<p>I think there are many LACs that would offer an excellent education in poli sci. Long ago, I went to a no-name LAC and had great relationships with faculty in the poli sci department, as well as many opportunities to do internships and study abroad. It’s the kind of major you can enjoy almost anywhere. </p>
<p>That said, Claremont McKenna has a reputation as being a top school for ambitious kids who want to go into government/policy work. Bowdoin’s department impressed me, and there are some neat programs at Occidental, Davidson, and Whitman.</p>
<p>In high school, my D did MUN and worked on several different political campaigns. She also tutored refugees and did other activities with an international focus. She got into a great school; I don’t know that these things helped her get in, but she enjoyed all of them, and gained some exposure to different career paths and political issues. A lot of debaters end up doing poli sci, so that’s something your son might want to consider as a high school activity.</p>
<p>Agree that debate is a good skill to have. Another might be forensics/competitive speech if it is available at your high school. D competed in a category called “Great Speeches” where they analyzed speeches (lots of them from politicians!), and placed at the state tournament a couple of times. The public speaking and analysis components were really good for her. And she spent a LOT of time reading historical speeches, which was also good for her She has a friend who did a category called Extemporaneous Speaking who is currently interning this summer in an intelligence community job in DC, and the friend told her that the speaking experience in that category really was a big factor in getting that internship. It is one of the hardest categories, but would be great preparation for a political science major.</p>
<p>An excellent school for Political Science is UW-Madison. UW (Wisconsin) does not consider the intended major for admissions, as I’m sure most colleges don’t. The requirements for the major there do not require any HS background. Many/most students will change their stated major (if they have one) once they are in college. </p>
<p>In HS your son needs to meet his HS graduation requirements and those for colleges he is interested in. Most entering top colleges will have more than the minimum courses/credits required for admission. You can look at the UW freshman admissions page for an example of what most admitted students have in HS. Four years of a foreign language is good to have. Taking math so he doesn’t need to take any remedial courses in college based on placement tests is also good. Taking the social science courses available to him should interest him. His extracurricular activities should match his current interests, not be for his resume. Let him use his HS years to try/do things he won’t later. Let him enjoy his HS years as well as do the work to get the good grades.</p>
<p>Political Science / Government is one of those fields, like English, that attracts students almost everywhere and that has a plethora of great graduate programs that turn out oodles of qualified professors who get jobs all over the place. It’s not hard for any reputable college to have a decent political science department, and most of them do. As in any field, some departments are more equal than others, but I think there are perhaps hundreds of schools where an undergraduate can get good training in political science from excellent faculty. Alexandre’s and collegehelp’s lists in the other thread include 24 universities and 37 LACs, and they are nowhere near comprehensive. Those 24 universities are the ones with the tippy-top graduate programs; if your test was “universities whose political science departments are as strong as those at a top-10 LAC” the list would be dozens and dozens longer.</p>
<p>A case in point: One person I know is in her early 30s. She graduated from the University of Chicago (a place with a high-ranking graduate program) as a political science major. She is deeply engrained in her home state’s political apparatus, having run three successful congressional campaigns and a successful statewide row office campaign, and run a congressman’s district office for a number of years. She doesn’t need more entrees to political work. But she is attending (and paying for) a master’s program at a state university satellite campus several hours from where she lives, because they have some good people there she wanted to study with. It’s not a top-25, top-50, or even top-100 school, but it offers enough faculty strength to satisfy a really sophisticated consumer.</p>
<p>I am a political science professor. Most big state schools and liberal arts colleges have decent polisci departments because it’s one of the most common majors for a lot of people that want to go to law school. If that’s what your son wants, then other majors might make him more unique for law school applications -from what I have heard, but asking law professors would be a better idea-. If it turns out he wants to go into politics, I think economics and political science are great majors. </p>
<p>Check the course offerings and figure out what areas of polisci are of most interest to him. It’s such a broad field, classes can range from international political economy, to classic political theory, to American government, to international relations, that some schools might offer more classes in specific areas of polisci that he finds more interesting.</p>
<p>Thanks to every one for providing so many inputs…</p>
<p>As I can understand, taking all the required courses including the pre-requisites for colleges, volunteering, participating in debates, involved in creating high school dem/rep clubs will aid my S to become what he can do.</p>
<p>Thanks for UVW details, he seems to have his eye on George Town, but I know it is a coveted school, and he needs to do very well in school, SAT and other activities</p>
<p>I will keep reading the forum for more suggestions. He took his SAT last week, hope he could gain some experience from it and learn from his mistakes</p>
She has a friend who did a category called Extemporaneous Speaking who is currently interning this summer in an intelligence community job in DC, and the friend told her that the speaking experience in that category really was a big factor in getting that internship. It is one of the hardest categories, but would be great preparation for a political science major.</p>