best poli sci depts, beyond DC schools

<p>Duke is awesome too</p>

<p>MAriana,
I have to respectfully disagree with your statement that no DC school has a political science program - I read Alexandre's statement as no "top ranked" proram in D.C. - a totally different statement. In any case, George Wasington U does have an excellent political science program with some unique concentrations not available in other schools (i.e., political management, political communications).</p>

<p>Where does one find rankings of undergraduate programs? My daughter (a junior) is interested in Art History, and though we have some idea of the heavy hitters such as Williams and the Seven Sisters, we can't figure out where people get this information other than through word of mouth.</p>

<p>I don't think there are official rankings for Art History. Williams is supposed to be excellent, but so are several other programs, such as Harvard, Yale, NYU, Michigan-Ann Arbor, Oberlin, Brown, Cornell, Penn, Columbia, Princeton etc...</p>

<p>Futureadcom, Williams is wonderful for Art History. They have three good museums on or near campus which greatly contribute to the learning experience. </p>

<p>My son (who is at Williams now) was looking for schools that were strong in both art history and art studio. With one exception he was focusing on the upper east coast. This was his short list: Skidmore, Hamilton, Wesleyan, Yale, Brown, Kenyon. We came up with this list by a combination of reading guide books, perusing the internet (look at the course offerings) and visiting. The following are also good, but I don't have firsthand experience with them: Smith, Bryn Mawr, Vassar, Bard, NYU.</p>

<p>Most major universities, including all of the ivy league (maybe not Dartmouth?) have good art history departments. I myself studied at UMich a hundred years ago. If you do a search you will find a lot of posts on this subject.</p>

<p>futureadcom, There are several books that have lists of schools that have strong undergraduate programs. Rugg's Reviews of the Colleges is one that is helpful because it divides the schools for each major by selectivity. If you'd like me to look at Rugg's for you, let me know some details about your daughter - stats, geographic preferences, school size preferences - and I'll be happy to give you some suggestions from Rugg's.</p>

<p>Futureadcom, the chairman of the Smith art department spoke locally last year. So impressive that I wanted to sign for art classes in the department at Smith. Supposed to be one of the more popular majors there, fwiw.</p>

<p>My list would be exactly the same as Momrath, so since the two of us agree, it must be "official".</p>

<p>There are differences in strengths, as one would expect. Williams is TOPS in art history, and okay in studio. Bard is really, really good in studio, but just okay in art history. The women's colleges and the former XX colleges (like Vassar), are excellent in both, but likely tops in neither. At least one of the Ivies - Princeton -- is very fine in art history, and close to abysmal (that is, for a top college) in studio offerings.</p>