<p>William and Mary is good for US History.</p>
<p>Gourman report is interesting but quite dated now. As far as Rugg, it pretty much just says what most of us have been saying all along. The history departments of most, if not all top 100 colleges will be quite good, especially for US History. If you had wanted something like Albanian history in the 17th century (was there even an Albania then?) then of course you would have to search carefully. But for US History you have the freedom to completely focus on the school(s) that fits you best and just go for it.</p>
<p>IMO, just to say it again, you should forget about what you are thinking of majoring in and focus primarily on the factors that will give you the best college experience possible, such as size, location, quality of your peer students, affordability, sports, Greek/non-Greek, etc. etc. This, I think, will give you the best chance of having a great 4 years in all aspects, including being satisfied with your major.</p>
<p>Gourman is out of date and does not even list LAC’s which are known to have stellar History programs as well.</p>
<p>The Rugg’s list is a better list and is more inclusive. </p>
<p>Good luck!</p>
<p>Ruggs does not list Michigan, Stanford and Yale, three of the top 6 history departments in the US.</p>
<p>Alexandre,</p>
<p>That is strange. Well, maybe they can’t be great at everything. JK ;)</p>
<p>Hehe! I agree. Besides, Gourman is no better than Ruggs. No ranking/rating system isperfect I suppose.</p>
<p>^ I agree. I think all these raking and rating systems are over rated.</p>
<p>For US History among Academics UW Madison is top 2 or 3. Overall the department is among the top 10. The resources of the State Historical Society across the street from the Department are incredible - the largest library devoted to No. America outside Wash. DC. The Dept. has produced such liminaries in US History as Wm. Appleman Wms, Frederick Jackson Turner and currently Bill Cronon. John Cooper just published the definitive biography of Woodrow Wilson. Great school for the progessive era (it’s Wisconsin after all). And if you are interested in the nexus of history and science it is one of the best places anywhere.</p>
<p>Check out the Dept websites and read the bio’s on Faculty to see what you think.</p>
<p>History</p>
<p>[University</a> of Wisconsin - History Department](<a href=“http://history.wisc.edu/index.htm]University”>http://history.wisc.edu/index.htm)</p>
<p>History of Sci.</p>
<p>[History</a> of Science @ University of Wisconsin | Home Page](<a href=“http://histsci.wisc.edu/]History”>http://histsci.wisc.edu/)</p>
<p>Plus you get great athletics an incredibly dynamic student body and beautiful campus. </p>
<p>Good luck!</p>
<p>Berkeley, Michigan, UVA.</p>
<p>You better be a good runner, state finalist may or may not be recruitable at these schools. Also check out William and Mary which has awesome history and track.</p>
<p>
Don’t forget UNC Chapel Hill, which ranks ahead of UVA in general history and is tied for US history. </p>
<p>
These lists are by no means exhaustive, but they should be sufficient to get you started. I’ve included a full range of selectivity, as your list should include reaches, matches, and safeties.</p>
<p>Possibly good fits
Arizona
ASU
Berkeley
Boston College
Boston U
Fordham
FSU
Georgetown
GWU
Marquette
Minnesota
Northwestern
Penn
Tulane
UCLA
UCSD
UMD-College Park
U Miami
U Pittsburgh
USC
UT Austin
Washington
Wisconsin</p>
<p>Maybe fits
American*
Brown*
Columbia*
Duke*
Harvard*
Michigan**
NYU***
Stanford**
Syracuse**
UNC Chapel Hill**
UVA**
Vanderbilt*</p>
<p><em>Too small?
*</em>Insufficiently urban?
***Not DI</p>
<p>warbler - nice list. Although talking about rankings like that is kind of a laugh. I mean really, how can anyone rate undergrad experiences that way? UNC and UVA tied in US History?? Just silly. Not saying you are, just the whole idea. I guess the people that do it (USNWR, Gourman, Rugg, any of them) get a sense of self-importance from it or something. Because on its face it is just nonsense, or at least useless. A college experience is as individual as the interests, academic and otherwise, of the applicants.</p>
<p>Anyway, you missed saying that Columbia, American, Harvard and Brown are not Div. I. Maybe you thought that was obvious.</p>
<p>
Perhaps. My point was not to demonstrate superiority of a program, however; it was simply to point out a notable oversight. </p>
<p>
Incorrect. American is in the Patriot League, and Columbia/Harvard/Brown are in the Ivy League. Both are Division I. </p>
<p>[NCAA</a> Division I Men’s Track, Outdoor](<a href=“http://web1.ncaa.org/onlineDir/exec/sponsorship?sortOrder=0&division=1&sport=MTO]NCAA”>http://web1.ncaa.org/onlineDir/exec/sponsorship?sortOrder=0&division=1&sport=MTO)</p>
<p>Oh, for track. I didn’t know we were focusing on track. Did the OP say somewhere it was track he was talking about? If so I missed it.</p>
<p>And I wasn’t trying to give you a hard time about the rankings. I just have gotten to the point where I think they are so abused, where people seem to think they are some kind of scientific finding, that I can hardly stand it, lol. I will stick to my contention that for US History, any of the top 100 schools will provide a far more than adequate education in the major.</p>
<p>I can assure you that Ann Arbor is not, “Insufficiently urban.”</p>
<p>
It’s the OP’s opinion that matters, and neither of us has a metric for what (s)he considers urban. Hence the question mark.</p>
<p>Someone who considers NYC adequately urban might not deem Ann Arbor so. It is not exactly a bustling metropolis, however nice a college town it might be. Detroit is admittedly larger.</p>
<p>I’m also looking to major in history, so I’ll just share with you what I’ve heard from talking to professors/recent majors. </p>
<p>Graduate school rankings are pretty much the best you’re going to get as far as undergrad history rankings. As people have been saying though, pretty much any really good school will also have a good history dept. I’ve heard good things about Cornell (which may be really good for you. Large size, D1 athletics, great academics, it’s just in the middle of nowhere (but Ithaca is nice)), UPenn and Columbia (which also could be really good, but in a city). I’ve also heard very good things about the history depts. at UVa and UMich, although those schools have realy big time athletics and I don’t know how serious you are about competing in college.</p>
<p>My personal opinion is that LAC’s might be better for history, but I don’t know your learning style or preferences. I also think that pretyt much anywhere you go you’ll find at satisfactory history dept.</p>
<p>“Someone who considers NYC adequately urban might not deem Ann Arbor so.”</p>
<p>Ya think?</p>
<p>The lists above of schools just reaffirms what I said earlier–it’s nearly impossible not to find a major institution that’s isn’t good in US history. </p>
<p>I would add Rutgers. While New Brunswick is no great shakes, RU is very close to NYC by train, bus, or car.</p>