I want to go to graduate school for political science, but would love to major in history or philosophy in my undergraduate years. Of course, I would still take plenty of Political Science courses to be sure I’m interested in it, but is a political science undergraduate degree necessary of helpful to study it on a graduate level?
Of course it matters. If you know that you want to study political science on the graduate level, you should major in political science at the undergraduate level. Graduate academic programs are supposed to be built on foundational, disciplinary knowledge that you gain from your undergraduate years.
Now, would it be possible for you to go to graduate school in political science if you majored in history or philosophy as an undergrad? Yes, particularly if you take enough classes (probably pretty close to a major anyway - I would say more than a minor) and especially if you have research interests that marry two of those areas (like political history or philosophy of politics). But you will be competing with people who were political science majors in undergrad and are deemed to have the theoretical and methodological preparation to do well in the program. It’ll put you at a disadvantage.
I am curious in this case. Why would you want to major in history or philosophy for undergrad if you want an MA or PhD in political science?
Why not just major in political science, or study history/philosophy in grad school instead?
Ok, I was curious about this mainly because people advise not to major in pre-law undergrad before law school and I didn’t know if other areas were similar. I would major in history/ philosophy undergraduate because that’s really where my passion lies, however I’d want to major in political science so I could make a decent salary and know what kind of job I’d be looking for and I don’t think I could do the same with history/ philosophy.
This is advice for many professional school programs, not graduate school. The difference is that professional school prepares one for a very specific career, ie, it’s more vocational in nature. Medical school and law school are examples of professional school. Graduate school and graduate-level study is academic in nature, and the focus is on novel research and specializing in a particular sub-field. For graduate studies, one needs to be well-versed in a particular subject area. Like @juillet said, “Graduate academic programs are supposed to be built on foundational, disciplinary knowledge that you gain from your undergraduate years.”
People advise you not to major in pre-law similar to undergrad because there really is no such thing as a pre-law major at the majority of colleges. There isn’t even really a standardized pre-law track; unlike medical school, law schools don’t really have required prerequisites. So most pre-law tracks are sequences of classes that colleges think prepare their students well for law school but aren’t really required.
Political science is no more likely to lead to any specific career field than history or philosophy. The average salaries in the field are a little bit higher. Really what gets people jobs are skills and experiences. A sufficiently motivated philosophy major could do some internships at think tanks or nonprofits or government agencies, perhaps learn some statistical analysis on the side, maybe work a part-time job their senior year at an NGO and get hired into a great post-college position.
Really, political science wouldn’t lead to any specific career (genuinely asking)? I suppose I’m mistaken, but I always had thought it would set me up for a role as an adviser or something in the realm of politics/ government, a “political scientist” whereas with history/ philosophy I couldn’t really think of any.
^^^Simply majoring in political science is not going to get you a job in the realm of politics/government. If you are interested in politics, the best way to get involved is to go to work for a political campaign or get an internship in the office of an elected official. Also, if you major in political science and take statistics and classes in political methodology, you might get a job working for a political polling firm. But again, that’s not a given–you would stand a better chance if you got yourself an internship in a political polling firm.
As several people have commented upthread, if you want to go to graduate school in political science, then you should major in it as an undergrad. You can still minor in history or philosophy or do a double major.
C’mon, who gets to be an advisor without relevant experience in the real world? And careers aren’t just what you can think up, as a hs kid. You can google, you can look up govt resources on jobs and prep, check the various professional organizations, you can talk to folks.
Not necessarily any more than a history or philosophy major with some government internships. A political science major is probably more likely to get policy analysis or research assistant roles at think tanks or agencies because of the statistical and social science research training they get in their major. A history or philosophy major wouldn’t get that unless they specifically pursued it on their own. But regular advisor, lobbyist, government support type roles? I think all other things being equal, any social science major has about equivalent chances. (In fact, most of those roles probably require a graduate degree anyway).
Besides, politics/government is vast. There are economists, historians, mathematicians, accountants, physicians, lawyers, operations research analysts and all kinds of people who make the political/government machine work. Take a look at USAJOBS right now - do a general search for a desirable geographic location and see what jobs come up most often.