Need some target schools

College Search & Selection
1

Hello, I am a junior in high school looking for some good target schools. I am very interested in politics and foreign affairs and think I might want to major in something in that field. Here is some information about me: (I also think I can do well in any admissions interview)

After this year I will have taken 5 AP classes and I have registered for 6 APs next year. These are the APs I will have taken by the time I graduate: psychology, environmental science, us history, language and composition, government and politics (half credit), comparative government (half credit), microeconomics (half credit), macroeconomics (half credit), european history, human geography, calculus ab, computer science, and literature. I will also be taking Mandarin Chinese 4 next year and have been taking Chinese for all of high school, which is an honors class.

Weighted GPA of 4.67 out of 5.0 (which does not include my grades from this year yet)
Unweighted GPA of about 3.8 (which also does not include my grades from this year).
Class rank: top 6%
ACT Score: 27 (which will improve once I take it for a second time, and hopefully the ACT will grant my extra time request)
SAT score: 1380

I have a lot of extracurriculars as well. I was just elected as president of my school’s National Honor Society for next year and I am also in the Chinese Honor Society. I am planning to run for co-president of the student body at my school (which I think I will win). I am the Co-President of the Chinese Club and a service club. I am on my city council’s youth council which attends city council meetings and does a lot of charity work, and I am a youth ambassador for Habitat for Humanity. I’ve ran track and cross country since I’ve been in high school as well. I am in the economics club, was in the philanthropy club at my old school in 9th grade, and a member of the Teenage Republicans Club at my school. In 9th grade I organized a Student vs Faculty basketball game for charity and I plan to organize a dodgeball tournament for charity this year.

I held a job at a fast food restaurant for some time in the beginning of the school year, which I ended up quitting to focus more on school. I also started my own politically themed apparel website during the elections which made good profits considering how little time I put into it.

I am conservative and I am planning to start a political website with my liberal friend, where we will both write our views about certain issues and put them up on the website side by side. I am also going to apply for an internship at my senators office this summer and try to become a senate page for my state’s general assembly.

Another thing I am doing is talking with a member of my school board to have something created called the school board youth committee. I would most likely end up being the first chairman of it if the school board decides to approve of the idea. We would organize service projects to benefit the school system and also give our feedback to the board about how solutions in the school system could be solved. It would be made up of students from each public high school in my county.

I have applied to receive extra time for the ACT so my score would improve if they grant that to me and I believe my GPA is going to improve once my grades from this year are averaged into my current GPA.

Please let me know what schools you think I should look at, thanks for your input!

2

Also, I am conservative, but I have no problem being surrounded by and making friends with people of different beliefs. Most of my current friends right now are liberals so I’m not too worried.

School size and location does not really matter to me, but I’d like to be surrounded by other motivated people.

3

bump

4

Definitely check out GWU and American.

5

Just wondering how one gets extra time on the ACT. Do you have a documented learning disability?

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@citymama9 I have bad ADHD and college board has granted me extra time, so I figured I’d apply for the ACT.

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bump

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@randomstudent789 When are you applying for ACT accommodations? My daughter applied toward the end of her junior year and was told she was given accommodations within a week (although I don’t think they are always that fast). She was denied accommodations from the College Board, for reasons I can’t fathom.
Your GPA is good but you need to get the test scores up. Was the 1380 on the SAT with extended time?

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@Emsmom1 I am very surprised that your daughter received accommodations with the ACT but not College Board. I have already applied for the ACT and I did take the SAT with extra time. I’m also not too confident I will get extra time for the ACT.

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We were surprised, as well. Her guidance counselor did not think she’d receive accommodations from ACT but she did. Let me know how it goes with getting extended time on the ACT. Good luck!

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@Emsmom1 Thanks!

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U of Maryland would probably be good with its proximity to DC

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@philbegas Do you know anything about their international affairs program?

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Would I be able to get into NYU?

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Not specifically,

https://bsosundergrad.umd.edu/international-relations/study-international

A comment about your desire to be surrounded by motivated people: It would be worth it to check out honors colleges at the schools you’re applying to. At some schools, that means special dorms, honors courses with smaller class sizes, advisors, etc.

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@philbegas thank you for the link