Daughter wants to study politics. Very motivated kid. We have toured Lewis and Clark plus Baylor. Will be checking out Grinnell and some other place in Iowa very soon. I am not a college graduate. I’m trying to learn the ropes here.
What is your home state?
What are your daughters test scores (include SAT breakdown) and GPA?
How much can you pay each year?
Have you run the Net Price Calculator found on each schools’ website to give you an idea of how much each school will cost you?
What schools are on your Dau’s list?
“Politics” can be studied across majors such as government, public policy, world politics and political science; and subfields such as American politics, comparative politics, international relations and political philosophy. Your daughter’s interests will guide her as to what to look for. Colleges with semesters in Washington, D.C. should be given additional consideration. If you supply some basic information about her academic background and preferences in general, posters will offer suggestions for schools to research further. Of her current choices, I believe Grinnell and Lewis & Clark are strong in the field.
Or colleges in DC or with proximity to state capitols. Agee, provide the requested info above, and we can make suggestions.
Most books about college admissions will talk about “fit”, how to find a college that is affordable and offers the environment that is a good match for what your kid wants. One such book I recommend is “Admission Matters”. You can see the Table of Contents here: http://www.admissionmatters.com/the-book/table-of-contents.html
You are already doing things right by visiting some schools with your D. Here are a few ideas…
-Decide if you have any limitations on where you D goes. Do that now. Those can include financial, geographic or anything else that is important to you. If there are limits, talk to her about them honestly and do not look at schools that don’t fall within your comfort zone.
–Be honest with yourself/your D about what schools she is likely to get into with her stats. If your HS has Naviance that is a very good tool.
–If finances are a consideration run the net price calculator on schools you are looking at. If she wants merit aid, she should consider some schools where her stats fall in the top 25% for the school.
-Once your D sees a few different schools try to get a sense from her of what she likes in terms of size of school, location of school (both geographically as well as if it is in a city/suburb/rural area,) as well as other things like Greek life or not, religious or not, big time sports or not etc. She may have some overlap (ex. like medium and small schools, and not caring either way if the college has a religious component) and that is normal. Try to focus future visits on schools that have what she want not only academically but for her overall college experience.
–The Supermatch function on the left on CC can be helpful.
–We also got some college guide books (I like Fiske, Princeton Review, Insiders Guide) to read up on some schools that seemed to make sense. You D may be able to borrow these books (and/or other similar ones) from her guidance dept., they are at many public libraries, or you can go to a bookstores and sneak a peek and maybe buy the one you like best.
– If she wants politics, think about schools that may be in a location where she might get internships or that might have a semester in Washington DC or something like that.
Good luck. This is an imperfect process so don’t stress about doing everything exactly right – nobody does!!!
Btw, I didn’t mean to slight Baylor (post #2). I simply didn’t know enough about their program to comment on it.
Wellesley College has the Albright Institute.