<p>How strong are these fields at Emory?
Anyone have an idea?</p>
<p>i know that polsci isnt that strong. I applied intending to major in the same field. You can look up the ranking:
[Top</a> Political Science Schools & Best Ranked Political Science Colleges and Programs](<a href=“Web Page Under Construction”>Web Page Under Construction)</p>
<p>Actually, screw rankings in this case. The PoliSci program seems pretty darned good to me. The faculty seems top notch and the teaching is very good. Please don’t measure quality of a single dept. based on a ranking especially since like every school has the dept. Given that there are over 1K schools, it ranking in the top “X” doesn’t matter much. It just helps that you have a powerhouse faculty with motivated/top students that make the discourse/academic experience interesting. Emory has this. You have to experience it. I have and it seems pretty good to me. And this comes from a double major in biology and chemistry which is a combination that would generally dictate a dislike for history/social science. I think Emory is pretty good for political science and history.</p>
<p>Oh and it appears it ranks 28 (used to be 36 I think, not to mention, look at all of those ties, really? This skews it a little), which isn’t bad at all for a graduate program. And for Emory, it’s darned solid considering the fact that the GSAS was established after the undergrad college (so Emory’s grad. school depts came far after others). It’s not doing bad. Also, the person wants Emory for “undergrad”. USNW doesn’t rank this. Even if they did, who cares? Emory’s undergrad polisci program is extremely solid. Don’t judge the undergrad in context of the grad. program. That doesn’t even make any sense. They are two different types of educational experiences.</p>
<p>I love how you see: 28. Oh, must be weak. Are you serious?</p>
<p>no offense lol.
To me, political science major as to be meaningful also requires certain experiences. Emory students don’t have much school spirit and are not politically active (as to rally, participate in global forums or lobby for different issues). That means Emory population won’t be really idealistic (for a political activist rookie) if I am to learn skills on dealing with larger groups of people (in political terms).</p>
<p>Also, similar to Emory, UPenn for example, is an Ivy but ranks 28th too, while a few other schools that are less selective have higher ranking on PolSci department. </p>
<p>I am sure Emory and UPenn are great choices if you can make it. But I would take a less selective college (aka lower overall ranking but higher department ranking) because that is better for my respective major. </p>
<p>I do have a lot of respect for Emory, which is why I applied. I think it is a great place to go to school but Emory is way stronger in other departments (Business for example).</p>
<p>None Taken. Just know that Emory is no Georgetown or Tufts (and I don’t think it’s fair to measure levels of political activism vs. schools like these or Berkeley), but I actually think you’d be surprised. We also just held some global health solutions competition. This weekend is the huge Humanitarian forum. If you think the lack of “school spirit” causes undergraduates not to partake in these events, you have sadly mistaken. I think you let the preconceptions rule you. </p>
<p>School spirit has nothing to do with political activism: I bet you Duke and Vandy (which apparently are probably less intellectual than even Emory). lack it also and they have plenty of school spirit. It’s a very liberal campus, and there have been huge movements especially regarding the environment. And we of course have the whole public health scene (which is political by nature, one does not pursue this field w/o an interest in social structure and politics that may effect healthcare). And there were also huge demonstrations that took place last simply over the dining company (Sudexho) and staff regarding workers’ rights and unionization. And the campus is pretty politically and culturally active. We don’t have close ties to Tibet for random reasons. We also don’t have them here learning science for random reasons. An Emory student’s solution for political activity is not to simply “rally” or “protest”, but to actually do something about it and attempt “actively” implement change (you’ll see various grass-roots projects start up here either at the university level, or further into the Atlanta community. And yes, normally such ideas spawn from undergrads). To claim that vocal/extremely visible forms of demonstrations are the only valid forms of political activism/demonstration is faulty. You’d actually have to be here to understand it and you would need to redefine political activism, because at Emory, it does not manifest itself in the way that you are think of (in which it does at other schools). You should understand that students at a school diverse are going to be politically and culturally active/interested, even if it is not in the way that you would imagine it happening at Berkeley.</p>
<p>And again, you assessed “Graduate” rankings (clearly indicated at the top of the rankings you provided). This hardly no effect on the quality of undergraduate quality. The rankings are useless. The undergraduate program is much more relevant and it seems solid from my experience.
Just giving you more detail to address your concern.</p>
<p>i am just speaking from the idea that I was really into Emory, up until I looked up the student government. student newspapers and Model UN websites.
It is of course very biased view. And again, I have many friends who go to Emory so I know it is a great place.
I just dont think the activities I like to do would be really popular and prominent on the campus. </p>
<p>I also cited the college rankings for the departments, I think if you look up for the college one, it is pretty much the same. Emory is harder to get in (in comparison to some higher rank state Us). It is also not cheap. Some CC-ers can get in some state Us with equally competitive polsci departments (but not as pretigious as an institution) and dont have to pay so much. </p>
<p>Since the OP asks for some opinions and some facts, I just threw it out there for his/her considerations.</p>
<p>It is great though, to see a passionate Emory student on CC!</p>
<p>if you are into public policy, I would look at Tech and UGA (ranked really well). However, I don’t know if they are the environment you seek. That is simply hard to find (or it to be popular) at any state or even many private schools now-a-days (American anti-intellectualism has even bled into the university, mainly among UGs). Also, keep in mind that rankings also factor in size of faculty. So, for example, in engineering, a lot private colleges that have engineering schools (but not pre-dominantly) get screwed over in rankings.<br>
Then there is the question of:who ranks the college undergrad. depts? That’s weird and seems as if it takes too much effort. It’s pretty hard to assess undergrad. depts in areas like history and political science. It seems as if business and maybe some of the science depts would be more measurable in terms of quality. Either way, if it’s about the same, it’s good.<br>
You need to see why others are ranked higher and why you may prefer them (you knocked Emory out using a fair method, now make sure the others have what you want and make sure you aren’t just seeing the surface). Rankings shouldn’t be the go to place. I think the additional research you did is more valuable than these rankings. It tells you where you want to be and why. As you said, you may like a lower ranked polisci dept. w/a campus that fosters your interests better. The rankings should maybe just be your starting point, with anyone making the list say w/in the top 75-100 as being pretty good (again almost every college has a polisci dept., top 100 isn’t actually bad). Don’t put weight on these rankings as a deciding factor. And whatever you do, don’t fall into trap of: “Well this school’s dept ranks higher and they are cheaper”. Money is very important. But say, UGA’s polisci ranked higher than ours. I think I would still choose Emory (granted that money is not an issue for me as I have lots of scholarship/fin. aid. I imagine it certainly is for you) b/c ideally I will also be pursuing interests and taking courses outside of that realm. One pretty much understands that Emory overall is probably more interesting in terms of its cultural and intellectual scene and is more than likely more academically challenging (often rankings don’t tell much about rigor). Basically, what if it’s that dept. and not much else. Is it really worth choosing one school over another for a single program, unless you know that the other is a once in a life-time opportunity of sorts? Just a lot to think about. Good luck. I hope you are able to go where you want. I’m sure you have some great options :)</p>
<p>Granted, Emory’s polysci and IR programs are not as well known as other fields like medicine, and business, they are still top notched programs.</p>
<p>@Bernie12: [None Taken. Just know that Emory is no Georgetown or Tufts (and I don’t think it’s fair to measure levels of political activism vs. schools like these or Berkeley), ]</p>
<p>For a brief moment, I actually thought about considering Emory seeing as it is 10x closer to home than Georgetown but what you said is so true. And being in DC, I think Georgetown would be a much easier place to find internships/etc.! </p>
<p>Good luck wherever everyone is headed!</p>
<p>Yeah, the DC schools like GWU, Georgetown, American, and I dare to throw in Johns Hopkins are well suited to make a politically active student successful (or to at least fulfill) their desires). Also, I mean, honestly, it’s why almost every decent school has a “Washington Semester” offered through there political science dept. That’s where everything is.</p>
<p>thanks Bernie for the great advices. :)</p>
<p>I understand the question asked was narrow, but I’m not sure about picking an undergraduate college based on individual departmental rankings. </p>
<p>Given how many times undergraduates change their majors, I think it’s better to choose a college based on a broader academic view.</p>