<p>Please rank political science and then creative writing for the following schools:</p>
<p>Brandeis University
George Washington University
Muhlenberg College
University of Pittsburgh
Tufts University
University of Rochester</p>
<p>Bump...please...?</p>
<p>While we're on the subject, throw in American as well...</p>
<p>Well, Tufts has the best poli sci program of those schools, by far. It also has the number-one ranked undergraduate International Relations program in the country. </p>
<p>However, I am sure that Brandeis and GWU (the latter with the D.C. factor) have good poli sci programs as well; and Rochester is a rapidly-improving school and its department is probably quite good as well. </p>
<p>I can't speak for the other schools' creative writing programs, but the creative writing classes I've taken at Tufts have been spectacular. Great professors who are published and decorated in their own right teach these courses.</p>
<p>Tufts, and I believe most of the schools you listed, don't offer creative writing as a degree, but you can be an English major and take creative writing classes and then do a seniors honors thesis where you write a novella or a series of short stories. Most people would tell you that getting a bachelor's degree in creative writing is a joke (that's why only schools of the Sarah Lawrence and Bard genus offer them as an undergrad degree) -- you have to learn the classics, study the masters, before you can create truly wonderful art of your own. That's why people get MFAs in Creative Writing, after having completed their undergraduate degrees.</p>
<p>All those schools listed offer either majors in creative writing or English majors with concentrations in creative writing.</p>
<p>Heavenwood- you have picked all solid fine schools. And I am sure you will find success and happiness with anyone of them- but sometimes the decision comes down to a "feeling" about the campus and its environment.<br>
Case in point- while my d really liked U of Rochester and applied there, she did not like the feeling of Tufts at all and did not even send in an application.
I am sure it works the other way too- kids not wanting to be upstate NY and would rather be near Boston. So sometimes it comes down to those intangibles.
Visit each campus (if you can) and sometimes you gotta go with your gut feeling. Academically- all are great schools.
PS d's friend goes to Muelenberg and got a very nice internship in DC.<br>
Good luck!!</p>
<p>I would order this way:</p>
<p>Tufts University
University of Rochester
Brandeis University
George Washington University
Muhlenberg College
University of Pittsburgh</p>
<p>^ ^ ^ Agree.</p>
<p>Muhlenberg over Pitt? Interesting. Does it make any difference that I'm in the honors program at Pittsburgh (even though I'll probably get into Muhlenberg's honors program as well)</p>
<p>Actually, for Political Science, Rochester is the strongest of the schools listed above. Tufts has a very strong International Relations program, but for Political Science, Rochester is very strong.</p>
<p>Any more for creative writing?</p>
<p>School U. S. and World Report Ranking for graduate creative writing programs
1. University of Iowa 4.5
2. John Hopkins University (MD) 4.2
3. University of Houston (TX) 4.2
4. Columbia University (NY) 4.1
5. University of Virginia 4.1
6. New York University 4.0
7. University of California, Irvine (CA) 4.0
8. University of Michigan, Ann Arbor (MI) 4.0
9. University of Arizona 3.9
10. Boston University 3.8
11. Cornell University 3.8
12. University of Massachusetts, Amherst (MA) 3.8
13. University of Montana (MT) 3.8
14. University of Washington 3.8
15. Washington University (MO) 3.8
16. Brown University (RI) 3.7
17. Indiana University, Bloomington (IN) 3.7
18. University of Arkansas (AR) 3.7
19. University of Utah 3.7
20. Arizona State University 3.6
21. Emerson College (MA) 3.6
22. George Mason University (VA) 3.6
23. Hollins College (VA) 3.6
24. Sarah Lawrence College (NY) 3.6
25. Syracuse University (NY) 3.6
26. University of Florida 3.6
27. University of Maryland, College Park (MD) 3.6
28. University of Pittsburgh 3.6
29. Warren Wilson College (NC) 3.6
30. University of California, Davis (CA) 3.5
31. University of Southern Mississippi (MS) 3.5
32. University of Texas, Austin (TX) 3.5
33. Iowa State University 3.4
34. University of Missouri, Columbia (MO) 3.4
35. University of Oregon 3.4
36. University of Southern California (CA) 3.4
37. Bennington College (CT) 3.3
38. CUNY--City College of New York (NY) 3.3
39. Florida State University 3.3
40. Ohio University 3.3
41. Ohio State University 3.3
42. Penn State University, University Park (PA) 3.3
43. University of Alabama (AL) 3.3
44. University of Denver (CO) 3.3
45. University of North Carolina, Greensboro (NC) 3.3
46. San Francisco State University 3.2
47. University of Cincinnati 3.2
48. University of New Hampshire 3.2
49. Western Michigan University (MI) 3.2
50. American University (DC) 3.1
51. Colorado State University (CO) 3.1
52. Eastern Washington University 3.1
53. Georgia State University 3.1
54. New Mexico State University (NM) 3.1
55. Saint Mary's College of California 3.1
56. San Diego State University 3.1
57. Southern Illinois University, Carbondale (IL) 3.1
58. Temple University (PA) 3.1
59. University of Colorado, Boulder (CO) 3.1
60. Virginia Commonwealth University 3.1
61. Wichita State University (KS) 3.1
62. Brooklyn College (NY) 3.0
63. California State University, Fresno (CA) 3.0
64. Mills College (CA) 3.0
65. SUNY, Albany 3.0
66. University of Georgia 3.0
67. University of Hawaii, Mano (HW) 3.0
68. University of Illinois, Urbana--Champaign (IL) 3.0
69. University of Minnesota (MN) 3.0
70. Vermont College of Norwich University (VT) 3.0
71. SUNY--Binghamton (NY) 3.0</p>
<p>in addition, from Rugg's Recommendations:
Bard
Middlebury
Beloit
Barnard
Bennington
Brown
Carnegie Mellon
Columbia
Creighton
Denison
Eckerd
Emerson
Fla St
Grinnell
Hamilton
Hobart
U Iowa
John's Hopkins
Kenyon
U of Michigan
SUNY New Paltz
NC State
Northwestern
Oberlin
U Oregon
U Pitt
Redlands
San Fran St
Sarah Lawrence
Susquehanna
Sweet Briar
Temple
UVA
Wheaton (MA)
Wittenberg</p>
<p>Gourman Report undergrad ranking in Political Science:
Yale
Harvard
Berkeley
Michigan
Chicago
MIT
Stanford
Wisconsin
Minnesota
Cornell
Princeton
UCLA
Northwestern
UNC Chapel Hill
Columbia
Indiana Bloomington
Duke
Johns Hopkins
Notre Dame
Tufts
Ohio State
U Penn
UVA
Georgetown
Texas Austin
U Washington
U Pittsburgh
U Rochester
Rutgers
Brandeis
Vanderbilt
Illinois UC
Oregon
Maryland CP
Iowa
UC Santa Barbara
SUNY Buffalo
U Mass Amherst
NYU
Michigan St
Syracuse
Washington U St Louis
US Air Force Acad
US Military Acad
Dartmouth
Pomona
Emory
UC Davis
Boston U
Tulane</p>
<p>Yeah...it's a shame that I didn't realize I wanted to do creative writing in addition to (or maybe even instead of) political science until recently. That being said, I'm kind of boxed in.</p>
<p>But, using these lists, I've realized that either Pittsburgh or Rochester would be my best bets. I figure, if I go to Rochester and become really interested in creative writing, I can always go to Hopkins or UIowa for grad school...</p>
<p>Anyone else?</p>
<p>from what I understand, University of Iowa is THE place for creative writing. That being said, Johns Hopkins ranks highly on both lists, as does Michigan.</p>
<p>Heh...only problem with Iowa, not the the best place for a Northeastern Jew.</p>
<p>Last I heard, Grinnell College in Iowa has so many northeastern Jews, it has kosher dining.</p>
<p>Frankly, I'd suggest looking at Florida State for both polisci and cw. While the listings posted include FSU, there is no date for the lists...and I suspect they rank quite well nationally. The cw program at fsu has produced some remarkable works. The polisci program is the best Florida has to offer.</p>
<p>Plus, I know they serve kosher food in the cafeterias.</p>
<p>try this: <a href="http://www.english.fsu.edu/crw/index.html%5B/url%5D">http://www.english.fsu.edu/crw/index.html</a></p>
<p>and: <a href="http://www.fsu.edu/%7Epolisci/%5B/url%5D">http://www.fsu.edu/~polisci/</a></p>
<p>I was a polisci (we called it government) major and am now a fiction and non-fiction author. I never took a creative writing class in my life, but I know they can be helpful. My vote is to get the best education you can in something substantive (I wish I had dug down and done something tougher than government) and then pick a course or two from a good creative writing teacher on the side, either in school or after. Your best bet is to write and write and write, and have a skillful critic (not your friends or acquaintances) tear it apart until you get your voice. It's a bit like good acting. Imagine the bare bones of a situation and try to write about it. "A man walks into a bar in Missoula, Montana in 1943. At the end of the bar is a blond woman about 30. She notices something unusual about him" Take it from there. Imagine. Write.</p>