Which schools that are known for having the best political science programs in the US are in my range for safeties, targets, and reaches could I get in with these stats? Note, political science NOT IR.
GPA: 4.0 weighted (probably 4.1 or a bit over when applying)/3.7 unweighted
SAT: 1450
ECs: 4 years varsity cross country and track, 4 years high school musical, been in band and made music, held 2 jobs at various points, lots of volunteer service (including weeks building homes in Dominican), Boy’s State, National Student Leadership Conference
LORs: two most articulate teachers in school
APs: US History, US Gov, World History (taken online, not offered at school), Literature, Environmental Science
Every time I look up best schools for political science almost nothing comes up except for the Niche list, and I want some second opinions. I really appreciate it!
Why not think about this from an “all politics are local” perspective? Just about any of the universities in D.C.will give you a front row seat to political action. Take your pick. Your state flagship can also open doors to your state delegation. If you already have a cause (environment, immigration, etc. )choose a place where you might be able to contribute quickly. If you have strong political preferences, look for a school that is aligned. Also, do you have any financial restrictions?
Georgetown, GW and American would be excellent and represent a range of selectivity.
For colleges with strong government/public policy programs, but with a greater undergraduate emphasis, look into Bates, Bowdoin, Claremont McKenna, Holy Cross, Davidson, Dickinson, Gettysburg, Hamilton, Kenyon, Macalester and Trinity (CT). At least two from this group offer term-length programs in D.C. Some may offer “public affairs” type centers on campus.
Syracuse, a fairly safe admit for you, would be another school that would be strong in your area of academic interest.
I am a bit more interested in the theory/possibly using it as a segue into law then in immediately getting into politics. I would like to someday possibly work in government or as a politician, but just for reference my immediate goal is not work on the Hill , I’m picking based on the program more than location (I can always intern there during the summer anyway). Also don’t really plan to continue living in my state post-college, so my state delegation is not of utmost concern. Little financial restrictions, obviously it is a factor, but if the school makes sense we can make it work.
Amherst or Williams are probably reaches for you. But worth a shot. Hamilton, Colgate, Holy Cross all have solid government/poli-sci offerings. HC has a number of alumni on the hill too: http://news.holycross.edu/blog/2011/10/04/hc-tops-u-s-colleges-with-of-alumni-in-congress/ Not sure of the offerings at UCLA or UNC, but they’re both excellent schools and large research universities at that, so I’m they’re solid.
Yeah it’s really a matter of figuring out which reaches I do have some chance at (even if unlikely) and are worth it for my program. I don’t want to apply to TONS of schools, so if a school has almost no chance taking me there’s no point. And also finding some more targets is probably important (I have safeties figured out I think). The schools listed that I would think of as target that are in areas that I’d want to be in (with some colleges in certain areas excluded for financial or location reasons) that have been suggested in this thread are Holy Cross, Hamilton, Trinity, and Colgate though that’s still probably a reach.
Also I am familiar with Hamilton and Colgate but have questions about Holy Cross and Trinity. Is Holy Cross particularly religious? I know most Jesuit schools aren’t but I mean it’s in the name, which just makes me a tad skeptical. And I don’t know really anything about Trinity but doing some research, a lot of kids really seem to dislike the area. Still worth taking a trip to it?
OP, Are you a recruitable runner? If not, Amherst and Williams will be a super stretch with those stats - unfortunately, they get tons of 1500+ SAT and 3.9 UW GPA applicants.
Hamilton and Colgate should be low reaches.The reason I say Hamilton is a low reach is that the average accepted ACT for this year’s class was a 33 and your GPA is a little low. I assume Colgate is similar. Holy Cross and Trinity should be low matches. Have you considered Bates as it profiles in between Hamilton and Trinity?
Not a recruitable runner nor do I want to be, sadly, sigh there were some people on Naviance who got into these with similar stats but thinking about it they were probably athletes.
I’m just concerned that Bates is isolated and miserably freezing. Is that fairly accurate? Also do you know of any others that are sort of in between those two stats wise besides it?
Also, there are some other schools I am interested in as targets, but I don’t know how their political science is (I also could be wrong about them being targets), but they are: Tulane, Fordham, U of Miami, Occidental, and Lehigh. Is polisci strong at any of these? I just ask as their average GPAs are all around mine and I am familiar with them. Thank you.
Regarding Trinity, they’d be strong for both political science and for history, should that discipline be an associated interest of yours. A visit might inform you as to whether the school appears to be suffering from issues related to its location or perhaps might be on the rise from invigorating leadership and planning. Architecturally, Long Walk would be worth seeing. That said, Trinity has had some recent problems related to their setting, and you might be more dependent on college security there than you would be at alternative options.
@robertobaz2
Holy Cross is no more or no less religious than other Jesuit schools like BC, G’town or Fordham, (though the name may make it sound like it is). In fact, only one theology class is required, whereas other Catholic schools require two. The Political Science department is very strong, and a few years back Princeton review named it one of the best poli sci departments at a liberal arts school.
Great Schools for Political Science/Government Majors American University
• Amherst College
• Bard College (NY)
• Bates College
• Bowdoin College
• Brigham Young University (UT)
• Bryn Mawr College
• Carleton College
• Claremont McKenna College
• College of the Holy Cross
• Columbia University
• Davidson College
• Dickinson College
• Drew University
• Furman University
• George Mason University
• The George Washington UniversityGeorgetown University
• Gettysburg College
• Gonzaga University
• Harvard College
• Kenyon College
• Macalester College
• Princeton University
• Stanford University
• Swarthmore College
• Syracuse University
• University of Arizona
• University of California—Berkeley
• University of California—Los Angeles
• University of Washington
• Vassar College
• Yale University
yeah niche’s does seem pretty strong outside of a few rankings that had me kind of second-guessing it. and seeing the princeton review one there is one school on there that i live by and know firsthand is not doing too hot as a school so yeah that does cast a bit of doubt.
also, another question. according to Niche’s list U of Richmond should be something to highly consider because it is very highly ranked and at least according to Naviance is a good target. my fear is that it’s a lot of conservative preppy kids as that seems to be the stereotype and it would not be a great environment. is that largely true?
