<p>Looking across the country -- special emphasis but not limited to
west coast -- which schools offer the most challenging poli sci departments?</p>
<p>Thank You!</p>
<p>Ottoline</p>
<p>First, if you're thinking about national rankings then you're talking about major universities, and the polisci faculties at these would be (in rough order of quality/reputation of faculty): Stanford, Berkeley, UCLA, UCSD, UCI, Caltech, UCD, USC, UCR, UWash, Oregon, Oregon State. . . . The top 6 or 7 of those range from good to excellent.</p>
<p>Second, if you're thinking of including liberal arts colleges, then you have to include (again in rough order but this is really really subjective) Pomona, Reed, Claremont McKenna, Lewis & Clark, Occidental, and Whitman, plus perhaps a couple of others.</p>
<p>The one that springs to mind, before any other school: Harvard.</p>
<p>True enough -- I was just listing West coast schools. But if you want to go national, then . . . . as major university faculties, you have to consider</p>
<p>Harvard, Princeton, UCBerkeley, UMich, Yale, Stanford, UChicago, Wisconsin, UCLA, UCSD, Ohio State, UNC, Duke, WashU, Texas-Austin, NYU, Rochester, and a fair number of others that are good ones (e.g., MichState, Northwestern, Maryland, Emory, UMinn, Columbia, G'town).</p>
<p>At LAC's there are many good polisci faculties, including among others: Swarthmore, Reed, Oberlin, Pomona, Carleton, Kenyon, Haverford, Wesleyan, Wellesley, Bryn Mawr, Williams, Amherst, Claremont McKenna, Beloit, and Bowdoin.</p>
<p>how does JHU fair?</p>
<p>Appreciate your time and helpful info. My son is drawn to the DC schools because
of the access to local internships and proximity to the nation's heart beat.
Having graduated from a Seven Sister where close attention made a difference, I'd love to see him in a smaller setting -- and suggestions like Haverford, Swarthmore, Carleton, Pomona merit serious exploration. All the schools named here do ... Thank you so much</p>
<p>Why don't you just go to a DC school? What do you have against them? ;)</p>
<p>Hoya Saxa!</p>
<p>Ottoline, most LACs are well represented in political science and related courses such as history and economics. On the eastcoast Swarthmore, Williams, Wesleyan and Amherst all have well funded departments. In the somewhat less selective range take a look at Hamilton, Colgate, and Bowdoin. </p>
<p>For an international slant in addition to the DC schools, JHU and Tufts are very strong options. I'd say the LACs are about equal for IR.</p>
<p>DUKE and Davidson in the South. Tufts, Amherst, Brandeis, Holy Cross,and Wellesley in the Northeast.</p>
<p>Screw Texas. California is going to war with Texas. We will be launching an invasion soon, for your oil.</p>
<p>LOL I'm with you, California. NorCal will take the north, SoCal can invade in the south.</p>
<p>Yes! And so it begins. the next chapter of the American Revolution. </p>
<p>We used to be a great Democracy. Now we are a great Hypocrisy!</p>
<p>Hehe... we are. And really, who needs Texas anyway?</p>
<p>PS- I really do actually think that California would benefit by becoming its own country. It would also be extremely cool. It would also probably never happen. :p</p>
<p>Swarthmore produces the most Poli Sci Ph.Ds (per capita) of ANY undergrad college or university in the country. That leads me to believe that their Poli Sci department must be pretty good.</p>
<p>LACs: Swarthmore, Amherst, Bowdoin, Wesleyan, Haverford, Claremont McKenna, Pomona, Colgate, Carleton, Macalester, Occidental. . .</p>
<p>
[quote]
Hehe... we are. And really, who needs Texas anyway?</p>
<p>PS- I really do actually think that California would benefit by becoming its own country. It would also be extremely cool. It would also probably never happen.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>A lot of Californians want that too. God knows how much federal tax we have to pay to the rest of America. And in exchange for what? Nothing but west coast bias, insults, and silent sneers. Screw the rest of the country! To arms! my california brothers and sisters!</p>
<p>The Bear Flag Republic shall come again!</p>
<p>The DC area does not have a single top Political Science Department. It has 2 top International Relations programs in Georgetown and Johns Hopkins, but it does not have a top Political Science program. Here are the top Political Science departments, according to region and quality (national rank). All of the programs listed below are awesome)</p>
<p>West Coast:
Stanford University (top 5 nationally)
University of California-Berkeley (top 5 nationally)
University of California-San Diego (top 15 nationally)
University of California-Los Angeles (top 15 nationally)
University of Washington (top 25 nationally)
Claremont McKenna (N/A)
Reed College (N/A)
Pomona College (N/A)</p>
<p>Midwest:
University of Michigan-Ann Arbor (top 5 nationally)
University of Chicago (top 10 nationally)
Northwestern University (top 15 nationally)
University of Wisconsin-Madison (top 15 nationally)
Indiana University-Bloomington (top 20 nationally)
University of Illinois-Urbana Champaign (top 20 nationally)
University of Minnesota-Twin Cities (Top 20 nationally)
Washington University (top 20 nationally)
Carleton College (N/A)
Grinnell College (N/A)
Macalester College (N/A)
Oberlin College (N/A)</p>
<p>South/Southeast:
Duke University (top 10 nationally)
University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill (top 15 nationally)
University of Texas (top 20 nationally)
Emory University (top 25 nationally)
University of Virginia (top 25 nationally)
Davidson College (N/A)</p>
<p>Northeast:
Harvard University (#1 nationally)
Yale University (top 5 nationally)
Princeton University (top 10 nationally)
Columbia University (top 15 nationally)
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (top 15 nationally)
Cornell University (top 20 nationally)
University of Rochester (top 20 nationally)
Amherst College
Bowdoin College
Haverford College
Middlebury College
Swarthmore College
Wesleyan College
Williams College</p>
<p>Some other LAC's on the east coast that have great political science departments:
Dickinson, Colgate, Colby, Drew, Franklin & Marshall, Kenyon, OBerlin,Denison.</p>
<p>In the mid-west, Grinnell, Lake Forest, Knox and Macalester all have excellent political science programs.</p>
<p>On the west coast, I'd include Willamette University in Oregon - the campus is right across the street from the state capital and the internship opportunities are awesome.
Whitman College and Pomona are both also strong for political science. </p>
<p>And, no one has mentioned Johns Hopkins yet - has an excellent political science program and is within spitting distance of D.C. I'd also include Tufts for consideration.</p>
<p>UCSD has a great department of Political Science (and it is in the west coast). According to USNews is #2 in Comparative Politics. Also other that have been mentioned here: Chicago, Harvard, Stanford, Princeton, Michigan, WashU. And I repeat what Alexandre said: no D.C. University has a political science program, they have international relations, that is pretty interesting too, but different from poli sci.</p>