A bit of background and then questions...

My oldest child (daughter) is currently in her Junior year of high school. I do not want to send her to a State college and so am looking for suggestions.

She is now going to high school for half the day and attending college for half the day through Minnesota's Post Secondary Education program.

She is wanting to study International Relations, but is not very interested in being involved in actual politics/government. So that may lead her to business or being a State Department drone. She is very interested in and good at learning languages so is thinking about being a linguist with her IR studying.

She wants to study at Oxford and in Egypt. I have suggested that she attend the quarters abroad for that studying and then look into grad studies there.

Currently she is studying French in school and teaching herself Arabic from a book I purchased at Barnes and Noble.

My questions are:
What Colleges/Universities would you recommend that have the following qualifications or close to them?:

Conservative/Classical
Arabic language
International Relations and/or Linguist program
Have quarters/programs to study abroad in Egypt

Is it better to have her wait until Grad School to study in Egypt and/or Oxford?

Do you suggest any language programs that will help her continue learning Arabic on her own now?

Greetings Mr. Lee,

You have certainly laid out specific criteria for you daughter’s education. Predictably, there is no perfect match. U.S. News and World Report College Finder found ten schools that offer a major in Arabic language studies:

Dartmouth College
Georgetown University
Ohio State – Columbus
SUNY – Binghamton
United States Naval Academy
UCLA
University of Notre Dame
University of Texas – Austin
University of Utah
Washington University – St. Louis

Most of these schools offer study abroad programs in Egypt except for Dartmouth (where their program is in Morocco.) Most of these Egyptian programs are through the American University in Cairo, except the University of Utah (where their program is based in Alexandria.)

All of the schools have a linguistics component and four schools have an international relations component: Georgetown, Ohio State, SUNY – Binghamton and Washington.

Based on what your daughter wants to do, I would recommend Georgetown since it’s right there with the State Department. Networking can make the difference in getting the desired job. ISI’s College Guide describes Georgetown as having “rigorous” foreign language courses and “classrooms…mostly free of overt politicization.” Georgetown’s Liberal Arts Seminars 001 and 002, the Guide continues, “suffices for a somewhat abbreviated core.”

U.S. News and World Report College Finder is not comprehensive in its search engine, so there may be other colleges out there that have what you want.

Hope this helps!

A friend of mine has studied in Morocco and Syria through programs cooperating with The College of William & Mary in Williamsburg, VA. You can find more information on the website of William and Mary's International Studies Program.