Are these schools good for PoliSci/Int. Relations/etc?

College Search & Selection
1

<p>So I'm looking at these schools, and I have thoroughly researched most of them, although it's hard to tell how good their PoliSci departments are just from their websites, since all schools obviously emphasize how good everything is. So any comparisons/info on the PoliSci departments in any of these schools? I also want a school that is well rounded, in case it turns out I decide to not major in PoliSci.</p>

<p>I am FOR SURE applying to:
Columbia
Yale </p>

<p>And ones I'm thinking about applying to:
Georgetown
Princeton
Harvard
Rice (yes oddball b/c its not East Coast)
Wellesley (worst website in the history of college websites)
UC (Berkley, LA, SD, SB ... more to placate my counselor as safties)
Tufts
Brown
Northwestern
U of Chicago
and... unfortunately my dad wants me to apply to MIT... I think he hopes that I will change my mind and become an engineer one day, I visited MIT and it just doesn't have the right "feel"</p>

2

<p>I know what you mean by the right “feel” :wink: but MIT does have a very good political science department. The top political science schools, however, are Harvard, Princeton, and Stanford. Out of those I would go with Princeton because it is an excellent school for pretty much anything. Yale and Columbia are also very good. Out of those two I would go with Columbia because of its location (hard to beat NY). However, Yale has the superior program. As for the UC’s, UCLA, San Diego, and Berkeley are the best for political science. I wouldn’t consider Brown, Wellesley, Georgetown, Tufts, or Rice. The rest are all good choices. I can’t really give you any personal experience with political science at any of these schools but If I were you I would rank them like so:</p>

<p>Harvard
Princeton
Stanford (consider adding to your list)
Columbia (location, location, location)
Yale
Berkeley
UC San Diego
MIT
UCLA
Chicago
Northwestern</p>

<p>As for international relations…look at the post below me.</p>

3

<p>2009 Undergraduate **International Relations **Rankings</p>

<p>[Inside</a> the Ivory Tower - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia](<a href=“http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inside_the_Ivory_Tower]Inside”>Inside the Ivory Tower - Wikipedia)</p>

<p>Rank School Percent </p>

<p>1 Harvard University 21
2 Princeton University 16
3 Yale University 12
4 Stanford University 12
5 Georgetown University 12
6 Columbia University 11
7 University of Chicago 7
8 Dartmouth College 5
9 University of California, Berkeley 4
10 Tufts University 3
10 University of Michigan 3
12 Duke University 3
13 Williams College 2
13 Cornell University 2
13 Massachusetts Institute of Technology 2
16 Swarthmore College 2
17 Johns Hopkins University 2
17 American University 2
19 University of California, San Diego 2
19 Brown University 2 </p>

<p>===================</p>

<p>Latest USNWR **Political Science **Graduate School Rankings</p>

<p>[Rankings</a> - Political Science - Graduate Schools - Education - US News and World Report](<a href=“http://grad-schools.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-political-science-schools/rankings]Rankings”>http://grad-schools.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-political-science-schools/rankings)</p>

<p>Rank College name Distance Score </p>

<p>1 Harvard University Cambridge, MA Enter your zip 4.8<br>
1 Princeton University Princeton, NJ Enter your zip 4.8<br>
1 Stanford University Stanford, CA Enter your zip 4.8<br>
4 University of Michigan–Ann Arbor Ann Arbor, MI Enter your zip 4.7<br>
5 Yale University New Haven, CT Enter your zip 4.6<br>
6 University of California–Berkeley Berkeley, CA Enter your zip 4.5<br>
7 Columbia University New York, NY Enter your zip 4.4<br>
7 University of California–San Diego La Jolla, CA Enter your zip 4.4<br>
9 Duke University Durham, NC Enter your zip 4.2<br>
9 Massachusetts Institute of Technology Cambridge, MA Enter your zip 4.2<br>
11 University of California–Los Angeles Los Angeles, CA Enter your zip 4.1<br>
11 University of Chicago Chicago, IL Enter your zip 4.1<br>
13 University of North Carolina–Chapel Hill Chapel Hill , NC Enter your zip 4.0<br>
13 Washington University in St. Louis St. Louis, MO Enter your zip 4.0<br>
15 University of Rochester Rochester, NY Enter your zip 3.9<br>
15 University of Wisconsin–Madison Madison, WI Enter your zip 3.9<br>
17 New York University New York, NY Enter your zip 3.8<br>
17 Ohio State University Columbus, OH Enter your zip 3.8<br>
17 University of Minnesota–Twin Cities Minneapolis, MN Enter your zip 3.8<br>
20 Cornell University Ithaca, NY Enter your zip 3.7<br>
21 Northwestern University Evanston, IL Enter your zip 3.5<br>
21 University of Illinois–Urbana-Champaign Urbana, IL Enter your zip 3.5<br>
21 University of Texas–Austin Austin, TX Enter your zip 3.5<br>
24 Texas A&M University–College Station College Station, TX Enter your zip 3.4<br>
24 University of California–Davis Davis, CA Enter your zip 3.4</p>

4

<p>Politcal Science and International Relations - Average Rankings
1 - Harvard University<br>
1.5 - Princeton University<br>
2.5 - Stanford University<br>
4 - Yale University<br>
6.5 - Columbia University<br>
7 - University of Michigan
8 - University of California, Berkeley
9 - University of Chicago
11- Massachusetts Institute of Technology
11 - Duke University
13 - University of California, San Diego
16.5 - Cornell University </p>

<p>Ranked in only one Category
Georgetown<br>
Dartmouth<br>
Tufts<br>
Williams<br>
Swarthmore<br>
Johns Hopkins<br>
American<br>
Brown<br>
UCLA
UNC
WashStL
Rochester
Wisconsin
NYU
Ohio State
Minnesota
Northwestern
Illinois
Texas
Texas A&M
UC Davis</p>

5

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</p>

<p>JohnAdams, I hope you realize that the survey “quoted” by Wikipedia is based on a highly questionable methology. </p>

<p>But don’t take my word for it, here is what Johns Hopkins had to say about it a few years ago. As far as I know, the researchers at William & Mary have not made the slightest effort to improve their work, except to increase the number of questions and the size of the poll. The question about undergraduate programs remains a SINGLE and extremely broad question. </p>

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</p>

6

<p>xiggi, thanks for the info</p>

7

<p>It is very difficult to get fair, accurate rankings of specific undergraduate departments. Keep in mind that unless you attend an Open Curriculum college and load up on nothing but Government courses, the time you spend in your major won’t comprise more than a fourth of your class time, max. A good education in political science or international relations would include courses in economics, history, language(s), and statistical methods, in addition to any required general education courses. So, applying to college is not like applying to graduate school. You are choosing a whole school not just a department.</p>

8

<p>wow this is all super helpful!</p>

<p>@changeinentropy : Why do you say that you wouldn’t consider Georgetown for PoliSci? I thought it was one of the best schools for polisci? and of course I have to apply to SOME non-Ivy schools :P</p>

9

<p>It’s just that you are considering a plethora of other schools that are much better for political science than Georgetown. As far as rankings go, Georgetown does not compete with the others you mentioned. It’s a good school for international relations however but like tk21769 said, applying for undergraduate programs is very different from applying to graduate school. Still, a department’s graduate rank, what I’m basing the Georgetown assumption on, is a good guide to how good that department is at the undergraduate level.</p>