I go to university at Northern Arizona University and I am currently a major in Political Science and International Affairs. For international affairs we are required to demonstrate proficiency in a language and I currently learning Urdu.
HS GPA: 3.0, maybe a little less, somewhere around here.
College GPA: 4.0
ACT: 35
EC: Army ROTC Lumberjack Battalion, NAU Young Democrats, Interned with the Coconino County Democratic Party and a local congressional candidate, Alpha Lambda Delta Honor Society, Amnesty International-Flagstaff, several other political clubs.
Recommendations:3 strong ones from political professors.
I want to apply to several colleges that would give me good options for politically related jobs along with the foreign service. Would you chance me for these colleges?
Georgetown
George Washington University
Vanderbilt
Notre Dame
Columbia
Cornell
My dream school is Georgetown.
Any other schools I should consider?
Would you rather fight 100 duck sized elephants or 10 elephant sized ducks?
This advice is premature, but if you have Urdu as a language then you should consider schools that offer the FLAS fellowship. The Foreign Language Area Studies fellowship is offered through Unis by the Fed Government and provides full tuition to some programs, such as law and business. You may want to do research into what schools offer the FLAS. I know that Yale and Columbia grad programs, some of them, offer it. The FLAS requires that you speak at an advanced level a language that’s not what people usually take (people usually take things like French, Spanish, German etc. while the FLAS is for things like Arabic, Chinese, etc.)
My concern about your transfer list is twofold. 1) how may students does an institution accept? 2) how much financial aid does it offer?
Georgetown – 2175 applicants with 346 admits
George Washington University – 2917 applicants with 1556 admits
Vanderbilt – 1359 for 404 admits
Notre Dame – 884 for 235
Columbia – 447 for 272
Cornell – 4762 for 852
how much can you afford? Issue A is that transfer students don’t necessarily get the same FA as do freshmen admits. You will need to check the policies of each schools. Issue B is that some schools don’t offer great aid regardless of when you’re admitted. GW falls into that group.
If you don’t care about FA, then you may also want to consider NYU – lousy FA usually but maybe they have some money for you and has advanced Urdu
Also maybe consider U Penn. – has Urdu
Haverford – part of a consortium that includes UPenn – can take classes at UPenn and Haverford has great FA
Swarthmore – part of consortium with UPenn and haverford has excellent FA
U of Rochester – has excellent academics, great FA (but check for transfers) and does not have a lot of requirements but I am not sure about the Urdu
Wesleyan – a top school, has great languages and area studies, excellent FA–http://newsletter.blogs.wesleyan.edu/2018/10/12/wesleyan-receives-major-grant-to-teach-hindi-and-urdu-expand-south-asian-programming/
Do Transfer students want to take on Columbia’s core? You may want to check how much core you’re required to take for Columbia and Notre Dame (I’m not sure if they have a core but they may have more courses that you’re required to take before graduating). Will those requirements mean that you need extra years of school to graduate? That’s expensive.
Thanks, I thought Columbia’s transfer rate was much lower? Is that number accurate? From your experience even though applying to some of these colleges is difficult even with good stats would my high school hurt me in this case? Do I have a shot a Georgetown?
@Dustyfeathers@unionboyswillwint I believe the transfer numbers quoted in post #1 are for Columbia College (MO) not Columbia University (NYC). Per Columbia University’s website (see transfer page) fewer than 10 percent of transfer applicants are admitted.
@happy1 thank you for pointing that out! I googled for the common data sets for each one. Thankyou for your sharp eyes. I thought that the rates looked surprisingly high.
@unionboyswillwint – I googled for the common data sets–and apparently clicked on the wrong one for Columbia. Apologies. If you look at the common data sets, part D that tells you the transfer rate for each school that you’re interested in.
It’s interesting because I was going to point out, originally, that CU–Columbia College would be difficult to enter as a transfer but then found rates that showed that not to be true. Now that I am corrected with the right data, I will continue with what was going to be my earlier point, which was to place two more schools in your list for “not caring about FA”. Those schools are Columbia U School of General Studies and UPenn’s College of Liberal and Professional Studies (I think that’s the full name). Both of these programs are separate undergraduate colleges of their respective unis. I am not sure about the FA for UPenn LPS but I’m guessing that it’s not as good as for UPenn’s other undergraduate college. CU GS FA is not great. GS is one of four undergraduate colleges for Columbia (Barnard, Engineering, CCollege, and GS). The educaiton is virtually identical to CCollege and they accept transfers I hear more easily than other nontrad programs (such as Brown etc.)
Both Penn’s and Columbia’s schools are set up for nontraditional students. You will need to check the requirements for both in terms of how they define nontrads. I have anecdotal knowledge that CU’s program takes nontrads after a shorter break in their educational paths than their website says. A break of a year or even less I’ve heard stories about, but check it out for yourself.
@Dustyfeathers Just to clarify any misinformation being spread - Penn LPS is a division inside their college of arts and sciences. It is a part of Penn CAS whereas you are correct that Columbia GS is its own college. The major distinction here is that Penn LPS affords the same degree options and grants an identical degree to students in Penn’s CAS. Columbia’s diploma is issued by GS and says as much on it. I have friends who have graduated from both programs and personally know admissions affiliated with both. Penn-LPS as constructed ends after this Spring and will not longer take applicants. For those applying by the 11/1 2018 deadline for January 2019 matriculation it is a great option, albeit one that ends shortly. Just want to clarify this for anyone else reading the posts.
OP: I think you’ll get into Georgetown, particularly if you don’t need any financial aid. Great GPA and strong ACT. Also look at JHU given their geographic proximity to the area. Colleges love vets, although I’m not sure how your ROTC experience is perceived vs prior service