<p>Which school has the more prestigious political science program? Also just in general, what is the major differences between the schools. I know Michigan is bigger and their admissions rate is higher. I'm just comparing the two because I will probably only be able to apply to one.</p>
<p>I live in Colorado so I'll be applying as an out of state applicant obviously.</p>
<p>The two schools are different enough that the difference between the strength of one department probably shouldn’t determine which one you would like better. Michigan’s graduate departments are generally stronger than UVa’s, but no undergraduate department rankings exist (nor should they). UVa will likely give better financial aid, especially for an OOS student.</p>
<p>That said, I was accepted to both and chose UVa.</p>
<p>Michigan’s department is stronger is terms of the excellence of the faculty; Michigan leading faculty members in political research in many different areas. In terms of political science, there are few places better to be than Michigan. </p>
<p>USNews considers Michigan to be second only to Harvard, Stanford and Princeton. (Making it #4); on the other hand, USNews puts UVa at #33. </p>
<p>QS puts it at #17 in the world for politics; although QS is nowhere near as credible.</p>
<p>[Ranking</a> of Political Science Graduate Schools PhDs.org Graduate School Guide](<a href=“http://graduate-school.phds.org/rankings/political-science/rank/_MM_____________________________________________________________U]Ranking”>http://graduate-school.phds.org/rankings/political-science/rank/_MM_____________________________________________________________U)</p>
<p>These widely respected and widely controversial rankings of departmental strength place UMich (~top 5) far ahead of UVA (~top 100).</p>
<p>“Which school has the more prestigious political science program?”</p>
<p>Michigan.</p>
<p>In terms of academic strengths and overall reputation,for your choice of discipline, Michigan is indeed better and when it comes to ‘college experience’ and ‘Campus life’, I would rate UVa as better of the two.</p>
<p>Although Michigan’s Political Science department is strong, UVa’s is also good. At the undergraduate level, both will more than suffice and will be equally good, particularly if one is seeking a career in diplomacy or law. The only way I can see Michigan’s advantage in Political Science taking shape is if the OP intends on pursuing a PhD in Political Science, and even then, I would not presume to claim that attending Michigan as an undergrad would provide a clear advantage over UVa.</p>
<p>With the exception of Engineering (where Michigan has a decided advantage), when it comes to Michigan and UVa, I recommend that prospective applicants focus on (1) cost of attendance and (2) “fit”. As such, I would recommend applying to both schools, and if admitted into both, carefuly weigh the pros and cons of both.</p>
<p>Michigan is the easy choice here unless you strongly prefer UVA socially or Virginia is significantly cheaper. You have a lot to gain from going to the school with the stronger graduate program in your field in terms of the availability of resources and the proximity to top scholars whose recommendations will carry a lot of weight in graduate school admissions. UVA is a big state school as well so you’re not going to be able to reap the advantages of attending a smaller private school like more intimate classes, more grants for undergraduates, better teaching, etc. If you were deciding between WUSTL and Michigan, this might be a different story.</p>
<p>Of course, now you have to worry about getting into these two schools first, which as an OOSer, will be difficult at UVA.</p>
<p>“In terms of academic strengths and overall reputation,for your choice of discipline, Michigan is indeed better and when it comes to ‘college experience’ and ‘Campus life’, I would rate UVa as better of the two.”</p>
<p>In terms of academic strength and overall reputation, for almost every comparable discipline, Michigan is indeed better. Please explain to me how the “college experience” and “campus life” is better at UVA than Michigan?</p>