<p>schools where the undergraduate Philosophy program is strong?</p>
<p>i'm also interested in English (Writing mostly, but i also enjoy literature), and maybe Psychology (though i've heard from a lot of people that undergraduate psychology isnt as great as it sounds?)</p>
<p>so far i'm interested in Wesleyan University, Brown University, Pomona College, and Carleton College.</p>
<p>suggestions?</p>
<p>What branch of philosophy or what "philosophical group" are you interested in?</p>
<p>analytical philosophy</p>
<p>but i guess getting down to the more specific: i'm very interested in philosophy of language, philosophy of mind, logic, epistemology, metaphysics, philosophy of science, and this list is getting longer as i type...</p>
<p>Seems as if you know quite a bit more about philosophy than the average person with an interest in majoring in philosophy, which is a good thing. :)</p>
<p>The phil gourmet report link is a great start. I think both Brown and Pomona would be excellent, and would bet that the other two schools would be great as well, but I don't know much about them. Many schools will have good programs in phil, English, and lit, three established and/or popular disciplines in modern American academia. </p>
<p>Nspeds may have some advice. Perhaps you should pm him to inform him about this thread.</p>
<p>Oh, and did you notice you left out ethics? I mean, c'mon, it seems like a huge gaping whole in your interests! ;)</p>
<p>Claremont has a good philosophy program...I'm a major and though the departments are small, they're high quality and very attentive to individual interests. That said, Pomona's is not the most rigorous program of the 5Cs, but that's mainly only in terms of number of courses required for the degree, depth and importance of the thesis, and so forth. The classes themselves are, overall, as excellent as you'll find on any other Claremont campus. I've been happy.</p>
<p>You will have an undergraduate thesis requirement, but I've heard (from Pomona philosophy majors) that the Pomona philosophy thesis doesn't have to be bad at all, relatively speaking.</p>
<p>You can find all of the course offerings through any of the college websites...the individual schools' department sites or through the current course catalog (accessible through the Academic Portal...ask if you're interested and need specific directions).</p>
<p>Rutgers University is amazing for philosophy. Great if you dont want a studying-only institution and if you dont mind a bunch of kids from new jersey complaining about being there.</p>
<p>Given the buyers market for new philosophy Ph.D.'s, almost any school which has hired new philosophy faculty members in the last 10 years should have a good program. therefore other factors beyond the department of philosophy should influence your college choice. Having said that, look for philosophy departments with more rather than less faculty as tht gives the student greater latitude in picking courses and finding faculty members who can serve as mentors during the undergraduate years.</p>
<p>Best schools for undergraduate philosophy:
Harvard
Yale
Amherst
Reed
Swat
Chicago
Rice
Williams
Columbia
MIT
Caltech
Georgetown
Stanford
Cal
UCLA
Brown
Princeton
Tufts</p>
<p>Keep in mind that though a school is in the top 10 of the PGR, that does not mean that the school necessarily offers a good undergraduate experience. Rutgers might be the best program out there, but I would not approach them for undergraduate study. The PGR is primarily designed for students seeking a Ph.D., and thus the schools are ranked according to the quality of their Ph.D program.</p>
<p>i'm going to ask a question too since it seems that you all know a lot about undergrad philosophy.
i think that i want to major in philosophy, but i don't know the best place to do it. i'm in my 2nd year of college (technically), but the college that i'm going to now doesn't offer philosophy as a major.
i've bounced around from college to college and i'm not sure where i should go now that i know what major i want. i went to depauw university in indiana and now i'm at chatham college in pennsylvania, and i'm thinking about transferring to either university of pittsburgh or purdue university in the spring.
i looked at the list that someone posted of the best undergrad philosophy schools, but at this point i could never get into those schools.
how are pitt and purdue for undergrad philosophy? or is their another school of similar standards that i should try?
thanks :)</p>
<p>The only thing I know about Chatham is that Rachel Carson went there, which is pretty cool in my opinion. :)</p>
<p>U Pitt has an <em>excellent</em> program in philosophy. I'm not entirely sure, but I think they have a strong program in the philosophy of science as well.</p>
<p>what about purdue university?</p>
<p>obviously purdue is not known as much for its philosophy department as it is for other majors. however given the size of the university i am sure that they have a decent size department. check their website to see who teaches there, the kind of interests the faculty has, the number of majors, etc. there may be a link to majors or the philosophy club which might allow you to have contact with students in the program. If you are looking at Pitt you might also look at Duquesne which is well known for its philosophy program especially in the area of phenomenology.</p>
<p>Thanks!! if you have any other idea about an undergrad school let me know!</p>
<p>If you are interested in both philosophy and psychology, would something like WUStL's PNP major (philosophy-neuroscience-psychology) interest you?</p>
<p>
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U Pitt has an <em>excellent</em> program in philosophy. I'm not entirely sure, but I think they have a strong program in the philosophy of science as well.
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</p>
<p>UPitt is excellent, and if you want other schools that are ranked low on USNews but have outstanding departments, look no further than NYU and Rutgers. Once again, however:</p>
<p>
[quote]
Keep in mind that though a school is in the top 10 of the PGR, that does not mean that the school necessarily offers a good undergraduate experience. Rutgers might be the best program out there, but I would not approach them for undergraduate study. The PGR is primarily designed for students seeking a Ph.D., and thus the schools are ranked according to the quality of their Ph.D program.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Tufts, UCLA, Cal, Georgetown, Rice, and Reed seem like accessible schools.</p>
<p>
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Duquesne which is well known for its philosophy program especially in the area of phenomenology.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>What kind of phenomenology? If you are talking continental phenomenology, then it is rubbish. If you are talking about phenomenology in CogSci, then you have something viable, albiet something you could never take with you into Tufts (big man Dennett teaches there).</p>
<p>Well...if you're otherwise happy where you are, I wouldn't recommend transferring for a philosophy program (simply b/c you've done the majority of your undergrad education and a transfer will likely only elongate it, transferring is kind of a pain, and a philosophy B.A. is not imperative for any field of study, including advanced philosophy). It's definitely a personal call, but that's my take. </p>
<p>That said, make sure that wherever you go has SMALL philosophy classes. Philosophy departments in general are relatively small, but you do NOT want to learn philosophy by taking lots of lecture classes. Yes, some of them will be set-up that way, but the more discussion-based, seminar courses you can find, the better you'll understand and absorb the skills it teaches (since it's quite likely that your abilities to think and argue critically will be valued more highly than your ability to quote so-and-so, which is <em>very</em> roughly the difference between seminar and lecture style courses).</p>
<p>
[quote]
and a philosophy B.A. is not imperative for any field of study, including advanced philosophy).
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</p>
<p>Do you want to bet?</p>
<p>Sure, if he does not get the BA, he will have to get the training from somewhere, which means that he will be applying to MA programs while his peers apply to Ph.D programs.</p>