Hello! I am am a current junior who will be applying to college this upcoming fall for the class of 2025. I would like some help seeing what type of caliber school I should apply to. I also would like to know any schools that have specific majors that are some mix between public policy, economics, political science, business, and sociology.
Quick Facts
School: Large Public High School in Las Vegas, NV (not extremely competitive)
GPA: 4.0 UW 4.9 W
ACT: 31 (34E 31R 29M 28S)
AP Classes: 10th grade: World History
11th Grade: US History, English Lit, Seminar
12th Grade: English Lang, Gov&Politics, Statistics, Research
Lots of Honors Classes
White (European&Middle Eastern) Hispanic Male
Third Generation College Student
ECs: Student Council - Student Body President, Student Body Historian, Sophomore Class President
State Board Officer for Student Council
Presenter for two Student Council Regional Conferences, Two Student Council State Conferences, One National Conference
DECA - Top 10 in State for Business Law & Ethics, Top 10 for Human Resources
Link Crew Leader, NHS, School Organizational Team, Men’s Volleyball, Summer Camp Counselor for all 4 years of high school, Freelance Photography Business
Around 700-800 hrs of community service
Public policy is itself a hybrid major that depends on the fields of political science, economics and philosophy for its foundation. Based on your interests, then, consider colleges with an available public policy major.
For a few ideas, look into Hamilton, Trinity (CT) and the University of Richmond.
Budget? Need financial aid? Location? Size? Urban/rural?
Size: Medium or Large (at least 5,000)
Would love a school with D1 Athletics/Lots of School Spirit
Location: preferably east or west coast, not opposed to schools in midwest/south but not my preference
Budget: My parents seem to be ok with paying for any school so long as it is good academically
Urban/Rural/Suburban does not matter to me
Thank you!
Based on this consideration, you can choose to ignore the college suggestions in the second reply.
Do you know your EFC and if they’re comfortable paying that? You may want to ask them to visit some college websites to run their Net Price Calculators. Some parents are unpleasantly surprised by the results. It’s better to have an actual number in mind so you know you’re on the same page.
I’m a rising senior too, but my gpa is lower than yours. Most of my reach schools seem to fit into your criteria. Keep in mind that I plan to major in business.
Villanova University (It is a suburb to Philadelphia and many students end up having very good jobs after they graduate. Many business students will gravitate towards NYC for jobs. There is a Roman Catholic religious affiliation, I am not sure if this matters to you. I did a virtual tour and really liked the campus.)
Wake Forest University (Has about 7,000 students. I did a virtual tour and absolutely loved the campus. I know a few people that have gone there and they have nothing but positive things to say.)
University of Richmond (There are about 4,000 students, but hear me out on this one. I know you said you are looking for at least 5k+ students. It is located in a suburb to Richmond and there is a very strong alumni network. Every student that I know that goes there is very happy and loves it. This is probably my top school. I definitely recommend that you look at their website.)
Boston College (It is the biggest school I have mentioned so far with about 14,000 students. Since it is a larger school, there are more options for majors. I really liked the campus and its location. I toured BU prior to corona and did not like the campus because it was in the heart of the city of Boston, but that is just personal preference.)
I also recommend researching UVA (it’s a really good school but I don’t have the grades/test scores to apply, Trinity College (CT), Clemson University (SC), Elon University (NC, definitely not a reach for you but it’s always nice to have some safeties), Lehigh University (PA) and University of Maryland. I hope that this helps, good luck!
Sit down with your parents, and run the Net Price Calculators at the websites of UNLV, UNR, the colleges/universities where they studied, and several other places that you’ve heard of. Then talk with them about their budget limit. Lots of parents don’t understand how much college costs now, and then their kids end up without really good options.