<p>The thing is - virtuallly all of the top hundred colleges and universities have good political science departments. Beyond those with top graduate programs, who teaches at which is usually simply a matter of what jobs happened to be open the year after the Ph.D. graduated. Some will have slightly different orientations, though for the vast majority of undergraduates, that’s hardly going to make a big difference. And one student’s great teacher is another one’s dud. But they will all have good core academics or they wouldn’t be in the top hundred.</p>
<p>So do kick the academic tires, of course - especially in looking at safeties and matches. But in-term internships and opportunities, over the course of a four-year period (not “one-tem” programs in DC, or what you can do with your summer vacation) really ARE the difference. And the differences in experience and outlooks that result, not just in teaching, but in the student bodies themselves and the way they view themselves. These are going to result in massively different experiences. Anyone who doesn’t believe so doesn’t know the first thing about the campus life at colleges and universities where 60-80% of the student body is engaged in them.</p>
<p>(Disclosure: I had one d. at a highly ranked very politically active campus that did NOT have these opportunities, even though it has a well-known Washington semester, and lots of summer internships. I had another d. at a lower ranked, very politically active campus rated #1 for in-term internships. The differences in the day-to-day experiences of each are like night and day. Doesn’t mean one is “better”, but it does mean they are very, very different. Students will dress differently, eat differently, have classes at different times of day, spend their weekends differently, learn to write their resumes differently, find different mentors. The career advising centers will be different - because they also focus intensively on in-term internships. The student’s relationships with faculty will be different in that faculty will be writing many, many more recommendations as time goes, and hence have to know the students better from the point-of-view of employment. It goes on and on… Again, it doesn’t mean one is better and the other worse, only that the differences can hardly be overstated.)</p>
<p>SeanDaddy…I’ll echo recommending UVA. It has renowned Larry Sabato at the helm of it’s poli-sci department, and it’s law school is ranked number nine if I’m not mistaken. </p>
<p>Georgetown’s program is revered especially for those wanting to study international politics. </p>
<p>It looks like you’ve got some great recommendations and are off to a good start. Good luck!</p>
<p>A college does not need to be in DC to provide strong “in term” experiences. And Political Science is more than inside the beltway. Every Fortune 1000 company has a Public Affairs department; every state capital has advocacy groups and campaign advisory firms; every military contractor (whether supplying advanced engineering components or supply chain consulting services) employs people whose job it is to understand pending legislation and figure out who/what/where. There are high quality “in term” jobs and internships all over the country.</p>
<p>And then of course, there are thousands of would-be political science majors who take one course in political theory or advanced statistics who decide they want to major in French Lit. So I wouldn’t make a college decision based on one department, all things being equal.</p>
<p>mini makes a good point. I thought it was very interesting that American for example has few classes on Wednesdays, making it internship day. You see a lot of kids dressed in suits and ties there returning from or on their way to internships. (The rest of the time they look very normal though!) While it’s true you don’t have to be in DC, my impression was that American is especially internship friendly.</p>
<p>Wisconsin has good political science and a liberal campus. Being close to Washington DC isn’t the top criteria for learning political thought processing. There aren’t many scholarship opportunities at UW but tuition and other costs may not be as great as at some other schools on your radar. Also remember that most entering freshmen change their proposed major. Be sure you look at other social science and humanities strengths as well as the overall campus feel.</p>
<p>The only merit based $ given at UVA is the Jefferson Scholarship which is ridiculously competitive (around 30/yr. I think). Your school nominates one individual and that person goes through rounds/phases of interviews. The perks are so impressive, that the recipients have been known to turn down HYP and the like. </p>
<p>As far as financial aid at UVA, Princeton Review ranks it #3. The school claims to meet 100% of need.</p>
<p>“A college does not need to be in DC to provide strong “in term” experiences. And Political Science is more than inside the beltway.”</p>
<p>This is true, but misses the main point. The major difference is not that the individual student has an internship, but that most or much of the campus does. The entire campus culture changes as a result, down to the choice of meal plans.</p>
<p>There are indeed many schools all over the country where one can get quality political science-related in-term internships. But there aren’t many that it is a part of the campus culture. (And whether that is a good or a bad thing is for the student to decide. Some students will not, for example, enjoy having any evening classes. Some will miss having lots of sports culture on weekends. Some won’t like the juggling of meals and transportation times. Etc., etc.)</p>
<p>I’m still getting great information, thanks for that!</p>
<p>This is totally different subject, but just wondering which math is more useful/needed for Poly Science major - Calculus or Statistics, or not any math is needed :)</p>
<p>Many upper level poli sci classes will require statistics if the course of study is more analytically based (studying income inequality, or voter fraud, or anything requiring the study of large datasets like census information). Some kids will gravitate towards less quantitative aspects of poli sci. Depends on the university, depends on the kid.</p>
<p>But no college ever looks at calculus and says, “Boy that was a waste of time, sure wish the kid had taken something else”. So there’s more to the question than the potential major.</p>
<p>So, I guess in general statistics is more useful for analytical poli science. International relation also uses this analytic approache very much?</p>
<p>Personally, I believe that a math-capable kid whose HS offers calculus should take calculus. (And please don’t flame me with all the stories about the guy who runs a political think tank who flunked trig. I’m just speaking in terms of a good solid baseline education.) As a practical matter, stats may be more useful for a political science major- but that’s why every college on the planet offer statistics. And since there is a reasonable possibility that your son won’t end up majoring in political science, it’s not like taking calc is a bad decision.</p>
<p>The MBA program I attended (back in the dark ages) required calculus as a prerequisite, but statistics as a requirement (i.e. you couldn’t enroll without calc but you couldn’t graduate without stats). I think that’s a good way to think about one vs. the other for many fields, not just business.</p>
<p>Probably statistics, but it is useful to have calculus in order to better understand statistics. Colleges may offer a non-calculus statistics course (what AP statistics approximates), but a student capable of handling calculus may gain a better understanding by taking calculus and then a calculus-based statistics course.</p>
<ul>
<li><p>Be sure that your kid actually attends a class at these schools before he applies. Not knocking it specifically (this type of thing also happened at a couple of other schools), but D was turned off by the quality of the class she attended at American. Maybe just that one class on that one day, but she had been prepared to really like American. She happened to have read the material they were discussing that day. She said (1) fewer than half the students appeared to have done the reading, and (2) the reading they did was not a very rigorous item to begin with.</p></li>
<li><p>She is a poli sci major, graduating this spring. She ended up attending Dickinson with an excellent merit scholarship. She has had internships at the State Department, with a US senator for the summer, and at the Army War College in Carlisle (the city Dickinson is located in). She also graduated with a very high GPA, and is well positioned to get a job in her field in DC, and will come out of college with no debt (we did give her some help). So I would suggest that you take a look at Dickinson. But no matter where he applies, be sure he actually goes to a class (sometimes D attended 2) to make sure the quality of the students and profs is up to his expectations.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>Regarding calculus vs. statistics, if you are trying to decide which class your S should take as a HS senior, I think it is a no brainer to take calculus. He will take statistics in college, and will have the option of taking a calculus based statistics class.</p>
<p>Some less strong math students may choose to take statistics in high school, but your S’s stats are strong, so that is unlikely to be an issue. The top colleges expect to see math through calculus in high school (as explicitly stated in the book “The Gatekeepers”)</p>
<p>Which “top colleges”? Seems that the only ones that actually design their curricula based on that assumption are Caltech, Harvey Mudd, and the engineering division of WUStL. Other schools may have courses or allow starting in more advanced courses for students with high school calculus, but also have courses for those without high school calculus.</p>
<p>I guess I should say “the most selective colleges” rather than “top colleges”, and that it impacts admissions, rather than it is “expected”. I’ve seen it mentioned many places that taking calculus in high school is a factor in selective college admissions. I did a quick google search and found the following quote, for a selective but not tippy-top LAC, which shows it isn’t limited to tech schools and engineering programs.</p>