Chance + match a New England rising senior as she rants and raves [Political Science, 3.98 GPA, 1450 SAT]

Chance Me / Match Me
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hello and welcome! in this post i talk way too much and also accidentally didn’t follow the exact template, but all the information you need should be somewhere below. i hope you enjoy(?) and i would appreciate any comments to the ends of the earth. i’ll do my best to answer any and all questions. thank you!

Demographics:
female, US citizen, northeastern US, upper middle class. my parents divorced when i was 5 but i wasn’t sold to one direction so my backstory isn’t tragic otherwise.

i go to a public school with ~1500 people and it’s strong academically but not especially competitive. the average SAT score is something like 1150. we’ve historically sent 3-5 people to ivies each year.

Intended Major(s): political science, aka PPE, politics, government, what have you, on a pre-law track. i’d appreciate a flexible curriculum because i may consider a minor in history, a foreign language, or even fine arts at some point in college.

Academic Stats:

UW GPA: 3.98/4.33; W 4.4/5.0

Class rank: school doesn’t report. my most generous estimate is top 20%

SAT: 1450 (770 RW, 680 M), probably won’t retake

Coursework:

10 total APs after senior year

5 on euro, which i took in sophomore year

awaiting scores on ap lang, apush, stat, and us gov. pretty sure i passed all of them (knock on wood)

senior year courseload: ap lit, physics 1, psych, comp, and spanish, as well as honors precalc

world language: spanish II in 8th grade appears on my transcript and i believe it’s weighted as an honors class; honors spanish III-V + 4th year in AP

i’ve taken art classes since sophomore year

everything else has been honors except for junior year science. i took 2 semesters of forensics and that is my greatest regret in life (not really but i’m terrified that it will hurt my application, see below)

i’m very worried about my rigor—or lack thereof—in STEM. throughout hs, i’ve taken bio, chem, geometry, and algebra 2; i’m rounding it out with ap physics 1 and honors precalc. my school offers the core ap science courses, ap calc ab/bc, and multivariable calculus.

don’t get me wrong, i genuinely enjoy science and math, but my application is so obviously stronger in the humanities. people have attempted to assure me that i’ll be fine because “multi has nothing to do with my major” but i still think not having taken physics and/or precalc yet will significantly ding my chances. i’m afraid that i’ve missed the boat on becoming that ideal “well-rounded student,” let alone a strong applicant. please let me know what you think.

Awards:

  1. Brandeis University Book Award [for social action and civic engagement] (11)

  2. three-time HS Mock Trial State Finalist: reached state championship/top 2 teams in 9, 10, 11

  3. Selected for 2025 District Student Art Show (11)

  4. Spanish: State Seal of Biliteracy (10, 11); School Award for Excellence in World Language (9) - thoughts on combining these or if i should omit one?

  5. i’m between high honors scholar (9th-11th), which is awarded to everyone at my school with an UW GPA of at least 3.67, or CB’s national recognition program (11)

Extracurriculars: another place where i feel my application is lacking. i know “quality over quantity” rings true here, but the quantity really seems less than ideal. please bring me back to earth in one way or another

school mock trial team (9th-12th): invited to 2025 nationals, other accomplishments listed above. this competition is my favorite thing in the world, it takes up a LOT of my time (up to 20 hours a week from sept-march), and it’s how i discovered my passion for law.

volunteering as a CIT at national conservation organization that happens to be my childhood summer camp (10th-12th): roughly 25 hours/week for 3-5 weeks/year assisting with hikes, crafts, and games for kids aged 4-11.

elementary school mentor for students with social/emotional needs (10th-12th)

staff writer for school newspaper (10th-12th)

not sure about these next two☠️

visual arts: drawing is an important part of my identity and it’s my most time-consuming hobby. my work was selected for a townwide showcase. but i’m not sure if it qualifies as an actual EC or if it just seems like “fluff.”

creative writing: same involvement and concerns as above. i completed/“won” national novel writing month in 2023 (10th) by drafting a 50,000-word manuscript in 30 days

in senior year, i expect to join nhs, art honor society, and spanish honor society. there’s also an opportunity in student government that i was invited to join this year, but it never actually got off the ground… i will take part in the fall if possible.

Essays/LORs/Other

essays: i’m a strong writer and don’t expect problems here. my personal statement is an uphill battle but i’m working on it everyday and i trust myself to put out something authentic.

LORs: the first is from my euro teacher and coach. she’s known me inside and outside of the classroom since freshman year, and i’m very excited to submit her letter.

second is from my ap lang teacher, and i actually took a semester course with her the same year, so we became really close. she was an enthusiastic advocate for me the moment she met me, knew my personality and my interests very well, told me that i’m a role model for her kids, etc, all the amazing things. once again, i think this will be a strong letter.

my counselor letter will probably be average :skull_and_crossbones: but she referred me for the book award and she’s always been lovely to me so i’m not worried.

Cost Constraints / Budget: my family is in that infamous bracket where we don’t qualify for need-based aid, but we can’t comfortably shell out 80k+ a year. i have asked for an exact budget and been given non-answers. i think we are ideally looking for 60-70k or less.

my parents have told me not to worry about cost during the application process, that we’ll sort everything out when the options are in front of us, but it’s obviously hard to ignore such a huge factor. they’re counting on merit aid, which i’ve told them a) is not guaranteed and b) flat out isn’t offered by some of the schools i want to apply to.

The Aforementioned Schools

barring procrastination, i’m looking to apply EA wherever possible. i will not be applying ED. please let me know if i’m wrong about any of the following chancing.

  • Extremely Likely:

  • 2x unnamed state school (possibly RD)

  • Likely:

  • UVM

  • Hobart and William Smith

  • Brandeis

  • Toss-up:

  • UMD College Park

  • American

  • Gettysburg

  • Lower Probability:

  • William & Mary (OOS)

  • Villanova

  • Low Probability:

  • UVA (OOS)

  • Georgetown

  • UPenn

  • Harvard

i would appreciate additional recommendations! i don’t think i’ll ever feel settled with my list :sob: thank you so much for your thoughts, i am sorry for putting you through this many words, and i hope you have a fantastic day.

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This is familiar to me, and probably to many people here. There are some universities that are very close to costing $100,000 per year for students starting in September, and prices have been increasing relatively quickly year by year.

Given your stats I think that both admissions and some merit based aid is quite likely. For us the NPC predicted merit aid and was spot on. One daughter went there, liked it, did well, and recently completed her doctorate elsewhere (in a very good program for her major).

Burlington is a nice small city. I was amused that they always carded me when I purchased a drink there (I am pretty obviously way, way over 21).

These will not give any merit aid at all. If you do not qualify for need based aid, they will most likely be full pay if you get accepted.

You might want to look at the course requirements for graduating from each university that you are considering. You should consider both the major-specific requirements and the general requirements.

And to me it looks like your ECs show that you did what was right for you and did it well. This is the right approach (and has worked for us in terms of university admissions).

I think that this is a good plan. By not applying ED you get to compare offers from multiple schools which sounds like the right thing in your case. There is another advantage of not applying ED anywhere. When you already have an affordable admissions offer in hand, and are visiting a school, it is very real. You know that you really can be here in September if you just decide to do it. Sometimes on tours you can get to chat with professors, and they will also know that the school wants to admit you. This makes the whole thing that much more real as you are considering which school to attend.

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I strongly recommend applying EA, especially because these are your safety/highly likely schools. From a psychological perspective, it’s very important to have locked in an admission or two earlier rather than later in the process.

If that’s a hard limit, then unfortunately Georgetown, UPenn and Harvard will need to come off the list as they won’t be affordable. But that’s ok, because you have identified several other excellent and more affordable schools where you can do very well.

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Your academic interests align well with the interdisciplinary major of public policy, which relies on the fields of political science, economics and philosophy for its foundation, for which schools such as Trinity or Dickinson may be suitable for you.

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thank you so much for taking the time to reply! i really appreciate your insights about UVM and i’ll definitely be looking further into finaid options there + the school as a whole.

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i appreciate your suggestions! my family is adamantly avoiding a ‘hard budget,’ but i’m definitely still concerned about what you mentioned with the ivies. i have a feeling harvard + upenn are out of reach to begin with, but there’s also the lingering hope/fear that i’ll get into an exceptional school, then be unable to attend because we can’t pay.

thank you again!

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thank you for the response! i’ve glanced at the public policy major whenever scrolling through academic options on any given college’s website, but i’ll be considering it more seriously now. and thanks for the recs–will take a look at those!

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At colleges that seem receptive to submissions of works of art, your portfolio would enhance your application as a full EC. As an example, these are Hamilton’s submission guidelines:

Note that you do not need to intend an art major for submission of your work to be meaningful. Nonetheless, in your case, your interests may develop naturally into a minor (or second major), a potential direction you could discuss along with your artwork submission.

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Like others are suggesting, I would not apply to any colleges where you know you could not afford them. Which means you need to know what you can’t afford.

Otherwise I think your list already looks very thoughtful and appropriate. Based on your list, I also think you might consider looking into George Washington and Fordham.

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Very few colleges offer PPE. Fewer still offer a truly open curriculum.

I would start my search with University of Rochester. It is the rare case of a college which meets both of these requirements and where you’d have a shot at getting merit aid.

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I think your list looks good! I would look at George Washington, Penn State and Pitt. The latter two are rolling admission schools which would be great early admits. I would also consider asking one of your math/science teachers to write you an LOR, since both of your LORs are from humanities teachers. Some schools will accept three LORs, but you should submit one from humanities and one from STEM for those schools that only allow two. This may also help with any concerns re: reduced rigor in STEM classes.

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Like others have said, you should probably eliminate colleges that offer no merit. Run the NPCs, of course – some have a higher threshhold for need-based aid than others. Harvard is one of these. However, Harvard (I believe) has gone back to requiring test scores, and your SAT might not be in the ideal range for that application. There are some OOS public schools on your list, like William and Mary, that offer very little merit but might nonetheless turn out to be affordable, so you might as well keep those and see what happens.

There are some outstanding schools with excellent opportunities in poli sci (or similar) majors that do offer merit aid. I know I’m repeating some that have been suggested already, but you should look into Dickinson, George Washington U (in DC), Connecticut College, Trinity (I’m thinking of the one in CT, but the one in Texas might also be worth a look), Rochester, University of Denver, Macalester, and St Olaf. If you’re willing to consider women’s colleges, look at Mount Holyoke and Bryn Mawr. Others to consider: Kenyon, Beloit, Grinnell, and Occidental. Of course it depends on how far you’re willing to travel and what kind of setting (rural, urban, etc.) you prefer, but at least look into these schools.

Few schools have truly open curricula, but a lot of schools have very flexible distribution requirements that allow some double-dipping (i.e., you can take courses that meet both general studies and major requirements). One good question to ask is what percentage of students either double major or do a major+minor or some other kind of concentration/certificate program.

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thank you for the thoughtful response!

george washington has been mentioned a handful of times in this thread. i visited the foggy bottom campus back in april (also saw american) and decided to write it off my list because i didn’t like the urban setting; i know now that i prefer a closed-off campus. it’s hard to beat the location and the opportunities in their polisci program, though.

thanks for your other suggestions and insights! many of them sound great and i’ll be looking further.

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That’s why it’s so important to visit if you can! You get a better idea of what you want.

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Welcome to College Confidential, @lc256!

I generally agree with how you categorized your schools, except I’d consider UVM an extremely likely admit and Brandeis a toss-up.

I think you have a thoughtful list so far, but I’ll see what I can do about matching you to some other possibilities you may want to consider that will hopefully be affordable for your family. Are there any geographical constraints? Any other preferences you want to share about what you hope to have in your college experience?

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thank you for the kind welcome!!

no geographical constraints. i’d prefer not to go further south than VA/NC because i melt in hot temperatures, but i would consider a school in the south if it was affordable and a good match. the west coast would also be challenging, but not impossible, just because the sheer distance from home would be an adjustment.

ideal regions are new england, mid-atlantic, and midwest. i want to stay close to those political hotspots with many opportunities in my desired field (i.e. DC, philly, etc) so i’m trying to represent the DMV area and surrounding regions in my list.

i honestly don’t think i’d notice a difference between a population of 2,000 vs 20,000 undergrads, so school size isn’t important to me. i like suburban and rural campuses more than urban ones. very large cities like nyc have always made me nervous :face_with_spiral_eyes:

academic rigor is important to me, ideally including strong pre-law advising. i’d like to stay away from campuses with heavy religious influences, but affiliation is not a dealbreaker. i want to challenge my beliefs and meet all kinds of people. and i’d love a mock trial team to be a part of lol

once again, thank you so much!

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Keep in mind that schools near state capitals can offer lots of applied learning experiences and internships during the school year (and of course in the summertime) that put you in contact with the workings of state governments. Dickinson (near Harrisburg), Macalester (in the Twin Cities), and University of Denver would all be good examples. Some offer DC study-away semesters, too.

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You may be interested in reading this thread about an applicant with some similar interests as you.

Below is a list of schools that you may want to investigate. They all have Mock Trial, per this list. I focused on schools that were in the designated regions, preferably in or in close proximity to the state capital as, @Shelby_Balik noted, state capitals are a rich area for people interested in policy and politics, and she mentioned some of the same schools. They all offer merit aid, and I suspect that a number of them (especially the extremely likely private schools) would offer you significant merit aid.

Extremely Likely (80-99+%)

  • Drake (IA): About 2700 undergrads in Des Moines and you can read more about some of the opportunities that would likely be of interest to you in this post.

  • George Mason (VA): About 28k undergrads just outside of D.C.

  • Hamline (MN): About 1700 undergrads in Saint Paul

  • Luther (IA): About 1500 undergrads, and though it’s not near the capital, so long as Iowa is an early caucus state, I suspect that political opportunities will be higher here than at many other colleges in the U.S.

  • Michigan State: About 40k undergrads in the metro area of the state capital

  • Siena (NY): About 3500 undergrads at this school just outside of Albany

  • U. at Albany (NY): About 12k undergrads

  • U. of Minnesota – Twin Cities: About 40k undergrads

  • U. of New Hampshire: About 11k undergrads. Although this is 50m from the NH State House, so long as NH remains an early primary state, I suspect that political opportunities will also be higher here than at other colleges in the U.S.

  • Virginia Commonwealth: About 21k undergrads

Likely (60-79%)

  • College of New Jersey: About 7100 undergrads less than 15m from the NJ legislature

  • Fordham (NY): About 10k undergrads, of which about 7k are at the Rose Hill campus which is the one I think you’d prefer

  • Providence (RI): About 4200 undergrads

  • U. of St. Thomas (MN): About 6k undergrads at this Saint Paul school

Toss-Up (40-59%)

  • Dickinson (PA ): About 2200 undergrads a half hour from the PA State Capitol

  • Ohio State: About 46k undergrads

  • U. of Wisconsin – Madison: About 37k undergrads

Lower Probability (20-39%)

  • Macalester (MN): About 2100 undergrads

  • U. of Richmond (VA): About 3100 undergrads

Low Probability (less than 20%)

  • Washington & Lee (VA): About 1900 undergrads. Not near a capital but, like Gettysburg, has a lot of D.C. connections

ETA: I was debating about whether to include Hendrix since it’s a bit further south, but I’m going to throw it in here as well. It’s about 35m from the AR State Capitol, offers strong academics, is a likely admit, and is likely to give you sufficient merit aid to make this an affordable option. You can read a profile of it here: Hendrix College – Colleges That Change Lives

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thank you for the thoughtful reply! it means a lot to me, i really appreciate you. i’ll be checking out all these recommendations.

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This site, which suggests schools with open curricula, may be worth viewing for further ideas:

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