<p>I’ve heard a lot about how good the government program at Bowdoin is…but it’s not helpful to hear that a program is “good”. I want to know, specifically, is the small size of the college a restricting factor on the department? For example, is the course selection small? Is it hard to get into popular classes as a government major? Is it hard to specialize in a particular subfield of political science? How are the resources of the department - is the isolated location of the college not a problem in terms of research for papers and such? (I’ve heard they’re initiaiting a book-sharing program with Colby & Bates…?) Also, I’m planning to go on to law school, are there others who plan to the same? Are internships easy to get? I assume it’s pretty easy to do student research, owing to the close proximity to the professors that LACs are so famous for. </p>
<p>Now, on to the history department…Is it any good? Is there a wide-enough selection of courses? If I wanted to major in, say, East Asian history, could I do it, or would I have to do a lot of independent studies? Do they offer interesting classes? </p>
<p>Thanks so much in advance!</p>
<p>–prospective polar bear 2011</p>
<p>For the government and legal stuies major, the course selection is quite extensive, and when you major you must complete an area of concentration, or subfield. The dept is divided into 4 fields: American govt, comparative politics, political theory, and international relations. Each are very strong. The resources at Bowdoin are amazing, the library has over 1 million volumes and pretty much you have access to every book you want - because if the school doesn't have it they are in this sharing consortioum with Wellesley/Williams/Northeastern/etc and the book gets to Brunswick within 2 days. A lot of people are planning for law school.</p>
<p>The history dept is also very good, there is a wide selection of courses in various topics. You also have to have some sort of subfield as a history major, whether it is American history or East Asian history or what. I've found the classes to be very interesting and unlike a lot of big schools they don't just do those huge lecture courses that are general surveys of vast expanses of history (like Western Civ 1000-1600 AD, etc.). It's much more thematic, which in my opinion is a more interesting and helpful way to learn history. </p>
<p>For a list of courses being offered fall 2007, see the Bearings website: <a href="https://vector.bowdoin.edu/srweb/%5B/url%5D">https://vector.bowdoin.edu/srweb/</a> and click on "view public course information."</p>
<p>Put bluntly, Bowdoin's government department is good because it has outstanding government professors. I have only taken one history class at Bowdoin, but I was not all that impressed at all(it's only one professor though? take it for what you will). Is the size restricting? No, not in the sense of access to resources for writing papers. Where you may see location playing a factor though is in comparison say, to Georgetown... the kind of off-campus opportunities are on a completely different level as far as I can tell.</p>
<p>How are the off campus opportunities, though? The main time I would be interested in taking an internship type of thing would be in the summer. Does the school have good connections for that type of thing? Say I wanted to intern at a law firm, or something in line with my major (projected to be in government and/or history). I plan on going to law school, at least at this point, and have heard that it is necessary to have some type of legal experience, like an internship. Is the isolatedness of the location a huge limiting factor, or does the school have close relations with potential firms/companies/other internship locations. </p>
<p>Thanks again</p>
<p>A law-related internship is not in any way a requirement to get into law schools. Law schools tend to focus almost exclusively on GPAs and LSATs in the admissions process.</p>