<p>Is there anything really special about these two programs at Michigan, as in there is something at these programs that I can't get at different schools?</p>
<p>Those are two of Michigan’s stronger departments. Political Science is arguably the best department in the nation while Economics is typically ranked around #10 in the nation. Of course, those are graduate school rankings, but the same faculty and curriculum that makes those two ranked graduate programs are the same that are offered to undergraduate students. </p>
<p>My main complaint with the Economics department is that students who wish to coast and take easy classes can do so. There are obviously plenty of challenging Economics courses, and undergrads are allowed to enroll into graduate-level classes, but I wish the core requirements at Michigan were more like those at Chicago or MIT.</p>
<p>Also, since those are two of Michigan’s more popular departments, classes in those majors will tend to be large. This can be said of any department at any university that graduates over 200 undergrads annually, whether at Michigan or Harvard or Columbia or Cornell or Penn or Cal etc…</p>
<p>As far as offering something “really” special, other than an amazing faculty and awesome curriculum, no. Any university with a top 20 or 25 Economics or Political Science department will offer a similar experience to Michigan.</p>
<p>OK, thanks</p>