Chances/Recommendations for Political Science/IR Major

Chance Me / Match Me!
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<p>I previously posted this was a sarcastic thread title, but apparently the joke wasn't funny so I'm reposting it with a more serious title.</p>

<p>Gender: M
Location: Upstate NY
HS Class: 2011
HS: Public</p>

<p>Acedemics:
GPA UW: 3.6*
Class Rank: Top 10%
Course Load: Took every honors/AP course offered
My grades show a consistent upward trend</p>

<p>*My school does not weight GPA or honors/AP courses at all. They expect colleges to do it themselves. This screws my class rank up horribly but doesn't do much else. All my core classes were AP/honors and some were graded extremely unfairly (no A's in the class) so I'm hoping gets weighted into the 3.8-4.0 range.</p>

<p>SAT:
800 CR, 700 M, 780 W (1500/2280) Retaking for better math, hoping for 1550/2330
SAT II's
790 World History, taking Biology E and American history and expecting similar scores</p>

<p>AP's
World History - 5
enrolled in US History - 5 expected
enrolled in Biology - 5 expected
I expect a bunch of 5's senior year but those obviously have no bearing on admission.</p>

<p>Senior Course Load:
Every class I am taking besides gym will be AP.</p>

<p>EC's:
4 years of Cross Country/Track, won some regional level recognition but not competitive on the state level
Science Olympaid 2 years, won some regional level awards but not that competitive at states
School Newspaper 2 years, contributed greatly to overall quality of writing
Student Human Rights Group - as an organization we raise the majority of NY's funds within our organization
Latin Club 2 years (I decided to drop Latin because our school's foreign language department is really weak) won regional level awards
National Honor Society - assisted with running it a bit and helped clean up bad finaincal policy (we had once paid $500 to replace the vice principle's cardstock, to this day I don't know what he did with all of it)</p>

<p>Awards:
Some XC/Track awards
SO medals/trophy
Latin Comptetion awards
A few of the more selective school level awards (for English)</p>

<p>Notable Community Service:
I run a number of races to raise money for charity, many of which have sponsers for student athletes (puts my running to use). My aunt is in charge of special olympics programs so I've been involved with that lately. Prior to that I had been helping time and school middle school level meets, which I intend to continue when sports are back in season.</p>

<p>Recommendations: Obviously I'm only asking for recommendations from teachers who think the ground I walk on is holy. However one of my science teachers won a national level teaching award so that may possibly have some bearing.</p>

<p>Essays: Writing is my strongest area and I have teachers who are published writers who can offer assistance with editting. I am most confident about this area.</p>

<p>Colleges:</p>

<p>Carleton
Macalester
Colgate
Tufts (I might be applying ED here if I have a respectable chance)
Connecticut College
Dickinson
SUNY Geneseo</p>

<p>I plan on majoring in either Political Science or Internation Relations. Wouldn't mind suggestions for what might be a good match. Thanks in advance.</p>

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<p>Shameless bump :(</p>

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<p>If I were you, I would try to apply to one of the DC schools (GW, American, maybe even Georgetown, although that may be a bit of a reach) if you wanted to do IR or PoliSci.</p>

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<p>Thanks for the suggestions. I have not thought about American or GW too much but I certainly will consider them. As for Georgetown, though it is a good suggestion I feel that it is far enough out of reach that my efforts would be better focused elsewhere.</p>

<p>Also, Tufts, Carleton, and Macalester appeal to me in not just acedemics but other areas as well. I’m not going to go into unnecessary detail about it but understand I am interested in these three.</p>

<p>The others are either safeties (Dickinson and Connecticut) or selected on a whim because they are near where I live and I know many people who are applying (Colgate and Geneseo). I do not plan on attending any of these schools, but of course circumstances can arise so it is good to be covered.</p>

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<p>Yes, i would also consider applying to some of those schools such as GT or American, it doesn’t hurt to try and only increases your options</p>

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<p>I feel like you have a really good chance for Tufts - one of my friends goes there and though his GPA was much higher, he didn’t have your breadth or depth of extracurriculars, community service, etc. However, he was a nationally ranked debater…</p>

<p>Regardless, I think you have a great chance for Tufts. Try to improve your ranking, and write a spectacular essay. :)</p>

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<p>Where in Upstate are you? I’m doing college visits in VA and D.C. Definitely visit American. It’s known for its Political Science and International Relations programs.</p>

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<p>Considering the praise American has been recieving, I will look into it. For Tufts I am hoping that my SAT will balance me GPA and lead to more of a focus on soft admission factors. Tufts uses a rather holisitic admissions approach so one area is unlikely to destory me.</p>

<p>To answer lifekiwi’s question and ask on of my own: My school is located near Syracuse University and offers SU courses at the high school as an alternative to AP. Though I do not plan in going to SU I think their English course is better suited for me in terms of cirriculum than the AP English course. Specifically, it is more focused on nonfiction and interdisciplinary writing and less on English literature specifically. How would this course compare to AP English in terms of how rigorous it is considered? Will a college that is more acedemically difficult than SU accept SU credit?</p>