<p>How does the Woodrow Wilson school compare with other Ivy policy/IR Departments (specifically Yale and Dartmouth)?</p>
<p>It is an excellent, top-ranked politics/gov department. Wonderful visiting professors and speakers from all parts of gov and politics. Students apply for admissions during sophomore year, to be WWSG students for their last two years. Posters here have said about 50% of students are accepted.</p>
<p>What about Harvard’s Institute of Politics?</p>
<p>But how does WWS compare with Yale and Dartmouth Programs?</p>
<p>I don’t know about Dartmouth, but the most comparable major at Yale is EP&E (Ethics, Politics, and Economics).</p>
<p>And even that comparison is sort of weak. Woody Woo is a school for Public Policy, while EPE isn’t as much a Public Policy program as it is a sort of Pre-Law/Pre-Business hybrid (at least in my interpretation of it). As for IR at Yale, you Major in something else, and then can minor in IR.</p>
<p>My personal view was that EPE is for people going into other fields who are interested in politics, or people who want to be politicians. Woody Woo seems to be a superior Public Policy career center–so if you’re looking to be a Chief of Staff, a Lobbyist, a Thinktank bigwig, and etc.</p>
<p>No, the WWS undergraduate program’s stated goal is not to train professional policymakers - that’s what the graduate program is for. Its stated goal is really to provide a broad-based liberal arts education to students from across all disciplines and with an inclination toward public and international affairs. Many, many WWS grads don’t end up working in the public service. </p>
<p>Given that the WWS undergrad curriculum is really a liberal arts curriculum, it’s pretty similar to Yale EPE, except that you have more choices of fields. All WWS majors choose one policy area of substantial concentration, and concurrently, a discipline of concentration that should help them explore that policy area of concentration. There are basically 5 general disciplines: psych, soc, econ, history, politics. There are even more specific areas of policy concentration.</p>
<p>Look here for more information: <a href=“http://wws.princeton.edu/ugrad/admission/Adm-Application-12.pdf[/url]”>http://wws.princeton.edu/ugrad/admission/Adm-Application-12.pdf</a></p>
<p>It’s really up to you. It could be said that WWS’s outlook is broader. All WWS majors have distribution requirements that see them take at least one course in each of the five disciplines I mentioned, even while they concentrate in one particular discipline. Depending on the individual, this could be a boon or a bane. On the other hand, if you know you’re interested in the three main subjects under Yale EPE, and nothing else, go for the EPE.</p>
<p><a href=“Introduction | Program on Ethics, Politics and Economics”>Introduction | Program on Ethics, Politics and Economics;
<p>In the end, both will prepare you equally well for public service and many other things.</p>
<p>I am specifically looking at diplomacy … which is best for that?</p>
<p>there’s really no “best” education for diplomacy. you can’t learn how to be a diplomat as an undergrad, and no major will give you much advantage in applying for a diplomatic job. career diplomats themselves will tell you that majoring in IR’s not gonna help you that much once you’re on the job. If you graduate from Yale or Princeton, you’re well on your way, end of story. However, if you’re looking for career placements and internship opportunities during your undergrad years, WWS does have a very good career office. I am not sure about Yale.</p>
<p>Just to add: one thing, though, will help you very much as a diplomat. Learning multiple languages and attaining fluency.</p>
<p>yeah … I am already fluent in English and Spanish (100% fluent), can get by in French, and will be spending next year in Italy - becoming fluent in Italian. I hope to spend a summer or two in France to perfect my French and maybe do a college exchange to some other country for a 5th language (I have not decided what this will be).</p>