Our son is a Junior and recently has received his scores for ACT and SAT. He has shortlisted his Top 15 schools and is looking for guidance as to whether they are achievable for him.
Unweighted GPA: 3.77, Weighted GPA: 3.93
ACT: Composite - 35, Math - 34, English - 35, Science - 36, Reading - 36
SAT: Composite - 1430 (Math - 700, Reading - 730)
Demographics: Asian Indian
Activities:
History Bowl Captain and been at Nationals several times since Middle School
Science Bowl - 2 years
Science Olympiad - 2 years
Mock Trial - 2 years
Model United Nations - 3 years
Shortlisted schools are:
Georgetown
Johns Hopkins
University of Washington
Columbia University
UC San Diego
UC Berkeley
Univ of Southern California
Northwestern University
University of Virginia
University of Michigan
University of Wisconsin
Pomona College
Columbia University
Emory University
University of Oregon (Safety)
Others he considered but we decided against were: Duke, Univ of Chicago, Vanderbilt and Univ of Pennsylvania (they appeared to be long reaches with his credentials) - any thoughts on these would also be appreciated.
You seem to have a number of reach/high matches there. For politics/IR, two obvious match schools missing off that list are GWU and American.
Are any of the publics on that list instate for him? Some publics are much harder for OOS than instate to get accepted.
Does your school have naviance? That’s worth a look to get an idea of what’s achievable. For my D’s school, no one with less than a 3.9 unweighted gpa ever got into Georgetown, for example.
@SJ2727 :I’m curious, which of those schools are reaches or high matches and why? How could they become more achievable. U of O is the instate on that list. Are there other Oregon schools that would be good that you are aware of?
I think Tufts is stronger in IR than several on the list and in the same level of reach as Northwestern. Agree that American and GWU would be less reachy as would Dickinson.
While grades and scores are part of the overall package in evaluating students there, they truly look for the bright, intellectual thinker. They do a great job at preparing said student to go into Master’s and PhD programs.
I found a website which lets you get a look at how many students graduate from the respective departments at the schools they profile. I’m just starting to familiarize myself with it; maybe you’ll find it useful: collegecalc.org
Near the bottom of the page, in the last section, “Simplifying College Cost Calculation,” is a link entitled “locating your prospective school”. You can search for the field of interest, click through, then find colleges by state. (Of course with Political Science/International Relations, every college will file these under the dual header, so you may want to flip over to a college website.)
@esriniv , has your son looked at the freshman profiles of those schools, or the info on the common data set? There are a few on that list where average gpa of admitted students is very close to 4.0 unweighted. His ACT score is excellent and will certainly get him noticed, his SAT is good, but most colleges focus on gpa before those. Does his school rank and if so what is his class rank? What is his course rigor? How many APs and how many of those 4s and 5s?
From what we looked at for my D, and without knowing anything about his school, rank etc, I’d venture that Georgetown, JHU, Columbia, and probably northwestern and uva are reaches as (from what we could figure out, admitted class weighted GPAs at these schools are usually comfortably north of 4). The UCs are reaches for everyone these days. I don’t know much about Michigan but understand for out of state it’s generally a reach school.
Is he aware that Georgetown requires 3 SAT subject tests as well? (Well… they say it’s optional, but it’s not really if you want a competitive application, and he’d need it for what is a relatively low gpa for Georgetown.)
There’s nothing to say of course he shouldn’t apply, but it worries me that he has few proper matches on there. I’m not familiar with all the schools on that list but only UDub looks like a proper match to me. Agree Oregon is a safety, but for what he wants to study, American would be a much better bet imo (assuming finances aren’t an issue). American’s a slightly tricky school to judge because it would be a safety for him ED but a match RD… but given his list I am assuming that he would not want to ED to American.
Applying ED would increase his chances, but only at a school that does ED. Some schools are easier EA and others are harder EA. Georgetown has restrictive early action and the EA pool tends to be more competitive than the regular decision pool with the bulk of applications being deferred.
You haven’t mentioned finances. If he’s chasing merit aid anywhere, it’s going to be difficult at many of those schools on the list, because he’s not above average (other than ACT but that won’t be enough by itself).
Your son obviously has a lot of core ability. But grades and test scores aren’t the only factors. Does he have any honors or awards for his academic or extra-curricular efforts? Those can make an applicant stand out from those who have only classroom-based achievements.
You don’t mention cost, but your list includes several private institutions. In the Pacific Northwest, a few more to look at would be Lewis & Clark, Reed, and Willamette (all in Oregon). In Washington, he might look at Whitman.
But in my opinion some of the out-of-state publics are plausible, including UWis and UMich.
I see Pomona is the only liberal arts college on your list. Would your son also consider Occidental College in Los Angeles? Oxy calls their IR major “Diplomacy & World Affairs”.
@PacNWparent: Good question. In discussions with our son, we decided that since he was just that unsure about pursuing Political Science / International Studies or a General Science (such as Biochemistry), we identify colleges that would provide him with opportunities to change should that arise. We had not considered Occidental College but will have him look at that.
@SJ2727: Thanks for your wonderful insights based on your experience. We are early in the process and wanted him to come up with an initial shortlist, gather inputs and then refine/modify - to that end, your inputs are much appreciated. Regarding ranks, I have never seen it on his transcript, I have asked him to write to his counselor. He goes to a fairly competitive private Jesuit school. He reckons that he is in the top 10% of his class. They do not allow too many AP options as a sophomore - he did 1 as a sophomore, he is doing 4 this year and expects to do 4 or 5 as a Senior.
Regarding tests, he is planning on taking his 3 subject SATs in Spring/Summer next year.
Regarding finances, I do not believe we will qualify for any need based grants - from the preliminary research, we have not found much by way of merit-based scholarships either. Any leads are appreciated.
@mackinaw: Regarding awards in EC’s, they have made it to the quarters at the National History Bowls, I believe. They have been champions in Oregon a couple of times. He has also won awards at Regional level on the Intel Science Fairs.
@Waiting2exhale: Thanks for the lead on GWU - we did some initial research and did not make this shortlist because it did not have much by way of sciences. We thought that he may want to have some options in areas such as Biochem if he felt that Poli Sci / IR was too theoretical.
Thanks for letting me know about collegecalc.org - should definitely be useful.
“We thought that he may want to have some options in areas such as Biochem if he felt that Poli Sci / IR was too theoretical.”
How much work has your son done on what these courses entail? I know you’ve asked here, but has he for example googled reading lists for first year courses at some of the colleges he’s interested in? It’s university, and there will be a strong theoretical element to social sciences.
You hadn’t mentioned above about the possible sciences angle. In that case possibly some others to consider are Boston University, Fordham and NYU.
If Pomona is on the list, then Claremont McKenna should be considered as well.
If PoliSci and some sort of hard science is on the list of potential majors, WashU might be a possibility to consider. Strong in History/PoliSci and Biological Sciences. The high ACT score is helpful and they have a lot of involvement in History/Quiz Bowl.
I would take the UCs off if merit aid is required since OOS costs are 65,000 and little/no financial aid.
Send the ACT and not the SAT 1 since the equivalent is roughly 1560+.
Possible poli sci? All those ECs are school clubs. How is he involved in the community/local civic affairs or advocacy? Any experience volunteering for a rep? Reach schools will know placing in History Day is often a matter of the competition in your area. It varies, just as honor societies do. Many kids get to do it only one time, not accumulate experience.
Top colleges will expect comm service. If you chose the list bassd on his scores, now look deeper at what they want. It’s more than stats.
Two schools with excellent IR programs that aren’t on your list–Tufts University and American University in DC. I think your son might want to add another safety or two. Tufts wouldn’t be one for him, but AU probably is.
If he gets in, go with Georgetown or Johns Hopkins. Not only they are the best for IR but being on their DC campuses opens up so many opportunities which doubles the advantage of the degree.
Irl GW > Georgetown or JHU for in-term opportunities.
IR has some heavy duty theory to get through, no matter where you go. Ime, JHU 1st year of IR is particularly theoretical- you have to be genuinely interested and motivated to stick it out.
Overall, Georgetown SFS (a harder admit) >> any of the others
Dickinson is a good match (though you have to show them some love- they hate being seen as 2nd choice) has superb study abroad and study in DC programs- and you can realistically do multiple ones (I know a recent grad who managed terms in Spain, Argentina and DC). There could be some decent (not extravagant, but meaningful) merit money.
A seriously fluent 2nd language is essential, as is a grad degree, for any sort of serious IR/public policy role. Plan ahead.
Internships / placements / summer jobs are critical- much more than the actual major (ime, ‘political science’ or ‘IR’ don’t seem to carry any more weight than any other similar social science).
Emory and Columbia look like outliers- what is the draw there?
Agree with the other posters who have noted that almost all of those schools are high matches/reaches for an A/B student with strong test scores but (based on what is presented here) not much else that is striking. Will his LoRs speak to strengths not obvious from the above post?
@ collegemom3737, I don’t know the OP’s answer to the seemingly outlier entry of Emory for IR/PoliSci, unless it is for the potential alternate Bio studies.
However, I recently bookmarked something the OP may already be familiar with. A write- up on one of its Scholars programs:
Truly, all of the scholars are terrific minds, and nearly all are doing something in an interdisciplinary way which touches upon the world at large and political science.
Presumably, one could do this with Bio studies as well. Though Bio/ BioChem at Emory is noted to be demanding. So, to the either/ or…
George Washington has a new degree: a BS in International Affairs. This degree makes double majoring in a science more doable. GW offers science and engineering majors.
If you are comfortable with paying the full price or if the Net Price Calculator indicates the school is affordable, then your son should apply ED to his favorite school. Most of the schools on your list are reach school for even very top applicants.