I am an American history student in England and currently in the process of choosing which university I want to study abroad at for my year abroad. I have the chance to go to the University of Notre Dame and I like the look of it, aside from its religious side (I’m agnostic), but as an American History student I feel I should go somewhere on the East Coast as it is easier to travel to more concentrated historical sites. The universities on the East Coast I could go to are:
George Mason University
Goucher College
Hobart College
University of Massachusetts–Amherst
University of Rhode Island
University of Richmond
Roanoke College
Rutgers University–New Brunswick
Temple University
It is against the Terms of Service to link to another web site of that nature. The link has been deleted. - Fallenchemist
Will you have time before or after your year abroad to travel? If so, maybe you could take a tour of east coast sites then. Given the demands of college, you’re not likely to spend all of your weekends visiting historical sites to be honest.
In general, I think that whether you go to ND or not depends on a couple of factors. Do you anticipate having research to do that would require visiting certain sites? Are you interested in politics for any reason (if so, proximity to DC might be useful). Are you interested in a residential college experience that has a strong sports scene,which can be great fun? How much would it bother you to be in a religious atmosphere? Do you care how big a school is - Goucher, Hobart and Roanoke are quite small, whereas ND is medium-sized.
ND is a wonderful school, with great academics and a terrific sports scene. Some of your other options, for example, George Mason, are not as residential. I think you need to think about some of the other factors that might be important to you.
Finally, while many of your other colleges are well located for travel - Temple and Goucher for example- others are not that easy to get back and forth from without a car. If you’re relying on public transportation, you would be unlikely to be able travel easily from Hobart, U Mass Amherst, Rutgers and even Roanoke - the US train system is nowhere near as convenient as that in England.
Temple is your best option from that list in terms of immediate access to local historic sites by public transportation and easy, fairly affordable access to many others by train or plane. You’ll be able to travel from Philadelphia to Boston, NYC and Washington, DC. – all great places to get to know for your major.
I will have time after to travel as well as weekends, holidays, etc.
I am hoping to research U.S. foreign policy and diplomacy so being near D.C. is convenient. I am very interested in politics and living near D.C. for the 2016 election would be a once in a lifetime chance. I would like a residential experience rather than a commuter school as it will be easier to make friends. I am not religious at all and come from a non-religious background. I am not one to look down on religious people but I think I would find it alien to be in a really religious atmosphere. I would prefer the university to be smaller. Under 20,000 preferably.
I have looked into Goucher and it has a college shuttle that is really convenient, dropping students off at Penn Station for a 50minute Amtak journey to D.C. for example.
The only issue is, that I have always chosen academic establishments for their prestige opposed to location. My current uni is a top 20 university. So I feel I should follow that trend and apply to ND, however, there are some rservations I have
I think that you have a difficult choice. Of the schools on your list, ND stands out for academics. However, it is very Catholic (80-85%) and although Catholics feel welcome, you will definitely notice the religious presence, and it is obviously very far from the east coast and DC… Of the other schools on your list, I would knock out Hobart and URI (not well located for your purposes). While Goucher and George Mason are well located, they are definitely not as strong academically as ND. A possible compromise would be University of Richmond. It’s a well-respected smaller school, but it’s one of the “bigger” small schools - about 3000 students. Public transportation between DC and the city of Richmond isn’t bad - about 3 hours - and being in Virginia, typically a “swing” state during national elections might be of great interest.
It isn’t the think to do to list an external link to get your story, post it here, I’m not going to read it for one. I have a friend at ND now who is agnostic, she chose it over Cornell because she liked the atmosphere and culture better. If you want to be near DC then yes Goucher seems a good choice.
Personally I would forget prestige. What does that matter since it is only a year abroad? Temple seems like the best choice to me. You are already in Philly, a big plus for studying history, and excellent access to Boston and DC as you mention, and NYC for both history and fun (not that Boston and DC don’t have a lot of fun things to do also, as does Philly). Philadelphia just seems like the ideal hub for what you want, and is a good school. Not like ND, but good. Are you sure that the University of Pennsylvania is not an option? Then you get Philly and prestige.
@Rngrvr This is a no-brainer. ND first by a long shot. It is too bad Gettysburg College is not an option.
You are building a resume so build it well.
Notre Dame is among the most selective schools in the USA where the top 2 - 3% of all students attend. Not to mention the campus, sports, school spirit, etc
Richmond is a fine school as well. Hobart would be third.
Don’t listen to anyone that comments on ND being Catholic, it doesn’t matter.
Rutgers, Goucher, and GMU also have fairly convenient locations, as noted above. In addition to its location near NYC, Rutgers has a strong history program and, as a Colonial College, has a long history itself.
After googling your options, I’m guessing you’re at East Anglia. Glancing over their list of options, Georgetown sticks out as a good school in a great location. It would be far and away the best choice if it’s an option.
There are some other universities on the list that combine stronger history programs than any of those above, including ND, with the classic American “college experience” – UNC in particular, but also Minnesota and the UCs. I’d take any of those over Notre Dame hands down, but YMMV.
If you do choose Notre Dame, do not complain about the religious iconography around campus and the 10 story mural of Jesus on the library, as some atheist students have done.
These discussions border on ridiculous. If any American student had to choose from that list 99.9999% would pick Notre Dame and not spend more than a few seconds making the decision.
Moreover, no student applying to Notre Dame would even consider the schools on that list with the exception of Richmond, as a safety more or less.
If seeing Jesus causes stress, I would think that person has more serious issues. Please may I ask, who in history was more liberal than Jesus?
The fact that this is for one year is completely irrelevant.
Someone who is not religious may not enjoy being at Notre Dame.
Also, as a study-abroad student, prestige doesn’t matter. You want to go where you’ll be able to study your coursework and be in close proximity to historical sites.
I would say Mason or Richmond would be some of the best choices from that list. I don’t know Temple that well, but from people’s descriptions, that definitely would be a good option too. Mason has the easiest transportation to DC, since there is a campus shuttle directly to the metro. From Richmond, you can take the Amtrak train to DC; it’s about 3 hours I believe. The Amtrak station is very close to campus (you can actually hear the trains at night on campus).
I’m actually a current student at Richmond, but I live very close to Mason (I have all my life) and took a couple summer courses there. In terms of academics, Richmond is much more rigorous and is very strong, especially in the humanities and international studies (its also fairly selective; approx 30% acceptance rate). Mason is still primarily a commuter school, but they have a growing community of students staying in the dorms.
Temple is literally in Philly. Academics are similar to Mason.
Rutgers is another good choice, fairly easy to get to NY (in the burbs, about an hour train ride) and not too hard to get to Philly (about an hour and a half train ride). Academics are better than Mason or Temple, and they have a well regarded history program. There is a bus that runs between DC and NY for very cheap and there are probably others for different cities. There are fairly fast trains running to Boston and Providence from NY.
I think Rutgers is your best bet for balance between academics and location. Being near DC is overrated for the election. You’d be better off in Ohio, that’s where the real action is.
Wait, why isn’t Georgetown an option? It’s on the list @warblersrule linked, and listed under your subject area. I agree that it is far away the best option. It has very good academics and it doesn’t have a 50 foot mural of Jesus (though it is Catholic), and it is in DC.
Though weirdly the website says the closest airport is Dulles…not true, it’s National.
I assume that Georgetown isn’t on the list - I can’t imagine the OP somehow forgot to mention it, given that it would meet all his/her criteria. The study abroad option clearly states that the availability of places varies from year to year, so it is likely that Georgetown is simply not available to this student (but if I’m wrong, it would be the obvious choice).
Perhaps. Personally I think you oversimplify things by saying this, but I get what you mean. But this is not an American student deciding where to go for four years. It is a student coming here to study for one semester or one year, likely the latter I think (and hope).
Hardly. In fact it is a key point, especially since they expressly stated that they want to be able to visit many historical sites, especially those associated with events that happened in the Eastern USA. To ignore that stated goal seems ludicrous.
This knee-jerk reaction towards Notre Dame strikes me as a bit ridiculous. For a history student, what exactly do you think he will get at Notre Dame that is so superior to Temple or Rutgers or a number of other schools on his list? In fact, besides being in a city that was at the center of the very history he is studying and easy access to many others, in Philadelphia (or Boston or DC or NYC or even Baltimore) he would also have far greater access to primary documents and other materials at the wide variety of school libraries and historical societies he would be near. Don’t forget, even if he were at Temple he could avail himself of materials for viewing at Penn, Columbia, Harvard, and all over DC. This is in addition to the already stated argument that he would have greater access to the historical sites themselves.