Every year, we work with students who are fascinated by, and often fixated on, politics. They want to understand how the political atmosphere we exist in now was created, and what they can do to shape the future. Through political science, students build a foundation in history, politics, economics, and current events that serves them well in applying critical thinking to any moment that we are in, helping to shift culture.
Political science is a humanities major with a clear trajectory — if you want to take it. Students who major in political science go on to careers in politics at every level, from running local races to national lobbying, join major consulting firms, become journalists, and more. How you put your degree into action is up to you, but how you get to your dream school to achieve your degree is a precise puzzle with a personal twist. In this post, we break down a very important piece of this puzzle: the activity section. Namely, what you need to be doing now as a sophomore to set yourself up for presenting a fantastic activities section and resume as a senior.
We work with our students early in high school, laying the groundwork for fabulous college admissions outcomes. Whether you are going it alone or working with us, sophomore year is the perfect time to begin seriously planning for college. You know yourself, and you know what you are most interested in and excited about in school. You almost certainly do not have your life mapped out, but you can have a vision for college. We help students form this vision, and this post will help you align your extracurriculars with your dream outcomes.
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As a sophomore, you most likely have been following your heart (or your parent’s insistence) when it comes to activities. It’s possible that what you are doing outside of school is already beginning to tell a story, but we want to make sure that the narrative is screaming political science. Below, we’ve broken down the four ‘buckets’ that you need to be filling.
Online Courses
We want you to get specific about your interest in political science. Maybe you’re interested in how a campaign works, how a bill becomes a law, or the modern history of party polarization. Whatever your niche may be, you’re most likely not going to have access to higher-level or niche classes at school. Take a few online or maybe go in person to a community college. This will help you get specific later on.
SCHOOL CLUB
You absolutely must be part of a politics or government-oriented club or student group at school. This could be a club that runs nonpartisan debates, a group focused on a particular political issue, or a student government organization. Instead of spreading yourself thin and risking not accomplishing much of anything to write about (literally, in your college apps), pick one or two clubs or groups and pursue them with the goal of a leadership position junior or senior year.
To work towards that leadership goal, be an active member who engages at meetings, helps to plan events, and supports club leadership in their vision. Learn from the leaders, as their successes and missteps will help you when it’s your turn to take the helm.
At the same time, you need to avoid participating in anything too polarizing — you’ll notice that this is a theme that runs through the rest of this blog post. Some colleges skew liberal, some skew conservative, and most have a big mix. You should not be rejected by a college due to a non-abhorrent political belief. However, “should not” does not mean “would not.” So, you want to engage in the things you care about, underlining your political science interests, but also be aware of the end goal.
POLITICAL INTERNSHIP
Ideally, we want to see sophomores interested in majoring in political science interning with a sitting politician on a local or regional level. This should be someone who is impacting your local community on a visible and daily level, whether it is through the state legislature, town board, or city council.
But shouldn’t you intern with someone ‘fancy’? No, no you should not. Or, rather, you shouldn’t intern with someone simply because they are a household name or having a hot moment. Well-known politicians often become well-known because they are really good at controlling the message and claiming airtime. This pushes their support team to the background. They also have bigger fish to fry than bringing on young high school interns who can’t even vote yet. By interning with a town, city, or state politician, you will have more opportunities to learn, and to lead. It puts you closer to the center of the narrative.
CAMPAIGN VOLUNTEERING
In addition to interning with a politician, we want to see you volunteering with a campaign or as part of a voting cycle. Of course, how you do this will depend on if elections are happening in your area while you are a sophomore, but you should also define ‘campaign’ broadly to open up opportunities. For example, there may not be a local or national election, but you could volunteer in support of the vote to pass the school budget for your district. So, it’s not an election, but it is a campaign worthy of your time.
There are also sometimes opportunities to be in “the room where it happens.” Some states allow students as young as 16 to work in the polls. If you are too young for poll work in your town, there is no minimum age for volunteering for a campaign. As a young volunteer, you can flyer, door knock (with a parent or other adult), and possibly even do phone banking.
Now, it’s really important to note that you do need to be careful about what the campaign you volunteer for says about you. As we have already said, you don’t need to have any particular politics to get into a dream school. Liberal, conservative, they take them all. However, colleges are acutely attuned to weeding out prejudice, so do not volunteer for a campaign that is connected to beliefs or stances that colleges could see as prejudiced.
SUMMER PROGRAM
We highly recommend that sophomores interested in political science consider participating in a summer program that is focused on policy, political science, or economics. Summer programs are an educational opportunity, not a summer camp. You should be learning from college-level educators and graduate students, not from glorified camp counselors.
When assessing summer programs for our sophomores, we look for programs that are run by a college or university, not simply hosted at a college or university.
Once you find your ideal program, internship, volunteer role, and club, it is time to make it your own. What makes a strong college application isn’t checking all the boxes, it is fully representing yourself through the most flattering framework. Activities are a powerful tool in this process, so get to work.
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