and is 9-10K. But it will be over $50K a year. Given your stats, it’s a likely.
Pitt, a bit bigger, is another great one but again, we’ll over $50K a year.
Until you have a budget, there is really no point in looking further.
And you will find private schools often as inexpensive as public. They “buy” kids in - especially those with stats above their average or where they aren’t getting enough kids on their own.
If you are going to grad school, you have to add that into the cost equation as well.
Cost, rightly or wrongly, often drives the discussion of where you can go - so please have that chat with your folks before you spend time on this.
Good luck.
PS - you say $50K - have you discussed with them? Schools like Marshall, UAH (you’d be about $19K for tuition, room and board), UAB will likely get you there. W Carolina is $20K all in - but more rural. Some of the PA schools like Millersville can get you there as would Christopher Newport in Virginia. Some of the Florida schools as well - but might be too big - FAU, FGCU.
If you could increase your SAT, it could bring more schools into play. I’m assuming a 1360 (you said high 1300s).
URI might be another to look at.
Private schools - Dayton could work and if you wanted smaller a Kalamazoo for sure and others like it - some in PA like Ursinsus and maybe a Dickinson. York College of PA will definitely beat the $50K - and you might check Ogelthorpe in Atlanta which could match the SUNY Rate if stats warrant (need a 1400 per their website).
This completely depends…
Some private colleges that offer generous need based aid might be less costly. BUT they tend to be highly competitive colleges, and you have to have financial need as they calculate it to be.
You will find some colleges offer merit aid to students…both public and private. BUT you need to know what your parents will pay first to see if even these will come in under budget. Also don’t count on competitive merit aid…you aren’t guaranteed to receive it. If there are assured guaranteed merit awards based on your stats, then fine.
@ucbalumnus can you give the colleges you know about that have guaranteed merit aid based on the stats this student posted?
ONLY if you qualify for need based financial aid, the private school is generous, and the net cost after aid is lower than comparable public schools.
A lot of caveats behind that statement!
And I think “sometimes” is more accurate than “often”.
I second Macalester (private with merit for high stats kids) but William & Mary also has a strong program (but is selective and 66k, according to google and I am not sure merit is available).
University of Denver is private. I have heard here that they have a strong IR, not sure about merit).
If your parents have not sent a kid to school yet, they may be shocked at the cost. Try to start by discussing the cost of SUNY Buffalo or Binghamton but then some other OOS IR programs. Some highly selective OOS publics are cheaper than super selective privates with no merit award, but may be harder to get into for OOS Students. (UNC-Chapel Hill). Other highly selective privates may offer no merit but meet financial need (if accepted…).
This is why it is important to run the net price calculator on each school’s website, talk to parents about budget.
Thank you so much! I’ve heavily researched Pitt, but I got to look at CofC more. I’ve heard lots about it. Mind me asking if your daughter feels academically challenged there? And are the other academic minds there?
You already received many suggestions on your previous thread…
I’m aware. However, this thread is more so about finances.
I didn’t say that they “tend to be less expensive,” but they often can be. It depends on a myriad of factors (which private? which public? will you get financial aid? do they offer auto merit?). You need to look at some net price calculators to understand what your actual costs would be at various schools, but thinking that an OOS public will be your best option is not a good assumption.