<p>I am intrigued by the fact that the political science department at Syracuse is housed within the Maxwell School of Citizenship & Public Affairs. </p>
<p>The Maxwell School certainly has a fine reputation, beating out such stalwarts as Harvard and Princeton to be considered the top graduate program in the U.S. for public affairs.</p>
<p>However, if you go to rankings of political science departments, Syracuse is not indicated to be particularly strong.</p>
<p>It appears that the "Maxwell Mystique", if you will, doesn't carry over to the Syracuse political science department.</p>
<p>My questions are, how good is undergraduate political science at Syracuse?</p>
<p>I see that Syracuse split off its courses in political theory and turned them into a separate political philosophy major in the College of Arts & Sciences. How good is that program?</p>
<p>The history department is also inside the Maxwell School. Given these roots, the department seems to stress the connection between history and the other social science programs offered at the Maxwell School. How good is undergraduate history at Syracuse?</p>
<p>Ditto for economics. How good is the undergraduate economics department?</p>
<p>I guess my bottom line question is, are undergraduates benefiting from the high quality of the graduate programs at the Maxwell School?</p>
<p>I am a current undergraduate student in the Maxwell School majoring in International Relations, and I can at least tell you that the IR department is on par with the graduate program. It offers good program opportunities, excellent faculty, geographic/topical concentrations, etc. Basically, it has all the same benefits as the graduate program, though even undergrad IR is not nationally ranked, at least not in the top 20. However, I think this matters little.</p>
<p>As for political science…I researched the major and found it is much more loosely structured and does not seem as supportive. Also, it is not multi-disciplinary, so students do not benefit from foreign language, economics, and other like requirements.</p>
<p>The undergraduate program in economics is pretty descent. you will be taking a lot of class through Maxwell as well. (with the exception of ECN 203) Undergraduates definitely benefit but at the end of the day there seal will say A&S and still have to go through an app process for graduate study in Maxwell.</p>
<p>djlongo, you’re actually not in Maxwell. You’re in Arts & sciences. You may be taking alot of classes, such as Max 123 in Maxwell but it’s still an Arts & sciences major. Maxwell doesn’t have an undergraduate school.</p>
<p>Im an ACTUAL Poly Sci Major at Syracuse. I have to say, one can tell that the Political Science program is NOT one that could be considered as a top undergrad program in the nation. It is VERY “loose” in it’s curriculum. Then again, that is why Arts and Science at Syracuse doesn’t have the same prestige as say, Whittman or Newhouse. I have to say, if one were majoring in Political Science and wanted to go to law school (like me) SU sets you up very well. Their Pre- Law Program is extremely helpful mainly because SU has their Law School to help undergrads out.</p>
<p>If someone can explain the core differences between public policy and poli-sci, I would appreciate it. And which will set you up better for a Public Affairs program in grad school.</p>
<p>Political Science is a major that analyzes certain bodies of government and how they go about deciding on (Public Policies), which are the actual laws governing a country. Public policy is taken from a Political, Economic, social, and ethical standpoints. Im in Pre-Law at Syracuse, and both work, but public affairs is more for public policy majors</p>
<p>Hi, I was going through the Foreign Policy’s ranking of graduate IR programs and Syracuse came in somewhere around 10. Are they talking about the Maxwell School? If so, how does it’s curriculum compare to a place like SAIS or Princeton? I found it interesting that the Maxwell School has a joint program with SAIS.</p>
<p>This is actually a very common misconception. Maxwell is BOTH undergrad and grad. In fact, they have a program called Citizenship & Civic Engagement - for undergrads only - but it’s a very selective program and hard to get into. When you get your degree, your diploma is signed by both the A&S Dean and the Maxwell dean. Same goes with Policy Studies, I believe. </p>