Joe Biden. Communism. Republicans. These words may send everyone around you into a tizzy, but you’re more interested in why they make people’s heads spin. You’re here because you want to study political science in college, obvi, but maybe you don’t know where to start. That’s fine, because we’re here. And we’re gonna tell you exactly what to do.

Political Science is one of the most popular majors at every single top-tier college, like across the board. Which means it’s crazy competitive. It’s a popular choice for those interested in law school and public policy, future Presidents, and wannabe campaign managers. To get into a top-tier Poli Sci program, you need more than just good grades and scores (which yes, you do need); you also need to build out a robust extracurricular profile that shows them you’re dedicated to your stated passion. Let’s dive in on exactly how to do that

Learn stuff

You should start reading political books and taking online classes, pronto. We recommend sites like Coursera, The Great Courses, and Yale Open Courses for finding classes. The purpose of this is to find out just what exactly you’re interested in within political science, and you can’t do that without trying to learn! Outside of books and classes, get plugged into current events – read the newspaper! Or listen to podcasts! You can also explore different poli-sci-based summer programs to really dive deep over a few-week period. There are lots of ways for you to get new info to help inform your path.

Figure out your niche

Once you start reading and classing, you need to get more narrow. You may start with a broad book, but maybe you latch onto the idea of polling. From there, you should take classes and read books about polling. From there, you might get really interested in how polling questions are written and the psychology behind polling. Essentially, you’re trying to funnel your interests down further and further until you have a really niche idea within your potential major.

Clubs

If you’re not on Student Council, you should be! Now, we understand that some schools have… less than fair elections, so if you can’t secure a coveted Class President spot, there are other ways to get involved at school. Now that you’ve figured out what your niche is, start a club around that topic. Politics club! Young Dems! International Relations Club! The world is your oyster. Outside of starting clubs, look into other related school extracurriculars, like the student newspaper or joining the debate team.

Volunteer

We’re not talking community service here, we’re talking campaigns. We don’t care if it’s local, state, federal, or presidential, but get out there and get out the vote. If knocking on doors all day doesn’t strike your fancy, see if there are other ways you can help. Youth ambassador? Voter registration drives? Social media? Phone bank? See if you can apply some of your niche to the mix while finding your perfect role.

Internships

Internships are a great way to get a lot of exposure to your potential career path. If you’re interested in poli sci because you want to be a lawyer, time to intern at a law firm. If you want to be a politician or work for one, intern with a local politician or your congressperson. A lot of state and federal representatives have special slots/programs available to high school students in their district! If you’re interested in public policy work, find an NGO or non-profit to intern at, or if you’re mad about polling, see if there’s any work to be done at the polling institute at a nearby college.

Jobs

What’s better than an unpaid internship, you ask? A paid job. Not only does this benefit you (cha-ching), but it also shows a heightened level of interest and responsibility. Jobs should be catered towards your potential major when they can, but schools also like to see that you’re just like, actually working. If you can get that weekend receptionist job at the law firm, that’s awesome. If you’re doling out ice cream cones, we’re pro that too.

Independent Projects

This could be anything from starting your own Hot Political Takes blog to conducting research with a professor. The point of an independent project is to take the niche you’ve lovingly, painstakingly built over the past few years and turn it into something tangible. You’ve done lots of cool stuff, but now it’s time to create something bigger. Heck, you might even try to run for office at 18!

As you can probably tell, there’s no one exact way to get into a poli sci program, as it depends on you finding out your true passion within the topic, but there is a template to get there. The most important thing to remember is to keep your grades and scores high – there’s no getting into a top-tier college without that.

If you need help figuring out and exploring your niche, reach out to us today.