<p>Hey all, so I was wondering If you all think American is the best school to choose out of American, GWU, and Pennsylvania State for these three majors:</p>
<p>Political Science
International Relations
Economics</p>
<p>What do you think?</p>
<p>Thank you!</p>
<p>AU:
Political Science
International Relations</p>
<p>Penn State:
Econ</p>
<p>AU’s political science and IR programs are rated above GWU and Penn State. Its public policy program is above GWU and Georgetown and is generally ranked in the top 10 in the country. AU is divided into five schools, Arts & Sciences, Public Affairs (which covers political science and public policy administration) International Relations, Kogod School of Business and a 5th program. AU’s USNWR ranking is rising every year, their admission acceptance rate declining, late year was a record low, their applications are at an all time high, and in general AU is on a major upward trend.</p>
<p>I can’t really compare the three schools, but here’s what I can tell you about AU (I graduated from AU with a degree in political science and economics).</p>
<p>The government department (where poli sci is) is strong. Also, they offer an interdisciplinary major called CLEG (communications, legal institutions, economics, and government) that allows you to combine economics and government plus some other things.</p>
<p>Additionally, the international studies major in the School of International Service allows you (requires you, I believe) to choose a functional area of focus–economics is one of these areas.</p>
<p>Simply put, combining economics and either political science or international relations at AU is easy.</p>
<p>A couple of things about the economics department. Unsurprisingly, you will find that the focus of the department is more on public policy and less on financial markets. Additionally, note that AU has two economics degrees–a BA and a BS. The BS is the more hardcore, mathematics driven degree, while the BA is less so.</p>
<p>Feel free to post or IM with more questions.</p>
<p>AU also introduced a new major this year, the BS in Economics and Mathematics. It’s an interdisciplinary degree that’s basically a cross between a BS in econ and a BS in math. Needless to say, it’s even more math-focused than the regular BS in econ, and it’s meant primarily for students looking to go on to grad school in econ at top institutions (that generally require tons and tons of math), although I have friends who switched into it just to add additional rigor to their degree. Previously, students looking to do this would double-major or minor in math, but that would leave little room for anything else. Now, they can do one major and still have enough free credits to study something like poli sci, IR, finance, or anything else really. Just pointing this out in case that’s the route you’re looking to take (and since it’s so new pswilia might not know about it yet, although he is very knowledgeable!).</p>
<p>Can’t tell you which is best - don’t know anyone who attended all three at the same time to be able to compare. Can tell you that the School of International Service at AU is superb - it is the largest of its kind in the entire world, and has more offerings, options, languages, and double major possibilities (IR and international business, IR and Communications, IR and Public Policy, etc.) than virtually anywhere else.</p>