<p>My S is rising senior and deciding which colleges he should apply to. He wants to major in political science and do laws in graduate school. If anyone could give us reach, match, safety schools based on his rough stats below, we will very appreciate that (maybe we already know HYPS is obviously reach, so we're much more interested in the match and safety schools). From your information we can start researching each school in depth and figure out good list of schools he should apply to. </p>
<p>GPA: 3.97 / 4.0
SAT: 2370
PSAT: 237
No SATII yet
3APs so far (one self study) and 5 more APs in senior (3 or 4 are max until junior in his HS)
EC: Debate captain (couple of state awards), Mock trial lawyer, Tri-M president, Martching band (some state awards)</p>
<p>He is in CA public high school around 70th ranked in the nation, so competition is quite intense in his HS. Again, we appreciate any of your inputs! </p>
<p>Aha, great financial aid always becomes a great considering factor :)</p>
<p>American. He’d get lots of money, and lots of wonderful hands-on opportunities. Top in in-term internships in the country. Lots of schools have fine political science departments. VERY few, including the Ivies, can couple that with really good in-term opportunities.</p>
<p>Thanks for the great info ALL!
I didn’t know much about American U. Now I’m looking at the school website and finding it’s located in D.C. The more interesting fact is AU’s students have been recognized three times by Princeton Review as the most politically active in the nation. Wow~! @mini, would you know they give full ride or at least full tuition to NMSF or NMF?</p>
<p>Biased.
How about a tech school with pretty good HSS and Business. Poly science & law, afterall is salesmanship with decision matrix. Carnegie Mellon. </p>
<p>University of Toronto. No lack of internationals. “Make the World a Better Place, be Canadian”</p>
<p>Bleh. I’ve never been an American fan, but it could be because of that “OMG WE’RE IN DC!!!” vibe the school and its students kind of give off. Especially with a 2370 and great grades, Georgetown should be the sort of place your son should be working towards. Frankly, though, most notable schools have very good poli sci departments.</p>
<p>UChicago, Oberlin, Tufts, Boston College, Notre Dame, MIT(One tech school with a topflight poli-sci department though quant heavy), UT-Austin, UVA, William & Mary, UMich, etc. </p>
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<p>Actually, from what I’ve heard from the dozens of CMU graduates…CMU’s humanities/SS departments are their weakest link. Every one of them would and have dissuaded anyone from applying if their interests weren’t STEM or Fine Arts.</p>
<p>Tufts or Brandeis would have strong offerings in that major; both are in suburbs of Boston.</p>
<p>Also take a look at Amherst College, a fine liberal arts college, with its undergraduate department called “LJST” (Law, Jurisprudence and Social Thought). If you get turned on by small Liberal Arts Colleges (LAC’s) in the top ranges, there are others to explore. These also provide strong foundation and will be respected when applying 4 years later to law schools at large universities.</p>
<p>Tufts, yes. Brandeis, I’m not so sure of considering I knew several people who transferred out because they found the poli-sci department to be too limited for their liking.</p>
<p>Mini’s post about in-term internships in Washington, D.C. caused me to think about other choices with proximity to D.C. </p>
<p>My own Dad majored in Poli Sci at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore before going on to Law School. In fact, he turned down a Harvard acceptance for JHU, simply because he had just returned home from soldiering in WWII and was truly homesick for family, which was all in Baltimore. </p>
<p>Today it might be possible to commute fairly quickly by train from Baltimore to D.C., although I do wonder when internships involve an intercity commute. This used to be an hour by train; perhaps now it’s better. </p>
<p>I also noticed this entry at JHU’s Poli-Sci undergraduate page of the website, so there are courses offered right in D.C. also:</p>
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<p>Usually we think of JHU as a great university for science and pre-med, which it is, and you really want to study the strength of a department when it’s not the famous offering of that university. Its proximity to D.C. might turn the tide for the OP’s thinking. CHeck out that poli-sci department with care to see if it would satisfy.</p>
<p>Woo, boy. To commute from Hopkins to an internship in DC would be time consuming, no matter what mode of transportation you choose, including rail. It is doable, but not “fairly quick”. I’d plan on an hour and a half to two hours door to door by public transport.</p>
<p>@SeanDaddy, yes. Once you get to the USNWR top 20 (though I abhor those rankings), excellent financial aid is pretty much the norm. Another choice could be Vandy, whose financial aid program is phenomenal, as well–grants, not loans, with a few top scholarships and some work-study to offset more of the costs. My family does relatively well, and the FA calculator still came to 14K total due per year (including the 5K NMF, which your son will undoubtedly get) out of 59 grand originally. Now, THAT’S great FA.</p>
<p>I second those who suggested American University as an excellent choice for the political science major. With those stats you would be likely to receive at least a 22,000-25,000 per year merit award plus any available need-based aid. You would also be eligible for the honors program and other special perks as a top student. In my opinion confirmed by many others, American has surpassed GW as a school based on quality of instruction, especially in political science, public policy administration and international relations. Its internship program is terrific and being in Washington, D.C. gives you direct access to the types of hands-on training not readily available elsewhere. GW’s offerings are broader in some other diciplines, but in political science and government are not as well defined as they are by American University. Good luck with your decision</p>
<p>Putting in a bid for the College of William and Mary, which has a nice junior year program in DC and small class sizes!
Also, you might want to look at UVA.
Finally, Hampden-Sydney regularly produces lots of Virginia politicians and my understanding is that they have good financial aid.</p>
<p>For a top student, American with honors and a nice merit scholarship is a great choice. My younger son (IR major) really liked it, though he ended up at Tufts. BTW I think you can add Tufts to your list especially if you like your pol. sci. with an international flavor., Brandeis would probably be a good choice, but I haven’t looked specifically at their offerings. Carnegie Mellon has some interesting programs - while HSS may be their weak link - it’s only in comparison to their really, really strong departments.</p>