<p>I am currently an incoming junior at a top 15 university. I am a double major in Government and Spanish with a minor in either Portuguese or Statistics. Is this a marketable degree? I am interested in working for a political campaign or on a politician's staff after college. I am also considering law school or attending a masters in finance program. I am already fluent in Spanish, so would it be beneficial to gain proficiency in Portuguese or should I gain quantitative skills as a statistics minor? </p>
<p>Given the importance of Hispanic voters, your double major might very well be marketable in a political campaign or for political staff work. Portuguese would be less useful for this purpose (except possibly in certain areas of New England with a concentration of people of Portuguese heritage). Since you already know Spanish, I would focus on quantitative skills relevant to campaign or political staff work. This would not necessarily involve a statistics minor, however. Instead, I’d focus on applied quantitative courses, e.g., survey research, geographic information systems, demography, big data analytics, etc.
Neither statistics nor Portuguese would be particularly useful for law school. Math and/or Statistics would be relevant for finance.
For both political work and finance, a quantitative discipline, such as economics, would be relevant. It also has public policy aspects, relevant for both law school and political work.
Portuguese would have the most relevance for you if you had an interest in Latin American affairs, including doing business in the region.</p>
<p>Thanks for the advice. Some other information about me that might help. This summer I interned for a private equity firm, so that is where my finance interest originates from. During the past school year I worked in the office of my Senator and assisted with some local campaigns. If I decide to go into business or law (probably my ultimate destination because I can’t see myself working in politics forever) I know I will want to work internationally, so that is where my interest in Portuguese comes from. </p>