University of Richmond or Boston University for political science: which is better for undergrads?

Boston University has the edge for undergraduate political science. Its location in Boston gives you unusually direct access to government, policy, law, nonprofits, media, and campaign work during the academic year, and BU’s larger scale usually translates into more course variety within political science. For a student focused on classes, internships, and off-campus opportunity, that combination is hard to beat.

The biggest differentiator is access to real-world politics while you are still in school. BU students can pursue internships not just in summer but during the semester in Boston, where there are major political, legal, advocacy, and public affairs organizations nearby. That matters for political science because the field connects so closely to policy work, electoral politics, public service, and research-based nonprofit work.

BU also benefits from being a large research university with a broad political science department and related programs. That usually means more specialized electives, more faculty working across subfields like international relations, political theory, comparative politics, and public policy, and more chances to pair political science with journalism, economics, international relations, or data-focused work. If you want flexibility in shaping a more specialized academic path, BU is likely to offer more room.

Richmond’s best argument is the undergraduate experience itself. It is smaller, more personal, and often stronger on close advising, discussion-based classes, and faculty access. For some students, that can make the political science experience feel more intentional and less anonymous, and Richmond’s proximity to Virginia’s state capital can also create meaningful internship options.

But if the question is which school offers the better overall undergraduate political science platform, BU stands out because the academic range and city-based opportunity are more extensive. Richmond may provide tighter mentoring, but BU is more likely to give you a wider set of political science courses and a deeper bench of semester-time internships and professional connections.