<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 @ Princeton.</p>
<p>Thanks! =)</p>
<p>I’m P '13 so I’m not actually there yet, but I’ll do my best to answer your questions.</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Are students taught by professors or TAs or other? Exclusively by professors as far as I know. Precepts (which are discussion seminars that supplement lecture) are occasionally run by select grad students.</p></li>
<li><p>What is student/faculty ratio? I’ll let you look this up, although I imagine it’s low–Princeton’s one of the smaller Ivies and has a pretty big faculty. Most classes are quite small.</p></li>
<li><p>Sequence of courses in majors? Varies by department. At P’ton for politics you either major in Politics or apply to the Woodrow Wilson School, which have different requirements. In general, there’s a lot of flexibility. The exception is engineering–most engineering departments do have as many as 7 specific classes that must be taken. Chemical Engineering, my tentative major, has 9.</p></li>
<li><p>When do you have to declare major? After sophomore year for A.B., after freshman year for B.S.E.</p></li>
<li><p>How hard is it to change major? Not hard, though you need approval from department.</p></li>
<li><p>Enough majors to transfer into later? Um, there are like 70 majors, I’m sure you can find something.</p></li>
<li><p>Graduate school placement rates? Very good, I dunno the stats.</p></li>
<li><p>Where do those graduates go? Um, grad school… I don’t know the specific numbers</p></li>
<li><p>How many students go on to post-graduate study? No idea.</p></li>
<li><p>Any special relationships w/ post-grad institutions or medical or law schools? Not really, P’ton doesn’t have a med school or law school. They do have phenomenal acceptance rates though. </p></li>
<li><p>What is the general atmosphere of the school? Dunno yet, I’m not there yet.</p></li>
<li><p>Quality of related majors (sociology, economics, etc.) They’re all excellent, though there is no Sociology department. Economics is very popular, as is Woodrow Wilson and politics.</p></li>
<li><p>Overall school quality? Best in the world, obviously :)</p></li>
</ol>
<p>I’m going to “edit” Elmorell’s answers.</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Precepts are generally led by TAs, but those are just discussion sessions outside of lecture so that’s not a big deal. Intro-level language classes are sometimes taught by native speakers who aren’t technically professors.</p></li>
<li><p>It’s like 7 to 1 or something like that.</p></li>
<li><p>Woody Woo kids are not strictly studying politics - they major in Public and Int’l Affairs.</p></li>
<li><p>N/A</p></li>
<li><p>N/A</p></li>
<li><p>There are most certainly NOT 70 majors (it’s more like 35), but transferring into non-BSE majors is fairly simple as long as you do it before the beginning of your junior year and you’ve met the department pre-requisites for entrance.</p></li>
<li><p>Idk either, well above national averages though.</p></li>
<li><p>Most popular grad schools from the class of '08: Harvard, MIT, Columbia, Stanford, NYU, Robert Wood Johnson Med School, Yale, Oxford, WashU, Cornell, Johns Hopkins, UPenn. </p></li>
<li><p>About 25% go to grad/professional school immediately.</p></li>
<li><p>Not really, unless you’re seeking an MPA/JD through WWS - they have special agreements with Columbia Law, NYU Law, and Stanford Law.</p></li>
<li><p>Work hard, play hard. Love your school.</p></li>
<li><p>There most certainly IS a sociology department. History, psychology, biology, and English are also very popular majors.</p></li>
<li><p>N/A</p></li>
<li><p>No communications, but there is journalism.</p></li>
</ol>