<p>Picking a college by a major is usually going about the process backwards. First create a list of factors:
How large?
Urban or rural?
Is financial aid an issue?
How selective? </p>
<p>Strength in a major, especially for such a common program like political science, should be assessed only after a tentative list is drawn up with your criteria.</p>
<p>Graduate rankings for political science:</p>
<p><a href=“http://grad-schools.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-political-science-schools/rankings[/url] ”>http://grad-schools.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-political-science-schools/rankings</a> ;
<a href=“http://www.stat.tamu.edu/~jnewton/nrc_rankings/area39.html[/url] ”>http://www.stat.tamu.edu/~jnewton/nrc_rankings/area39.html</a></p> ;
<p>
The DC area does not have a single top Political Science Department. It has 2 top International Relations programs in Georgetown and Johns Hopkins, but it does not have a top Political Science program. </p>
<p>Here are the top Political Science departments, according to region and quality (national rank). All of the programs listed below are awesome.</p>
<p>West Coast:
Stanford University (top 5 nationally)
University of California-Berkeley (top 5 nationally)
University of California-San Diego (top 15 nationally)
University of California-Los Angeles (top 15 nationally)
University of Washington (top 25 nationally)
Claremont McKenna (N/A)
Reed College (N/A)
Pomona College (N/A)</p>
<p>Midwest:
University of Michigan-Ann Arbor (top 5 nationally)
University of Chicago (top 10 nationally)
Northwestern University (top 15 nationally)
University of Wisconsin-Madison (top 15 nationally)
Indiana University-Bloomington (top 20 nationally)
University of Illinois-Urbana Champaign (top 20 nationally)
University of Minnesota-Twin Cities (Top 20 nationally)
Washington University (top 20 nationally)
Carleton College (N/A)
Grinnell College (N/A)
Macalester College (N/A)
Oberlin College (N/A)</p>
<p>South/Southeast:
Duke University (top 10 nationally)
University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill (top 15 nationally)
University of Texas (top 20 nationally)
Emory University (top 25 nationally)
University of Virginia (top 25 nationally)
Davidson College (N/A)</p>
<p>Northeast:
Harvard University (#1 nationally)
Yale University (top 5 nationally)
Princeton University (top 10 nationally)
Columbia University (top 15 nationally)
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (top 15 nationally)
Cornell University (top 20 nationally)
University of Rochester (top 20 nationally)
Amherst College
Bowdoin College
Haverford College
Middlebury College
Swarthmore College
Wesleyan College
Williams College
LACs for Political Science from Rugg’s</p>
<p>Amherst
Brandeis
Centre
Claremont McKenna
Colby
Colgate
Colorado Coll
Connecticut Coll
Dartmouth
Dickinson
Drew
Franklin and Marshall
Grinnell
Hamilton
Kenyon
Macalester
Middlebury
Mount Holyoke
Occidental
Pomona
Rhodes
U Richmond
Smith
U of the South
Swarthmore
Trinity (TX)
Union
Ursinus
Wabash
Washington and Lee
Wellesley
Wesleyan
Whitman
Willamette
Williams
</p>