<p>So I basically fell in love with Tulane when I visited this past weekend. I'm an admitted honors student with a very generous scholarship that will definitely play a role in my decesion. </p>
<p>Nevertheless, for a self-professed political junkie like myself, I keep hearing from people that I need to be in D.C. The post-Katrina atmosphere in NOLA is something I want to be involved with but I keep hearing that there is nothing like observing politics in D.C. Plus, a lot of the post-Katrina reconstruction efforts are battles for funding that are taking place in D.C., not NOLA. </p>
<p>I was really hot on Georgetown for a while but after visiting a couple months ago, I just can't see myself there. I was deffered EA but wouldn't be completely surprised if I got admitted in April. </p>
<p>I love the students at GW but I just can't do the urban campus. I you could take GW students and put them on Gtown's campus, that would be ideal. </p>
<p>So that leaves me with American, which I got a really good feeling for when I visited. Still, however, I didn't fall in love with the college or the surrounding city like I did when I visited Tulane. </p>
<p>As you can probably tell, I really, really want to go to Tulane. I just want to know if getting a polisci education in D.C. actually lives up to its repuation.</p>
<p>People often confuse Political Science with International Relations. If you are interested in International Relations/diplomacy, I tend to agree that being in or near DC has its advantages. However, Political Science is more theoretical and does not require proximity to DC. In fact, the top ranked Political Science department that is closest to DC is Princeton, which is located almost 200 miles from DC. The top 10 undergraduate Political Science department are, in alphabetical order:</p>
<p>Columbia University
Duke University
Harvard University
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Princeton University
Stanford University
University of California-Berkeley
University of California-Los Angeles
University of California-San Diego
University of Chicago
University of Michigan-Ann Arbor
Yale University</p>
<p>Other top Political Science departments include:
Cornell University
Michigan State University
Northwestern University
Ohio State University
University fo North Carolina-Chapel Hill
University of Rochester
University of Wisconsin-Madison
Washington University-St Louis</p>
<p>As one can clearly see, all of the top 20 or so Political Science departments are at least 200 miles from DC.</p>
<p>If you really want to go to Tulane, then you should go. If you want the DC experience, there are grad schools, summer internships, and post-graduation jobs (I have a friend who's a research assistant for a senator there).</p>
<p>The DC experience is a good one, but by no means necessary. The opportunities available to you at Tulane and in New Orleans are very strong. Don't turn it down if that's where your heart is. </p>
<p>I also second the idea of doing a summer program in DC.</p>
<p>believe it or not, Georgetown does NOT have one of the top-ranked poli-sci departments. it's known for IR/diplomacy, not poli sci. as you probably already know, politicans and political theorists are not the same thing; i have way more respect for the latter. ;)</p>
<p>Being in New Orleans during this critical time will give you exposure that someone in D.C. will NEVER, repeat, NEVER EVER get. Besides that, Tulane is, overall, a stronger school.</p>
<p>Or even in law, public policy or something of that nature as a field of work OR for grad school. Nothing is better than watching a city get back on its feet!</p>
<p>And think of the volunteer work you can do!</p>
<p>The list is a compilation of the half dozen independent Political Science rankings I have seen, including the USNWR, the NRC, the Gourman Report etc...</p>
<p>I am not sure why you would want to see a longer list. The list of 20+ programs listed above pretty much cover the entire spectrum (overall quality, levels of prestige, selectivity, size, location etc...). The only thing they have in common is the quality of their Political Science departments. But if you really want to look at other good-decend Political Science departments, here are a few.</p>
<p>Brown University
Emory University
Georgetown University
Indiana University-Bloomington
Johns Hopkins University
New York University
Rice University
University of Illinois-Urbana Champaign
University of Iowa
University of Minnesota-Twin Cities
University of Notre Dame
University of Texas-Austin
University of Virginia
University of Washington</p>
<p>Thanks! I just wanted to see where you got the info so I could kind of browse. I'm also interested in international relations, so I was hoping to see if they had lists of that too. Anyway, I'll definitely look at those rankings.</p>
<p>
[quote]
Georgetown does not have a polysci dept. it has a government dept and this is why it is not ranked as a top "polysci" school.
[/quote]
That's not true. Harvard's is called "government" and Harvard is well-ranked in poli sci (no surprise). "government"=poli sci. In fact, the very first sentence of Georgetown gov dept website says (claims) "Georgetown's Department of Government is one of the leading programs in political science in the United States."</p>