Recent Graduates

A Snapshot

In sports, it is said that on any given night any team can win – that’s why you go ahead and play the games. But over the course of a season, and over the years, you can tell which team is best. And, whether you are interested in domestic and electoral politics, international relations and American foreign policy, or in law and political theory, in environmental politics – you should strongly consider majoring in political science at Mercyhurst College . While you can study political science “anywhere” and while there are other good programs at Mercyhurst; our record, our alumni, and our students make it undeniably clear that studying Political Science at Mercyhurst is the premier option. That’s why we decided to offer you a quick picture, a snapshot, of the last four years. Measure our performance against the competition, then decide. [If you still have doubts after reading this 2006 fact-barrage, continue on and read the 2008 update excerpted from the post-2007 graduation newsletter.]

Considering their collective accomplishments, it is not too much to say the class of 2005 exited in glory. How appropriate for the class whose first week of class was profoundly etched into the national memory by the tragedy of 9/11. This group of seniors capped off a four-year run of success unrivaled by any other department on this campus (and any other political science department we know of). In case you think this is bragging, consider the following facts.

This year’s graduates began in the Fall of 2001. That May (2002) one of our majors was the Valedictorian and another, a double major, won the Carpe Diem award. In other words, we swept the top two awards given by the college. The next year (May 2003) the Carpe Diem award winner was again a political science major and one of our minors received the top award given to an Undergraduate Adult Student. Moreover, one of our contract majors and a minor were chosen as the winners of the President’s Awards of Excellence (7 chosen total). Last year, (2004) another major was the Valedictorian, and another major was awarded the Presidential Award for Excellence. These awards are only one of the many other indicators of excellence.

For example, in 2004, 10% of all students graduating with Latin Honors were our majors and minors, including 20% of those graduating Summa Cum Laude (5 majors and 2 minors), and over 33% of the students completing the Mercyhurst Honors Program were our majors and minors. In 2004 fully nine of our majors and minors were directly headed off to graduate and law school. They were accepted at top schools around the country (including: Ohio State, Seton Hall, Michigan, Maryland, Villanova, Virginia, George Washington, the GHW Bush school in Texas, Pace, UC-Boulder, Indiana University, Vermont Law School, Dickinson School of Law, and Montana State University . Moreover, last year’s two top award winners sat out a year but headed back to school (one working on a Ph.D at the University of California , Santa Barbara ).
 
Amazingly, the 2005 graduates managed to more than live up to the record established in their first three years here. Consider the following: The Carpe Diem winner was our minor (and the college’s first Marshall Scholar); a major was the first winner of a new award given to the top Honors student at the college; two more students (one a triple major and a contract major) won President’s Awards of Excellence; and another major was named as a co-winner of the Alumni Recognition Award. Further, 7 of the 11 students graduating who completed the Mercyhurst Honors Program were majors (5) or minors (2). Eleven of our students graduated with Latin Honors (8 majors and 3 minors), including five Summa Cum Laude and four Magna Cum Laude.

Due to space constraints, limiting the list just to majors (thereby foregoing a number of minors like the Carpe Diem award winner who is attending the University of St. Andrews in Scotland), but including updates from two who sat out a year and will begin in the Fall of 2006, 2005’s seniors were accepted at: Maryland; Indiana University ; University of Massachusetts, Clark University, University of Chicago (2); George Washington ; American University (3); Georgetown (2); Catholic University (2); Northern Illinois University, Western Michigan University, Wayne State University; and University of Pittsburgh (2). Additionally, the law schools where students were accepted include: Columbia, Duke, Michigan, Georgetown, Ohio State, Suffolk Law School ; Albany Union College ; Western New England School of Law; University of Buffalo ; West Virginia University ; Akron, Washington and Lee, American Justice School of Law ; and Duquesne .

In sum then, our class of 2005 had 17 majors and 6 minors. Of those 23 students: 10 were admitted into graduate school (9 accepted, one opted to accept a job instead); 5 were admitted into law school and all accepted; 4 more accepted jobs (3 in DC, 1 in Ireland); 3 are pursuing post-baccalaureate education; and 1 went into the army and 1 into Americorp (our third graduate in the last several years to go this route). That lets you know what every one of our 23 graduating seniors is doing.

The four-year snapshot would also not be accurate without pointing with pride to the accomplishments of our alumni. Whether in law school, graduate school, applied politics, interest groups, think tanks, public service, government contractors, or the private sector, our majors and minors are having great success and telling us repeatedly how well prepared they were. Ultimately, this is why you should seriously consider studying Political Science at Mercyhurst.

You can meet our alumnae and see the wide variety of careers they are pursuing, the success they are having, what they have said about being prepared, etc. by continuing to search our website. Thanks for your interest!

Update

 Here's a few highlights about the year 2007 and the graduates who walked across the stage who were selected for special recognition: Each of the five schools within the college select, based upon exceptional academic achievement, the President’s Awards for Excellence. Our school, the School of Social Sciences, contains the departments of History, Intelligence Studies, Criminal Justice, Sociology, Social Work, and Political Science. Once again, the award went to a Political Science major (actually to two majors who were recognized as co-winners (Dina Bastianini and Elise Yablonsky). Additionally, Ashley Herrmann (minor) was selected as the top Honors Program student. There were 15 majors (3 of whom were contract majors), and 10 minors. Nine majors, and one minor, were among the students to graduate Summa Cum Laude, Magna Cum Laude, or Cum Laude. Our students also comprised 3 of the 10 students to complete the Mercyhurst Honors Program (two majors and one minor).

Also, though it is early, though not everyone has completed the senior survey yet (nor has it been summed), and though a number of students are heading straight into the work force (including several to DC – a.k.a. Mercyhurst South, and one – Maeve Kelly, headed to Iowa for a job in the middle of the Presidential race), taking time off, or doing a year of service: our students were accepted at a high number of quality graduate and law schools. For example, we had students accepted at the following graduate schools: Ohio State, NYU- Wagner, Indiana (2), University of Pittsburgh (2), George Washington, American (2), Wisconsin, Cleveland State, University of Toronto, and Carnegie-Mellon. In terms of law school, the ones we know about as of now include: Penn State-Dickinson, Marquette, University of Pittsburgh, Akron, and Wisconsin.  Additionally, every year a number of previous graduates who take time off from school and work/do service/etc.  end up heading back to school. As the updates below will note, this means that at least another five alums are/will be in graduate and law school, including the University of Denver (Kasia Tarczynska ‘05) , University of Buffalo (Matt Chodaczek ’06) , Brock University (Jody Robinson ’01), University of Chicago (Kelly Diskin ’04), and the University of Toledo Law School (Daniel Benoit ’06).