<p>Hi I have been talking alot with my parents about college and know that I will most likely want to major undergrad in political science. I know that LACs are very strong in politcal science but my parents play the whole "ive never heard of these colleges no grad school or company will take you seriously" Does anyone know any articles that show LACs are strong in political science?</p>
<p>What are LACs?
I know there's this list I use to pick my poli sci schools:
Search</a> - Political Science - Best Graduate Schools - Education - US News and World Report</p>
<p>LAC = Liberal Arts Colleges.</p>
<p>I would caution against using the Grad School ranking of a department to think about undergrad (which is what you are if you're entering college from high school). A school, especially a larger school, can have almost a completely separate undergrad and grad department. Not to mention different experiences.</p>
<p>Research Claremont Mckenna College.</p>
<p>Foreign Policy Magazine's top international affairs undergrad programs:</p>
<p>Swarthmore</a> College | News | Swarthmore Among Top Schools for International Relations</p>
<p>Number of PhDs per 1000 graduates</p>
<p>Academic field:Political Science and Government</p>
<p>PhDs and Doctoral Degrees:
ten years (1994 to 2003) from NSF database</p>
<p>Number of Undergraduates:
ten years (1989 to 1998) from IPEDS database</p>
<p>
1 Swarthmore College 10
2 Haverford College 8
3 Princeton University 8
4 Pomona College 7
5 Harvard University 7
6 University of Chicago 7
7 Oberlin College 7
8 Williams College 7
9 Reed College 7
10 Wesleyan University 6
11 Bryn Mawr College 6
12 University of the South 5
13 Whitman College 5
14 Amherst College 5
15 Yale University 5
16 College of Wooster 5
17 Stanford University 5
18 Georgetown University 5
19 Claremont McKenna College 5
20 Carleton College 5
21 Smith College 4
22 Middlebury College 4
23 Franklin and Marshall College 4
24 Tougaloo College 4
25 Wellesley College 4
26 Occidental College 4
27 Brown University 4
28 Lawrence University 4
29 Harvey Mudd College 4
30 United States Coast Guard Academy 4
31 Earlham College 4
32 Kenyon College 4
33 Knox College 4
34 Brandeis University 4
</p>
<p>^^--^^</p>
<p>The Foreign Policy Magazine's ranking for international affairs undergraduate programs was a deeply flawed exercise that amounted to nothing else than an afterthought. Despite the reputation of the journal, the rankings have little to no validity.</p>
<p>IR</a> program ranked 19th in nation - News</p>
<p>Obtaining a PhD in Political Sciences or International Relations is rarely on the mind of students when starting their UG, especially when compared to looking at more professional degrees in law or business. The statistics based on a handful of PhDs are eminently ... meaningless.</p>
<p>^^ I'd also point out that in a field like political science that is offered just about everywhere, no matter how limited the range of undergrad programs, the number of Ph.D.s per thousand undergrads is going to be wildly biased in favor of LACs and against major research universities because 1) even within the arts and sciences, major universities will offer many more majors, diluting the concentration of arts and sciences undergrads in any individual department (like poli sci), and 2) many major research universities have a substantial fraction of their undergrads in schools other than arts and sciences. Consequently, you're simply comparing apples and organges. Very few Berkeley- or Michigan-trained engineers will get Ph.D.s in political science. That's not a negative reflection on the quality of the political science programs at those two schools (generally regarded as two of the strongest in the country).</p>
<p>That said, I do think most of the LACs appearing on interesteddad's list are pretty strong in poli sci. Bowdoin is also often mentioned. Grad school adcoms would take any of those schools pretty seriously (but would not rank order them by Ph.D.s produced). Students who do well at any of those schools would also have as strong a chance at admission to top law schools as candidates from HYPS with similar GPAs and LSAT scores.</p>
<p>i second claremont mckenna.</p>
<p>William & Mary, Davidson both have good programs</p>