<p>Right now I attend William and Mary. I am majoring in political science ("government" here at w&M) and presently, am planning on going on to grad school in the field.</p>
<p>William and Mary is a decently ranked school with a decent government department, but recently I've been contemplating a transfer to the University of Virginia--aside from being slightly ranked higher overall (25 as opposed to 31? Ehhhh), has a political science program with a much better reputation (I've seen it listed in numerous places as being in the "big ten")</p>
<p>So I guess what I'm asking is: does the reputation of the department you get your BA from have any affect on grad school admissions? Would transferring to U.Va to take advantage of a superior political science department make sense?</p>
<p>I am just making an educated guess here; Departmental ranking is important when doing grad studies, university ranking is better when doing bachelor’s. i.e. When considering graduate school, it’s better to attend a #1 ranked school in a major yet #20 nationally. Vice versa for bachelor’s. Again, I am just guessing here.</p>
Graduate schools don’t care where your degree came from. They care that you had good academic preparation and seized appropriate opportunities, neither of which are restricted by your undergraduate department.</p>
<p>Transfer to UViriginia if you want ACC sports, hike in the mountains, or get really drunk 4-5 days a week. You would be foolish to transfer for academic reasons unless W&M is too hard for you. W&M is VERY well respected by grad schools.</p>