UCLA VS. Berkeley -- Political Science

vc08
Wed, 25 Mar 2009 19:41:25 +0000

I’m a PS major at UCLA. Courses are impacted, if you have priority enrollment through honors/scholarships, it’s really not an issue. I know the PS department is really working on coming up with a solution to the issue, and one of the propositions is that they only open lower div Poli Sci classes to pre-poli sci majors (as opposed to opening them as GEs). I actually got an email from the Chancellor about it, because I’d met one of his aides and expressed my concern about the issue (even though I have priority…it was more for the benefit of the whole). So I’m guessing they really are working on it, otherwise he wouldn’t have emailed me directly…I’m just a regular student lol.

The professors in the political science department tend to have excellent reputations, and most are really passionate about helping students. At UCLA, you pick a concentration under political science (eg International Relations, Political Theory, American Politics, or Comparative Politics), which is a little different than Cal, where you can pick an emphasis but don’t have to (or you can pick a region of interest, such as Southeast Asia, for example). But even if you are only concentrating in one field at UCLA, you can still of course take courses in other areas.

So I highly recommend it; it also has several cross-requirements with other majors such as Global Studies and Public Affairs, so it’s easy to double-major or minor with those (or at least “easy” in regards to scheduling).

I know the department at Cal is great too; I really don’t think you can go wrong with either. Both have excellent reputations for getting students into great grad schools. I would focus on where you want to go in general university/atmosphere aspects, and go where you feel the best “fit.”

Good luck!

http://www.polisci.ucla.edu/undergraduate-program UCLA Poli Sci Undergrad program