^ it’s a great tool. My S uses it to seek out alumni at specific firms to set up informational interviews. Very useful. He also found campus recruiters for that particular school in other cities (he’s considering) and is reaching out to them.
If he’s interested in public health, an undergraduate degree in Statistics or Data Science followed by a Masters of Public Health would be an excellent plan.
@PetraMC: Wow - this feature is really cool. Thank you for sharing. "google XXX college + LinkedIn, then click on “See Alumni” then you can set the search parameters including “what they studied.”
I have a Poli Sci / French double major from a top public U that I earned in late 80s. I got a Masters of Public Policy and work in higher ed policy. Have worked in high ed administration, for a think tank, and now as a consultant. Grad school is a must in my field.
Poli Sci is hugely popular major in most colleges and carries a lot of career flexibility for grads. Check out Niche to see colleges he’s looking at, but I noticed for most liberal arts colleges and universities Poli Sci and Biology were almost always top 2 or 3 degrees conferred.
My “philosophy” (as a political scientist) is that undergraduate majors in political science should have a strong, skill-broadening minor. Economics or foreign language, for example; also statistics and computer programming (coding) skills, spreadsheets, GIS (geographic information system – look that term up). They should also think internationally, and spend a summer, a semester, or year abroad (perhaps with immersion in a foreign culture and language, not mainly a sight-seeing trip). If they intend to focus on the U.S., whether national or state-local, then they might look for summer positions in local government administration or in policy or advocacy NGO’s (non-governmental organizations).
Imagine how they might sell their skills upon graduation, whether they go immediately for an advanced degree (law school is a very common next step) or directly into the work force (and perhaps later to advanced study). What would they want to have on their resume? It’s not just their grades, their courses, their “transcript.” It’s their skills and experiences (work, study, travel, service).
(Added: While driving him to school, I asked my son what he might major in. He said possibly political science. I asked him: what next? He said maybe he’d get an advanced degree, become an academic (“but academics are boring,” he said). I told him that if he wanted an advanced degree in political science he could major in economics as an undergrad but take a minor in polisci or international relations. I wanted him to have a broad skill-set. He took my advice. He also spent a year abroad.)
I attend church in DC and a lot of recent poly sci college grads come through our doors either recently hired or looking for work in DC. My experience would lead me to suggest that a poly sci major can go on to have a wide variety of fulfilling and even well paid positions.
But…
You should be aware going in that landing those jobs is going to take more hustle than the well trodden path of say a teacher, a dentist or a computer scientist. Many of these recent grads head to DC essentially supported by someone else (following a significant other, or bankrolled by mom and dad). If you have the flexibility of time and money for an extended job search possibly involving unpaid internships or volunteer work you can work your way into a great job.
If you do not have time and money, that choice of a second major/minor as discussed upthread becomes even more important. Connections are even more valuable. Cultivate and use them.
If you are going to be coming out of college with large debt recognize that you will have to really be strategic in marketing yourself and carefully consider if this is a wise choice for you. Unfortunately, careers in public service/leadership are heavily skewed towards those with resources which is frustrating as we would all benefit from a wider representation in leadership.
Political Science develops writing, analyzing, speaking, and debate skills that most employers can appreciate. That said most of the Poly Sci majors I know had to go back to grad school or law school to continue on the career journey they preferred or they are in careers that do not use the political science at all. If you live in DC it is a whole different story but if you live in middle America you need to think of a focus and that will head you down one of several paths. Political Science majors do well in or near major cities, counties and state capitols where jobs in public policy, lobbying or local/state/federal government positions are plentiful. Those that go off to law school do well but there are so many lawyers right now. Your student and classmates will naturally learn about careers they do internships in government, law enforcement, law, international relations, lobbying etc through or in addition to their collegiate major. This helps to narrow the field and sees what does and does not interest them
There are THOUSANDS of opportunities which do not require DC. Every single state for example- your own state capital is going to have lobbying organizations and public policy think tanks and polling companies and advocacy organizations. You can live in Springfield Illinois for a lot less than Washington DC. People forget that "all politics is local) (sorry, Tip) and that there are incredible opportunities at the state and local level to launch a career with a political science degree.
I appreciate your optimism, blossom, but I find no reason to share it. I asked my law school roommate, a long term lobbyist for several famous companies and now in charge of state and local lobbying for a well known trade association. She strongly advised having a double major or minor in another field, rather than just a political science degree. And prepare for several years of likely under compensated positions. This woman hires state and local lobbyists every week, based on their connections and government service and technical expertise in the industry; the degree is utterly irrelevant.
Did I not suggest statistics, econ, strategic foreign language several posts up?
Where did I say NOT to beef up the CV with one of these other disciplines?
My DD is graduating Penn this December with a Political Science degree. She has spent a summer studying in France (her 2nd language,) a summer interning for our congressman in DC, and a fall semester in Singapore. In Philly she has interned for a foundation that works on voter suppression, and is currently interning for a group (they are in 25 states) that runs women for office - she sent me a random pic of Nancy Pelosi a couple of weeks ago. But does she have a job? Not yet. Will it pay the bills? Probably not. Does she love it? Yes, with all her heart. You have to hustle and have a passion. Network and be proactive. We are far from wealthy but we have and will continue to support her pursuit of justice.
I haven’t read all of the comments so apologies in advance if I’ve repeated something. D was a government major with a philosophy minor (she just had the units so she went for it.) Internships were very helpful in job exploration. She interned in Canada for a member of parliament one summer then interned for our congressperson in DC for another. in her senior year, she decided to attend law school. Her summer experiences were good additions to her resume. She also played a college sport which the law schools liked. Surprisingly, she decided not to go into politics and will be working for an education firm upon graduation next spring. Again, that job offer was a result of a summer associate job. I can’t stress enough how important those summer experiences were for her.
Her best friend in college was also a government major. She also had the same summer internships and decided to work in DC upon graduation. She works for a well known think tank as a researcher. In the two years she’s worked there, she’s traveled to the middle east (her area of expertise) twice. She’s written an article on the middle east for a DC newspaper. Her next plan is to go to grad school for her masters.
My son majored in International Relations with an emphasis in security studies. He took four years of Arabic, including a full year abroad in Jordan. On graduation he was an intern at the Clinton Foundation, then at another internation NGO which offered him a job when the internship period was over. He accepted it for the length of time to finish the project he was working on - organizing a trip for the donors to Ukraine and Moscow - but by then he’d decided he didn’t really like NGO work. It didn’t pay well for NYC. He’s a naval officer now. In retrospect he thinks he should have majored in history because he didn’t care for the poly sci aspect of his major.
His friends who did best straight out of school combined their IR degrees with economics.
According to him the usual career path from IR is to work a few years and then get a Masters.
If she wants to do political science, she’ll need to think of some back-up options, perhaps a minor or a double major in something else. Enjoying something is one thing. Being able to use it as a practical skill in the workforce is something entirely different.
My company hires dozens of poli sci majors for all kinds of roles- business development, strategy, marketing, human resources, planning and operations, global business rotations, government relations, investor relations, etc.
We like them because they can write (many of them really well) and use data. I don’t really care if someone’s senior thesis was about voting trends among Hispanics in California or labor participation and attitudes towards tax reform. The point is- knowing how to analyze primary sources, knowing how to interpret trends and use language to describe those trends, and understanding the difference between qualitative research and quantitative research. And citations- meticulous use of citations.
Not every poli sci graduate can do that. That’s why a minor in econ or stats or comp sci or urban planning is useful. But I don’t really care if there’s a minor or second major if the substance is there.
Coolguy- a rigorous poli sci program DOES teach practical skills (more so than some other vocational majors imho). But it’s up to the student. You have the option of writing a senior thesis or being social chair of your frat? Write the thesis. You can choose an independent study or a research job for your professor who has a grant to study voting fraud… or can be captain of the lacrosse team— do the research.
Choices. But poli sci is a very practical major if a kid makes the right choices.
Elaborating on my previous post. I think a really successful route for a poli major is to work for 2 or 3 years after college to figure out their career interests and then go to grad school. Most common grad school options that I can think of, and they likely won’t need additional coursework, though it’s possible:
–Law school
–MPP – there are tracks such as health policy, global development, social policy, etc. and usually includes a lot of economics and statistics/data analysis
–Master’s in International Affairs / Studies - focus on global finance and development, diplomacy, regional expertise
–MPA – focus on government/non-profit administration – finance & budgets, HR, organizational development, etc.
–Master’s in Public Health – specialties include global health, quant/research, epidemiology, hospital admin, etc.
–Master’s in Journalism / Communications
–Master’s in Higher Ed – if you want to work in college administration
–MBA
Of course, there’s also PhD track in poli sci – very competitive market for an academic job but grads can also end up working in NGOs, foundations, and think tanks at a high level
Let me summarize this and every other similar thread:
Any major is good enough as long as you are paying attention to building a case for employment while you are still a student and making certain you are learning (and can show you have learned) skills that have value in the world across many fields of endeavor. Such as writing, analysis of original sources, math and statistics, languages.
No major – with the exception of a handful of semi-professional majors that are practically plug-and-play, like civil engineering or nursing – is good enough if you aren’t paying attention to making certain you have valuable real world skills.
College and the initial job search is a heavy “weeding” process, where 43% (29% to 65% depending on major) fail to find college-graduate jobs at college graduation.
http://talk.qa.collegeconfidential.com/discussion/comment/21765712/#Comment_21765712
Students and their parents who do not like the idea of a competitive environment need to realize that the job market for good career-track jobs is now highly competitive – probably much more so than when the parents were attending college (if they did) or entering the work force. They also need to know that the risk of expensive failure (graduating college, often with student loan debt, and then not finding a college graduate job) is high (even for the “best” majors).
And even the “plug and play” majors- nobody is hiring a nurse who can’t pass the boards. Few people are hiring a civil engineer who barely scraped through the program, has poor team skills, and graduated from a program which lost its accreditation because of academic issues.
There is no golden ticket because you can’t time the labor market-- as thousands of petroleum and aerospace engineers learned when they graduate into a glut AND a hiring freeze in those industries.
For political science majors, how much does college attended matter, both in terms of where you recruit at and whether an applicant about to graduate from a non recruited college will be considered?