<p>So I'm a junior this year, just visited Gtown and really liked it, politics are my passion and I'm pretty sure its my top choice. Also looking at George Washington and American. I'm thinking too about UVA, Stanford, and Tufts, although I'm pretty sure I want to be in DC</p>
<p>I'm a white male, I go to a fairly high rated prep school in New England.
Classes this year:
AP Chemistry, AP US history, Honors Precalculus, Latin III, American Lit
Classes next year:
Independent study in AP US government and politics (not offered at my school so I'm basically creating my own class), AP Latin, AP BC Calc undecided science (AP physics, AP bio, or normal bio), English (possibly AP lit)
GPA: 3.83 (unweighted)
Test Scores: SAT 2300 (800 CR/700 M/800 W)
5 - AP European History
ECs:
Varsity Football
Varsity Wrestling
Skiing (moguls competition - won a competition last year)
Debate Club (the club never really got going but I figure I can say it)
Writer for school paper, applying for editor next year
Harvard Model Congress
Model UN - Honorable Mention at BOSMUN 2010
Volunteered for 2006 Kerry Healey Gubernatorial Campaign
Volunteered for 2008 Ron Paul Presidential Primary Campaign
Volunteered for 2010 Scott Brown Special Election Senatorial Campaign
Attending the St. Alban's School of Public Service this summer (politics-focused summer program in DC)
I'm also about to found an Institute of Politics at my school, not sure how successful it will be</p>
<p>So does anyone mind saying if they think I have a shot? More important, if I'm close what can I do in the next year to improve my chances? Should I re-take the SAT (I know Georgetown doesn't consider writing)? My classes for next year are still not decided, so any advice there?</p>
<p>all of them are matches except for stanford which is a reach.</p>
<p>Thanks for the feedback, what about Georgetown? Also, will it matter if I don’t take an AP science next year? I’m thinking of giving myself a break on that one since I’m taking a lot of AP’s and don’t want my grades to go down and science isn’t what I’m interested in.
And my other question is what SAT II’s to take does it matter? Right now I’m planning on taking Chem, US history, and lit. Sorry to be annoying with all the questions.</p>
<p>Hey have you ever considered doing boys state?</p>
<p>Its offered by American Legion to highschool juniors, soon to be seniors. I reallly dont know what it is like in your state, (its administered at a state level)</p>
<p>but in my state, AR, its a week long camp, free, at a college campus near the state capitol, with 600 other boys attending. When you get there, you are assigned a mock city and a mock political party and debate proposed bills. You also do have many guest speakers and tour state government departments/ buildings. </p>
<p>At the end, everyone votes for 2 senators from each state to represent that state at a national level, Boys Nation, which is the same thing but in DC at a national level. </p>
<p>BTW, i thought i would through in that Bill Clinton did that in highschool. It inspired to to become a politician rather than a professional musician.</p>
<p>About the SAT IIs- I’ve heard colleges want to see a math and a science. If you do a third one then it’s fine to do almost whatever you want, although I’d think languages would be a plus. You probably shouldn’t take both US History and Lit.</p>
<p>Please, please go for the AP Bio rather than the regular bio or the physics. I’m hoping some of it will stick, because I would kill to have a few more politicians who knew exactly what they were talking about in terms of science (and bio is more likely to come up in Congress than physics is- senators don’t typically get into the nitty-gritty of NASA, but stem-cell research is fair play).</p>
<p>Stanford- reach
Tufts- match
Georgetown- low reach
George Washington- match
American- match
UVA- low-to-mid reach</p>
<p>(Would also like to note that, if you are planning on aiming at being a politician rather than a diplomat, a good state school might be the way to go- to avoid the appearance of intellectual elitism. I’m not sure it would be a big problem with a lot of these, though, with the exception of Stanford and maybe UVA. Most politicians make it to being politicians through becoming lawyers first, so you might want to look into that.)</p>
<p>[Please</a> chance me back!](<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/886683-please-chance-me-will-chance-back.html]Please”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/886683-please-chance-me-will-chance-back.html)</p>
<p>^I think the potential for elitism depends significantly on the district and or state. Like if you go to Stanford there are a lot of Bay Area districts that won’t view going to Stanford as elitist. And I’m sure being a Yale alum is fine if you want to run in some of the wealthier Connecticut districts. However, going to Princeton and then running in rural Kansas, you would probably have some trouble. </p>
<p>And about the SAT IIs, for the colleges and majors you are looking into I’d recommend having one math/science and two humanities. I’m going to contradict the guy above who said colleges look for a math and science. Yeah there are some colleges that look for that, but those schools are: Caltech, MIT, and other tech schools. </p>
<p>I don’t know much about DC specific schools, but from the couple people I know who went to American, you should get in there. </p>
<p>Definitely a shot at Stanford. To have a better chance there, you should continue taking AP classes, and maybe even add another AP class (like AP econ- generally pretty easy). This semester and next semester is your time to make up for past deficiencies in grades. You’d bring some intellectual diversity to Stanford.</p>
<p>The girl who said that colleges look for a math and a science had that from an english teacher who tends to refer to math and science as “lower-level thinking” and thus believes it to be accurate, since if he could have gotten away with it he would never have admitted it.</p>
<p>While if you can get elected to a district that doesn’t mind and secure it, it shouldn’t be a problem after that, there could potentially be some problems if you get an elitist reputation and then try working with people from other states or areas (as in if you are in Congress or a state legislative body). The other way that this could prove a problem would be a local issue that becomes more-than-locally controversial, and in which national organizations or even organizations from other states become involved (e.g. Prop 8), since they can use you to provoke press, donations, etc. from people outside of your district. Also, in a larger, more socioeconomically diverse state you might have a problem if you’re elected to a rich and well-educated district, then attempt campaigning statewide.</p>
<p>Thanks for the advice guys, but honestly I’m not gonna let a minor issue like being seen as elitist that far down the road affect my college decision. Most of the leaders that are seen on the national level went to top colleges, and I think elitism stems from an attitude, not from an institution (no one would call George W Bush elitist, and he went to Yale). In any case, I really loved Georgetown and I think that worrying about something that far off shouldn’t be a factor in my decision.</p>
<p>Kinzer, thanks for the tip, I’d never heard of that but will definitely check into it now. How does one apply, is it on their website?</p>
<p>And senior, thanks I’m pretty much taking as many APs as I can next year, AP econ isn’t offered at my school but its considered very hard to take 6 classes at my school, which I might end up doing anyway because I have to fulfill my religion requirement. If I have to drop something, what should I drop? science?</p>
<p>^I only counted 4 classes for next year, unless you’re doing the independent study during school hours. Stanford wants to see students who take the “very hard” workload. You certainly don’t need 6 classes, but challenging yourself in that way, especially during senior year when most peeps are slacking, will look very impressive. </p>
<p>If you want to drop a class, I’d drop AP Latin. I didn’t take spanish senior year because I wanted to take 2 science classes + maintain a chill schedule, I would only be in honors spanish (so no college credit), I’m not good at spanish (gpa killer), and I despised learning it in school (like why do I get points taken off for misplaced accents/wrong spelling during spanish exams yet these aren’t penalized in english in-class essays?). Your situation is different though.</p>
<p>wulfran sorry about calling you a guy. Your username reminds me of WolframAlpha, which reminds me of my male dominated math class.</p>
<p>[Welcome</a> to Massachusetts Boys State](<a href=“http://maboysstate.org/welcome.php]Welcome”>http://maboysstate.org/welcome.php)</p>
<p>that is your state’s website for boys state. (im assuming you’re from MA)</p>
<p>It is through American Legion so if you know anyone from a local chapter, you can contact them. It is not very hard to get into, at least in my state, but i would recommend contacting someone soon to at least let them know that you’re applying b/c i think the deadline for my state is all ready passed, or will quickly pass. I don’t know if this is a factor, but it is free in my state, so i would imagine it would be free in your state as well.</p>
<p>Also, what is Harvard Model Congress and how does one get involved, if one can at this point?</p>
<p>And what is the Model UN that you participated in like?</p>
<p>Senior, the independent study is actually during school hours, it counts as a class. Basically I’m studying for the AP but also conducting some sort of research project or writing an in-depth paper that goes beyond the AP curriculum (haven’t fleshed it out entirely but that’s the plan and I have a sponsoring teacher). In addition, I have to take a full-year religion class to graduate (it’s an episcopal school). The thing is, I actually like latin, and am good at it. That’s why I’m thinking of dropping science - I don’t enjoy it and I can pull a decent grade but only with a ton of work. Also, I’m thinking of applying for Georgetown SFS, which emphasizes language. Then again, if dropping science looks bad I might end up just dropping Latin in the end. </p>
<p>Kinzer, HMC is a government simulation run by Harvard (a couple other schools do them too). It’s essentially Model UN but for the US government - everyone simulates the role of a Representative, Senator, or Cabinet member and you write and pass bills. It’s in February, so it’s over for this year but you can certainly look into next year, although usually schools send more than one delegate. My school went the past two years, but we switched to Model UN this year. We went to BOSMUN, which is run by BU.</p>
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<p>For your situation (aka not a prospective technical major) it shouldn’t make much of a difference. If it does, that difference is pretty negligible I’d think. So I’d recommend to take whichever class you enjoy more, are better in, etc. Which definitely seems to be Latin. </p>
<p>Good luck!</p>
<p>When you say you are going to found an Institute of Politics at your school- what exactly does that entail?</p>
<p>and @senior: Sorry for getting irritable over the gender/username thing… I know it sounds like I’m a guy.</p>
<p>^I didn’t think you were being irritable, I thought it was funny!</p>
<p>sorry if that was a completely useless post. I generally try to save those for the “High School Life” forum.</p>
<p>Wulfran, that is as of yet not entirely clear, but hopefully we’ll be encouraging political debate, going to see speakers, etc - there isn’t a debate club or anything like that at my school, so i’m hoping to get some political dialogue going.</p>
<p>Sorry to bring this up again, but a I thought of a couple factors I forgot to mention that could change my chances. First of all, I just found out that I will be captain of my wrestling team next year, not sure how much that counts but thought I’d mention it. Second, I’m planning on applying to SFS. Does that make my chances much lower?</p>