Johns Hopkins v. Yale v. Georgetown

Colleges and Universities A-Z Georgetown University
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Hi guys!

I just found out that I’ve been accepted into Yale, Johns Hopkins, and Georgetown! I’m planning on majoring in Political Science but I’m also very interested in International Relations. The financial aid for all three schools is roughly the same. Could you all give some pros and cons about these 3?? Thanks!!

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Congratulations on your admission to those three schools! You have an enviable decision to make. Obviously we’ll be biased on this thread, but my case for Georgetown is that there is no better place to study poli sci or IR. If you’re in the College you’ll major in gov; if you’re in the SFS you’ll have tons of majors to pick from to specialize in IR. While the programs at Yale and Hopkins are also excellent, they lack the marriage of academic theory and real-world practicality that comes with being in Washington. There are three reasons for this.

  1. Many of our professors in government and the SFS have experience in the real world - they’ve either worked or concurrently work as policy experts, political analysts, etc. To name a few, look up EJ Dionne, Matthew Kroenig, Dan Byman, and Elizabeth Arsenault. Madeleine Albright also teaches here. I had Kroenig for Intro to IR and he repeatedly emphasized the benefit that students at Georgetown students have learning from people who have gotten out of the ivory tower and have real foreign policy experience. That leads me to my second point…
  2. Students take advantage of the city. For instance, want to apply what you’re learning in your government class? Intern on the Hill. Want to apply what you learned in IR? Intern at the State Department. Sure, students at other schools can do that in the summer, but summer internships are harder to get and less rewarding because you get more grunt work. Being able to intern during the semester is really a huge advantage. Plus, tons of Hoyas go into careers in public service later in life, which makes for an unparalleled alumni network.
  3. DC forms the campus culture. At Georgetown, you’ll find yourself surrounded by students with common interest in politics, IR, etc. College Democrats, College Republicans, and the International Relations Club are some of the largest student organizations on campus. At Hopkins, you’ll probably find yourself surrounded by more STEM/pre-med kids, which isn’t necessarily bad, but you’ll have fewer common interests. At Yale, there will just be a bit less of a concentration of students interested in gov/IR. I also think that being in DC brings a wider range of viewpoints to campus. This is because DC draws activists of all stripes – regardless of political views, students who want the DC experience of interning etc. will come to Georgetown. While we’re still a liberal campus, we are less liberal than some of the other elite schools. Even as a liberal myself, I think this is a good thing.