What are some good ideas for a political science major for top schools such as the Ivy League/Stanford? I’m not too interested in a career in politics yet since I’m planning on going to law school so preferably pre-law activities. My school has no model UN so I’m planning on founding that, and my school offers no mock trial but I don’t know if I can be able to found that or not. Other than that I have no ideas what to do for extracurriculars. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated, but keep in mind I’m in rural/small town setting so most opportunities here are scarce.
Call the mayor and ask for a summer internship
You could volunteer for a political campaign.
Founding some club in jr year won’t be a big tip for elites. You’d hardly get it off the ground, plan it, get approvals, and recruit. Much less, have any sort of record. Having some “founder” title is no “it” for elites.
For poli sci, considering how much politics is all around us, why not get out there and do something? When thinking of tippy top colleges, you do need to be the sort who sees opportunities and goes for them. Not just in the hs comfort zone. They’re going to need to see those drives.
Volunteet for a political campaign or ballot initiative campaign. Get out and do stuff, don’t start clubs. Debate or speech are good school based activities if your school offers them.
Join a campaign or a GOTV (get out the vote) campaign. Do what you’re told then learn how you can be uniquely valuable.
Right now there are (literally) two dozen campaigns for the Democratic presidential primary with at least six or seven serious ones with staff in all battleground states.
Theree are campaigns for Senate in 1/3 the states, House campaigns everywhere, State legislature campaigns everywhere. Make yourself useful starting Monday.
(BTW joining a losing campaign can be as interesting and useful as a winning one so don’t pick based on who you think may win.)
You can also organize a GOTV competition between your district’s high schools - which high school will have the highest percentage of seniors voting? (Goal:100% ?)
Regardless of your political orientation, watch Knock don the house for the nuts and bolts of a little campaign.
Founding a Mun is good but isn’t quite at the level schools in the top 25 (universities and LACs) expect.
If law school is your goal, nothing that you do in high school is going to matter. For law school the top 2 factors are LSAT and GPA.
You can major in virtually anything and go to law school.(pre-law is not a major, it is an intention) , because again, it is LSAT and GPA. With the exception of Yale/Stanford law, which has a small class no one looks at ECs, “pre-law activities”, in h.s. Will do nothing for your cause at any law school.
As a poli-sci major, you will have to differentiate your self from all of the other poli-sci majors applying to law school who erroneously thing that you have to be a poli-sci major to go to law school. Don’t do any activity, with the goal of getting into an Ivy/Stanford or law school. Follow your passion, and your gift will make room for you.
You don’t have to do anything in particular. My IR major did orchestra, Science Olympiad and the literary magazine at school and sold origami earrings on the side at home. He didn’t have the grades for places like Stanford, but did get into U of Chicago, Tufts and Vassar.
I do think ECs that involve writing, talking and debating are likely to hone skills that will be useful to you in the long term. So school newspaper, Model UN, and Debate club are worth looking into. Nobody in law school cares what you did in high school - with perhaps one caveat. My college roommate had done Model UN in high school and continued to be involved in organizing events in college. Being familiar with both participating and organizing was helpful.
Why do you want to go into politics? What social concerns would you be addressing if you were a politician now? And how can you get involved in that? Literacy? English as a second language? Sexual assault or sexual orientation based abuse? Homelessness? Healthcare?The environment?
You could volunteer with an agency that addresses those concerns - organize voting registration drives or blood drives or recycling drop offs for hazardous materials. You could volunteer teaching adults to read. You could try to coordinate with others to raise money for a wildlife rehab center or a joint project to clean up some place in your area.
First, take a step back. There are almost no extracurriculars which will do much to increase your chances at Stanford or an Ivy by any substantial amount. There is a 95% chance that you will be rejected, and having a couple more extracurriculars will maybe decrease that to 94%. So start any plan you make keeping this simple fact in mind - you are almost certainly not going to be accepted into Stanford or an Ivy, and there is a very good chance that you will be rejected from all of the other colleges to which you apply, if they have posted acceptance rates that are lower than 20%. What you need to be asking is “which extracurricular activities will help me learn more about law and in a legal career”.
Basically, choose your extracurricular activities based on what you want to do with your life in High School and in the future, not based on the colleges to which you want to be accepted. There are a number of great suggestions on this page for this.
To paraphrase @bopper’s excellent post on another thread: don’t think “what do I need to do to get into a HYPSM college?”, think “what do I need to do so that I can follow my chosen career path?”. Or, more specifically for you: don’t think “what do I need to do so that I will be accepted to political science at a HYPSM college?”, think “what do I need to do if I want to practice law?”.
Remember: the joy and pride of acceptance to college lasts at most a day or two, an undergraduate lasts four years, but after you graduate, you have 30+ more years on your career. Those are the numbers which you should consider, not the USANews rankings numbers of the college which you wish to attend.
You could also try to get an internship in a local politician’s government office, become an activist, or try writing political editorials/news articles for your school newspaper.