<p>I am thinking seriously about applying to UChicago EA, UWisconsin, Northwestern, Harvard, Penn, Columbia and Brandeis in the coming months, but have a few questions...</p>
<p>Background: I am fairly certain I want to study political science. I work for my state senator, am in a serious Boston-area activism group, and read any policy book (foreign or domestic) I can get my hands on.
In short, I am interested in both the grassroots and the traditional sides of politics.</p>
<p>In terms of academics...
What is the polisci department like at UChicago? What size do the classes in that department tend to be? What are the professors generally like? How much contact would one have with them?</p>
<p>On the social side of things..
How politically aware and politically active a campus is UChicago? Does the campus lean liberal or conservative?</p>
<ol>
<li>[University</a> of Chicago Time Schedules](<a href=“http://timeschedules.uchicago.edu/view.php?dept=PLSC&term=454]University”>University of Chicago Time Schedules) - That should give you an idea of what size the classes tend to be. You can click on “Return to Full Timeschedules” at the top and then switch to a different quarter to check out more Poli Sci classes.</li>
<li>It’s definitely not like Berkeley, but there’s organizations dedicated to various causes. If you want to be heavily involved with campaigns and actual activism, I can’t think of a particular RSO to point you to (again, there’s different RSO’s for different causes), but the new Institute of Politics is fantastic if you want a chance to interact with and learn from people that are involved in politics in various ways. Just last quarter, Obama’s top speech writer, two US Senators, one of Obama’s former top advisors and a Forbes Wall Street journalist gave seminars that lasted for weeks about many different aspects of politics. This is aside from bringing speakers like Newt Gingrich and Timothy Geithner to the Institute itself for talks with students (and I really mean talks, half the time consisted of Q&A). </li>
<li>Overall, the campus leans liberal, but there’s a healthy amount of conservatives, enough for there to be a civil debate about many topics.</li>
</ol>
<p>I should also add that, although the Institute itself does not organize any campaigns or partake in any activism, if you sign up for the list host you’ll receive A TON of information regarding actual campaigns in Chicago and other cities (mostly during the summer, of course). We’re in the middle of summer and I still receive e-mails about available internships and activism opportunities.</p>
<p>Poli sci has a very long and excellent tradition at UW. Liberal but not extreme and research oriented. Very popular major with good teachers.
Student body leans liberal but not as far so as in the past. Many paths to involvement at all levels.</p>
<p>Yes, it’s all a manner of finding an RSO (official term for groups) that focuses on whatever you’re interested in. The most famous case this year was definitely the protests regarding the university hospital’s lack of a trauma center, for which many RSO’s got together: [url=<a href=“Laureate discusses themes in contemporary poetry – Chicago Maroon”>Laureate discusses themes in contemporary poetry – Chicago Maroon]Four</a> arrested in trauma center protest ? The Chicago Maroon<a href=“that%20was%20the%20first%20article%20I%20could%20find%20about%20the%20protests,%20there’s%20more%20that%20detail%20events%20that%20occurred%20in%20the%20following%20weeks”>/url</a></p>
<p>While not an RSO, OMSA (Office of Multicultural Student Affairs) organizes many talks and is a great tool for communicating with the administration of the university. They’ve been helping to lead movements on campus involving race issues, among others.</p>
<p>The campus doesn’t lean either way, because leaning implies slight. It’s way more liberals than conservatives, at least from what I’ve seen on the Facebook page (I’m going to be a Freshman).</p>