<p>Hi guys,</p>
<p>I'm having trouble making my final list of colleges this summer. So far, I'm sure that I'll be applying to 5 colleges already. I need to decide about the last 5 colleges I'll ultimately apply to.</p>
<p>I'm planning to major in Political Science, but I want the flexibility to change that major in case I don't want to study PS after all. My stats are strong, so I'm not worried about that right now.</p>
<p>Here are the questions I need answered (anyone can answer; alumni or current student answers would be amazing):</p>
<ol>
<li>Are students taught by professors or TAs or other?</li>
<li>What is student/faculty ratio?</li>
<li>Sequence of courses in majors?</li>
<li>When do you have to declare major?</li>
<li>How hard is it to change major?</li>
<li>Enough majors to transfer into later?</li>
<li>Graduate school placement rates?</li>
<li>Where do those graduates go?</li>
<li>How many students go on to post-graduate study?</li>
<li>Any special relationships w/ post-grad institutions or medical or law schools?</li>
<li>What is the general atmosphere of the school?</li>
<li>Quality of related majors (sociology, economics, etc.)</li>
<li>Overall school quality?</li>
</ol>
<p>If anyone at Columbia is currently studying Political Science, it would be great to know what you think about the program.</p>
<p>I was also wondering if there is any undergrad Journalism/Communications program @ Dartmouth.</p>
<p>Thanks! =)</p>
<p>Start here…</p>
<p>[Dartmouth</a> College](<a href=“http://www.dartmouth.edu/]Dartmouth”>http://www.dartmouth.edu/)</p>
<p>No Journalism or Political Science Majors (government is a popular major and there is a public policy minor)</p>
<p>All classes taught by professors</p>
<p>then you can look up the common data set (office of institutional research)</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.dartmouth.edu/~oir/data-reporting/factbook/index.html[/url]”>This Page Has Moved;
<p>Isn’t government the same thing as political science?</p>
<p>It is highly unlikely that you will hear anyone say they are a Poli Sci major, they will say that they are government.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>thought it is worth noting that the gov department is trying to lower the divides between these 4 sub-fields and probably get rid of them altogether in the near future</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Are students taught by professors or TAs or other?: All professors, a shining difference for Dartmouth.</p></li>
<li><p>What is student/faculty ratio? 8:1, although its even better than others with the same ratio because Dartmouth profs all teach, whereas at places like Columbia and Penn they will count non-teaching research profs that do little for undergrads</p></li>
<li><p>Sequence of courses in majors?</p></li>
<li><p>When do you have to declare major? Sophomore year</p></li>
<li><p>How hard is it to change major? Easy</p></li>
<li><p>Enough majors to transfer into later? Yes</p></li>
<li><p>Graduate school placement rates? Top 7 easily. Look up rates into almost any elite grad school, Dartmouth dominates. </p></li>
<li><p>How many students go on to post-graduate study? Lots</p></li>
<li><p>Any special relationships w/ post-grad institutions or medical or law schools? Dartmouth placement is amazing</p></li>
<li><p>What is the general atmosphere of the school? The “cozy” friendly, community, alumni loyalty, study abroad, small classes, tightknit student body, great placement into grad schools and elite jobs Ivy.</p></li>
<li><p>Quality of related majors (sociology, economics, etc.): All very high. Undergrad focus. Dartmouth is very wealthy and it pays huge dividends in terms of undergrad access to profs and undergrad grants and research.</p></li>
<li><p>Overall school quality? Along with Princeton one of the top UNDERGRAD educations in the country.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>If I am not mistaken, Dartmouth’s Public Policy major is the equivalent of a political science major.</p>
<p>At this point there is only a Public Policy minor, but as Sybbie pointed out, a
Government major can have a poli-sci concentration, and you can combine it with the Public Policy minor which affords you a lot of real-world experience. [Public</a> Policy Minor](<a href=“http://rockefeller.dartmouth.edu/minor/]Public”>http://rockefeller.dartmouth.edu/minor/)</p>
<p>Public policy and poli sci are quite different fields, although related. Poli sci and government are almost always treated as equivalent. Especially outside the US, “politics” or “government” is usually the preferred term, as opposed to “political science.”</p>
<p>slipper’s covered most of the questions. I will say that although lots of Dartmouth grads continue to postgraduate studies, most of them opt for professional degrees, not academic degrees like a PhD in poli sci, econ, or sociology. I’m not entirely sure what our placement rate is for academic degrees. I’ve taken classes in most of the social sciences and I think they’re probably Dartmouth’s strongest suit – the quality of the teaching is excellent.</p>
<p>i cant decide between poli sci or philosophy… but i heard dartmouth doesnt have any poli sci programs besides undergrad? am i correct?</p>
<p>That doesn’t really mean anything – none of the social sciences take on any grad students, as far as I know. It’s actually probably good if you want exposure to research because at other schools most profs have access to grad students they can hire as research assistants. At Dartmouth there are no grad students in the social sciences so it’s easier for you to get a research assistantship.</p>