<p>I want to be a lawyer (as of now), and I'm planning to double major in government and econ at Cornell.</p>
<p>But I've been doing some reading, and people often reference the Cornell social science program as relatively weak (in comparision to similar caliber schools). </p>
<p>Any advice? It doesn't have to be about Cornell v. Tufts, but could be on the overall social science curric at Cornell. Am I not making the most out of my Cornell expereince, because I am not majoring in a hard science?</p>
<p>Cornell’s social sciences are relatively weak when compared to schools like Harvard or Michigan, especially for graduate study. So while Cornell’s programs in the physical sciences and some humanities (e.g. English, Comparative Literature) can go toe to toe with the best programs in the country, Cornell’s economics and government programs never get mentioned in the same breath as the greatest departments in the country, except, of course when speaking about Cornell’s niche programs in such fields as labor economics.</p>
<p>I think most would consider Cornell’s social science programs to be a notch above Tufts, except for international relations, where they are probably roughly equal. Where Cornell shines in IR is in combining the different disciplines with an international lens.</p>
<p>FWIW, when I attended government was considered quite strong, maybe something has happened since then? Quite possible.</p>
<p>Econ wasn’t, relatively speaking, but that meant it was ranked like 15-20, instead of 1-10.</p>
<p>No idea about now.</p>
<p>Is there any place to find individual rankings for specific college programs? Obviously rankings are not the say-all be-all, but rather, a good barometer.</p>
<p>A bit old, but workable. Will give you a sense for how well-respected the faculty are in each dept:</p>
<p>[NRC</a> Rankings in Each of 41 Areas](<a href=“http://www.stat.tamu.edu/~jnewton/nrc_rankings/nrc41indiv.html]NRC”>http://www.stat.tamu.edu/~jnewton/nrc_rankings/nrc41indiv.html)</p>
<p>Ah alright, thanks! Cornell seems to be around (in econ and gov) its overall USNEWS rank. A little behind, but not by much. Considering the harvard, mit stanford princeton dominate the rankings, I’m not too worried. I would not have been accepted into those schools, so I think Cornell is the best I’ve got. The rankings aren’t too bad, top 20. Perhaps that will perk up my GPA for law school :)</p>