A political girl in need of colleges!

College Search & Selection
21

<p>@ cmg</p>

<p>All right, I'll keep it in mind!</p>

<p>@ Luxar</p>

<p>Thanks, I didn't know that.</p>

<p>@ Alexandre</p>

<p>Can you narrow it down to a few?</p>

<p>@ Georgetown2010</p>

<p>I actually got a brochure for summer programs there, and they look really interesting. My dad even likes it!</p>

<p>@interesteddad</p>

<p>I guess what I meant is that I would only go to a LAC if I was unsure about what I'd major in (because I have heard that LACs give their students a greater ability to explore the subjects). But anyhow, I don't expect to go to a LAC.</p>

<p>@ Strykur</p>

<p>Wait, the largest group would be College Republicans? Why is that, especially since it's so liberal?</p>

22

<p>murkywater, the list I provided above above is pretty comprehensive, but it is very management. I intentionally left out the LACs according to your specifications. You should have no trouble narrowing my list down to 10 universities. </p>

<p>Those 25 universities include extreme reaches, like Harvard, MIT, Princeton, Stanford and Yale, as well as less selective universities, like Michigan State University and Ohio State University. It is up to you to determine which of those schools best fit your personality and needs. Of course, I did not see your specs. </p>

<p>All of them have their strengths and weakneses, but one thing they all have in common is highly regarded Econ and PS/IR departments. Obviously, if you are a 4.0 student, got 10 5s on AP tests, are class valedictorian and got a 2400 on your SAT, applying to Michigan State University or Ohio State may be pointless! On the other hand, if you are a 3.6 student with a 2000 on the SAT, most of the mega selective schools, like the Ivies, Duke, Stanford and MIT, would be out of reach.</p>

23

<p>I don't know what your stats are, but Gtown, Tufts, JHU are known for having the best undergraduate International Relations programs. Places like Amherst, Yale, Harvard, Cornell, as well as those three great IR schools all have great PoliSci programs.</p>

24

<p>Alexandre,</p>

<p>Thanks for explaining your list. I do believe it has some super-reaches (I'm more of a 3.9, 2000 on my SAT kind of person, though I do think it will improve!) I think I'm going to do better on my ACT than my SAT, which is interesting enough. I'm going to sift through the list tonight and do some research on those schools :)</p>

<p>Lolabelle, </p>

<p>I get 'Georgetown' a lot from people, so I think it's definitely moving up in my list (most probably within the top 5 schools I'd like to attend).. and also, because they sent me this super-nice brochure and I've done a bit of research on them and love the location! </p>

<p>Thanks for all your help, everyone!</p>

25

<p>If it's IR you like -- don't just apply to Gtown. Tufts and JHU have fabulous, if not better, programs!</p>

26

<p>I'm also a politics junkie headed to Yale next year...it has an excellent program in PoliSci, as well as an Ethics, Politics, and Economics major, which might be interesting too!!!</p>

27

<p>Actually with the whole LAC thing, I 've been told the exact opposite. OSU is going to have more majors and classes available than an LAC ever could and is probably better for exploration. Personally I've already been accepted into OSU Honors and looking at the outlines they have more general curriculum requirements than either of the two LAC's that I'm looking hard at (Oberlin and Kenyon). So you may not want to discount an LAC if it is strong in what you are interested in as many tend to be more specialized, known for, or stronger in one subject area versus another. </p>

<p>and honestly, I don't feel like finding your stats so post them, as long as it's relevant I doubt anyone will get touchy, and if so, uh it's a forum. The worst they could do is shout at you in capital letters.</p>

28

<p>Hm, well, my choices definitely are shifting. I've been doing some more research. </p>

<p>Oh, and teenie, here's my post from my previous thread.</p>

<p>==
I'm wondering whether you guys could chance me (I like vicissitudes' percentages, those are pretty cool.) I don't appreciate people being overly harsh or rude - please be honest and constructive.</p>

<p>Anyways, here goes:</p>

<p>Unweighted GPA: 3.9
Weighted: 5.14
Top 10% of school
Very difficult courseload</p>

<p>9th - All honors
10th - 2 APs, 5 honors
11th - 5 APs, 2 honors
12th - most likely, 6 APs, 1 honors</p>

<p>I got a 5 on my US exam, but a passing score on another exam (which was because there was no review in class - at all!). I'm taking 5 more in May, and I'm pretty sure I'll get at least 4s & 5s on all of them. I'm also taking 3 subject tests in June (Math II, Literature, Biology E/MC).</p>

<p>PSAT: 199
Practice ACT: 29</p>

<p>I'm taking the SAT in March, so I'll have a better idea by then.</p>

<p>I'm a little uncomfortable posting all my extracurricular activities and such, but I've got a unique & interesting list (if anyone would like my full list, tell me if it's okay to PM you!). There's nothing on there that's 'ordinary' or 'average' - except maybe NHS. Yeah, that might be. But everything else is interesting :]</p>

<p>No national awards or whatnot, but I'm talented artistically [and it's clear it's my passion through extracurricular activities] and can write exceptionally well. I know it's a little vague, but I would like it if you guys posted here and said if it was okay to PM the rest of it</p>

<p>OK, on to my prospective list:</p>

<p>Univ. of Illinois at Chicago
Univ. of Urbana-Champaign
Loyola University
Univ. of Chicago
Northwestern University
Georgetown University
Brown University
Yale University
Princeton University</p>

<p>--</p>

<p>That was from my previous thread!</p>

29

<p>yea from what it sounds like I think that Dartmouth looks good! (although you already said that ur looking into it so that mite not help much)</p>

30

<p>Thanks, danceluvur26, I appreciate it anyway!</p>

31

<p>An off the wall idea</p>

<p><a href="http://www.usna.edu/PoliSci/aboutus.htm%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.usna.edu/PoliSci/aboutus.htm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

32

<p>Thanks LFWB dad, but I'm not particularly nationalistic and am not interested in the military/naval/etc. academies. </p>

<p>"Political science graduates excel in every warfare specialty in the Navy and Marine Corps. However, some of our graduates gravitate toward a professional career in political-military affairs."</p>

<p>Eeeeh. Nah. Not interested in military affairs or warfare specialty. I didn't even know that really had much to do with pure, political science. But anyways, thanks for your post!</p>

33

<p>Murky, you have a bunch of safeties. Loyola, UIUC and UIC are all safeties. I would probably not apply to so many. What I recommend you do is apply to UIUC as early as you can because they have rolling admissions. If you send your application in to UIUC by early September, you should get an acceptance by mid-late October. Then, you can focus purely on your reaches and your matches during the November and December months. </p>

<p>You also seem to want to stay close to Illinois. In that case, also check out Michigan-Ann Arbor and Wisconsin-Madison. Both have excellent Political Science and Econ departments and both are located in great college towns.</p>

34

<p>Alexandre, the reason I'm applying to a bunch of safeties is because I don't have much confidence that I will get into my reaches. I know it sounds silly, but seeing so many people get rejected from even my hometown schools (Univ. of Chicago & Northwestern in particular) has made me realize that I might not get noticed.</p>

<p>I'm definitely applying to UIUC no matter what, because the financial aid will be good for me there.. </p>

<p>Although I don't want to stay at home, I think I have a greater change at being admitted at one of the Big Two (as I like to call them) in my state rather than any of my reaches out of state. One of my friends mentioned Michigan-Ann Arbor to me, so I'm thinking about it now. Wisconsin-Madison also sounds good, I'm researching on them.</p>

<p>Let's just say my school's full of kids who apply to a ton of top 'reaches'. Most of them do not get in, because the competition is tough even WITHIN my school -- most people get ranked lower than they should because it is a VERY selective preparatory high school.</p>

<p>Anybody have any personal anecdotes or information on Carleton? I got mail from them today and looked them up online. It seems like a nice school! Though it IS a LAC.. ah, well. I think I'm slowly losing my 'No-LAC!' mentality anyhow.</p>

35

<p>You need to find more matches, not reaches and not safeties. You have nothing between UIUC and Georgetown in rankings (and Georgetown's SFS, where the political junkies go, is harder to get into than the regular college). You need to find schools where a hard working, 2000 SAT student is a good fit. And what's with the comment about Macalester having too many other students from your high school? This is going to happen at any midwest school. It isn't something you can control, and, even if you do wind up in school with them, you may even find that 1) you still have nothing in common and don't interact, or 2) they are not as bad as you think and you've all matured during the college process.</p>

36

<p>Colgate and Holy Cross.</p>

37

<p>harvard is pretty decent school...</p>

38

<p>
[quote]
I guess what I meant is that I would only go to a LAC if I was unsure about what I'd major in (because I have heard that LACs give their students a greater ability to explore the subjects).

[/quote]
</p>

<p>I second interesteddad, you don't make much sense here. True, LACs do give students the oportunity to explore a variety of subjects, but so do large research universities. How many universities do you know that don't have a core curriculum (or distribution requirements or whatever they may call it)?
There are many reasons to choose a large university over a small LAC, but the opporunity (not the requirement) to explore a variety of subjects is not one of them.</p>

39

<p>I wanted to add that one doesn't really need any matches at all.
If you are happy with your "safeties", and would choose them over every "match" you can find, then there is no point applying to the matches at all.</p>

40

<p>B@r!um,</p>

<p>Thanks for encouraging me to look up more "matches". I scoured the much-hated USNEWS <em>fears getting objects thrown at</em> and looked at some colleges and went to their websites. College of William & Mary, New York University, Case Western Reserve and Univ. of Michigan Ann-Arbor sound interesting. Hopefully I'm not yet again underestimating or overestimating myself.. [I did get a bit of help from Counselor-O-Matic, but who knows how accurate or helpful that is.]</p>

<p>And about Macalester.. against my predisposed opinion, I did venture to look at the website. I'm considering whether I would be a good fit for it or not.</p>

<p>I did say I was slowly moving away from my 'no-Lac!' mentality. It's just that my parents would probably prefer me going to a larger university, and they are the ones that are going to be paying for tuition. I'm going to educate them about LACs, but I'm not so sure it will go over well. Also, prior to coming to this messageboard, I had next to none knowledge that they even existed..<em>shrinks into corner to avoid being hit by objects thrown at her by CC members</em></p>

<p>Also, I would like to find more match schools, as my safeties might not have that 'shamelessly geeky, intellectual environment' that I would oh-so-love to have. </p>

<p>par72, Thanks for the suggested schools.</p>

<p>dnduswo, I'm not sure if you're joking, but I suppose I agree with you, haha.</p>