I need help/advice for college applications [OH resident, 4.0 GPA, 35 ACT, political science and pre-law]

Chance Me / Match Me
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Demographics

  • us citizen
  • Incoming senior
  • Ohio
  • Small private school in small city
  • not first Gen
  • Sister goes to villanova

Cost Constraints / Budget
We’ve done cost calculators for every college on the list. My parents can afford to send me to any of these schools if the calculators are accurate

Intended Major(s)

Political science or prelaw major basically everywhere

GPA, Rank, and Test Scores

  • 4.0 uw gpa
  • Class Rank: should be 1-2/50ish students
  • ACT/SAT Scores: 35 act

List your HS coursework

(I’m just adding the college level courses)

my school only offered 9 APs

my college only allowed 12 DE classes

I’m going to graduate with 9 APs and 11 DE taken

  • English: AP lang and AP lit
  • Math: AP calc ab and AP stats, dual enrollment calc 2
  • Science: AP bio, AP chem
  • History and social studies: AP Gov,
  • Language other than English: 4 years of Spanish incl first and second semester DE Spanish
  • Visual or performing arts: 3 yrs art classes at my HS
  • Other academic courses: philosophy and law related Dual enrollment classes such as business law, metaphysics, sociology, etc
  • I also took 4 yrs of theology including 2 DE theology classes as a graduation requirement for my private school

Awards

  • top 10 of my class
  • Regional act award
  • Service awards/seals
  • Local scholarships
  • AP scholarships with distinction
  • awards for highest overall grade in a class (AP chem, lang, bio, etc)
  • I’m applying for more but it’s still TBD

(not the strongest part of my application but I’ll try to work on it)

Extracurriculars

Not a ton of opportunity where I live but I tried to be involved in my community

1. Nonprofit intern and junior board member; housing/life support for homeless; developed org-wide finance tracking system; earned >$7k in grants; speaker/representative for Kiwanis, led tables at events ~15 hr/wk; ~40 wk/yr; continue

2. published author: 130+ page political fiction book on amazon; college students finding their voice in US politics; currently writing 2nd political fiction book—set to publish 2028; 7 hr/wk; 52 wk/yr

3. 2 year TA and tutor for kids with learning disabilities at nonprofit after school program 10 hr/wk; 8 wk/yr

4. 4 years volunteer and leader at nonprofit childcare community center; majority of my service hrs

5. 4 years painting and drawing; realism and contemporary art; art show participant and volunteer w/ awards 6 hr/wk; 40 wk/yr

6. 2 years, president and founder; Started online writing club for teens; 55 current members. 1.5 hr/ week, 52 wk/yr

7.2 years mock trial prosecution attorney 3hrs/wk; 11 wk/yr

8. 4 years violin, guitar, piano, singing recreationally and for community events, 5 hr/wk; 52 wk/yr

9. NHS project (next year—currently planning)

10. Family responsibilities of driving 9 hr/wk; ~30 wk/yr

Essays/LORs/Other

  • I have personal statement written, but I’m still coming up with other ideas so I have options
  • It’s about my experience moving across the country and learning to adapt and make a difference in my new city
  • I’d say it’s a 9/10 but it really reflects who I am and my values

Schools

My safeties are Ohio State in state (I have automatic full ride because of my test scores) So that’s a good option if all else fails

Reaches: Penn (ED), cornell, Yale, uChicago, Hopkins, Swarthmore, georgetown

Targets/hard targets: Barnard, Notre dame (my counselor said I’d probably get in bc they have connections with my school), Villanova, usc, Boston college, UVA, Wellesley

Penn Ed is the best option for me and my family bc of the location, academics, and opportunities

There are some others that I like, but these are the main ones that I’m 100% applying for

Academics and internship opportunities are my top priorities.

Nothing else is a deal breaker by any means

Also I know a lot of these are really hard to get into, but it only takes one and I’m keeping my hopes up

Please be kind

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I’m sorry. I realize I wasn’t clear on what exactly I was asking. I need general advice on how to improve my application if I want to demonstrate my inclination toward public service and political science

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Continue to do the things on your EC list that related to public service. Maybe volunteer during the election cycle to do something.

Honestly, you have a nice list with tOSU as a terrific sure thing. Your list is balanced and varied.

Do things that you enjoy…don’t do things that you hope will catch the eye of some adcom someplace. Be your authentic YOU.

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First of all, you’re doing great, keep up the good work.

Second, none of these are targets, except maybe ND, based on your Counselors connections, and Villanova, considering your academics. Otherwise, Barnard, USC, Wellesley, and UVA (as an out of state applicant) are reaches or high reaches.

You can have as many reaches as you want, since you have a top-notch safety, but do you want to end up with 11-13 rejections, and no other choice but your safety? If you don’t mind that, then it’s OK, but I would assume that, being a human being, it would still bother you not to have options.

I also am curious why that mix of schools. Swarthmore and Wellesley are suburban Liberal Arts colleges, Barnard is an Urban Liberal Arts college, Wellesley and Barnard are Women’s only, Swarthmore is not. Johns Hopkins, Georgetown, UChicago, USC, and Boston College are medium to large urban research universities Villanova is a suburban university, Cornell is a large private university in small rural city, while UVA is a large state flagship in a small city. Your safety is a giant urban flagship in a medium sized city.

This is simply such a wide array of types of college and locations that it is not clear to me what sort of things are important for you in a college.

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To me, target just means schools I can reasonably get into based on my stats compared to average admitted students. I don’t consider them “likely” by any means, but my stats are on par. It’s hard to label some because of how holistic their admission process is. But they are targets/hard targets. As I said, academics are my top priority, and the size, location, etc of the school falls after. I’m interested mainly in the east coast, but there are schools here and there, like usc, that are on the list because I have relatives who live there

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What I mean is I don’t have a preference for size and location of schools as long as the academics are strong, and I want to be open minded. I would potentially love to go to a small school like Swarthmore, but I would also enjoy going to a large school like osu. Also, my preferences can change in a year or so, so I wouldn’t want to regret only applying to small schools per se

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If your username is your real name, please change it asap. Here is how:

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Thinking of targets in that way could lead to an unbalanced list, as it doesn’t factor in the percentage of students admitted. The problem is that with highly rejective schools, which comprise the majority of schools on your list, there are far more extremely qualified applicants that get rejected than get admitted. So, you could be perfectly correct that your stats are exactly in line with the stats of the average admit, but for highly rejective schools your stats also look very similar to the much larger group of students that are rejected. So these targets are actually reaches, in the sense that your chance of being admitted may still be rather low, despite your stats and accomplishments being on par.

I recommend thinking about targets in terms of schools where your chance of admission are higher than your reaches. While you are definitely a very strong applicant, and I could see you being admitted to some of the schools on your target list, because they are all mostly highly rejective, some with under 10% of students admitted, they should really be thought of as reaches. If you want to minimize your risk, you may want to add in more true targets.

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No specific major is required or preferred for applying to law school. Political science is the most popular, but does not make up a majority of LSAT takers.

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I thought to be guaranteed the President’s Ohio full ride you had to have a 36 or 1600 in a single sitting? The 35 puts you, with your other qualifications, in the running for the Stamps/eminence.

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I know, but I personally love political science