There aren’t a lot of topics as popular with high school students as political science. We don’t know if it’s the idea that one day you could roam the halls of power or your fascination with why politics makes people act the way they do, but we hear from freshmen all the time who are passionate about poli sci and want to get a jump on the college process.
“9th grade is way too early to think about college, and it doesn’t even matter to colleges anyway.” Omg wrong, so wrong!! 9th grade might be too early to get deep into the weeds on college prep, but it’s not too early to start exploring your interests. And btw, freshman year does matter to colleges (we’ll say that a few times during this post).
When we work with freshmen, our main focus is helping students plan their summers, but we also provide some guidance so that when they join us for sophomore year they can hit the ground running and be a few steps ahead in the process.
Explore What You’re Interested In
You say you like political science, but do you know why you like it? Or what exactly you do like about it? Or what you want to do with it? If you do, congrats, you might be the most advanced freshman ever, but if you don’t (and we’re betting most of you don’t), you need to start learning as much as you can about poli sci.
Top-tier schools are looking for you to build a niche in your chosen field. Political science isn’t enough, and neither is something like “American Politics.” It needs to get very specific, like “Modeling of Ranked Choice Voting Elections in Western Countries.” Don’t worry, you don’t need to get to that level of specificity today, and it might even take you a few years to get there, but you do need to start giving yourself the opportunity to get to that point.
Freshman year is a great time to explore, and the best way to learn is by starting on some online classes and books about introductory political science topics. And as a poli sci hopeful, you should be consuming as much current events content as you can, from reputable sources. Students who come back to us sophomore year having done a lot of this self-driven exploration are often miles ahead of their peers and are set up well to develop the kinds of extracurriculars that look great on college applications.
Do Well in School
Remember how we said we were going to say the thing about how freshman year does matter again? That’s this part. Colleges care about your grades from day 1 of high school, which means you need to make sure you’re doing well academically in 9th grade. We know you’re adjusting to high school, but if you’re finding yourself struggling now, the next few years will be really hard. Access tutoring, talk to teachers, and learn good study habits so you set yourself up for success.
Top-tier schools want to see you get the best grades in the hardest possible classes. Picking the right classes for your interests is very important! When we work with freshmen, we also help them pick classes for sophomore year and map out a strategy for course selection for the rest of high school. For poli sci hopefuls, you probably want to make sure AP Gov is in the mix, but you also might want to go hard on your History classes or make sure you’re taking AP Stats down the line, too.
Extracurriculars
Students who come to us later in the game often have not joined any relevant (or any at all) extracurriculars, and it’s something we wish we could help them correct! As a freshman, this is your time to explore!! You should be joining clubs, going to all sorts of events, and gathering up so much information. If you know you’re interested in political science, you could join student government, join the debate team, write for the school paper, join (or start) a Young (Insert Political Party Here) club, start or join clubs based around the political issues you care about, etc. There are so many options, and you should start those things now.
We also want to stress meaningful extracurriculars. We know things like JV Track or theater or Fashion Club might be really fun (and if you love them almost as much as life itself, don’t quit them), but if they take up too much time and they’re not your favorite thing in the whole world, make switch them out for one of your more poli-sci-minded opportunities.
Summer Plans
This is where we come in for freshmen. The main thing we do is help freshmen plan their summers to get the most out of their break.
“But I wanted to go to the beach!” You can still do that! You’ll just need to plan around the summer stuff that, in the long run, will last longer than your tan and help you get into college. One of the major parts of summer planning we help with is: summer programs. We work with students one-on-one to figure out what they’re interested in, learn who they are, and then help them find a slate of summer activities that match their personality and their passions. We might help them with applications to pre-college programs at schools like UCLA, Harvard, UPenn, and Columbia or at institutions like The New York Times. We help our freshmen brainstorm, write, and edit the summer applications, help them ask their teachers for rec letters, and help them decide which summer programs (out of the ones they’ve been accepted to) are the best for their summer.
Freshman year is not too early to plan for college! Especially if you’re interested in a really competitive major like political science. Start exploring your interests early, do well in school, and let us help you plan your summer!
Freshmen, if you want to start strategizing for college, or just need help planning your summer, reach out to us today.