It’s getting close to May, and I haven’t made my decision yet…
I’m going towards political science major, but I don’t know which school will give me the best benefit.
At UIUC, I got invited to be in the James Scholar Program, and at U of Minn I got a $5,000 scholarship (renewable), but Austin has the best political science ranking (according to Niche) out of these three colleges.
Personally I want to go to UIUC because of the James Scholar Program, but I also heard it’s not that beneficial?
I’m thinking of transfering to an Ivy school later and maybe going into graduate school, so I want to save money as much as possible while still getting the best political science education and experience.
Let me know what different kinds of opportunities are available in each of these colleges
Please help me out!!! I’m stuck in what I want to pick for my college…
I would not give much credence to Niche rankings for departments. US News is ok in departmental rankings, and puts all thee pretty close, and the NRC rankings, which ranks departments in terms of scholarly achievement, puts Illinois ahead of MN and Texas but they are all strong. While US News and NRC are looking at graduate programs rather than undergrad, they look at the quality and expertise of the faculty – which does affect the undergrad experience, especially for someone considering grad school.
Bottom line, all three will afford superb opportunities to work with renowned scholars in the field. The James Scholar program seems to offer access to Honors classes which could help with developing closer relationships with faculty early on – for grad school applications, your faculty recommendations will be key part of application, so that does seem like a benefit. If you are interested in US politics, then being located in the capital – MN and TX – can be a benefit in terms of providing ready access to interning opportunities to intern during the school year.
If you are instate for any of them, the lower cost would be a significant benefit. Congrats on 3 great choices!