Reverse Chance Me for Safeties!

College Search & Selection
1

I already know the main colleges I want to go to, but most of them are inherent reaches/kind of matches. Could y’all please help me find good safety/match schools that have nice programs in political science and philosophy? Also, I’d like colleges with nice study abroad programs or near a bigger city (like New York or DC) that may provide nice internships! Also, please chance me for my dream schools if you want (they’re Harvard, Columbia, and Georgetown SFS).

My stats:

From a not too competitive area, and I’m lower-class first generation Pakistani but I’m wishing to go into political science and philosophy (law), which stands out for my ethnicity at least where I’m from. I attend a conservative private Catholic school (ridiculously cheap and good though).

ACT: 35, not retaking. Subscores were 36, 35, 35, 32 for English, reading, math, and science respectively, with a 9 in Writing (so I really got a 34.5). Should I take it again?

Not taking SAT

SAT Subject Tests: Math I: 770 US History: 780 Will take Literature soon.

AP: US History: 5 My school doesn’t offer too many APs so that’s all I have, though I’m taking AP Latin this year.

Something special perhaps is that my school is one of the few in the nation that offers Homeric (Ancient) Greek as a class for 4 years so I don’t know if that’ll stand out or not.

GPA: Weighted: 4.73 (max for my school, but out of 5), Unweighted: 4.0

Extracurriculars:

Captain of Lincoln Douglas Debate Team, now Co-Captain of Public Forum Debate Team

President of Model UN Team; Officer on State Board, Running for Secretary General of State; Picked for and Attended National Conference Two Years in a row

Captain of Mock Trial Team

Captain of Academic Games Team; Qualified for Nationals for 7 years, won multiple titles

Founder of Philosophy Club

Work Experience: I assist my father working at the flea market when I can; I deferred my unpaid internship at the Bar Association in order to attend the National conference for Model UN as listed above. I don’t have any other “real” work experience :frowning:

2

Hamilton offers term-length programs with integrated internships in both of these cities. For this reason alone you should consider adding it to your list.

Based on your current choices, you might want to consider George Washington and American.

You wrote a nice post, @SpareDare. Wishing you luck with the rest of your search and with the results of the applications themselves.

https://www.hamilton.edu/academics/offcampusstudy/nyc

https://www.hamilton.edu/academics/offcampusstudy/washington-program

3

My son is also interested in Political Science and I have College of the Holy Cross noted as good in that area. It’s in Worcester MA, not a big city, but east coast. Also Villanova (Philly), Fordham (NYC) , University of Richmond? These all seem pretty accessible with your stats.

4

PPE and PPEL programs that might interest you:
https://ppel.richmond.edu/index.html
http://www.honorscollege.pitt.edu/academics/politics-and-philosophy-major
https://catalog.tulane.edu/catalog-15-16/majors/pecn.html
https://denison.edu/academics/philosophy-politics-economics
http://www.u.arizona.edu/~ggaus/
Also the Claremont Colleges - Pomona and CMC both have PPE majors, which Scripps students can also declare.

Pitt and Tulane both have substantial Classics offerings if that’s something you want to continue. Pitt can make a particularly good safety because of its rolling admissions policy which allows you to get a decision quickly if you apply early. It’s a great urban school some nice merit scholarships, and extensive study abroad opportunities… and the PPE major lives within the Honors College.

5

Vassar could work as well.

6

If the question is safeties (or I’d expand to include matches), then Denison in Ohio might be interesting to you – has a PPE major (Philosophy, Political Science, and Econ) as well as the Lugar Program which includes internships in US politics and International/foreign policy. Columbus – the State Capitol – is just under 30 min away, with opportunities for semester and summer internships. The student body is pretty diverse, by LAC standards, about 20% first gen and low income and I think about 35% multi racial.

I’ve heard good things about Franklin & Marshall, Gettysburg and Dickinson for Poli Sci, though none is near a major city. Pitt is another great suggestion. Macalester, in Twin Cities, MN, also worth a look as a possible match school.