Agree with the Holy Cross, Trinity recos. And not safeties by any means, but I would take a hard look at Claremont McKenna (and Pomona) if SoCal could be a possibility.
I agree with pretty much all of that, @aquapt 
Are UCD (probably match) and CSU Sacramento (very likely) on your application list? Proximity to the state capital may be an advantage in terms of observing politics.
Certain areas within the study of government, mostly notably those related to public policy, rely substantially on the field of economics for a foundation. For this reason you may want to view this analysis when considered LAC options:
I did not apply EA to Georgetown, but I will be applying regular decision on January 10th.
I applied to a scholarship program called QuestBridge and essentially applied ED (binding) to reach schools through their “National College Match”.
I have considered the UCs and CSUs looking at in-state tuition, and realize some of them could be true safeties for me, but honestly aside from the reach ones (LA, Berkeley, etc.) I honestly do not see myself enjoying my time or receiving the education I am seeking there.
Conversely, one safety I was considering, Hillsdale College in Michigan, I believe will provide me with the education I want, but the location is really holding me back (kind of out in nowhere, no opportunities).
However, thank you everyone for the feedback and discussion; I believe I have a lot of potential things to look into.
Oh, good! I was thinking that you should have done Questbridge, but figured there was no point bringing it up at this point. I hope you get a Match offer!!! (And I’m sure you know that you can still apply RD via the Questbridge app to eligible schools, as well.)
As suggested above, UC Davis has terrific opportunities for Poli Sci and should really be on your list. A lot of students don’t appreciate how great Davis is unless/until they visit. Some of the most brilliant kids my daughters went to school with have ended up there. A few of those had their hearts set on UCLA or Berkeley until post-admission visits, and then ended up turning down those schools for Davis after visiting. Definitely don’t sell UCD short as an option. Poli Sci students get great state-government internships in Sacramento, and there’s a DC semester program as well.
What specifically is appealing about Hillsdale? (If we understand what you like about it, that may help us to identify other good fits.)
If you are a QB finalist, you have an above 50% chance of being accepted to one of the QB partner colleges - 17% of all finalists get the QB match scholarship to one of their ranked colleges, and 42% of the rest are accepted to one of the QB partner colleges with really good financial aid.
So you are correct - you have no need of any more reaches or high matches.
I heard of Hillsdale at Boys State, where a counselor told me about their mandatory class on the study of the Constitution, and raved about how much they liked it, which gave me a sense of what their core academics were like. I watched a bunch of lectures by Hillsdale professors on youtube, and the topics and everything they were saying were very interesting to me. I think it’s mainly that I understand that Hillsdale is a politically active and aware campus, and is capable of providing with knowledge and opportunities to further my interest in the direction of Polisci and law, etc.
I’ll have to look into UC Davis more; I know that it’s almost always overlooked as the worst UC (besides Merced), but I forgot about its relativity to Sacramento.
And yes, hopefully QuestBridge goes well, ( @MWolf where did you find that statistic? They seem pretty high and reassuring) but I still need to find schools that I can get into that I would ACTUALLY attend and have a good time.
An online encyclopedia reports the ultimate “matching” figure for QuestBridge finalists as 46.1% (13% plus 33.1%). However, your indicated academic preparation significantly surpasses that of typical finalists (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/QuestBridge). If you’d like to say, how many schools did you rank?
Hillsdale’s strongest offerings appear to be in history. If that appeals to you, your interest in the school seems appropriate.
In terms of “ranking” the UC’s, Davis is solidly in the middle. Merced is the least competitive, followed by Riverside and Santa Cruz. Davis, Santa Barbara, Irvine, and San Diego are really all peer schools, with competitiveness varying by program/department. All of the UC’s are excellent schools, but even for those who split hairs among them, Davis is a well-respected choice with an ever-growing reputation. Plus, you might have a shot at their University Honors Program, which might particularly appeal to you https://honors.ucdavis.edu/
Hillsdale really isn’t a financial safety unless there’s a particular full-ride scholarship you’d be a candidate for. Their regular need-based aid only meets 65% of documented need on average. Are you particularly looking for a more conservative philosophy like theirs, or just for the focus on government and policy generally? If you can put aside your desire to get out of California, Claremont-McKenna might really appeal to you. Did you rank CMC on your Questbridge app?
I ranked 5 schools for the QuestBridge National College Match, and I did not rank CMC. I will do more research on it though; I basically know nothing about it currently.
And of course, getting out of California is not a must, but merely a preference.
Thank you so much for your detailed responses.
The average college student changes their major 3 times before settling on something to study. You never want to choose a school based on something you want to do coming out of high school, because I guarantee, you’ll change your mind, and find out the school is a complete mismatch. Part of the maturation process is finding undiscovered passions, so you need a school that has some flexibility.
Above anything else, you need to choose a school you know can afford. Otherwise you’re not going there no matter how prestigious it is. Second, the idea behind college is to gain marketable job skills. Unless you’re planning law school or academia, there’s very little you can do to make a practical career out of political science. You’ll want to consider perhaps a double major in something more marketable.
Safety with Political Science and willing to give lots of aid? Drew University in NJ, just outside NYC. They offer a United Nations Semester - http://www.drew.edu/global-education/about-us/nyctrecs/ and a Washington Politics semester through George Washington.
Not everyone is an average college student who changes major three times.
Also, choosing a college that does not offer good programs in your intended or possible majors is not a good idea, since you could be forced to change major or transfer if you stay in your major of interest.
@boichoi Here:
For 2018: https://www.questbridge.org/high-school-students/national-college-match/opportunities
They have stats for 2013-2017 on their “AskQB!” site, which is a .com site, so the CC is identifying it as an ad website, and I cannot provide a link. Look up “AskQB!”, and then post the query “my chances of gaining admission to a QuestBridge partner college”. It will be the first result.
On average (2013-2018), almost 14% of the finalists have been matched. However, the percent has been climbing steadily. It was 9% in 2013, 12% in 2014, 13.4% in 2015, 14.4% in 2016, 15.9% in 2017, and 16% in 2018. The RD acceptances went from 32.7% of the finalists in 2013, to 34.7% of the finalists in 2017 (they didn’t give decent number in 2018). Not as much of a change, but since a higher percent of finalists were accepted ED, the percent of the finalists who weren’t selected ED, but were selected RD, was more pronounced.
The percent of finalists who were accepted ED or RD increased from 41.7% in 2013 to 50.6% in 2017.
I con’t know whether it was because of an increase in partner colleges or because of willingness of colleges to accept more QB finalists.
Check out Lewis & Clark in Portland. Nice city for college students and a good polysci program. Also has special programs and auto-admit to L&C School of Law if that is of interest. They will almost certainly offer you some merit aid-- possibly significant. It’s a lovely campus. ~55% acceptance rate.
The advice is kind of all over the place. A safety is only a safety if it meets 3 criteria. It has to be a safe bet for admissions. It has to have the major you’re interested in. And it has to be affordable. Unless you have a lot of money set aside, or a guaranteed scholarship in writing, private schools are NEVER a safety. If you put a bunch of private schools as your safeties, there’s a good chance you’ll get short-changed in financial aid and spend your freshman year at a community college.
You won’t get the financial aid for an out of state public, and private schools vary too much to be reliable. You need to add some affordable California schools on your safety list.
^^ This is another way of saying what I said up-thread: your true safeties will be in-state. Clearly you’re in the top 9% of your class and will be ELC-eligible, so you’re guaranteed admission to a UC. Only admission to Merced is guaranteed, but I’d consider it highly unlikely that Merced will be the only UC you get into. UCSF is absolutely a safety, so between that and the ELC guarantee, you’re well covered.
In terms of private schools, the ones that can be counted on to be affordable (because of guaranteed full-need-met financial aid) will be reaches for admission. The ones that can be counted on for admission are not guaranteed to be affordable. You certainly can apply to admissions safeties that you like, such as Hillsdale; you just won’t know until after you’re accepted whether they’ll give you enough aid to attend or not. That doesn’t necessarily mean you shouldn’t apply - who knows, maybe you’ll get an awesome scholarship. But have an amount you’re willing/able to pay in mind, and consider attending only if their offer gets you to that price or below.
There are three exceptions to “you won’t get the financial aid for an out of state public” - UMichigan, UVA, and UNC Chapel Hill. All are reaches for admission and should be considered in the same category with private reach schools - run the NPC and consider applying only if the result is favorable.
As for choice of majors - true, an undergrad poli sci degree isn’t an automatic ticket to a particular career path; but it can be a fine foundation for any number of pursuits. A college with good internship opportunities can help open doors after graduation. (And many of the well-endowed “reach” schools that would give you good FA also have programs that fund internships, so that students can get paid to work for organization that couldn’t otherwise afford to pay them. This is a feature to look for. Example: https://www.cmc.edu/career-services/sie-program )
There are companion skill-sets like Data Analytics that can boost employment prospects. (Denison, mentioned up-thread, has a particularly interesting Data Analytics program which can include a poli sci concentration.) But if you’re a dyed-in-the-wool political-theory scholar or policy wonk… definitely look for schools where you can pursue that passion with like-minded peers - as well as some who intelligently challenge your perspectives.
UVA, the only public Questbridge school, has a number of programs that might interest you (if the NPC result is good):
https://politics.virginia.edu/our-two-majors/
https://batten.virginia.edu/academics/undergraduate-programs/bachelor-arts-public-policy-leadership/bachelor-arts-public-policy
http://ppl.virginia.edu/
It’s no less of a reach than the elite privates, for a high-need OOS student, but it’s potentially a good route into DC careers if that’s your goal.
At CMC, the five most popular majors are Econ, Government, Psych, International Relations, and PPE (Philosophy, Politics, & Economics)… so a large portion of the student body shares your interests. It’s much more of a party school than Hillsdale, though - no idea whether that’s a pro or a con for you 
UCSF has only professional and graduate programs.
Sorry, mis-typed - I meant SFSU