<p>Georgetown, Johns Hopkins, NYU</p>
<p>University of Rochester fits all of your criteria and has one of the top poli sci programs in the country.</p>
<p>One other thing you might consider is whether you want quarter system or semester system. I prefer semesters (and I have done both). However, I have met students who prefer quarters. The advantage of quarters is that just about the time you are sick of a course it is over. Also, it keeps you on your toes. There is never a lull period. You jump right in and in a month you have midterms. You have to start on projects right away, too. The advantage of semesters is that it can feel more relaxed. You have a couple of weeks to get adjusted before things start being due. Many books are set up to be taught in two pieces rather than three. Also, you get out in May so that you have a head start on summer jobs.</p>
<p>You better add a safety school. No one is a shoo-in for the schools you have listed. The 5 schools you are considering are all very different. Columbia doesn't have a strong campus feel. It's campus is NYC. At UChicago the most popular intramural sport is broomball. Stanford has the best weather, a real campus, and an intercollegiate sports scene. Don't know much about UPenn and Northwestern. I have driven by UPenn, though, and it seems very urban. Stanford is more suburban so if living in a city is what you want it would not be a good choice.</p>
<p>Actually, Columbia does have a campus feel; it's NYU that doesn't. Morningside Heights is more like a college town than downtown NYC. It's all students and student hang outs.</p>
<p>I transferred out of Columbia because of the lack of a campus. Sure, its not bad for an urban school but its hardly a community. Weekend nights can be absolutely vacant making morningside heights seem like a ghost town compared to the activity occurring at more active campuses such as Princeton, Dartmouth, or Penn where the whole student body is out.</p>
<p>very strong Philosophy/Politics/Physics/Mathematics departments
-Definitely east coast/CA/Chicago
-Private
-2000 to 10000 undergrads</p>
<p>This brings 3 places to mind:</p>
<p>first MIT. no explanation needed. right size, amazing in both physics/math and the humanities majors, though it is more known for science + math. </p>
<p>2nd - University of Chicago - easily fits all of the criteria</p>
<p>And the other are the claremont colleges that have been mentioned. Together, all 5 make up between the target size. They also fit the private/CA location/near water criteria.</p>
<p>As for the academic strenghts, you have Harvey Mudd for physics and math and CMC and Pomona for politics etc. You could go to either depending on which you want to focus on, and double major at the other if you want to do both.</p>
<p>How sure are you that 2000-10000 is the size you want? If you haven't already, I would visit some colleges in your area which fall above, below, and inside that range to confirm that it's what you really want. You don't have to be interested in attending any of them, just concentrate your attention on the size of the school and what size you would be most comfortable with.</p>
<p>If you decide that you wouldn't mind a smaller school, Denison would be a good safety that also has PPE.</p>
<p>u would be a good match for u of chicago. actually, chicago seems like a great fit for you.</p>
<p>MIT is just too much of a reach with my current stats; I don't want to have false hope.
List:
Columbia, UChicago, Dartmouth, UPenn, Stanford, Claremont McKenna/Pomona, Georgetown, Middlebury, Princeton</p>
<p>missing any?</p>
<p>Stanford is harder to get into than MIT. Plus your test scores mean more at MIT than Stanford.</p>
<p>I realize that; however, my GPA at Stanford is substantially (~.2) higher than my GPA at MIT.</p>