<p>I'm interested in studying philosophy as my undergrad degree. I was wondering about any schools that are strong in philosophy. I've got pretty good admissions stats etc.</p>
<p>Please don't give me Ivies, I'd like to hear about other schools. This site is way too focused on Ivies all the time. There are so many other schools that are excellent.</p>
<p>I believe NYU has one of the top Philosophy programs.</p>
<p>Cool. What about Holy Cross or Notre Dame? I applied to those places.</p>
<p>I dont' know how it's ranked statistically, but i was initially drawn to the University of Chicago a few years back when I wanted to study philosophy. It is essentially one big school of philosophy majors, whether or not you study it.</p>
<p>Does it really matter how philosophy programs are ranked? You can't really get a job as a philosopher, so you don't really need to worry about major-specific rankings...just concentrate on how good a school is overall</p>
<p>I'd like to go to a good program. I am focused on learning the subject well and utilizing it in my graduate or professional studies.</p>
<p>Since you are into humble schools, I'll suggest my alma mater to you, the University of Pittsburgh. They are normally ranked in the top 2 or so (for grad department of course, but it is no slouch for undergrad education) in philosophy departments in the country and you would probably get nice merit aid (depending on stats) if you apply ASAP.</p>
<p>Pittsburgh is a school in which the philosophy department's reputation far surpasses the rest of the university's. Its phil. dept. is world-famous. Wisconsin's phil. dept is large and good. Most Catholic colleges take philosophy quite seriously. Notre Dame, Georgetown, Boston College, Holy Cross, Fordham, and Marquette are very good. Since a lot of Catholic colleges require 2 courses in philosophy for graduation, they tend to have a more philosophy professors than secular schools of similar size. I remember reading a study a few years back that said Boston College offered more philosophy courses than any other college in the country. U of Toronto also has a large and top-notch philosophy dept. Having a large quantity of courses available is important in philosophy, because it's usually an indication that a wide variety of philosophy is studied. Beware the schools that focus almost completely on "analytic" philosophy if that is not your bag.</p>
<p>Definitely look at University of Chicago. You can't go wrong there. You may want to consider some of the "great books" schools. Most are small. St. John's in Annapolis and the southwest (two campuses), St. Thomas More in New Hampshire, Shimer College near Chicago.</p>
<p>For quite some time, NYU has had the best philosophy department in the US, and in the (English-speaking) world. This was confirmed again in the most authoritative ranking which appeared very recently, the Philosophical Gourmet Report 2006-08,
<a href="http://www.philosophicalgourmet.com/overall.asp%5B/url%5D">http://www.philosophicalgourmet.com/overall.asp</a> .
NYU is ranked first, followed by Rutgers, Princeton, UofM, Pittsburgh, Stanford, Harvard, etc. </p>
<p>University of Chicago is an excellent school but philosophy is evidently not its strong point; the philosophy dept. is ranked 20-22 in the country.</p>
<p>So, if you want to learn philosophy from the very best scholars in the field, there is no question, you should come to NYU. </p>
<p>And yes, these top scholars teach undergraduate courses regularly, and the classes tend to be small, giving the students plenty of opportunity for close
interaction with the faculty. </p>
<p>If you wish, you can combine philosophy with some other program at NYU, e.g., math, politics, economics, sociology, psychology, .... all of which are very highly ranked nationally.</p>
<p>NYU kicks ass.</p>
<p>Edit: are there rankings like that for Econ, Math, etc.?</p>
<p>My advice: Read what the Philosophical Gourmet has to say about how to evaluate a good UNDERgraduate philosophy program here:
<a href="http://www.philosophicalgourmet.com/undergrad.asp%5B/url%5D">http://www.philosophicalgourmet.com/undergrad.asp</a> The link given above was for GRADUATE programs and that doesn't always tell you much about the undergraduate program.</p>
<p>As you will see, in their discussion of undergraduate programs, they say "It is possible to get good philosophical training in many undergraduate settings."</p>
<p>They then go on to explain what one should look for in an undergraduate philosophy department, regardless of its graduate ranking.</p>
<p>Then, figure out what else you want in a college or university besides a strong philosophy program - size, location, cost, social scene, etc. Philosophy is a terrific major, but if you change your mind there's nothing worse than being stuck at a school chosen simply for its strength in a single department.</p>
<p>Combine the two and you'll find the list of schools that is right for YOU, not just because of some ranking or arbitrary comments from strangers who may have personal biases but know absolutely nothing about what YOU want or need in a college. </p>
<p>By the way, both Holy Cross and Notre Dame have fine philosophy departments, so if they suit you in other ways, build your list from there.</p>
<p>By the way, for those interested, here is a bit of what the Philosophical Gourmet has to say:</p>
<p>Over the years, many high school students or their parents have contacted me to inquire how to use the Report with respect to choosing an undergraduate institution. The first point to make is that the focus of this Report is on graduate study only: Pittsburgh may have an outstanding philosophy department, but it might make more sense for a good student interested in philosophy to do his or her undergraduate work at Johns Hopkins or Amherst, where student-faculty ratios are more favorable, and where there is a stronger focus on undergraduate education. Many faculty at major departments did not do their undergraduate work at institutions with top-ranked PhD programs. The tenured faculty at Michigan, for example, includes folks who did undergraduate work at Wesleyan, Tulane, Oberlin, and John Carroll, among other places. The tenured faculty at Texas includes folks who did undergraduate work at Missouri, Michigan State, and UVA. There are eminent philosophers—who have held or now hold tenured posts at top ten departments—who did their undergraduate work at the University of New Mexico, Queens College (New York), and the University of Pittsburgh. It is possible to get good philosophical training in many undergraduate settings.</p>
<p>High school students interested in philosophy would do best to identify schools that have strong reputations for undergraduate education first. Only then, should they look in to the quality of the philosophy department. Some ranked PhD programs have good reputations for undergraduate education, like Princeton, Yale, Brown and Rice, among many others. The larger universities (like Harvard or Michigan or Texas) tend to offer a more mixed undergraduate experience, largely due to their size. Since much of the teaching at those institutions will be done by graduate students, it pays to go to a school with a strong PhD program, since that will affect the intellectual caliber of teachers you will encounter.</p>
<p>Among schools that do not offer the PhD or MA in philosophy, those with the best philosophy faculties would probably include: Amherst College, California Institute of Technology, Dartmouth College, Reed College, University of Vermont, and Wellesley College . But many other good liberal arts colleges and universities that only offer a B.A. have strong philosophy faculties as well (i.e., faculties doing philosophical work at the research university level), for example: Barnard College; Bates College; Brandeis University; California State University at Northridge; Colby College; Colgate University; Davidson College; Franklin & Marshall College; Haverford College; Mt. Holyoke College; Iowa State University; Kansas State University; New College (South Florida); North Carolina State University; Oberlin College; Occidental College; Pomona College; Smith College; Southern Methodist University; Swarthmore College; Trinity University (San Antonio); University of Alabama at Birmingham; University of Delaware; University of Massachussetts at Boston; Vassar College; Virginia Commonwealth University; Wesleyan University; Western Washington University; and College of Willliam & Mary, among others. (This list is not exhaustive; see below for how to evaluate other programs.) St. John's College, the "great books" school at both Annapolis and Santa Fe, offers strong historical coverage of the field, but weaker coverage of contemporary philosophy; still, many St. John's grads do well in admissions to graduate school.</p>
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<p>Again, just an excerpt.</p>
<p>I bounced around the philosophy world for close to 20 years, and the Philosophical Gourmet rankings look very bizarre to me.</p>
<p>Read past threads.</p>
<p>Philosophy has historically been considered one of Colgate's strongest programs, or at least a high % of its well known faculty are in the department. Rutgers, in addition to UPittsburg, is another school that isn't necessarily known as a great school that does have a strong reputation in philosophy.</p>