Just another polisci major.... Chances please?

mmmgirl
Thu, 19 Jan 2012 09:58:20 +0000

Hi! I’m currently a junior and would appreciate knowing what my chances are for Yale as a political science major. I know it’s a little early, but I’d like to know if I’m on the right track academically in a unique situation and if I stand out among the plethora of political science/prelaw types applying to Yale.

BASIC INFO:
Race: White
Gender: Female
State: Florida
School: Homeschooled since 7th grade. I follow the “classical” method of homeschooling, which is basically liberal arts focused, rigorous education, focused on literature and history. I think it will be generally well-received by colleges but it complicates things because it’s not a “typical” high school education and there’s not a lot of room for AP courses.

STATS:
GPA: 3.95 UW, 4.1 W
SAT: Not taken (yet)
SAT II: Not taken (planning to take 5–no, I’m not crazy, some schools honestly want this many from homeschoolers)
ACT: Not taken and probably won’t–didn’t do well on the practice test
PSAT: 222: 80 CR, 62 M, 80 W–99th percentile so most likely NMSF
APs: None yet–homeschooling makes taking the courses tricky, but I’m self-studying for a bunch and I’ll take a couple courses next year
Current courses: Honors Spanish 2 (community college), Honors Public Speaking (community college), Early Modern Literature (third year of four-year world lit survey), Early Modern History (third year of four-year world hist survey), Trig, Physics, Latin 3
Senior year courses (planned): Honors Intermed Spanish 1 and 2 (community college), 2 other community college courses, Late Modern lit and history, AP Stat, AP Enviro Sci, AP Latin Virgil
Previous community college dual-enrollment courses: Political Science, American Social Problems, Honors Fundamentals of Speech, Honors Spanish 1 (4.0 college GPA)

EXTRACURRICULARS:
*Organizing for America (a project of the Democratic National Committee): Last semester, I was part of the Fall Fellow internship program; now I am a Core Team Member of the local team and share the roles of Phonebank Coordinator and Voter Registration Coordinator; I may be named Neighborhood Team Leader later this year, if not I will try to start an extensive OFA thing on my college campus
*Organized a one-day voter registration drive on my comm college campus where I’m dual-enrolled for a class project
*MoveOn local council: Youngest Core Council member; helped organize Voter Registration events and rallies
*Judo: Green belt; kata certified; attended 2 national training camps where I studied judo with Olympians and also jujitsu, Brazilian jiu jitsu, aikido, sambo and kendo (Japanese fencing); Board of Directors (youngest member; one of the largest clubs in the US); 50+ community service hours helping at club events; one local competition (silver medal)
*Community college activities: Political Forum club, Phi Theta Kappa honor society (I have the GPA, just waiting for the invite later this month)
*Help write/edit monthly homeschool newsletter (I write mostly politics/current event articles)
*Summer activities: 9th–6-week local leadership program; Summer Youth College camp (“courses” included Debate, Public Speaking). 10th–Judo camp. 11th–Judo camp and community college courses. 12th (planned): Hopefully Girls State, definitely intensive political campaiging.