Some help needed

[Antonio the Sixth]

Hi everybody ! I'd like to hear your opinions on an important choice I'm about to make.

First of all, you have to know that, for my University, I have to spend my next year abroad. Of course, I immediately knew that my destination would be the USA. I'm extremely excited to eventually visit the country I like so much... but I also feel lost due to the amplitude of the choice I have to make. Sciences Po, my university, has partnerships with around 70 american universities. So, now time has come to choose them (actually, I'm quite late...). By december 16, I'll have to rank 4 different US universities (then a commission will decide which one I will go to).

I've started to have a look at university websites in the past few days, but I've found myself unable to restricting my choices to a low number. So far, I've come up with 41 (!) universities which all seemed fine to me. They are from all over the US, as I don't have any geographic preference. Here's the list :

Northeastern University
Tufts University
Trinity College
Middlebury College
New York University
Columbia University
Vassar College
Syracuse University
Hamilton College
Princeton University
University of Pennsylvania
University of Pittsburgh
St. Mary's College of Maryland
The George Washington University
University of Richmond
Northwestern University
University of Illinois
University of Chicago
DePaul University
Washington University in St. Louis
University of Missouri
University of Notre Dame
Indiana University
Oberlin College
University of Michigan
University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee
University of Wisconsin - Madison
Marquette University
MacAlester College
Vanderbilt University
University of NC
University of SC
Emory University
University of Florida
University of Southern California
University of San Francisco
San Diego State University
Colorado College
University of Denver
University of Colorado - Boulder
University of Arizona

That's quite a lot of them, as you can see. Of course I'm not asking for a general review of all of those. But since we have forumers from everywhere in America, you could give me some practical info about the universities of your region.

Here is the kind of issues you could help me with. I intend to study Political Sciences, and I've checked the universities websites to see the courses that were given, but they all seemed very interesting to me. I'm not necessarily looking for the very best Poli Sci departments, but maybe you could give me a clue about which university has the most interesting teachnings in this domain. Another important aspect to me is the atmosphere of the campus : I'd rather be in a small campus where everybody can know each other than in a gigantic one where I would get completely lost. If you could give me some tips about these aspects, It'd be really great.

Thank you infinitely : you can really help me a lot with a very stressful task. If I happen to go to a university close to where you live, I hope we'll have occasions to meet.

[Antonio the Sixth]

Thank you guys, it's really nice to have an advice of what unis really are beyond their own website.

Maybe I should add that I'll study at the undergraduate level (it's the first cycle, right ?).

Wow that is quite a range, from absolutely top tier (Princeton), to third rate (DePaul). Your choice depends on what you are looking for, but if it were me, balancing quality, the intelligence of the students, location, climate and amenities, and if money were no object, this would be my rank order:

Thank you Torie, that's a nice insight. Basically, I chose not to rely on the traditional rankings because I didn't want to be prejudiced toward the Greatest Universities Of The World (Ivy League and all). The few things that scare me about them is maybe the level of competitivity (I like intellectual stimulation but hate when I have to constantly strive to avoid failing) and the size of campuses (being in a huge campus makes it far harder to develop relationships and to get help). I've always had the ideas that aside from all those "big names" I could find some "small jewels" which people usually ignore. Of course, that also involves including some bad universities in my research...

[Antonio the Sixth]

Thank you all for your advices, it's helping me a lot to make my first choices (even though the road is still long before I can come up with a top 4...). I won't go to Southern California, for one.

Climate is indeed something important to me. I tend to suffer a lot from cold, and maybe I can stand heat more easily (my Italian roots ). Though 38°C is maybe a bit too much for me, but I hope it's an extreme example. I think that eliminates a lot of universities in New England, upstate NY and Great Lakes region, which is quite a shame because a lot of these places pleased me.

Pardon my bigotry, this is just a "thing" I have... What's the point of you going to Notre Dame? If you catch my drift...

I'm not biased against religious schools, you know ? My high school was a catholic one. On the other hand, if it's a really conservative and rigorous school, I'm probably not going there. Is it the case ?

What, no Michigan State?  Are we not good enough for you or something?

You probably just aren't in partnership with my uni.

The proximity with Washington DC is also something I want to take into consideration, all the more that it will be an election year ! I don't know how much political activity there is in US campuses, but if I have the occasion it would be fun to attend political meetings and this kind of things.

[Antonio the Sixth]

That sounds like a really fun experience, Antonio.

On a related note, and I'll post thise here because I know you'll be reading this thread, do you have any ideas about the University of Paris-Nanterre? I might be trying to get a spot there for an Erasmus exchange next year (in philosophy). (Other contenders are University College Dublin and Queens' at Belfast, so if anyone else has ideas, feel free). It's an Erasmus exchange, so the academical side of things takes a back seat, but I'd hate to be stuck at some third-tier university for a prolonged amount of time.

(As I may have mentioned before on here, I'm currently at the Catholic University of Leuven, so I'd like to maintain that sort of Academical level or not too far below it)

I'm sorry, but my experience of universities is quite limited. I don't know Paris-Nanterre at all.

[Antonio the Sixth]

Heh, that's a lot of different aspects to take into account. Thank you Torie, your advices have been extremely useful.

[Antonio the Sixth]

Thank you all for your advices, it's helping me a lot to make my first choices (even though the road is still long before I can come up with a top 4...). I won't go to Southern California, for one.

Climate is indeed something important to me. I tend to suffer a lot from cold, and maybe I can stand heat more easily (my Italian roots ). Though 38°C is maybe a bit too much for me, but I hope it's an extreme example. I think that eliminates a lot of universities in New England, upstate NY and Great Lakes region, which is quite a shame because a lot of these places pleased me.

Hmmmm well Minnesota in January is frequently between -30 and -15°C...

According to this it's rather "only" -10°C...

Why do all the nicest places (Scandinavia, Northern USA, Canada) have to be so damn cold ?

[Antonio the Sixth]

Hi everybody ! Thanks in part to your advices, I've now made significant progresses in my choices for universities. Here is what I've come up with : as I said, I have to rank 4 universities, and I think I've made my final choices for the first 3.

1. University of San Francisco I've been told the city is beautiful, the campus isn't too big (5000 undergraduates according to wikipedia) and it's apparently an excellent university.

2. Colorado College Must be a nice place, very small campus and original teaching methods. And apparently it's good too.

3. Macalester College Despite weather concerns, I've heard so good things about it both here and from the people I've met, that I think it's worth trying.

For 4th choice, I'm currently hesitating fetween 6 (though I have some preferences, I'm note yet sure) :
- Emory University (It's not too big, Atlanta should be a nice place and a living experience in the "deep South" is worth trying. Don't know about the quality of courses though)
- University of Pennsylvania (Apparently a very good one, Philadelphia should be nice to see and it's not too far from Washington. It's a bit too big for my tastes though)
- Middlebury College (Small, good quality, and has the advantage to be situated in the best US State. That said, I'm concerned about weather and about the college's competitive nature)
- University of Richmond (Not too big, good weather and close to Washington. Don't know about the quality though)
- University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (Southern, might be worth trying, I've heard good things about it in the forum. Not sure though, and it's quite big)
- San Diego State University (Nice weather, might be a nice place, and apparently a good university. Don't know much about it though, and it's quite big too)


So, here is it. I'd really appreciate if you could finish helping me out, both commenting on my first 3 choices and giving me some advice for the 4th one. I'd really like if you could tell me more about each university. Thank you !

[Antonio the Sixth]

Go to Vermont. You'll love that place.

(say hi to Hans the bagel boy in Burlington for me and my friend)

That's very tempting indeed.

[Antonio the Sixth]

Thank you guys. Comments, anyone else ?

[Antonio the Sixth]

I think I'm hesistating between Emory and Richmond. Who could tell me more about these ?

[Antonio the Sixth]

OK, guess Emory will by my 4th choice.

The final 2 universities will be in Canada, so I've yet to decide... Hashemite already gave me some tips, and I guess he convinced me to put UOttawa as my first choice.