Hi, I am an international and I am accepted several colleges. But, currently I decided either Pepperdine or Case Western.
My major is Political Science in both colleges. Tbh, I want to go Pepperdine since I prefer a small-size school. But, the problem is so expensive tuition. Case is expensive, too, but I got a 25,000 scholarship offer from Case. Which college should I pick!!! Please give some advice!
Pepperdine is a religious school. Does that matter to you?
I would recommend Case Western: it’s higher ranked (slightly.) And the cost of living in Cleveland is much, much less than Malibu (among the priciest places in the entire country.) And as ucbalumnus pointed out, Pepperdine is religious, there is mandatory chapel attendance. You can read about it here:
I thought this was interesting: “The weekends are pretty dead. A lot of students go home, and many of them just sort of lay low and study or sleep in their dorm rooms.”
The choice is easy: if you’re an evangelical Christian for whom faith is paramount, Pepperdine. If you first want to become an engineer or a doctor, or are focused on academics, Case Western Reserve.
@ucbalumnus @katliamom @MYOS1634 Thanks guys! I am actually born in Christian family. So, the Pepperdine’s chapel things does not matter do me. Rather than religious things, I want to know more about their political science program. While surfing both their websites, it seems like they offer similar program in Political science.
You can’t get around the fact Pepperdine is an evangelical university. Everything is imbued with faith, including what you study. If your main goal is to grow in your faith, Pepperdine is an excellent choice. If your faith is secondary and academics matter more, Case Western Reserve.
CW has a good reputation for engineering. But I wouldn’t say its known for its PolSci.
Providing you can afford it, I’d go with Pepperdine (religiousness aside) since you want a small school, and because when looking at its PolSci program, it has some pretty interesting features including internships in DC. Pepperdine also has excellent study abroad programs (great for PolSci). http://seaver.pepperdine.edu/socialscience/undergraduate/political-science/
Plus Malibu is a great place to live (and easy to get to the best part of LA).
Just because it’s religious doesn’t mean its academics aren’t good. (The fact is, PolSci, more than many other subjects, is always going to be colored by the leaning of the university.)
Now, whether it’s worth going to over a $25K scholarship from CWRU? Possibly not. But that is something that only you can decide based on your family’s financial situation.
Pepperdine has 7,600 students (and cwru 11,500) so I don’t think the main difference is size.
OP, do you have access to guides such as Princeton review 's best colleges, insiders guide to the colleges, and fiske guide ? Read the descriptions of atmosphere, type I’d students, etc for each university. You’ll have a clearer idea of what the better 'fit’is.
CWRU has about 5000 undergraduates, and Pepperdine has about 3500.
How do you feel about cold weather?
Consider the following:
Net Cost
Number of Undergraduates
Faculty Student Ratio
%of students that live on campus
% of international students
Support for international students
How big is the department for your major? If you are majoring in something that only has a couple of professors, that does not bode well.
Pepperdine has 7 professors for Poli Sci: https://seaver.pepperdine.edu/socialscience/undergraduate/political-science/faculty.htm
CWRU has 15 http://politicalscience.case.edu/about-the-department/people/
Housing- do they offer all 4 years? freshman only?
Urban/rural/suburban
Is this a commuter school? (do students go home on weekends)
Surrounding area - what is the nearby town/amenities like?
Transportation - how would you get home
AP Credits - can you get credit for AP tests you have taken
Male/Female ratio
Greek life - what % of students are in greek life
Parking
Diversity
Safety
Sports
Jobs - what happens to seniors after they graduate
Internships - depending on your major, is it easy to get internships?
…and whatever makes sense for you
You might not care about, say, greek life. but if 50% of the kids are in greek life and you don’t want to be, that is something to know. Or you may want a big time sports scene or you might not want one. Grade them from 1-5 as they make sense to you.
Then look at each of them and see which makes sense for you
A tool to help is https://colleges.niche.com/compare/default.aspx?&tab=tab-rankings
Check this out:
http://money-law.blogspot.com/2007/02/political-science-rankings.html
Political Science Rankings:
One type of ranking is “Alumni Ranking”
Alumni-based rankings
There are a couple of rankings based on the work of the alumni of a program. McCormick & Rice (1982; 2001) looked at whose graduates publish in five “leading journals” (a journal was leading if it was published by the national or one of the regional political science associations). Michigan, UC Berkeley, Chicago, Rochester and Indiana are the top 5. In a later study, Rice, McCormick & Bergmann (2002) looked at whose graduates publish books that had been reviewed at the flagship journal APSR. Harvard, UC Berkeley, Yale, Chicago and Princeton top that list (when weighed by size of the graduating class, Harvard, Yale, Stanford, Case Western Reserve and UC Berkeley are at the top). Masuoka and Grofman look at which departments have produced the highest number of highly-cited faculty (determined by being in top 400 of all faculty). The top 5 are Harvard, Yale, UC Berkeley, Michigan, and Chicago. They also look at placement records (additional tables and figures) as such – the top 5 in 1991-2000 placements were Harvard, UC Berkeley, Michigan, Princeton, and Chicago.
Me too! (but I am alumni)
Thank you guys! I really appreciate your helps! But, I have one more question. How many people go prestigious law school after their undergraduate in Case?
Law school admission is mainly GPA and LSAT score driven.
http://lawschoolnumbers.com
Also check out what graduates do after Case…(I googled Case graduate survey in case you want to take over the googling)
https://students.case.edu/career/resources/survey/doc/fds2013.pdf
From the Department head:
CWRU’s Dept of Political Science is a small department of outstanding faculty. As a small department in a large research university, we are able to provide distinct advantages to political science students. Similar to elite liberal arts colleges, we offer small classes taught by regular faculty. No class is larger than 40 students (usually our introductory courses), and our average class size is fewer than 20. Our upper-division courses, which are available to all undergraduate students, are taught as seminars. Because our department has few graduate students, our faculty are able to concentrate on undergraduate teaching as well as on their research. All political science majors have faculty members as their academic advisors, who help shape their program of study, and every political science major completes a Senior Capstone Project under the direction of one of our faculty.
Because we are an integral part of a major research university, our faculty are highly accomplished and active scholars who bring their research into their classrooms. In the past eight years, four of our faculty have been Fulbright Scholars (in Canada, France, the United Arab Emirates, and the United Kingdom). Thanks to a generous alumni gift, the Department is able to offer undergraduate research assistantships to students who work with faculty mentors to support and learn from faculty research. Our department has links with our colleagues in the School of Law and the Weatherhead School of Management to support our shared interests.
Because we are an urban research university, our students find opportunities to participate in politics, policy, and service not only within the University, but also in our surrounding institutions and in the wider community. Several of these opportunities can be found on our department webpage (http://politicalscience.case.edu/internship-opportunities/). We are especially proud of our Wellman Hill Public Service Internship grants program that funds four or five students each summer to participate in unpaid, public service internships that financial limitations may have otherwise forced them to decline.
We offer extensive information on our departmental website at http://politicalscience.case.edu/; we also have a departmental newsletter that we could send to interested students. The political science major is one of the most popular majors in the College of Arts and Sciences. Our courses enroll no more than 40 students (in our three introductory courses) or than 20 (in our upper-division seminars). Students work one-on-one with a faculty member in POSC396 Senior Capstone. Only faculty teach our students; we have no graduate student instructors.
It’s helpful to post net prices, not “$25,000 scholarship”.
I’d choose Case Western, if it’s cheaper. Pepperdine is very expensive, unaffordable for most families.
To reitarate, Pepperdine is a very religious school. OP indicates they’re Christian (actually, just “born in Christian family”, which isn’t very clear), but it’s not clear they’re aware of just how religious Pepperdine is, what that means, what it requires.
Also, they say they prefer Pepperdine because it’s a small school, but Pepperdine and Case are actually very similar in size – 3,500-4,500 undergrads and 7,500-10,000 overall.