<p>I'm looking for good schools for undergrads in both PoliSci and Economics. I can't find much info on undergrad individual programs. I won't go to Berkely (too liberal) but I'm currently thinking about Harvard, Princeton, Dartmouth, UCHicago, WUSTL, Case Western, UWash, UCLA, Stanford, and UVA.</p>
<p>I'm going to Duke for just that, I think the programs are pretty good; a lot of the kids go to great grad programs and law school admit is great.</p>
<p>However, all of those schools on your list already are awesome, so you probably don't need to add any/many more.</p>
<p>UChicago is the best-ranked out of the schools you've listed (and probably all schools in the US) for economics and the sixth-best for political science (according to the National Research Council--see url below). Mostly conservative faculty in those depts</p>
<p>add Gtown to the list</p>
<p>some of the LACs are exceptional also. Amherst/ Williams/ Swarthmore</p>
<p>Also JHU, and maybe George Mason and TCU (remarkable econ at both) as backups.</p>
<p>bbbbbuuuuuuuuuummmmmmmmmmppppppppppppp</p>
<p>There's no "ranking" of undergrad departments that means much and, frankly, picking a college based on that doesn't make a lot of sense. There are too many different ways of looking at "quality".</p>
<p>Here are list of per capita PhD production over the most recent ten year period in the two fields you mentioned. All of the schools on these lists would be excellent:</p>
<p>It depends on your grades and scores. But I would recommend a bunch of schools:</p>
<p>Brown University
Columbia University
Cornell University
Duke University
Harvard University
Massachusetts Institute of Technolology
Northwestern University
Princeton University
Stanford University
University of California-Berkeley
University of California-Los Angeles
University of California-San Diego
University of Chicago
University of Michigan-Ann Arbor
University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill
University of Pennsylvania
University of Texas-Austin
University of Virginia
University of Wisconsin-Madison
Yale University</p>
<p>Some excellent LACs to consider:
Amherst College
Bowdoin College
Carleton College
Claremont McKenna College (tops in Econ among LACs)
Colgate College
Dartmouth College
Grinnell College
Haverford College
Macalester College
Middlebury College
New York University
Pomona College
Swarthmore College
University of Rochester
Wesleyan University
Williams College</p>
<p>I know that's a lot of schools, but once you give us more details, we will be able to narrow it down to 15 or so schools.</p>
<p>I agree with drummerdude: add Georgetown to the list...especially if you're considering/would like to have an international approach</p>
<p>Enygma, for International Relations, I would agree that Georgetown is amazing. But for Economics and Political Science, Georgetown is ok but not good. It would be like recommending the University of Chicago to an Engineeringing student simply because Chicago has a great Physics department. Or recommending Princeton to a Business major just because Princeton has a great Economics program.</p>
<p>Drummerdude,</p>
<p>Although I don't think that Berkeley's poli sci department is the hottest thing in the UC right now, it's a mistake to discount it because of some notion of its being liberal. In fact, one of the largest and most successful clubs on-campus at Cal is its Republican association. Think about that. </p>
<p>I can speak for a few political science departments with some understanding, but only UCLA's with clarity. As an undergrad, UCLA poli sci is great, but only if you're self-motivated. Otherwise, I actually recommend UCSD, because it has a much more "focused" approach to its education. And don't discount their political science department, it's clearly top 10.</p>
<p>Now, as for Duke-- YES YES YES a million times over. Great department, and the quality of its PhD placements speaks for itself.</p>
<p>
[quote]
Claremont McKenna College (tops in Econ among LACs)
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Wow. Talk about a bogus ranking methodology. </p>
<p>This "ranking" is published by Claremont McKenna and computed by totaling the number of "standard-sized" pages in Economics journals published by faculty members over a 10 year period.</p>
<p>Sheesh, people complain about my posting PhD production lists, but at least I tell you what they are so you can evaluate whether to consider the information. </p>
<p>To just throw out that such and such is the "top-ranked" college with no reference to the ranking methodology is deceptive -- especially when the methodology is so bogus.</p>
<p>I would note that, with 400 Economics majors enrolled at any given time, Claremont-McKenna doesn't even resemble a liberal arts college environment in that field. For example that is 40% larger than the number of Econ majors at Stanford, a school that is 7 times larger than CMC overall. It's rather surprising that, despite the huge numbers of Econ majors and PhD professors who are so prolific in their published pages and research, CMC only produced 5 Econ PhDs over a ten-year period compared to ten top Econ departments producting more than 50 PhDs in that time frame.</p>
<p>I'm sure that CMC is a superb college for Economics majors and especially for those pursuing careers outside of academia or research. But, come on. If you are going to throw "rankings" out there, at least tell us what they are based on.</p>
<p>"Some excellent LACs to consider:
New York University"</p>
<p>Funny...I didn't know NYU was an LAC. ;)</p>
<p>Actually Interesteddad, Stanford has roughly 600 Econ students at any point in time...compared to CMC 400. And CMC is not graduate school focused do you do not have many graduate students on campus. </p>
<p>At any rate, you do not have to take it so personally. I merely stated an opinion. There is no clear cut leader but CMC certainly has one of the top econ programs among LACs. Wesleyan is also excellent. So are Colgate, Amherst, Harvard, Williams and Swarthmore.</p>
<p>NYU was obviously misplaced! Smartbutts! LOL</p>
<p>University of Rochester is a good safety versus Gtown/Yale/etc...but definitely better quality school versus NYU , especially for the mix between econ and polysci..unless you were doing solely business at Stern.</p>
<p>Alexandre, U of Rochester is also not an LAC. And, I'd hesitate to call it - or any school - a safety for someone without knowing his/her stats.</p>
<p>To the original poster: could you tell us a bit more about what you are looking for in terms of size, need for financial aid or desire for merit scholarships not based on need, your interest in a core requirement or a more open curriculum, social scene, public vs. private (outside of California you will pay almost as much for a public as you will for a private), urban vs. suburban vs. rural, and any geographic locations you would not like? And, it is silly to give endless lists without an idea of your stats. There are excellent econ/political science programs at all levels of selelctivity, and a well-built college list should have a variety, not just the most selective schools in the country.</p>
<p>If you think Berkeley is too liberal then you should go ahead and cross out Harvard, Princeton, UWash, and stanfurd.</p>