Hi! I recently started my CommonApp and I’ve still been deciding on what major I would like to apply to universities as. I go to a high school that specializes in the medical field so I’ve taken many medical-based classes (not by choice). However, my true interests lie within political science and I’ve been trying to strength my application to express this.
How do I appeal to colleges as a political science major though the majority of the classes I’ve taken are medical? I plan on taking AP Gov and an ethics class but that’s all I’ve been able to do as far as classes.
Thank You!
Is your high school in the US? Have you taken the usual required college prep courses: English, social studies, foreign language etc.?
Yes! I go to high school in New Jersey. I also have taken all required college prep courses, my electives are just medical-based.
Very very few colleges admit by major for Political Science (American University comes to mind, but I can’t think of any others off the top of my head). For most colleges you apply with a planned major, but you don’t declare your major until your second year. When you put down a proposed major the main effect is that your first advisor will most likely be from that subject area.
Appeal to colleges as @ddthesag, not as a polisci major. If it’s what you want to write about, you can do an essay about how being deep in one world led you to work out you wanted a different world. But: you can also just write about what led you to polisci in general, and that colleges polisci program in particular.
As mentioned above, AU does admit by Major, and is one of the few major political science schools to do so. Let me know if you want more info or have any questions about AU! Feel free to PM me!
What colleges?
While it’s true they dont admit you TO a major, the more competitive do look to see if you pursued this interest and how. It can matter what you’ve done to experience the field first hand/real world.
It’s an election year. Are you involved? That’s more than a club or reading.