IR Rankings

[thestarter]

Hey everyone,

I was wondering if any of you has the latest US News Rankings (or rankings from any other magazine, journal, institution etc) on International Politics/Relations. I saw that in one of the topics but it was only top 18 or sth like that.

I would really appreciate it if you could post a detailed one (top 30 - top 40 etc)

Thanks

[sundaymonday]

Check out the "Poll of Polls" thread on the second page of the Poli Sci forum. There is a link to a 2006 peer-rated raking for IR that I thought was pretty interesting.

[opal32496]

Just wanted to note that the Poll of Polls is missing NYU!

[thestarter]

what matters for me now is where UT-Austin and Indiana-Bloomington are ranked in the field of IR. That's why I had asked about a detailed ranking (Top 30, Top 50 etc)

any ideas on their strength in IR (esp in security studies) ?

[polisciphd]

I don't have the numbers but from my own application to those schools and talking to others in the field that they are both reasonably strong in IR. However, UT would be stronger in pure security studies in my opinion. Indiana does good work at the intersection of comparative and IR, like IR of east asia.

[zephyr]

i think the william and mary study is probably the best one for IR, but it has its problems, too. even within subfield, schools vary in their strengths. for instance, if you want to do formal IR modeling or quant work, rochester is probably one of the absolute best places to be, though they show up in the high-teens/low 20s (can't remember exactly) in the IR ranking in the W&M study. minnesota and ohio state are two of the best places if you're interested in constructivism, though both rank in the teens for overall IR. so, i hate to say this, but "it depends" is the right answer. in general, i've heard texas and indiana are very good IR programs, generally perceived as top 25/30 or so, depending on who you ask.

[polisciphd]

I have actually been searching for a poll of Int. Security programs, but so far have not found one for poly sci phd programs. I think that the consensus among posters on this board is that for pure security theory, Columbia is #1, and for more security policy, #1 is MIT. I would probably give the edge to Columbia overall. After this though, things get pretty murky. I am headed to UIUC in the fall, and they are very strong in security studies, have two major security scholars, Diehl and Vasquez, as well as 5 or 6 other assistant and associate profs who do security stuff. Texas is strong as well, although they don't have as many faculty just doing security stuff. Georgetown also has lots of security folks, due to their close relationship with the SSP program.

If I were going to rank programs for security (US only, their are some good ones in the UK too), it would look something like

1. Columbia

2. MIT

3. Stanford

4. Illinois

5. Chicago

6. Georgetown

7. Texas

8. Maybe Cornell (although most of their security folks are more closely aligned with comparative than IR)

9. WUSTL

What does everyone think? Am I way off base? I know that Princeton has quality security folks in the WWS, but they aren't true "poly sci" departments. Yale is building their security faculty with their "new initiative." GW has some good security folks, but again they are aligned with the Elliott School.

[thestarter]

Wow, thanks for comments. They seem pretty insightful

zephyr said:

i think the william and mary study is probably the best one for IR, but it has its problems, too. even within subfield, schools vary in their strengths. for instance, if you want to do formal IR modeling or quant work, rochester is probably one of the absolute best places to be, though they show up in the high-teens/low 20s (can't remember exactly) in the IR ranking in the W&M study. minnesota and ohio state are two of the best places if you're interested in constructivism, though both rank in the teens for overall IR. so, i hate to say this, but "it depends" is the right answer. in general, i've heard texas and indiana are very good IR programs, generally perceived as top 25/30 or so, depending on who you ask.

you're absolutely right.

tidefan said:

I don't have the numbers but from my own application to those schools and talking to others in the field that they are both reasonably strong in IR. However, UT would be stronger in pure security studies in my opinion. Indiana does good work at the intersection of comparative and IR, like IR of east asia.

I guess you're right too. From what I've learned so far, it seems that Bloomington's strength is rather in Comparative. Still there are well-known IR scholars (like Rasler and Thompson), but the courses offered in IR (which I think is significant as well) are less compared to others. There are more options at UT-Austin not only because there are more professors teaching IR (and esp. security/conflict) courses but also they have very interesting courses offered both at undergrad and grad level.

As for me, I guess I will be in a dilemma for the next weeks whether I should go to a (seemingly) more prestigious university in Pol Sci with a better placement record (IU) or to a university more still solid and more appropriate for my research interests (UT). It will be a tough one Any advice is appreciated - Both offer only partial funding - for the first few years. Should I consider other things now (like the cities. Is Austin a nicer place to live than Bloomington)

tidefan said:

I have actually been searching for a poll of Int. Security programs, but so far have not found one for poly sci phd programs. I think that the consensus among posters on this board is that for pure security theory, Columbia is #1, and for more security policy, #1 is MIT. I would probably give the edge to Columbia overall. After this though, things get pretty murky. I am headed to UIUC in the fall, and they are very strong in security studies, have two major security scholars, Diehl and Vasquez, as well as 5 or 6 other assistant and associate profs who do security stuff. Texas is strong as well, although they don't have as many faculty just doing security stuff. Georgetown also has lots of security folks, due to their close relationship with the SSP program.

If I were going to rank programs for security (US only, their are some good ones in the UK too), it would look something like

1. Columbia

2. MIT

3. Stanford

4. Illinois

5. Chicago

6. Georgetown

7. Texas

8. Maybe Cornell (although most of their security folks are more closely aligned with comparative than IR)

9. Emory

What does everyone think? Am I way off base? I know that Princeton has quality security folks in the WWS, but they aren't true "poly sci" departments. Yale is building their security faculty with their "new initiative." GW has some good security folks, but again they are aligned with the Elliott School.

Thanks for at least giving it a try That's actually what I was looking for. Even if we can't find a ranking of security studies in Pol Sci PhD programs, at least we can discuss what we think. First of all congratulations on UIUC. That is a very solid program (I don't know how I missed it during the application process. I didn't know it had many security guys)

As to the ranking you suggested, I don't think that Cornell is the right place to specialize in security studies. As far as I remember there were only one or two security guys there (at least in the dep of Pol Sci). Their strength - with respect to IR - seems to be in IPE. In its place, there can be NYU (I don't know you missed it or not. But they have several faculty producing great jobs recently). They are even probably better than Illinois and UT-Austin.

Maybe Georgetown can be ranked a little higher. Although their program is more policy-oriented, I think they have one of the most prolific and insightful security teams in the world.

So in short I would say

1-Columbia

2-MIT

3-Stanford

4-Chicago

5-NYU

6-Georgetown

7-Illinois

8-UT-Austin

9-WUSTL

10- UCLA

10-UVA

11-Maryland

12-Emory

13- Syracuse

[polisciphd]

Can't believe I forgot NYU, you are right, they should be up there. I did think about Cornell after I said that and I believe you are probably right on that account too. It is amazing to me that there aren't more top ranked schools that have int. security folks. When I started looking at schools, I was going to apply to WashU, as they are the closest top ranked school to where I currently live (other than emory, but who wants to live in atlanta), but they do not have a single person who does anything even resembling int. security.

As a GW grad, I have a personal bias against Georgetown, so I would put them a few spots down the list, but that is just me, and I can understand the argument for or against. The one thing I will say about them, just like the other schools in DC, is that their faculty is in large part transient.

[thestarter]

tidefan said:

It is amazing to me that there aren't more top ranked schools that have int. security folks. When I started looking at schools, I was going to apply to Wash U, as they are the closest top ranked school to where I currently live (other than emory, but who wants to live in atlanta), but they do not have a single person who does anything even resembling int. security.

Totally

I couldn't apply to many solid programs (WashU, Cornell etc) just because I knew that my interests wouldn't match with those of the faculty.