Future Political Science Major Selection Help

College Search & Selection
21

<p>carolyn's list is missing several important schools. </p>

<p>Top political science programs:
Stanford
Chicago
Harvard
Berkeley
Yale
Princeton
UCLA
Dartmouth</p>

<p>In terms of "reach action", I suggest applying to Chicago (if you don't mind staying in-state/city) and at least two of HSYP. Georgetown political science isn't particularly good. </p>

<p>In terms of international relations:
Georgetown
Tufts
Princeton
Johns Hopkins</p>

<p>are the top four programs. I suggest applying to JHU, Princeton and Georgetown. You might be a victim of Tufts Syndrome.</p>

22

<p>Confused by the personal.lse.ac.uk ranking. since when did MIT have political science?</p>

23

<p>I don't know much about MIT. But I do know that LSE Professor David Held took his PhD there. He's a political scientist.</p>

24

<p>Since 1965, it seems...</p>

<p><a href="http://web.mit.edu/polisci/info/index.html%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://web.mit.edu/polisci/info/index.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

25

<p>wow, i always thought that mit was focused only on sciences such as engineering and tech-related stuff. very intriguing...</p>

<p>doubt that i could ever get in though.</p>

26

<p>zephyr151
What exactly is the 'Tufts syndrome'? Could you elaborate please...</p>

27

<p>The "Tufts syndrome" is an outdated term for the trend of Tufts to reject students whose stats were far above the applicants' average to increase the admissions yield of the incoming class. So, in other words, if one student happened to apply to Tufts as a "safety" and it was obvious to admissions that they were probable not going to attend if accepted, then they would accept the student with more realistic stats who would be more likely to accept the admission offer.</p>

<p>However, this term is very outdated as even in the past 5 years the stats to get into Tufts have made it one of the most competitive schools in the country. For example, this year's admitted class boasted a mean SAT score of 1428 and mean class rank of top 6%. While many bitter rejects will use the "Tufts Syndrome" as an excuse, the reality is that there are only so many positions to fill in the incoming class and Tufts, like any other top school, is forced to reject numerous qualified applicants.</p>

28

<p>Definitely look at Michigan. It is not too far from home, they have a top 3 Political Science deartment and a top 3 Business school and it would be a reasonable match. I would say you have a 90% chance of being accepted if you apply in September. Given your ACT and GPA, you would maybe even get some merit aid. </p>

<p>Other top Political Science programs include Chicago, Columbia, Cornell, Duke, Northwestern, Rochester, UCB, UCLA, UCSD, UNC-Chapel Hill and Washington University would all be good matches and or reaches. A good safety would be Wisconsin-Madison. </p>

<p>Many LACs, like Macalester, Claremont McKenna, Grinnell etc... are worth looking into if you do not mind LACs. </p>

<p>I think Harvard, MIT, Princeton, Stanford and Yale (all of which have excellent Political Science programs) would be extreme reaches. Apply to one or even two of them, but do not trust to hope. </p>

<p>For International Relations, check out Georgetown, Johns Hopkins and Tufts.</p>