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Shut up about how smart you are, and demonstrate it. Shut up about how practical and serving of others you are, and demonstrate it.
Do what one of my sons is doing: teaching in the JET program for two years, THEN joining the Peace Corps (he'll have his student loans paid from the JET program, not so much from the Peace Corps) THEN going to grad school in International Relations.
See, if what you want to do is work in other countries, it helps to, I don't know, actually WORK in other countries.
Two of my four do. ALL of my four are brilliant, caring, compassionate young adults who would never dream of telling you how smart and practical they are. They have a mother to do that for them. They just go about their lives, being intelligent, having witty conversations and leading people to think--WOW this person is intelligent.
See how it works? You live a life of caring and compassion and intelligent actions, and people know that you are caring and compassionate and intelligent because you show them. Works every time, I tell you. By the way? Unless your desire to help others is limited to working in Scandinavia or to BAs in literature, quit with the Ibsen references. You'll just continue to come across as pretentious.
