<p>Hello everyone. Im deciding between Johns Hopkins and UC Berkeley and am planning to major in political science. In terms of strength of political science, graduate school placement, and job placement, which school is stronger. How important is the departmental ranking for political science for choosing a school (JHU is 40 for political science and UC Berkeley is 6) and how important is the overall ranking (JHU is 13 and UC Berkeley is 21)? Also, how strong is JHU for international studies (were I to go to Hopkins I might do this)? Furthermore, would it be possible to double major at both schools in two unrelated fields, such as political science and biology? Thanks so much!</p>
<p>(I am posting this in both subforums, i hope that is all right)</p>
<p>JHU hands down. Hopkins is known to be one of the best schools for International Studies. Look at its graduate school SAIS.</p>
<p>But how good is JHU for undergrad IS and poli sci…i know its grad school is amazing but according to foreign policy JHU is #16 undergrad and UC Berkeley is 11 undergrad for international studies…although i don’t how much this means. [Inside</a> the Ivory Tower - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia](<a href=“http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inside_the_Ivory_Tower]Inside”>Inside the Ivory Tower - Wikipedia)</p>
<p>I wouldn’t put much weight on the Foreign Policy rankings. That is a survey of “practitioners” in the field so it is basically a popularity contest. The fact is that virtually all people in the field (except the lowest level research assistants) have master degrees or PhD’s so the undergraduate rankings are pretty meaningless.</p>
<p>The undergraduate program in international studies at Hopkins is very strong and held in very high esteem by people in Washington DC, where most of the graduates start out before moving on to graduate school.</p>
<p>The undergraduate program is very strong as well. In fact, the professor of the first political science class I took was Daniel Deudney (look him up). He is one of the most celebrated Geopoliticians in the world. Most of the IS teachers are at the top of their field and they are very approachable.</p>
<p>Thanks for your responses. Can you guys comment on political science at JHU vs. Berkeley. Thank you.</p>
<p>The international studies department in JHU shares the same professors with the various departments it overlaps. Thus, all IS professors are actually professors in the Political Science department.</p>