My son wants to work in the political arena with a focus on economic policy. Other than the obvious DC schools (American, GW and Georgetown) what other schools would be good choices? Limit is a 6-7 hour drive from Philadelphia. He also wants to run track in college, he is a decent runner that is attracting college coach attention already as a Junior (not state champ good but qualify for states good). Academically he will likely score around 1,350 on the SAT based on recent PSAT score with decent grades at a highly competitive school. Active in Model UN and an Eagle Scout. Also interned during the recent Presidential election with one of the candidates. Overall realistically any of the Ivies would likely be a stretch. So looking for other schools that would provide the opportunities he will need to get started in his chosen profession.
. . . and would generally be strong as well for the study of public policy / government. Hamilton offers a term-length program in D.C. that could ultimately be of interest to your son.
Trinity (CT) should be given a close look (strong both in political science and econ).
Political science at Dickinson appears to be among the school’s strongest departments.
Kenyon offers a nice political science department and falls just within your geographical limit.
Schools such as Georgetown and American could be great, of course, though some of their electives outside of the social sciences and humanities may be limited (e.g., geosciences, astronomy), should your son have wide-ranging interests.
Economics and political science are good at many places. I would contact the track coaches at Division 3 schools. He probably won’t have the academic qualifications to get into someplace like UChicago, Johns Hopkins or Amherst even with his running, but his running might make the difference in getting into very good schools that are slightly less selective including several that people already have mentioned in this thread.