<p>Can anyone tell me: What are the job options and salary ranges for a degree in Political Science/Government?</p>
<p>Our recruiters have some resouces and data with starting salary ranges by degree by industry and I'll look this up on Monday and post again (being a 70s Poly Sci major you've peaked my curiosity). That said, there is a bunch of directions someone could go with this degree which would greatly impact outcome, for instance many lawyers have Poli Sci BAs, foreign service, lobbiest, consumer research, city/village management, utility companies, real estate development companies, Nonprofit organizations, downtown development authorities...all could be potential. It will also depend on where in the country the new minted grad was looking and what type of internships that person might have had during undergrad. BTW, about 40% of my graduating class in the 70s at a small LAC went to law school w/Poly Sci major. Some were Econ/Poli Sci double majors. Another 20%+ went on to get MBAs (as I did). Personally, although I'm obviously prejudiced, I thought Poli Sci, Econ and English were 3 of the best allarouond choices for a liberal arts grad and someone not going to pre-med or Engineering or some other professional degree. Now, if I could have majored in Government/Poli Scie...that would have rung my bell 'cause I love the behind the scenes action of political campaigns.</p>
<p>Nearly all the polysci majors I know went on to law school.</p>
<p>I didn't but I probably should have. Retrospect is sometimes a terrible thing.</p>
<p>Note that some Political Science/Government degrees are pretty "soft" while others are moderately rigorous.</p>
<p>I work for a Congresswoman in her District Office and most people there have poli sci degrees. I recommend an internship if you're looking to get into government work, especially if you're looking to work on Capitol Hill. I started at 32K, while Hill Staffers typically start in the mid-20's. Good luck!</p>
<p>As a Hill junkie, I can say the problem with working on the Hill is that so many bright, talented, and ambitious people want to work on the Hill, so that wages are driven down. I think D will wind up on the Hill but start in a more senior position after she gets both a Masters in Econ and Law degree. Starting out doing case work...bleah. (No offense, Giants. Do you do case work or are you a district rep?)</p>
<p>I'm a staff assistant in the district. I interned on the Hill and definitely recommend it. It was probably the most valuable 3 months of my education. Good luck to your D!</p>
<p>PS- I originally applied for a DC job with my current office, and found out that there were 450(!) applications for the one staff assistant spot.</p>
<p>I was a government major (graduated in 2006) and I'm in law school now. My friends from the gov department are doing all sorts of things: teaching through Teach for America or the Fulbright program; grad school in law, urban planning, poli sci, public policy, and econ; investment banking; research assistants at think tanks; copyediting a major daily newspaper; working on presidential campaigns; in district and DC offices of members of Congress or for Congressional committees. I'm guessing on incomes, but I'd bet they range from 0 (grad students) to $80,000 (i-banking), with the median in the $30s.</p>
<p>Thanks for all the responses! I'll forward them to my son. He had decided to take a political science class that had high reviews, very stimulating, all discussion based, about opposing viewpoints and the Constitution, with one of the best profs at UT, and had just gotten really excited about it, but now the class is full! (He doesn't register til Tues.) Ah well, maybe next semester...</p>
<p>I have a BA in Political Science (emphasis in international relations) and currently make a nice living in the software services industry. I did earn an MBA along the way. The degree does not necessarily determine the career.</p>
<p>"The degree does not necessarily determine the career."</p>
<p>Well said! Although working for government now, I have a degree in biology. :)</p>
<p>lealdragon: One other thing to consider is that jobs in government generally pay more as you get more local (at least in California). My counterparts working for assemblymen/state senators make quite a bit more than I do. For example, a County Supervisor's staff assistant around here makes around $70K. That's more than double what I make, and I started out making a bit more than the norm for my position.</p>
<p>That's a good persepctive from WashDad. I suspect the degree can be very flexible career-wise, if your particular skills are utilized effectively. I began as a PoliSci major and switched to my true love, History. I did have a number of policy/politics courses but I found strict PolSci just too dry for my tastes. I never did an internship but I did find my way into a fairly substantive government/politics career for awhile, where I met folks with all kinds of college majors.</p>
<p>The NACE Nat'l Association of Colleges and Employers) survey reports average salary offer for last year's BA grads PoliSci/Gov as $32,645. 25 percentile at 30,000 and 75the percentile at 37,000. By curriculum (PoliSci/gov) and by industry the starting salary offers were -- Education/$36,500, State & Local Government/$32,500, Social Services/Non-Profits/$15,000, Accounting services/$19,000, Arts, Entertainment, Recreation/$30,000, Computer Systems Design/Consulting/Programming/$37,000, Publishing/$26,000, Real EState/$40,000 and Other Service Employers/$32,500. By job function polisci/Gov BAs starting salary offers: Public Accounting/$19,000, Consulting/$30,000, Investment Banking and Real Estate/$40,000, Paralegals/$30,000, Performing Arts/Entertainment/$30,000, Sales/$35,000, Teaching/$29,333, Other computer related/$37,000. By constrast the average starting offer for MBAs with non-technical undergraduate degrees and 1 year or less work experience was $63,250.</p>
<p>WD, re degree not determining career, well said.</p>
<p>Wow, momof3, that's very enlightening...I know he's not interested in an MBA, and since he IS interested in making $$, that pretty much rules out Pol Sci unless he decides to pursue a law degree.</p>
<p>Thanks everyone!</p>
<p>Or, he can always just do poli sci and an econ minor. That'll get you pretty far.</p>
<p>It's not the poli sci degree that's the problem, per se, but the skill set. An econ minor with some finance/accounting can get pretty hefty incomes.</p>
<p>Our mayor was a pol. sci. major. He did go to grad school in public policy (Masters I think) and was a speechwriter on for a congressman as well.</p>