My son is a rising senior interested in political science. He’s fairly certain he would like to attend a liberal arts college near or in a city. (But he’s open to larger universities, as well. ) Can you please offer some suggestions? Here’s some relevant info:
ACT: 31
GPA: 3.4
Extracurricular activities are his strong point:
Debate, 3 years (placed 3rd in national competition)
Robotics, 3 years (made it to the super competitive World Festival 2 different years);
Entrepreneur: helped create and patent an innovative product for kids and sold it to a major company
Internship: currently working on the senate campaign of a respected politician
Career interests: law, progressive politics, think tanks, research
Ideas as to which schools might be a stretch, a good fit or a sure thing would be much appreciated. Thanks!
P.S. He already visited and really liked Claremont McKenna and Pomona, but I fear they’re out of reach, given his
GPA. I’ve heard great things about Vassar, Haverford, Bowdoin, and Hampshire but we haven’t had time to visit yet. He wouldn’t thrive in a cutthroat environment because he devotes too much time to extracurricular activities. He doesn’t want excessive breadth requirements. He’s very motivated to do well when he’s doing something he loves, but when he’s taking a class in a subject he hates (math, science), he struggles to stay focused.
Reed is a reach, but my son was waitlisted with comparable stats and interests. My son got into Pitzer and Occidental. Pitzer’s acceptance rate isn’t that much higher than CMC’s, but they like a range of students, and especially ones who can pay full freight. Oxy is pretty strong in poli. sci., etc. Colorado College, New College of Florida, Goucher, Eugene Lang/New School, and possibly Lake Forest are all well within reach for him. If he’s open to the idea of a Catholic college, don’t rule out Fordham (either main, Rose Hill campus or Lincoln Center): it’s pretty progressive on most political issues. Tulane is within reach (my son got in, but they offered no money at all; the same was true of Pitzer). Willamette, University of Puget Sound, Guilford, and Eckerd are all probably safe for your son. Willamette, Guilford, and Eckerd all offered my son very generous merit scholarships. They are all in semi-urban areas, and most of them have pretty liberal campus cultures. Willamette is located across the street from the Oregon State House, and so students there have abundant opportunities for internships within a progressive, bellwether state. My son is also a progressive activist, and he is finding plenty to occupy himself with in purplish Florida (he attends New College).
In the DC area he could consider Washington College (though >1 hour away) as it wouldn’t be a reach/stretch school but yet has strong academics and community. In DC itself George Washington and American. I also agree with Lewis and Clark, Willamette, and Puget sound for the Pacific NW.
Not on a coast, but Trinity U is in San Antonio and is fine LAC that would be a likely admit for a kid with your son’s stats. They have a huge endowment and very nice facilities (including a fabulous new science center). Not sure about their Poly Sci, but with all that robotics stuff your son has done, you might be interested to know they offer an engineering science major, which is unusual for a LAC. Also, seeing progressive politics as an interest, you might also be comforted to hear that, despite being in TX, it’s apparently quite a liberal campus.
What are the chances he might reconsider the geography? Lawrence, Kalamazoo and Knox would all be terrific schools for someone looking for collaborative, inclusive environment. Kalamazoo has few gen ends…
The challenge (as a midwest family looking at LACs) is that east coast LACs are so popular, the admissions stats are sky high. We had to come to terms with the realization that schools like Hford, Vassar, Bowdoin etc are out of reach, and a student with a 3.4 and 31 would similarly not be a good match (or even reach) for those schools.
Goucher, Conn Coll, Bard, Sarah Lawrence could be worth a look on the east coast. Whitman, Lewis & Clark on the west coast might be possibles.
Also St Lawrence in upstate NY would be well within reach admissions wise, but I am not sure how closely it matches his academic/EC interests although government is one of the most popular majors according to their website. Excellent school in a beautiful location, would have to give up the city though!
I also suggest he apply to Pitzer if he liked Pomona and Claremont McKenna. It might be easier for him to get into and he can take classes at any of the other consortium schools.
CMC and Pitzer students are very different–though you can enroll across the consortium, you still live on your home school. A student who really likes CMC may not be happy at Pitzer (and vice-versa).
Glad you already have Macalester on your list. You said he’d be open to some larger universities–how about U of Rochester? Tufts?
He should take a look at Whitman if interested in liberal arts colleges and the PNW. His GPA is lower than the median but they LOVE independent thinkers and doers. The academics are excellent. It has a great debate team and the student body is welcoming and collaborative. Walla Walla is a charming small city.
He may find Eckerd College to be of interest. It is located in St. Petersurg. Many of the students are progressive, liberal, politcally and environmentally aware. Eckerd offers a major in political science. Look at their main page, click on majors and then political science for the objectives, courses, internships and study abroad offerings. They offer a spring into summer Geneva trip to the Hague, the London study center, internship in the UK in Parliment, local internships, a model UN club, SIFE (student in free enterprise) organization that competes in regional and national competitions.