<p>What are the top History/Poli Science/Foreign Affairs undergrad schools?
I know its sort of a broad spectrum, but, i'm curious as to where various schools place.</p>
<p>I'll probably get flamed for some of these choices, but try these (in no particular order, all have good programs):</p>
<p>International relations
Georgetown, Claremont McKenna, Davidson, Cornell, Bucknell, Brown, Boston U, Beloit, Colby, George Washington, Kalamazoo, U of Miami, U of Michigan, U of PEnnsylvania, Pomona, Princeton, Tufts, Tulane, Vassar, U of Wisconsin, Macalester</p>
<p>History
Yale, U of Pennsylvania, Pomona, Claremont McKenna, Carleton, Bucknell, Brandeis, Bowdoin, Brown, Amherst, U of Chicago, Colgate, Columbia, Rice, Reed, Oberlin, Northwestern, Middlebury, U of Michigan, U of Virginia, William & Mary, Washington & Lee, WEsleyan, Bates, UC Berkeley, Georgetown, Grinnell, Williams, Whitman.</p>
<p>Political Science
Amherst, Bates, Boston U, Brandeis, Brown, UCB, UCLA, CArleton, U of Chicago, Claremont McKenna, Colby, Colgate, Columbia, Dartmouth, Davidson, Georgetown, George Washington, Hamiltyon, Johsn Hopkins, Harvard, Macalester, Kenyon, U of Mich, Middlebury, Northwestern, Occidental, U ofPenn, Pomona, Princeton, Stanford, Swarthmore, Tufts, U of Virginia, Washington & Lee, Wesleyan, Whitman, Williams, Yale</p>
<p>I would add Johns Hopkins for history and IR as well. Columbia, Duke, UCLA, and Princeton have top history departments, too.</p>
<p>PHampson - YES! Forgot Johns Hopkins. And, realistically, most schools in the top 30 universities and/or liberal arts schools are going to have decent history and political science options.</p>
<p>I am pretty sure Haverford has a good History Dept. Also, doesn't Dickinson have good IR?</p>
<p>Oberlin and Wellesley also have good Politics departments, I've been told.</p>
<p>for history, I would add a couple of Ivys, Stanford, and a few large publics:
Stanford University<br>
Harvard University<br>
Cornell University<br>
University of WisconsinMadison<br>
University of North CarolinaChapel Hill<br>
Indiana UniversityBloomington
Rutgers State UniversityNew Brunswick<br>
University of MinnesotaTwin Cities<br>
University of IllinoisUrbana-Champaign<br>
University of TexasAustin<br>
New York University</p>
<p>for poly sci, I would add the following based on the idea that a good grad department probably means a good undergrad program too:
University of CaliforniaBerkeley (UCB?)<br>
University of CaliforniaSan Diego<br>
Duke University<br>
Massachusetts Institute of Technology<br>
University of Rochester<br>
University of WisconsinMadison<br>
Ohio State UniversityColumbus<br>
University of MinnesotaTwin Cities<br>
University of North CarolinaChapel Hill<br>
Indiana UniversityBloomington<br>
Washington University in St. Louis<br>
Cornell University<br>
Michigan State University<br>
SUNYStony Brook<br>
University of IllinoisUrbana-Champaign<br>
University of TexasAustin<br>
University of Washington</p>
<p>how is Columbia when it comes to History/Poli Sci/Foreign Affairs?</p>
<p>Columbia has an outsanding graduate program in history...presumably, there undergraduate program is good, too.</p>
<p>probably in the top 20 in all threem, maybe higher...I know the graduate programs are very strong in all three areas history, poly sci, and international economics and politics..others may know more than I do about the undergrad</p>
<p>University of Rochester = big 1 for polysci and is really budding
George Washington University, American University, Gtwon are like top 3 IR.
dunno about history, I would recommend Princeton <em>where im from</em> , they have probably the best history dept, at least its one of the best depts inside the university, Woodrow wilson school of IR is good too.</p>
<p>Woodrow wilson school of UVA? Btw, I don't think anyone has mentioned foreign affairs in UVA!</p>
<p>Look into The Elliot School at GWU:
<a href="http://gwired.gwu.edu/adm/classroom/mjrs_elliott_frm.html%5B/url%5D">http://gwired.gwu.edu/adm/classroom/mjrs_elliott_frm.html</a></p>
<p>It's fairly easy to get into with 1300+ SAT scores, and has a strong program. There's also good scholarships options if you have a 1380+.</p>
<p>no woodrow wilson school of Princeton University....</p>
<p>wow GW IS a great school too, like great program, i dont understand why it's so easy to get into tho..</p>
<p>oh just to add, UofC's poly sci is in the top10..</p>
<p>also Harvard, Yale, Stanford, Berkeley, UCLA, Michigan (poli sci), Virginia (history) & Wisconsin (history).</p>
<p>None of them are worth much if they don't have stellar foreign language departments to go with them. Ability to master foreign languages has been found as the single most important factor determining whether (post-undergrad) a student finishes a Ph.D., more so than grades, GSATs, or undergraduate school. And in foreign affairs, it should go virtually without saying.</p>
<p>All of the top 100 or so schools have good to excellent poli. sc. and history departments. The faculty come from the same graduate schools, know the same people, etc., etc. Where they happen to be teaching undergrads is more a function of who happened to be hiring the year they were looking for a job, than any particular sign of quality. HOWEVER, all top 100 or so schools do NOT have good language departments.</p>
<p>So if you are planning to do something with your degree, either in graduate study or international affairs, it would be worthwhile to kick the language tires hard before choosing - it might turn out to be much more important than the miniscule differences among college (undergraduate) history or poli. sci. departments.</p>
<p>It's really what you put into it. I think class size is also very important for foreign language classes because students get to speak more in class and receive more individual attention. I know someone who studied French at Johns Hopkins, and one of his upper level classes (junior year) had only 2 students! Other schools like Wisconsin, which have top ranked language departments may not have such small language classes like they have at Johns Hopkins or a liberal arts college like Amherst or Middlebury.</p>
<p>It's also about opportunity. Do large numbers of students go abroad? Does college financial aid support it? Does the college have its own programs in places where the desired language is spoken? Are their substantial numbers of majors in those languages? (you may not be majoring or minoring in it, but if there are few majors, chances are that the department is weak.) Are there language living halls? Movies, with discussion groups in the language of the movie? Cultural celebrations?</p>
<p>If you look at just the best LACs, for example, you will find very major differences among them when it comes to language study (in all the areas mentioned above), and not only based on size. For a poli. sci/history/foreign affairs major, this may turn out to be much, much more important than it might initially seem.</p>