NC Junior Seeking Political Science Major and Opportunities

College Search & Lists
1

Hello! I would love your help matching me.

  • Demographics: Male, junior in high school, North Carolina, public math and science charter school; open to exploring colleges anywhere, although slight preference for those with a short or direct flight to NC
  • Intended Major(s): Political science or pre-law
  • GPA, Rank, and Test Scores (also weighted GPA for systems like UC/CSU): 4.0 unweighted, class rank (4/180), first SAT attempt 1410 (studying now to take again in May)
  • Coursework (college coursework for transfer applicants): successfully completed or currently taking honors classes, AP Gov, AP US History, AP Language, AP European History, AP Environmental Science, AP Calculus AB, community college macroeconomics and community college art history course. Senior year plan on taking AP Physics CE, AP Calculus BC, AP African American History, AP Literature, and AP Spanish.
  • Extracurriculars: third year as varsity golfer, qualified for States freshman and sophmore year, Coaches Award, MVP, senate and house of representatives page program, hospital volunteer and student volunteer leader, founded and run club that brings guest speakers to school
  • Cost Constraints / Budget: currently no constraints, although would prefer schools that offer some merit aid or that aren’t the most expensive
  • Things I hope to find: I tend to like the opportunities and energy of schools that are bigger than 7,500ish students; I like urban schools or rural schools - suburban isn’t my favorite; I love intellectual communities with a range of political beliefs (Greek life, partying, etc. isn’t my thing)

Also, internships, attending guest speakers, etc. in the history, law, political science, etc. areas are really important to me. Would love to find a school that offers these types of opportunities.

Thanks for your help!

1 Like
2

Congratulations on all of your accomplishments in high school! You have prepared yourself well to be successful in college.

Pre-law isn’t a major…you can major in anything. Are you interested in political science because you’re interested in doing something related to politics and/or public policy?

Since you’ve been a page in both senate and house of representatives, I suspect that you might be interested in politics and public policy. Please correct me if I’m wrong.

For people with those interests, I’d strongly recommend schools that are in or near capitals (national or state).

Below are some institutions that you may want to investigate, sorted by my guesses as to what your chances for admission might be. Your school guidance counselor is much better placed to chance you for these however, particularly for the North Carolina publics.

Extremely Likely (80-99+%)

  • The College of New Jersey: About 7100 undergrads and about 4.3 miles away from the NJ State House

  • U. at Albany (NY): About 12k undergrads and 4.5 miles from the NY State Capitol

  • U. of Minnesota – Twin Cities: About 40k undergrads and 7.6 miles from the MN State Capitol

  • Virginia Commonwealth: About 21k undergrads and 2.0 miles from the VA State Capitol

Likely (60-79%)

  • Fordham (NY): About 10k undergrads. Not in a state capital, but seems well-suited to your interests.

  • NC State: About 27k undergrads and 2.1 miles from the NC State Capitol

  • Ohio State: About 46k undergrads and 3.2 miles to the Ohio Statehouse

  • U. of South Carolina: About 28k undergrads and 0.3 miles from the SC State House. Also, its honors college is very highly thought of.

Toss-Up (40-59%)

  • American (D.C.): About 7800 undergrads and 7.4 miles to the U.S. Capitol

  • George Washington (D.C.): About 11k undergrads and 2.5 miles to the U.S. Capitol

  • Howard (D.C.): HBCU of about 10k undergrads and 2.8 miles to the U.S. Capitol

  • U. of Maryland – College Park: About 31k undergrads. 15 miles to the U.S. Capitol.

Lower Probability (20-39%)

  • Florida State: About 32k undergrads and 0.9 miles from the FL State Capitol

  • UNC-Chapel Hill: About 21k undergrads and 27.8 miles from the NC State Capitol.

Low Probability (less than 20%)

  • Emory (GA): About 7400 undergrads and 5.8 miles from the GA State Capitol

  • Georgetown (D.C.): About 8k undergrads and 5.0 miles from the U.S. Capitol. There is no merit aid possible here, so if the Net Price Calculator doesn’t result in a price that your family is willing to pay, it is not worth an application.

  • Georgia Tech: About 20k undergrads and 6.4 miles from the GA State Capitol. Although this is known as a tech school, its public policy program should not be underrated.

3 Likes
3

First off, congrats on all that you have accomplished. You have a wonderful track record.

Keep it up.

You will find that you can go most anywhere and find opportunities.

A few things I’d do - talk to your folks about budget. It’s hard to say no cost constraints but would prefer schools with merit or not the most expensive. So college can be $90k plus per year. Talk to your parents about what they can afford or want to afford - so you don’t choose schools that are too expensive.

Then you say I like rural and urban. That’s a pretty wide differential.

I’d see if your family can take you to some campuses when you have a spare day - see what really fits. An Elon and Wake, a UNC and Duke, an NC State and VCU. A South Carolina and Charleston.

One last thing - pre law is not a major. You can major in anything - literally - and say you are pre law which is simply advising. So Poli Sci is fine but not necessary if you prefer something else.

So the ultimate urban school within range will be GW. It’s not cheap but has merit. Nearby American is in DC but much more suburban. Both will likely be $60k plus, even with merit.

For both you need to demonstrate interest - meaning visit or do an on line session and get on their email list.

Another not too far would be Pitt, excellent in the social sciences.

U of South Carolina has a beautiful campus in downtown Columbia, and a wonderful Honors College. And great merit !!!

My last initial urban thought would be College of Charleston. My daughter goes there and is a Charleston Fellow and has had wonderful opportunities and merit that covers tuition. She’s interned with our state, a think tank in DC, and has landed a role related to her interest of refugee support post graduation. It’s very urban with a small campus.

Obviously in state you have UNC and UNCC but you say you don’t like suburban. I’d say both are with UNC a bit ‘busier’. And you have NC State too. App State is a fine school as well.

As for rural, W&M is a bit smaller than you asked but close. It’s pricey though. Virginia Tech and for less expensive James Madison could be worth a look. U Delaware could be another.

Cost wise, your in state are best and then James Madison, Delaware, U of SC, and if you get Fellows, College of Charleston.

A little further than you seek but rural, great cost, and outstanding overall would be Miami Ohio.

So have your folks work out a budget figure first and build a list around.

Most schools will have guest speakers. My daughter’s program brings in diplomats and ambassadors. No doubt others have similar. Many schools have a DC semester or partner with American. My daughter’s school, as an example, partners with the U of SC Honors College.

In regard to opportunities, you’ll find listings through your school or online but ultimately it takes the hustle of the student to land a position through applying, networking, etc. that said, my daughter had 7 offers during her DC semester so opportunities are available.

You’ve got a wonderful profile.

Hope this helps and best of luck.

4 Likes
4

This is really helpful information - your point about state capitols is excellent. I am most likely interested in law as a career but areas like constitutional law fascinate me so politics isn’t out of the question. Thanks again!

1 Like
5

Thank you so much for your response and all of these suggestions. Your point about how finding opportunities is up to the hustle of the student is really helpful since this is something I haven’t been quite sure about. Thank you!

1 Like
6

I wouldn’t rule out LACs (small colleges.) They may not all be located in state capitals, but many of them have graduated a healthy number of politicians. Wesleyan and Amherst between them have three alumni currently serving in the U.S. Senate (Bennet, Coons and Hickenlooper) and the NESCAC colleges, in particular, would look favorably upon a highly qualified applicant from an underrepresented state like North Carolina:

Amherst has a Law Jurisprudence and Social Thought (LJST) major that could be of interest. But as others have pointed out, you don’t have to major in law in order to gain admission to an American law school; in fact, the ABA comes right out and discourages it:

The ABA does not recommend any undergraduate majors or group of courses to prepare for a legal education. Students are admitted to law school from almost every academic discipline.
https://www.americanbar.org/groups/legal_education/resources/pre_law/#:~:text=The%20ABA%20does%20not%20recommend,from%20almost%20every%20academic%20discipline.

That doesn’t mean that there aren’t a plethora of opportunities in the liberal arts and sciences to hone the types of skills you are looking for. American lawyers have been doing it for centuries.

7

Ohio State has a golf course, is urban, close to the state house, and is large enough that you will find anything you are looking for concerning an intellectual community and range of political beliefs. I believe you’d be highly qualified for the honors program which would probably give you a lot of what you are looking for.
Columbus is an easy flight from Charlotte and it’s easy to get from the airport to tOSU.

2 Likes
8

I only know a little through a friends daughter who is going for Poly Sci/International Relations. Here’s my suggestions:

Wake Forest
Elon University
Notre Dame
California State University, Sacramento
UC Davis
Belmont University
NYU

1 Like
9

Nice list but I respectfully disagree that these are toss-up for this high stats student. As long as they demonstrate interest these are both likely admits and excellent programs. I would also anticipate merit.

1 Like
10

I understand. I think it’s the demonstrating interest (DI) part that is really important with high stats students, and at these two it might be that a significant amount of DI is needed. I feel as though there was a student or two in the last couple years here on CC that was high stats and may have even visited the campus but was turned down, and it was a school that they were genuinely quite interested in. I guess that GW and AU are sick of being people’s safeties for Georgetown. So I put them in the toss up box due to unpredictability, but if there is significant interest shown, then it would be very reasonable to classify them as likelies.

3 Likes