<p>How strong is the poli sci department at UCLA? Is it comparable to Berkeley's?</p>
<p>I'd like to know too...and about about history as well?</p>
<p>UCLA's poli sci department is top 10, and certainly up there with Cal in terms of overall strength.</p>
<p>History is top 15 (some say top 10), and may not rank as highly as Cal's, but is much larger, offering a somewhat broader range of courses. </p>
<p>Both are great, but I wouldn't choose an UNDERGRADUATE career based on the department's ranking. </p>
<p>For the record, I got my BA at UCLA, and my major was poli sci.</p>
<p>Aren't the rankings for grad school anyways?</p>
<p>Yes. But do bear in mind that the same rankings will affect you to some degree. I mean, higher ranked departments pull in better grad students, and better grad students tend to lead better discussions (this was my experience.) Plus, if you're going to a research university, it never hurts to have better professors, especially if you do original research.</p>
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How strong is the poli sci department at UCLA? Is it comparable to Berkeley's?
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<p>berkeley's poli sci dept is usually regarded as better, but i highly doubt you can experience a difference at the undergrad level. the UCLA poli sci dept is one of the best in the nation already anyway. </p>
<p>same goes for history. </p>
<p>(i'm a poli sci major. i've also taken some history courses).</p>
<p>kfc4u,</p>
<p>I've heard arguments for both departments (from professors at both departments).</p>
<p>What most undergrads never realize is that at the graduate level it's not departmental strength that usually matters, but concentration strength that matters. Plenty of people will choose Michigan over Harvard for their methodology, whereas people will choose Harvard over UCLA because of their comparativists.</p>
<p>OH well, not like it matters to undergrads anyway. :p</p>
<p>UCLAri, i have a very important question that's been troubling me. I put down the wrong major in the College of Letters and Sciences, and i want to switch it to Polisci. I called admissions office today and she said she wasn't sure if polisci was 'impacted' or not. </p>
<p>she also said that I'd have to first enroll and then see if i could switch during orientation.</p>
<p>is it going to be hard to switch to political science from my BS major? what are the chances that i won't be able to switch??</p>
<p>help please!</p>
<p>ucla2010,</p>
<p>it wont be hard to switch. when you get to ucla during your first quarter, go to the poli sci dept in bunche hall and tell them you want to switch into "pre-political science"</p>
<p>er if you don't change before the first quarter, what courses/classes would you take considering you want to change majors but you still have the original major down. would you sign up for courses of the original major or courses of the new major you want? what if you don't get into that major and you end up taking the wrong courseS??</p>
<p>ucla2010,</p>
<p>Switching to poli sci shouldn't be hard at all. Last time I checked (In 2003), poli sci wasn't even close to being impacted.</p>
<p>collegegirlgirl,</p>
<p>One quarter won't matter in the long run. Believe me. Just relax and enjoy yourself. Dabble for a bit, if you like.</p>
<p>UCLAri, but is it possible for me to change my major before school starts at like orientation so i can pick the right classes for my new major. i want to switch from bio to business economics or economics. is that possible and easy for me to switch?</p>
<p>Why can't you just pick those classes without being in the major? It's not like most of the lower divs have prereqs, anyway.</p>
<p>By the way, you can't just enter biz-econ. That requires completing prereqs.</p>
<p>Is there a difference between the UCDC program and CAPPP? Would you reccommend participating? And when?</p>
<p>CAPPP is one UCDC program. The other is EXPO.</p>
<p>I highly recommend that you consider doing one of the two programs in DC. For example, if you do CAPPP, you not only get the experience of an internship in DC (one roommate worked for Rep. Sherman, another for Sen. Kerry), but you also get a significant research paper under your belt. Win-win.</p>
<p>collegegirlgirl,</p>
<p>for your first quarter, maybe you should go with a GE. most of the popular classes will be full anyway by the time you get to orientation. another thing u can do is to find out which lower-div prereqs in your potential majors also count as GE's, so that way you're not "wasting your time" if you switch your major. but one quarter taking some electives isn't that bad. </p>
<p>--
random note: i was on wikipedia today looking at "notable UCLA professors" and i saw john zaller from poli sci on the list. he's a cool prof, take him for PS 6 (i heard his upper divs are good too)</p>
<p>Take Zaller's class on American public opinion. It's awesome, and he always keeps it up-to-date.</p>
<p>so basically im on the same boat with the people who have gotten admitted to business economics or economics as their pre-major status even if i don't switch majors? so everyone who wants to, applies to business economics or something after their sophomore year, regardless of what their major is? </p>
<p>kfc4u, does every freshmen do GE during the first year? what popular classes do you mean get filled up so fast i can't even sign up for it?</p>
<p>Jesus, you worry a lot. :p</p>
<p>whats the avg gpa of poli sci majors? im just curious since lots of pre-meds are around 2.8</p>