I am a current senior in High School who is thinking of applying to Emory. I want to know how strong the political science department is.
@2016: It is actually really strong (which is why so many people major and double major in it), but I think it is getting more rigorous through some of its requirements. For some reason, Emory has been known to have a more rigorous than normal polisci department to begin with. There are plenty of EC opps through it and connections to the Carter Center and whatnot and seems very much about scholarship (as indicated by the several types of fellowships). I believe many of the instructors in it are really serious about teaching (as indicated by the fact that they established these fellowships and programs like the voluntary core program), which is great. Anyway, just check out its structure. http://polisci.emory.edu/home/undergraduate/political_science_major/index.html
Often you can tell how serious a dept is by how stringently it structures its coursework. While it clearly wants you to have electives, it obviously wants you to be strong in certain content areas and skills. For example, its new requirements seem to emphasize writing and research as a research course has been created and is now required on top of the revamped methods class (which they even expect many freshmen to take) which is no longer just a stats class, but will instead be the equivalent of what was the upperlevel methods course (known for its intensity) where you have to run and design your own research projects. They are also now requiring intermediated courses and this is likely to avoid having students “dance” their way through the major without being exposed to a content area in depth. I also believe that Emory’s polisci major is better/stronger than normal because it doesn’t have the standard social science student population across the board.
For example, many students are are polisci/Math majors so you actually have plenty of quantitatively inclined students (perhaps more so than biology majors) which makes for a stronger peer group than normal (traditionally, at most schools, people flock to history and political science because they are pre-law or pre-med and it provides easier grades, and this usually means that these students are somewhat weaker than science students, but at Emory this is lesser so the case as we are one of the few schools to offer quantitative tracks for polisci majors). In addition, Emory is a pretty serious debate school (as in hosts/created a debate league and gets many incoming students who were great at it) so this makes for interesting conversation in smaller polisci courses that focus on discussion. I was a science major and I have to admit that the polisci courses I took were much more intellectually vibrant because many students were truly interested in the coursework and had engaged it in some context before. Also, you have the option of doing the quantitative social sciences major if you want more skills in stats for grad. school/employment, whatever. Point is, it is one of the more serious political science departments academically while still offering extremely serious EC’s (including Study Abroad and Washington opps). You can’t go wrong with the students, academic structure, and opps. offered by this dept. Just know that it isn’t a blowoff polisci major. While more than enough high grades are awarded, most instructors will actually make you work for it more than other humanities and social science depts.
Thank you I will definitely ask the university more questions on an upcoming visit.
If you could, visit in fall so that you can maybe find a strong classes(s) to sit in. Although maybe you aren’t from the Atlanta area/anywhere close so it may not be that easy, but they do have this “Fall for Emory” thing.
Im from New York lol. So sitting in a class is impossible for me