Hi! So Rochester is one of my top choices — I absolutely love the school’s culture and campus, and I think I would be very happy there. I want to study sociology and public policy, but Rochester doesn’t have either of those as majors or minors. My interviewer suggested double majoring in anthropology and political science, which makes sense, but it still makes me a bit nervous since it’s a rather unusual route. I know that Rochester is a respected institution with strong academics, but I’ve heard that it’s considerably stronger in the hard sciences, and social sciences take a back seat. Can anyone provide some insight into this? Just wanted to hear other people’s perspectives.
I’m still waiting to hear back from a bunch of schools, and I’ve been admitted to the University of Michigan. Academically, Michigan is great for me because they have a public policy school that I can apply to as an undergraduate, but I don’t think I’ll be as happy there because it’s huge, with a dominating football and partying culture. Obviously, in a big school, everyone ‘finds their people’ but I think there’s difference between ‘finding your people’ and truly feeling immersed in an intellectually driven environment where you truly feel like you belong. I’m not saying that Michigan students are not intelligent by any means — it’s just that academics don’t seem to permeate the social culture as much as other ‘nerdy’ schools like Rochester.
Anyways, my point is that I would like to hear more about Rochester’s strength in the social sciences (or any comments about the other things I mentioned in this post). Just trying to make sure Rochester is a good fit for me academically in the context of pursuing the social sciences. Any info/advice would be much appreciated!