<p>So I am a freshman here and was trying to figure out... how is Tech's Liberal Arts department (specifically something along the lines of foreign affairs or HTS (history))? I ask because, though I very well might stick with my current possible track of engineering, I am beginnning to think that I honestly might would rather go one of those paths and then law school. </p>
<p>Basically, I know there are options of transfer, but I mean are these programs here any good? Do they have a decent acceptance to some good law schools? Or, like stated earlier, would I just be better suited for transfer... </p>
<p>(p.s. this is not due to a lack of me liking the school, for I really enjoy it down here -- just more so thinking about my future before it is too late and I lose all my HOPE credit hours)</p>
<p>Staying at Tech may help distinguish if you want to pursue law I bet, especially since you have experience with the engineering curriculum. However, I don’t know about the actual quality of the liberal arts there. Seems like the few I know think it’s okay. Just expect it to focus on more technological issues. However, to be fair, I know someone who transferred to GeorgeTown (probably fail at spelling), but in honesty, he came to Tech to avoid paying G-Town tuition for a year, he had already planned to transfer. I hear the Ivan Allen School is very innovative and quite comprehensive. However, this could be hype. Seems believable to me though. I believe a person on here is in one of the liberal arts majors, so they can tell you about it. Just still seems weird to me that there is a liberal arts “department” or school. Not used to a whole style of teaching being restricted to a “school” or dept., but I guess it makes sense.</p>
<p>Public policy at GT is pretty good. For example, GT is the #4 school in the nation for Information and Technology Management.</p>
<p>I recently spoke to Bud Peterson about the future of Tech (in light of UGA’s push for medical and engineering schools) and what I got from that discussion is that Tech is not pursuing medicine or law, but will try to greatly increase the public policy program in the near future. He sees Tech in 10-15 years as the nation’s leading institute for technology and environmental related policies (the specific examples he used were policies related to digital media and related to environmental take-back legislation).</p>
<p>Banjo, when you talked to him, I realize he did not say Tech was not going the law route, but all I saw y’all mention was that we were going public policy and such. If I did a history major, is this looked at as almost a… I guess the best word for it is a joke?.. by other schools by getting it from Tech? Like I said, considering I am thinking about doing history I would go on to some form of graduate school and want to make sure that I would not be shot in the foot for staying at an engineering school for a lib. arts degree.</p>
<p>He said exactly that (no law school) and repeated it. I even asked him about the potential to have an ethics program (as a precursor to law) and was given a definitive “no”. The reason was that they (the administrators in charge of drafting the future of Tech) believe that law is beyond the scope of Tech’s mission. </p>
<p>Personally, I think a patent law or digital copyright law program would fit the mission, but I don’t know if that’s something you can add without all of the other law specialties. And even if you could, I highly doubt the Board of Regents (11 UGA alumni, 3 GT alumni - the benefit of having them appointed by a UGA alumnus governor) would approve it. Also, I recently spoke to a law professor about the issue and was told that for a newly established school, it would be 30 years or more before it could compete academically at the level of Tech’s other programs (first tier). </p>
<p>A public policy program is something that can be ramped up much faster. In addition, if Tech becomes the premier public policy program in the state, perhaps we will see more Georgia politicians from Tech, and more leverage in State government to enact change (such as adding a law or medical school). </p>
<p>If “some form of graduate school” doesn’t mean law, well then that depends. What graduate school do you want to attend? Once you’ve figured that out, go and talk to faculty in that area. They will be the best source of information about what they look at in terms of admission. If Tech doesn’t have faculty in that area, try Georgia State, Emory, or UGA faculty in that department.</p>
<p>Who currently has top public policy program in Ga. now? Is it UGA? I don’t think we are too particularly strong in this area of political science or history (though the programs overall are probably amongst the best). In fact, the only focus we have for undergrads. besides general polisci is international politics, which is solid, but no Georgetown or Tufts. I could actually foresee Tech’s international affairs program becoming preferable (curriculum wise) in the near future.</p>
<p>Based on it’s research, Georgia Tech’s Public Policy program is already considered extremely strong. The recent NRC graduate rankings (which use 2005 data) put Georgia Tech at 14th in the nation for Public Policy, ahead of Harvard, NYU, Chicago, UNC, Michigan, Texas, and many others. Princeton is ranked first, and UGA is eighth.</p>
<p>The focuses of UGA’s MPA program and Tech’s MPP program are different. Both are excellent programs, but it’s difficult to say which is “better” without understanding what you want to do with the degree. If you’re interested in the intersection of technology and policy, for example, Tech’s program will offer you more courses of interest and opportunities; if you’re interested in health or education policy, then you might want to consider UGA more seriously.</p>
<p>It depends on what law school you’re wanting to apply to. If it’s a more competitive grad school I would consider transferring to Emory where you would have a much better chance of going to an accredited law school.</p>
<p>A number of GT students have gone to Stanford Law, Vandy, Columbia, Harvard, etc. Which college you went to isn’t going to have that big of an effect, compared to how hard you work, how much you learn, how well you get to know some professors, etc.</p>
<p>Emory went through the back of my mind at one point, but I would have to think about it.</p>
<p>And as for the GPA mattering more, that is one thing I am concerned about – if Tech makes my GPA lower than UGA would, and both are looked at equally by law schools, should I transfer? I do not even know if they look at a school like UGA or Tech worse than the other, but ya.</p>
<p>I would bet being a liberal arts major at Tech won’t really hurt your GPA that much to be honest. The only things that might lower it are your science requirements (we have them too as GERs, but you can choose to take non-premed versions. I personally disagree with having science courses specifically geared toward such students, but…). I still basically say don’t come here unless you want to do international politics or a regular political science or history program (awesome, but…). I don’t think we truly specialize in public policy, so I wouldn’t recommend us.
Also, Emory actually takes the polisci and history very serious, so it’s possible not to do as well as anticipated here, especially after going through entry level political science courses. Not to mention, if you are pre-law, you’ll want some of the law/court based courses, and they are very challenging, and don’t inflate like the other upper-level/special topics counterparts. To my surprise, I am currently in one of these, and there is not any inflation. I’ve experience the inflation in most of the the others. Even in the grade inflating courses, expect a very heavy reading (upwards to 400 pages a week in many cases. I have found out that my Arab-Israeli Conflict course is not the only class like this) and/or workload that will detract from your other courses. Basically, if you are bent on getting that concentration, it’s not worth it to consider coming here in spite of your interests (unless you want a direct connection to the Carter Center. I suppose that’s cool). I suppose the only advantage we have is the high law school placement rate. So I guess it definitely prepares those who are interested in the programs we offer and plan to attend law school. Unless your willing to be more flexible with your interests in this area, stay away from here. I’m currently watching many of my pre-law friends (including a Northwestern transfer) get their a**es handed to them this year.<br>
I’ve made my case as to why you probably should throw us out if you are considering things such as GPA and concentrations, but I would like someone from Tech to maybe validate or invalidate that first claim I made. That was just a guess. I could be totally wrong as I don’t actually have any friends in that program ( I only have engineering friends and one biology major).</p>
<p>Tech is a great school if you are interested in science/engineering and may one day be able to become a great school overall, but there is a reason we are ranked in the top 10 of many engineering programs but 35th overall. We are incredibly science/engineering driven (hence Georgia Institute of TECHNOLOGY) If you are truly pursuing liberals arts and want to be a competitive graduate student, I would consider going to a liberal arts college. Not to bash on Tech, but some of the Eng classes are absolutely ridiculous. One section in an English class plays video games for homework, and blogs about them. Only at Tech.</p>
Only at Tech.</p>