Chance and Match Me! Poli Sci/IR Major, TX Resident, 4.0 GPA, 34 ACT, 3 APs, and 7 Semesters of Dual-Credit [top 4% rank]

Chance Me / Match Me
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Hi, I’m a rising senior from a rural Texas town and would like to see where I sit when it comes to admissions chances and prospects. My favorite choice right now is Notre Dame: I loved the campus, it’s band, and it’s Poli Sci program. UT Austin and USD are my next top contenders, but I’m also open to any recomendations! All of the information is current through the end of my Junior year, but I have also listed the classes that I will be taking my senior year. Thanks in advance!
Demographics

  • US domestic student
  • State of residency: Texas
  • Type of high school: Rural Public

Cost Constraints / Budget
Cost is a minor concern, but not crucial to my decision. I should be eligible for most need based financial aid/should receive quite a few scholarships and my parents are commited to covering remaining cost as best as they can.

Intended Major(s)

  • Political Science or International Relations
  • Possibly minor in music or a foreign language

GPA, Rank, and Test Scores

  • Unweighted HS GPA: 4.0
  • Class Rank: 3/82
  • ACT/SAT Scores: 34 ACT/1450 SAT

List your HS coursework
I took/will take 3 of 4 the APs my school offers, 6 Honors Classes, and 7 semesters of Dual-Credit College (by January). I’m sure I missed some classes in the list below, but it covers most of them.

  • English (4 Yrs.): Honors English I, Honors English II, AP Literature, Dual-Credit English (2 semesters)
  • Math (6 Yrs.): Honors Algebra I, Algebra II, Honors Pre-Calculus, AP Calculus, Geometry, Dual Credit Algebra (1 semester), Dual-Credit Statistics (1 Semester)
  • Science (4 Yrs.): Honors Biology, Chemistry, AP Biology, Honors Anatomy & Physiology
  • History and social studies (4.5 Yrs.): World Geography, World History, Dual Credit US History (2 semesters), Dual-Credit Texas Government (1 semester), Dual-Credit US Government (2 semesters)
  • Language other than English (2 Yrs.): Spanish I, Spanish II
  • Visual or performing arts (4 Years): Band (4 Years)
  • Other academic courses: Dual-Credit Public Speaking, Dual-Credit Economics, and 4 Years of Business Management courses

Awards

  • Most Outstanding Student x3
  • College Board National Recognition Program x3 (Hispanic/Rural School/School Rec.)
  • Band Award
  • Student of the Month x2

Extracurriculars

  • American Legion Boys State:
  • National BETA Club: Chapter Treasurer x2/Chapter President, Placed in French at State, 30+ Hours of Volunteer Work
  • Business Professionals of America:
  • NHS: Chapter President, 20+ Hours of Volunteer Work
  • Marching Band: Section Leader x2/Assistant Drum Major/Head Drum Major, State Solo-Ensemble Contest Qualifier x5/All-Region Band
  • UIL Mathamatics: 2nd in District Individual/2nd Place Team
  • UIL Congress: Team Captain
  • Boy Scouts: Senior Patrol Leader/Life Scout Rank
  • Archery: State Tournament Qualifier x2

Schools

  • UT Austin (Auto-admit, but not sure about getting into the Poli Sci/IR program)
  • University of San Diego
  • University of Notre Dame

Edited by moderator for privacy

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Congratulations on building a strong profile in high school! Most colleges in the U.S. would be happy to have you as a student!

Some schools are more generous in defining need than others. Seeing whether the Net Price Calculator at U. of Notre Dame results in a price that is affordable is important. Most scholarships come from the universities themselves, so selecting colleges where you are likely to receive sufficient merit (and/or need-based) aid to make the school affordable is important. And covering remaining costs could mean anything from needing to cover $10k or $50k or $90k. And no matter how much we may want to do something, we (including us parents) are not always able to do it. Even if we’re willing and able to take out loans for a year or two, we may no longer qualify for loans for years three and four, leaving a student in a tough situation. Additionally, taking out parent loans can mean placing oneself in a very precarious position financially, especially for retirement.

It’s great that you’ve got enough time to have an honest conversation with your family about budget so that your college list can be filled with schools that will be affordable, should you receive an acceptance. An unaffordable acceptance results in the same outcome as an outright rejection, so it’s important to keep unaffordable acceptances to a minimum (and preferably nonexistent).

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So there are a lot of great options you could consider. I am just going to sketch out some possibilities but then if you give us feedback on what sounds most promising, we could focus on those. Note you should check NPCs for all of these, and in general OOS public programs are not always competitive on cost–but a few have merit as noted below.

OK, first, since you liked Notre Dame and the University of San Diego and are interested in Politics and IR, you could look at some other Catholic colleges, not least Jesuit colleges. Almost as a rule they are strong in Poli Sci, and often IR too, because of the role they have historically played. By far the most obvious suggestion would be Georgetown, which also makes the DC-centric list (see below). But BC is sort of like Notre Dame in that it has a lot of real sports. Fordham is in NYC which has a lot of political and international stuff going on as well. Loyola Chicago and Loyola Marymount (LA) are also each in one of the top global cities in the US. And there are more.

OK, second theme, as mentioned you could do a DC-centric search. For obvious reasons, many colleges in the DC orbit feature strong Politics and IR programs, and have a lot of well-placed alums. Again, Georgetown is the most obvious suggestion on this list as well, but for sure you could consider GW and American. William & Mary is also basically a DC orbit school, and a really attractive university in a variety of ways to the right kid (which may or may not be you, but might be worth investigating; also limited OOS merit but there is some). I also like to mention Gettysburg as an option, which is a Liberal Arts and Science College (LAC), not a research university. But it also leverages its DC proximity, not least through the Eisenhower Institute:

OK, then you could also do an IR-specific theme outside of just the DC options. I like to point people with that interest to the Foreign Policy survey-based rankings, not least because they actually break out undergrad programs separately:

I wouldn’t take the exact rankings too seriously, but these can generate interesting ideas. Like Tufts is a private a lot of IR kids specifically consider. The University of Denver, at the Korbel School, has a great program–and robust merit as well. And so on.

Yet another theme–state capitals. This is a great way to get proximity to a lot of possible experience opportunities, and many universities and colleges in those locations have robust Politics and sometimes IR.

Obviously this is where the University of Texas fits (and very well). But the Twin Cities are another great larger-city state capital, and there you could look at the University of Minnesota (which has OOS merit), or Macalester, a really nice LAC, and so on. Ohio State is in Columbus, another larger city, and you might look at nearby Denison and Kenyon for LACs. The University of Wisconsin is in Madison, a great college town and state capital. Michigan State (has OOS merit) is basically in Lansing, the capital of Michigan (technically MSU is East Lansing, but same effect). The University of Richmond is a very interesting LAC in the state capital of Virginia, sometimes with excellent merit. Again, lots more colleges can fit this theme.

So those are some just some ideas of possible themes for a search.

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You mention Spanish to level 2, while your user name suggests that you may know some French. Would either be the language of interest (either could be helpful in international relations)?

But some colleges may want to see a higher level than level 2, and a higher level would allow for more advanced placement in college.

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Thanks for the info! We have sat down and utilized the net price calculators for quite a few schools, and many of them provided promising results. I’ll keep everything you mentioned in mind!

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Thank you for all of the recomendations! I have strongly considered Georgetown, and even took a campus tour, but I wasn’t sure that I could be a competitive candidate compared to other profiles I’ve seen. Georgetown will go back on my list, and I’ll definitely look more into the other schools you mentioned.

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  1. Submit your ACT, as it’s stronger than your SAT.
  2. USD does not guarantee to meet full need for all accepted students…and they don’t. I think you need a clearer annual dollar amount that your parents will contribute.
  3. There are a number of colleges that have semesters in DC…William and Mary, College of Charleston, James Madison. Not sure any of these will meet your family price point (whatever that is). I do think you would get good merit aid at College of Charleston.
  4. American University is another option. You have a good chance for merit aid there, but you need to show interest in this college.
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I am half hispanic and Spanish is my father’s first langauge, and though and speak it very basically I am nowhere near fluent. I started learning french on a whim (to compete at BETA convention) and though I love the language so far, I have yet to take it further than Duolingo lessons and an occaisonal french song. In short, those would both be languages I’m interested in.

I would have loved to taken more advanced language classes, but my high school only offers one language, Spanish, and the most advanced level is 2.

Thanks for the response!

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IR or Government at UT should be pretty likely with this profile, not assured but I would suspect you’d get it. Most who are top 5% applying for a liberal arts major get their first choice, and if you don’t, you can usually declare a non-impacted COLA major like IR or Government.

I would advise you to explore your options at UT. UT has at least four different majors that could fit your description, depending on what specific part of government/IR you’re interested in. Look into

IRG
Government
Civics Honors
LBJ
(And Plan II)

Government is the most straightforward Political Science program. LBJ focuses more on policy analysis. IRG is international relations, with a unique interdisciplinary approach. Civics Honors (which is, coincidentally, funded by a right-wing think tank) focuses on the intellectual and classical underpinnings of the West.

I actually have a pretty similar profile, which I’ll link here

Seconding applying to Georgetown, and what NiceUnparticularMan said.

I’ll add a few reachier schools that have particularly strong Political Science programs

Emory–in a state capital, and has access to the Carter Center–a world-class research center for peace studies and political science

Dartmouth–one that is looking specifically for rural students, and that has the Davidson Institute for Global Security and a dedicated program for DC interning

Washington and Lee–small school (~1400 students) in Virginia, and with the Shepherd Program, an integrated poverty studies minor, and a host of DC events and opportunities (this school has produced three Supreme Court justices)

Good luck!

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