The outright Georgetown RD rejection was hugely surprising considered both my father and I are alumni, and we both volunteered for the school as alumni interviewers in the past. They probably did us a favor with the rejection, however, because there was no way we could afford to send him there. His final four were Sciences Po, Seton Hall’s School of Diplomacy (a hidden gem IMO that treats prospective students and their parents amazingly -- please look into it if you are interested in IR!), William and Mary, and Trinity in Dublin. He’s always been interested in travel, and after spending the summer before Senior year in Morocco, the idea of getting to actually use the 6+ years he spent studying French was too tempting to pass up. I know a lot of people hear about Sciences Po because of the dual degree programs it has with Berkeley and Columbia, but my son didn’t have any interest in attending either of those schools. Sciences Po's tuition is ridiculously reasonable at approximately 12,000 US a year for a 3-year undergrad program, with living expenses also being fairly reasonable and in line with what you would pay for room and board at a state school. He has also had so many opportunities he wouldn’t have had if he had remained stateside. He was set on going to American University in Cairo for his third year program for quite awhile, something he could not have done from a US university, until changing his mind to attend Boğaziçi University in Istanbul for his final semester next year. He will be spending his fall semester at a think tank internship in Zagreb, Croatia. He went to Cairo last February to do research on a political science project and ended up getting to run a half marathon around the pyramids, and he quarantined in Zagreb for three months with his friend from school. Needless to say, his college years so far have been quite an adventure! A quick note to anyone considering a European school – I don’t know about the rest of them, but you need to be a very independent person who is good at figuring things out without a lot of help if you go to a school like Sciences Po. It is very very different than the typical US university. First years do have the option to live in a dorm, but you have to figure out your own food/cooking while you are there. Second years can live in the dorms, but many opt to buddy up and rent locally, which brings its own set of adult responsibilities such as dealing with leasing agents and how to get broken appliances and internet routers fixed. You need a lot of patience and not need a lot of hand holding, but if this sounds like you, I would highly recommend it. We will end up paying less for a full undergrad degree than we would have for just one year at Georgetown, and the international connections he is making while at the school are priceless.