<p>Does anyone know what the political science department at Swarthmore is like? How does it stand nationally?</p>
<p>Swarthmore is the #1 undergrad per capita producer of Political Science PhDs. It produces a more future Poli Sci PhDs per 100 undergrads than ANY other college or university in the United States.</p>
<p>Poli Sci is one of the most popular majors at Swarthmore.</p>
<p>Political Science is one of the best departments at Swarthmore as well as very well funded. It has notable professors like James Kurth who was listed as one of the best political writers for 2004 and one of his essays was in a publication titled 'Best American Political Writings of 2004'. This is alongside people like Joe Klein and Karen Tumulty of Time Magazine, Jeff Greenfield of CNN, Thomas Friedman of NY Times etc. The credentials of the professors in the department are fantastic with people coming from Kennedy School of Govt. and Woodrow Wilson school of IR at Princeton.
Here is the faculty directory:
<a href="http://www.swarthmore.edu/SocSci/PoliSci/facumenu.htm%5B/url%5D">http://www.swarthmore.edu/SocSci/PoliSci/facumenu.htm</a></p>
<p>As far as rankings nationally, only research universities are ranked by USNWR, so you won't find a ranking for Swarthmore.</p>
<p>is it hard to get into the classes as a freshman?</p>
<p>No. are you talking about poli sci or just any? There are lotteries for some very popular freshman classes but if you don't get your class, you will get the one in the subject area of your interest in the next semester. For example, there was an English seminar that my son wanted last semester (as a freshman, first semester) and it was very popular, so he did not get it. This semester, he got the English seminar that he wanted, not the same one, but one similar to it.</p>
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<blockquote> <p>is it hard to get into the classes as a freshman?</p> </blockquote>
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<p>Answering that question requires a bit of background. Years ago, freshmen took Poli Sci 101 or English 101. There were half a dozen or more sections of the same course, taught by various professors. So, nobody had any trouble getting in these classes.</p>
<p>Because this approach is SO boring (mostly to the professors), places like Swarthmore now take a different approach. There might be a dozen freshman Poli Sci or Intro English courses, each providing the necessary foundation for continued studies in that department, but each with a slightly different focus. For example, all of the Intro English courses will cover something from the Greeks, something from Medieval Europe, something from Shakespeare and so on and so forth. But, the course title and essay topics will focus on some particular aspect -- "Social Class Issues in Western Lit" or whatever.</p>
<p>Each of these sections is limited to a dozen people. So it is quite likely that you won't get your first choice, especially if the course title sounds "really cool". </p>
<p>At the end of the day, it really doesn't matter. All of the course sections are probably equally interesting (or not).</p>
<p>There is also another way to get into a course. If you were shut out of it, or if you wanted it later than registration deadline, email the professor expressing strong interest in the course and you can get in. Freshmen first semester don't know this fact but usually become savvier as the days go by.</p>