<p>Which schools have the best social and political science/international relations departments (undergraduate, grad, or both)? </p>
<p>If time permits: can anyone suggest a place with prestige(pref. first tier), good/notable socio-political programs, a suburban/urban campus, good student-professor relationships, a scholarly/curious student body, diversity, geographic location outside the Southern states, and (preferably) merit aid availability/satisfying scholarships?</p>
<p>Georgetown</p>
<p>yes Georgetown SFS is one of the top/leading programs and is pretty difficult to get in too</p>
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If time permits: can anyone suggest a place with prestige(pref. first tier), good/notable socio-political programs, a suburban/urban campus, good student-professor relationships, a scholarly/curious student body, diversity, geographic location outside the Southern states, and (preferably) merit aid availability/satisfying scholarships?
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<p>Swarthmore would satisfy all of your requirements except that its financial aid is almost exclusively need-based.</p>
<p>As for your academic requirements: Swarthmore produces more future PhDs (per 1000 undergrads) than any other college or university in the country in Political Science, in Economics, and in all Social Science fields combined.</p>
<p>As for location, it is located in an old "inside-the-beltway" neighborhood of Philadelphia. Beautiful wooded campus with its own train station. 20 minutes by train to downtown Philadelphia. From there, rail access is available to the airport, NYC and Washington, DC.</p>
<p>As for professor/student relationships, I don't believe there is a college in the country more known for this and only a handful that approach the degree of interaction at Swarthmore. 37% of the classes have 2-9 students. 37% of the classes have 10-19 students. 19% have 20-29%. The few large classes offered (like intro Psych) are broken up into similarly small discussion sections led by professors. </p>
<p>As for "scholarly/curious" student body: that is Swarthmore's primary reputation. The Fiske Guide to Colleges calls it, "pound for pound, the most intellectual school in the country". I don't believe you will find a college where, on average, students are more engaged in their academics and, again, only a handful that approach the same degree.</p>
<p>As for diversity, Swarthmore has been co-ed from the day it was founded. It's by-laws require an equal number of men and women on the Board of Managers. It is one of the most racially/ethnically diverse elite colleges in the Eastern US. It is currently just 62% "white or unknown". 6% international, 7% Af/Am, 9% Latino, 16% Asian Amerian, 1% N. American.</p>
<p>It's not for everybody, but given the specific characteristics you outlined, it would be worth adding to list to consider.</p>
<p>These are the top international politics graduate programs according to US News:</p>
<ol>
<li> Harvard University (MA) </li>
<li> Stanford University (CA) </li>
<li> Columbia University (NY) </li>
<li> Yale University (CT) </li>
<li> University of MichiganAnn Arbor<br></li>
<li> Princeton University (NJ)
University of CaliforniaBerkeley<br></li>
<li> Duke University (NC) </li>
<li> University of CaliforniaSan Diego<br></li>
<li> University of Chicago<br></li>
<li> University of CaliforniaLos Angeles<br></li>
<li> Massachusetts Institute of Technology<br></li>
<li> Cornell University (NY)
Ohio State UniversityColumbus<br></li>
<li> University of IllinoisUrbana-Champaign<br></li>
<li> Johns Hopkins University (MD)</li>
</ol>
<p>I'm at AU and have been sooo happy with their international studies program; they also are very strong in poli sci and of course the best part is the DC location.... it fits all your criteria except for being in the top tier, but the academics are still challenging, especially in honors</p>
<p>Go to USNWR or whatever ranking system you like. Take the top 100 schools - 50 liberal arts and uni's, doesn't matter - "first tier" Eliminate locations you don't like. Eliminate all those who don't give any merit aid. You'll likely end up with a list of 20-30, all very fine, all with faculty trained at the same institutions, all with fine student bodies, all with their own idiosyncracies - small/large, Greek/non-Greek, snowy/not snowy, athletic/non-athletic, etc. etc. You'll like end up with 10-12 very fine schools.</p>
<p>If you are serious about international relations, make sure they have top-notch language departments, and study abroad opportunities (a lot of the top-tier ones don't.)</p>
<p>Wisconsin except for merit aid which is elusive but possible. Great polisci and sociology. Most foreign languages and study abroad of any school. Excellent area studies--India, Middle east etc,</p>
<p>Also look at the University of Rochester.</p>
<p>Mini has described my own child's college search to a tee.</p>
<p>There are many criteria besides US News rankings of schools, or particular departments, that caused many schools to be weeded out, in practice.</p>
<p>Yes, Rochester is top 10 in social science field and they are very very generous with financial aid (and they give out merit aid as well :))</p>
<p>Also add GW (George Washington Univ., DC)</p>
<p>thank you all so much for your excellent advice and suggestions :)</p>
<p>Sorry, wrong thread.</p>
<p>G dubble YOU has a great location yo</p>
<p>Brandeis has a pretty good one.</p>
<p>Two other schools to look at: Occidental and Macalester.</p>