<p>Everyone keeps asking what school they should go to. I just want to know if I will be put at a disadvantage for going to Northwestern since its international affairs and political sci department is not as developed as Macalester's. Yeah, that's what I want to major in. I kind of harped on this before but didn't get any real input.</p>
<p>NU...just look at the prestige difference!</p>
<p>LACs and research U are very differnet and both have their pros and cons. Northwestern's name is more recognizable. As far as how well they are established, it's difficult to compare. I think US News ranks NU's poli sci 20th or something like that among research U. While it's not one of the best known departments at NU, the ranking suggests it's probably pretty decent. But there's no ranking for LACs in that field. Macalester is one of the top LACs though and probably send quite many to graduate schools in that field (many LACs do that anyway). As far as international studies program goes, a lot of it is really just a hybrid of courses from various departments. You almost designs your own curriculum (if I am not mistaken). NU probably has more courses to choose from but I can't judge the quality of classes since I am not familiar with them and it depends on what you pick anyway. I think it really comes down to whether you like LAC or researchU like NU better. You should go with the fit. Macalester is a fine school and known to people in the knows and there's always grad schools to go to anyway if you are worried about name recognition.</p>
<p>Eugh. Whatever. I'm going to Northwestern :)</p>