<p>Hi, I'm a junior at a boarding school in Wisconsin and I'm really interested in studying political science, international relations/affairs, or linguistics in college. Does anyone know which schools have strong departments in these areas? thanks!</p>
<p>Swarthmore.</p>
<p>It produces more Poli Sci PhDs per graduate than any other college or university in the country. Also, the most Econ PhDs and the most social science PhDs across the board.</p>
<p>Foreign Affairs magazine just named it was one of only a couple of LACs on their list of top schools for international relations -- a list that is almost entirely driven by graduate school rankings. Swarthmore has some heavy hitters on the faculty and many of their grads are hard core policy wonks.</p>
<p>And, it has a wonderful Linguistics department (3rd in Linguistics PhDs per graduate).</p>
<p>Excellent study abroad options. Solid pipeline to D.C. internships. The CIA was just on campus recruiting graduating seniors.</p>
<p>Some other options to consider: Middlebury, Macalester, Claremont McKenna, Dickinson, Davidson, Kenyon, Lawrence, Beloit, Earlham, Pomona, Vassar, Lewis & Clark, Colgate, Connecticut College, Colby, Grinnell, Willamette, Denison, St. Olaf, Franklin &Marshall, Oberlin, Occidental, Wesleyan, Williams and Rhodes. If you're female, aslo check out Smith, Wellesely, Mt. Holyoke and Bryn Mawr. These are all very different schools, at different levels of selectivity, so I would suggest you start by thinking about what type of "feel" you want your school to have as well and then look for LACs that come closest to matching what you are looking for.</p>
<p>i second swarthmore.</p>
<p>Foreign Policy ranked the top 20 undergraduate programs for internation relations: <a href="http://www.foreignpolicy.com/story/cms.php?story_id=3718&page=1%5B/url%5D">http://www.foreignpolicy.com/story/cms.php?story_id=3718&page=1</a></p>
<p>swarthmore is ranked #14 on the list and williams is ranked #19. if you include dartmouth as LAC it is #8. the rest are universities.</p>
<p>Def Middlebury for linguistics!</p>
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Def Middlebury for linguistics!
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<p>Huh? Middlebury is superb in languages, but according to the website, it doesn't have have a Linguistics department. So I'm a little puzzled by "definitely" Middlebury for Linguistics.</p>
<p>Having said that, Middlebury would certainly be a school that the original poster might want to consider.</p>
<p>Middlebury does not offer a linguistics major, but the creation of a minor has been proposed. Midd does, however, offer several classes in linguistics. </p>
<p>Soon Midd undergrads will be able to take linguistics classes at the Monterey Institute, which recently became an affiliate of Middlebury College.</p>
<p><a href="http://language.miis.edu/%5B/url%5D">http://language.miis.edu/</a></p>
<p>im in a similar boat in that I am looking to major in political science and go to a LAC, and not knowing your statistics, I would recommend Macalester College.</p>
<p>Kofi Annan, Walter Mondale, and quite a few major judges and politicians are graduates from Mac.</p>
<p>If you really mean linguistics- as opposed to study of specific foreign languages- you'd better check department offerings specifically.</p>
<p>Many colleges don't have linguistics departments, and others only offer a course or two in the subject, at most.</p>
<p>LACs for Political Science from Rugg's</p>
<p>Amherst
Brandeis
Centre
Claremont McKenna
Colby
Colgate
Colorado Coll
Connecticut Coll
Dartmouth
Dickinson
Drew
Franklin and Marshall
Grinnell
Hamilton
Kenyon
Macalester
Middlebury
Mount Holyoke
Occidental
Pomona
Rhodes
U Richmond
Smith
U of the South
Swarthmore
Trinity (TX)
Union
Ursinus
Wabash
Washington and Lee
Wellesley
Wesleyan
Whitman
Willamette
Williams</p>
<p>LACs for International Relations from Rugg's</p>
<p>Agnes Scott
Alma
Beaver
Beloit
Bentley (MA)
Bethune-Cookman (FL)
Bryn Mawr
BucknellButler (IN)
Caldwell (NJ)
Chatham (PA)
C of Charleston
Claremont McKenna
Colgate
Colorado C
Connecticut C
Cornell College (IA)
Dartmouth
Davidson
Dayton
Denison
DePaul
Dickinson
Dominican
Drake
Eckard (FL)
Elizabethtown
Elmira
Evansville
Goucher
Hamline
Hiram
Husson (ME)
Juniata
Kalamazoo
Kenyon
Knox
Lenoir-Rhyne (NC)
Lewis and Clark
Linfield
Macalester
Manhattanville
Marygrove
Middlebury
Moravian (PA)
Mt Holyoke
Mt St Mary's (MD)
Oglethorpe
Ohio Wesleyan
Pitzer
SUNY Plattsburgh
Pomona
Randolph-Macon Women's
Redlands
Regis (CO)
U Richmond
Rhodes
Santa Clara U
U Scranton
Scripps
Spring Hill (AL)
St Andrews (NC)
St Catherine (MN)
St Louis U
St Mary's (MN)
St Mary's (TX)
St Michael's (VT)
St Norbert (WI)
St Olaf
St Peter's (NJ)
Stetson
Sweet Briar
Trinity (DC)
US Air Force Acad
US Military Acad
Vassar
Virginia Wesleyan
Washington College (MD)
Wesleyan (GA)
Westminster (MO)
Westmont (CA)
Westminster (UT)
Wheaton (MA)
Whittier (CA)
William Jewell
Wilson (PA)
Wittenberg (OH)</p>
<p>Even though it is a university, Tufts is very personalized and has a great reputation in that area, as well as access to the famed fletcher school. (you can take classes there)</p>
<p>My current list of school's i'm interested in include:
Tufts
Wellesley
Amherst
Brown
Claremond McKenna
Georgetown
Haverford
Johns Hopkins
Macalester (one of my favorites, but I'm not excited for the ever-lasting winters of St.Paul)
Pitzer
Pomona
Scripps
Swarthmore
McGill
and a few Dutch universities</p>
<p>Specifically does anyone know about how good the international relations is at the Claremont Consortium colleges?</p>
<p>Claremont McKenna is an amazing place to go for Poli Sci.</p>
<p>Good list. Assuming that you are a legitimate candidate for the reach schools, you list covers enough ground that you should have quite a few acceptances in hand. </p>
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Specifically does anyone know about how good the international relations is at the Claremont Consortium colleges?
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<p>Claremont McKenna is a government, econ, history specialty school in the same way that CalTech is a specialty tech school. So, virtually all the students major in those related fields, the departments are large, and the school is excellent for that sort of thing.</p>
<p>Pomona is just an excellent all-around liberal arts college with a massive endowment. I consider Pomona the equal of Williams or Amherst or Swarthmore overall. Scripps and Pitzer would be fantastic safeties on your list. You'd have to look up to see which of the schools have Linguistics departments.</p>
<p>BTW, here's an interview with one of Swarthmore's more famous and well-loved international relations/defense policy profs, James Kurth -- a frequent contributor to conservative-oriented magazines.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.swarthmore.edu/news/kurth/%5B/url%5D">http://www.swarthmore.edu/news/kurth/</a></p>
<p>He covers a lot of ground in the student interview. If you want to jump to his thoughts on teaching at Swarthmore, you can go to this link:</p>
<p><a href="http://www.swarthmore.edu/news/kurth/#faith%5B/url%5D">http://www.swarthmore.edu/news/kurth/#faith</a></p>
<p>clearly claremont mckenna - about half the kids there turned down georgetown for claremonts poly sci</p>
<p>claremont is awesome at intl relations/poly sci/econ... PLUS you get to take classes at pomona, which is really good at languages... really solid option, assuming u can get in</p>
<p>Thank you interesteddad, that's very helpful!
Why do you say that Pitzer and Scripps are good safety schools for me? Are they considerably lower in prestige vs. the other claremont's?</p>
<p>William & Mary and Davidson are very strong in Poly sci and IR</p>
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Why do you say that Pitzer and Scripps are good safety schools for me? Are they considerably lower in prestige vs. the other claremont's?
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<p>They are much easier to get into than the other three Claremont colleges. Mudd and Pomona are as difficult to get into as any LACs in the country and Claremont McKenna is right there with 'em. All things being equal, if you are a legitimate candidate for Pomona or Claremont or Swarthmore (by legitimate, I mean a 50%/50% shot), you should get accepted by Scripps or Pitzer. Obviously, I'm just speaking in general terms here; you can really only evaluate admissions based on a specific application and how it fits with a specific school.</p>
<p>Just to add a little light: Pitzer has the third lowest acceptance rate in the Claremonts and really focuses on match (think things like Social Responsibility and Intercultural Understanding).
If you think 26% acceptance is a safety school then you must be very impressive.</p>