This may be the wrong place to put this, but here it is.
I’m into politics and government, so obviously an Ivy League school would be my top choice. Right now, Harvard is my dream school. I would really appreciate it if y’all would take a look at my qualifications here and see if Harvard is a chance, or other good PolySci schools you think I could get into? Thank you so much.
AP Scores: US History (5), Psychology (5), US History (3), Lang/Comp (5)
Senior Year course load: AP Lit, AP Gov, AP Span 4, AP Environmental Science, AP Calc AB, Leadership
Few of my most important ECs:
Eagle Scout
Student Body President
Congressional Intern (CA-14)
City Hall Administrative Deputy
I work for the FBI (SF HQ)
Golf Captain (4 years), Basketball (2 years)
President of 2 Clubs, Founded 1 club (NHS, and got our school accreditted)
School Site Council President
Published political writer
Some other significant accomplishments in my field
California Boy’s State delegate (Model Congress)
Harvard University’s Pre-College Program student (Studied law)
Taken political science classes at my local JC every summer all of high school
Freshman class president, ASB VP, in several other clubs)
Several community service awards/award from mayor
800+ hours of community service with Sheriff’s department (politics related)
Notes:
1st gen American (Middle Eastern)
School counselor is a UC Berkeley Admissions reader, and I am writing some strong essays with her as my college counselor (will also have excellent counselor’s letter)
It’s not impossible, but you don’t fit the profile of the average Harvard admit. Test scores are low. Even with higher scores, Harvard is a long shot. With subpar scores, it becomes a long shot of a long shot.
The vast majority of people in govt did not attend an “Ivy League” school for undergrad. In the US senate the percentage is 18%. In the US House even lower. In state and local governments almost nonexistent.
Let’s see. The mayor who just left office here at the end of 2015 had his undergraduate degree from Wharton. His top advisors included a man with a BA from Brown, JD from Yale, and PhD from Penn, as well as any number of people with Penn graduate degrees. (There were probably some Penn undergraduates in there, too, but I don’t remember.) Our current governor is a Dartmouth BA and MIT PhD. One state over the current governor went to Brown. The governor of Illinois went to Dartmouth, too, and Harvard Business School. A former governor (and former mayor, and still a large presence in state and local politics) here went to Penn, and his longtime top advisers went to Swarthmore and Carleton, respectively, with Ivy League law degrees. When he was governor, I know he had at least one Duke/Penn and one Yale/Penn alum as well in his cabinet.
A well-known former mayor of Baltimore was a Yale BA, Oxford MA (Rhodes Scholar), and Harvard JD. The previous mayor of New York went to Johns Hopkins, with a Harvard MBA. His administration was shot through with Ivy graduates, as is his successor’s administration, I believe. The same is often true in Boston, and probably in San Francisco, too, especially if you accord Stanford honorary Ivy League status. And, hey, does anyone remember who was governor of Texas in the 90s?
In other words, not necessarily ubiquitous (outside of NYC), but hardly nonexistent. Someone I know very well, because I’m married to her, has two Ivy degrees and has spent meaningful stretches of her career working in state and local governments, and even more time working with state and local governments as an outside advocate and expert. Having also worked in Washington, she believes very strongly that state and local government is where you go if you actually want to accomplish things and make people’s lives better.
7 of the 50 State Governors attended an “Ivy” for undergrad (14%) and only 3 of the mayors of the 50 largest U.S. cities did (6%) If we go to smaller cities, state legislatures, and city council members, the numbers will be smaller. I say this not to be argumentative, but to point out to the OP that “Ivy” college is not at all a requirement for service in government and that his state flagship may be more useful for local politics, which is where most politicians start. Best wishes to all.
Harvard is great for a government concentration. The Institute of Politics (IOP) offers fabulous opportunities for undergrads to mingle with global leaders, attend seminars, and organize speakers.
The OP definitely needs to up his scores for consideration.
There are excellent schools in the Washington DC area if you are interested in that level of politics. You can major in government or political science at many many excellent schools. If you like Massachusetts/Boston, Tufts is great for these majors (but very selective) and also look at Boston University, Boston College, Northeastern, Brandeis, others.UMass and other state universities would also be good options.
I believe Harvard has a benchmark for scores, meaning you have to meet a certain standard to get in the pool, and then they look more deeply at each candidate. There may be exceptions, I have no idea, but you probably don’t have a “hook” that stands out that would mean you would be that exception- though your activities outside of school are intriguing.
I really would not stress about admissions to Ivy League schools. Certainly try the testing again (but not over and over again!). With the rest of your transcript and all those 5’s on AP’s you are doing great academically and your EC’s are interesting. Go ahead and apply, but just don’t get fixed on the idea that that is the only way to go for a quality experience. In fact, at a university like Harvard, many government classes will be large lectures with grad students leading discussions and grading. At a liberal arts college, you would most likely have a professor teaching and a small class. Believe it or not, UMass Boston also has small classes and prof’s teaching. Think about what you really want.
Your scores are very good. If you don’t feel they match the potential shown in the rest of your transcript, you can always apply to schools that are test optional http://fairtest.org/university/optional This list includes some top schools (Bowdoin, Bates, Brandeis, Bryn Mawr, and others just under “B” alone). You might need to include scores for merit aid.
But honestly your scores are just fine and with your record and your interests, you will be able to apply to many really great schools. In the meantime, don’t focus too much on the most elite schools, go ahead and apply, but try to keep the stress down and enjoy the rest of high school!
You might want to look into Syracuse. The Maxwell School is the number 1 ranked graduate program (and has been for many years) for Public Affairs. Undergrads have the same professors as the graduate students do. It’s also not a separate admit from A&S.
Bring up your ACT and SAT IIs. Then you might have a real chance (not saying there’s 0% chance now… but you’d need exceptionally good factors in other areas that I can’t judge on here (like recs, essays…)). May I suggest if you’re so bent on an Ivy that you ED Columbia? Or, not an Ivy, but equally prestigious, Duke?
Ditto what @JHS said. This doesn’t make any sense. The vast majority of the American government is comprised of people who didn’t attend an Ivy League college. Why does going to a prestigious university make you a good fit for government? Conversely, why does being interested in government mean you need to go to a prestigious university? Odd thing to say.
It’s “poli sci,” or “poli-sci,” not “PolySci.” Sorry for sounding pedantic, but if you make that mistake on an application, you’re dead in the water. “Poly” means “many,” whereas “poli” is obviously an abbreviation for “political.”