<p>I'm looking for suggestions on colleges that specialize in or are noted for well-recognized undergraduate programs in:</p>
<p>1) International Relations
2) Political Science
3) Development Studies</p>
<p>Some additional information that can help narrow things down (I hope): I'm an international student looking to apply for financial aid; I'm open to the idea of studying at a LAC (but ideally, I want to study in a college that's not too small)</p>
<p>Georgetown is what comes to mind as near the top in political science/IR. Of course any ivy league school will be great. Cal and UMich are well respected public schools in the field.</p>
<p>George Washington University in DC-not sure about the financial aid, but Georgetown is not the only good school in the Washington metro area with wonderful access to experts in the international affairs community, internships, and opportunities to work/do research with all the agencies and NGOs located there. Also a little less academically competitive than Georgetown so you have a better chance of receiving financial aid if your stats are sufficiently attractive.</p>
<p>mephist0: When you say Cal do you mean the University of California?</p>
<p>M's Mom: I will look into George Washington closely, thanks!</p>
<p>Notre Dame is great, so is Wake Forest. Also for LAC Amherst, Bowdoin, and Claremont McKenna are great. But it sounds like you aren't thrilled with the idea of going to a lac.</p>
<p>Swarthmore is the top ranked LAC in international relations by Foreign Policy magazine and produces more Political Science PhDs per 1000 graduates than an other college or university in the country.</p>
<p>International affairs is built into the curriculum of virtually every department on campus, including English, History, Art, and so forth. The Engineering department even has an environmental study abroad program in Poland.</p>
<p>About half the international students receive need-based financial aid and the average package for the aided internationals is very close to a full-ride deal.</p>
<p>Have you looked at Tufts University in Medford Ma? It is is the metro Boston area. They have a strong undergraduate program as well as a graduate school in international relations. I have no information as to how much financial aid they offer internationals.</p>
<p>country day: I wouldn't say I'm not thrilled about LACs - I love the academic flexibility they offer, but I've heard that some of them are very small in student population and isolated (or is this a bad generalization on my part?). I was actually pretty impressed with Pomona, but I still need to dig a bit more on what the environment is like there.</p>
<p>interesteddad: Thanks, I have heard of Swarthmore. But I haven't heard very flattering stories about the environment there. Something about it being very intensely competitive between students and there being a very poor social life. Is that true?</p>
<p>twomules: I haven't heard about Tufts. Will have a look, thanks.</p>
<p>Cal specifically means UC Berkeley, in response to your question.</p>
<p>I would say that most LACs are small, but not all of them are in the wilderness. Claremont McKenna is a great school, also Tufts.</p>
<p>Princeton is great, cause they have the Woodrow Wilson school.</p>
<p>UPenn is very good as well.</p>
<p>Swarthmore is not competitive at all. I mean, it's hard to get in, but students are not competitive at all here--actually, they're very collaborative. It seems like more CC people who hear about Swarthmore hear that it's competitive among students--I really wonder who's been saying this, because I promise you, it's not competitive. In fact, the environment is very collaborative. Plus, nobody know's each other's grades, so it's kind of hard to compete. I don't even know my own grades! Grades aren't emphasized that much here.</p>
<p>Also, I find the social life perfectly fine. There are negatives though--there isn't much to do in the town of Swarthmore, but most of the college life at Swat takes place on campus. There are more than enough things to do here. It's just that since academics is such an important part of Swarthmore, people don't take advantage of all the social events on campus. I actually stay really busy with my own classes and as a news reporter for the college newspaper, but sometimes I do go to lectures from outside professors. Lots of people go to the parties and dances, though. So, the social life isn't as good compared to at big universities, but mainly because academics is first priority.</p>
<p>And there's more than enough to do in Philadelphia.</p>
<p>Columbia has a very noteworthy political science department, always in the top 5. Georgetown gets overrated a little, but its still very good.</p>
<p>These rankings were published in the March/April 2007 Issue of Foreign Policy Magazine. (percentages represents the percentages of international relations academics and professionals who named the schools).</p>
<p>Top 20 Undergraduate Programs</p>
<ol>
<li>Harvard University 48%</li>
<li>Princeton University 46%</li>
<li>Stanford University 30%</li>
<li>Georgetown University 28%</li>
<li>Columbia University 28%</li>
<li>Yale University 23%</li>
<li>University of Chicago 21%</li>
<li>University of California-Berkeley 12%</li>
<li>Dartmouth College 11%</li>
<li>George Washington University 10%</li>
<li>American University 10%</li>
<li>University of Michigan 9%</li>
<li>Tufts University 8%</li>
<li>Swarthmore College 8%</li>
<li>University of California-San Diego 8%</li>
<li>Cornell University 6%</li>
<li>Brown University 6%</li>
<li>Williams College 5%</li>
<li>Duke University 5%</li>
<li>Johns Hopkins University 5%"</li>
</ol>
<p>I would also look at American University as well. Not as selective as Georgetown, but still a great school.</p>
<p>CaliforniaDancer: thanks!</p>
<p>country day: I checked out Tufts' website, and liked what I saw. I've heard great things about Claremont McKenna too, will definitely put them on the list.</p>
<p>frankechanel: can you tell me more about UPenn's international relations / political science programmes? </p>
<p>dchow08: thanks for the fresh perspective on Swarthmore.</p>
<p>mini: thanks, I see a lot of names people have mentioned to me already, which is reassuring. </p>
<p>can anyone tell me more about how the IR and PolSci programmes at Rice, USC and Pomona are like?</p>