Is UMass Amherst or Fordham better for political science majors?

The biggest practical tradeoff is setting and access: Fordham gives you New York City and much easier proximity to internships in government, nonprofits, media, and policy organizations, while UMass Amherst gives you a larger public-university political science department with broader course variety and a more traditional campus experience. For political science specifically, that means Fordham can be especially appealing if you want semester-long in-person experience during the school year, while UMass can be stronger if you want the scale and flexibility of a major flagship university.

UMass Amherst has the advantage of being a major public research university, and that usually shows up in the size of the department, the number of electives, and access to related fields like public policy, economics, sociology, and international relations. It is often a good place for students who want room to explore different subfields of political science or combine the major with another interest.

Fordham’s biggest strength for poli sci is location. Being in New York can matter a lot for internships and networking, especially if you are interested in urban policy, public affairs, advocacy, journalism-adjacent work, or legal pathways. Fordham also tends to offer a somewhat smaller-scale academic feel than a huge flagship, which some students prefer for discussion-heavy humanities and social science classes.

One thing to weigh carefully is cost. For political science, where grad school or law school may be part of the plan, keeping debt lower can be a very important factor.

My take: if the finances are reasonably close and you want to build your college years around city-based internships, Fordham has a real edge. If UMass Amherst is notably cheaper, or if you want a larger department and classic flagship-university breadth, UMass Amherst is the smarter pick for most political science students.