NYU vs UCLA? (political science/ IR)

Colleges and Universities A-Z New York University
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<p>Hello all!</p>

<p>Basically I've narrowed down my college acceptances to UCLA and NYU, but I really really have a hard time picking between the two. </p>

<p>Would anyone like to weigh in on these two schools please? On housing, campus culture, the merit of their academic programs-- especially pol.sci since that'll be my major... etc etc.</p>

<p>I love both schools, but right now I'm worried that the budget cuts might make it harder to graduate from UCLA in 4 years (and since I'm not on any fin.aid this matters a lot); NYU on the other hand is so $$, sigh.</p>

<p>feel free to weigh in guys! thanks so much :)</p>

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<p>For political science:</p>

<p>NYU ranks #17 overall for political science in the US; UCLA ranks #11 (above Cornell, Northwestern, WUStL, Emory, UPenn, UVA, Rice, Brown, Vanderbilt, GW, Gtown, Hopkins and so on) </p>

<p>NYU ranks #6 for political methodology; UCLA ranks #13 (For comparison #5 is Princeton, #10 MIT, #11 Yale and #13 Columbia) </p>

<p>NYU ranks #12 for comparative politics; UCLA ranks #9 (Duke is #10, Cornell #11, MIT #14, UChicago #14, Northwestern #16) </p>

<p>NYU ranks #10 for international politics; UCLA ranks #13 (NYU is tied with MIT, and above Duke, Cornell, UCLA, Hopkins and Gtown) </p>

<p>UCLA ranks #10 for politica theory; NYU is not in the top 20.</p>

<p>UCLA ranks #12 for American politics; NYU is not in the top 20.</p>

<p>As you can see, both schools are excellent for political science. </p>

<p>Now for some details:
(1) At NYU, IR is an honors major - which means you have to apply to the major in your sophomore year after having completed certain pre-reqs and maintaining a 3.65 GPA both overall and in your pre-reqs. </p>

<p>(2) NYU is unique in that NYU teaches far more political methodology than any other undergraduate school (to my knowledge). Which means, simply, that we do a lot of quantitative analysis in class. I.e. game trees, regression lines, probabilities, etc. </p>

<p>(3) Bruce Beuno de Mesquita sits on the NYU faculty - he’s a world leader in the field of political methodology and has been on TV many, many, many times. Steven Brams is also quite well-known in political methodology; he solved the cake to n equal division problem. There are also a few other, very well-known people on the faculty (I don’t remember his name, but one of the professor’s was the director for some 20+ election campaigns, including at least one presidential).</p>

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<p>thank you :slight_smile: </p>

<p>Would you happen to know if pol sci students get to go on study abroad/ summer internships a lot during their course of study? Noting how NYU is in NYC and is so close to Washington and all.</p>

<p>Another quick question- is it possible to double major pol sci with journalism at nyu? Or take a cross-school minor at stern?</p>

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<p>@NYU2013</p>

<p>Hello I happened to see that you’re reading politics, can I also ask if all the quantitative stuff takes up a large part of your curriculum? I’m open to learning about game theory etc but I would be more interested in the intl law/ comparative politics stuff… Does nyu’s course cover those too?</p>

<p>Thanks again and sorry for the barrage of questions!</p>

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<p>You can double major in CAS or minor in Stern, yes.
You can study abroad; most people in politics get internships here in NYC - there’s plenty to do here - the UN, the Office of the Mayor, the District Attorney’s Office, the FBI, etc. </p>

<p>We call it ‘studying’ in the US, instead of ‘reading’. Are you from the UK? </p>

<p>Most of your classes in comparative will be filled with quantitative analysis. International Politics as well. The only classes that don’t go over or focus on quantitative analysis are political theory classes and law classes. NYU has ever type of politics class you could image - because NYU is such a large University, the politics department is quite large and offers some 30+ classes per semester.</p>

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<p>Oh nope i’m not from the uk! but I took the a-levels and also applied to uk universities so I probably got a little mixed up there haha.</p>

<p>Re: internships
Does the politics dept/ the career services dept help students search for internships/ link up with orgs, or are you completely on your own when it comes to this? </p>

<p>Also I’ve heard a lot of negative things about the “red tape” at nyu-- do you have any personal experiences to share? Is the admin really that bad :/</p>

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<p>The politics department will send out emails for internship listings on occasion. If you’re pre-law, you can join the pre-law listserv which constantly sends out emails about internship positions (Which is actually how I got my position with the District Attorney’s Office in New York). Other than that, you can go to Wasserman which has really great resources and people to aid you in finding an appropriate internship. </p>

<p>Personally, I’ve never had a problem with NYU – the administration has always been very helpful with all of my problems; especially the financial aid office. I always suggest speaking to financial aid on the phone rather than in person, as the people on the phone always seem to be much nicer and much more helpful.</p>

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<p>Oh alright :slight_smile: thanks! </p>

<p>Could I also ask which hall you’re staying at and what hall(s) would you recommend for someone who- doesn’t want a tiny room, prefers air-con, is okay with not having a party dorm, is okay with having to walk a bit to get to class? </p>

<p>Also, does nyu have an honors program? (a separate one from the IR honors I mean).</p>