<p>I want to attend law school. Law schools could care less about what one studies in their UG. I have considered doing a history/poly sci double major with a possible minor in economics. </p>
<ol>
<li><p>Is the history/poly sci combo redundant? I really want to do history, but would the poly sci help me secure government internships in my UG years? Also, I really want to work a year of two before law. While a poly sci degree is not super marketable, would it help me find some sort of work in the intervening time between UG and law school? Can I obtain the same jobs with a history degree? </p></li>
<li><p>Would the econ minor be a good idea? I like econ, and requirements at my state university for the minor are not very intensive. There are not a lot of math classes, and it would be possible for me to keep the GPA up if I did as a minor. Would it make any difference when trying to find work (employers usually do not care very much about your minor). Would the time commitment be manageable if I double majored in history/poly sci and minored in economics? </p></li>
<li><p>On a somewhat related note: do schools even require that you have a minor? Or does it just depend on the university? </p></li>
</ol>
<p>Sorry for the rambling post...any advice would be appreciated.</p>
<p>History is the general history of a nation or the world in general. PoliSci looks deeper into the working of government, with focus on how politics affect the government locally and internationally. PoliSci in general is more specialized than just history.</p>
<p>Sure, many PoliSci people took Econ as a minor. Just do what you like to do, and see if it fits you.</p>
<p>No, a minor is not required. No university require you to do a minor. It is a nice touch for potential resumes, but not totally needed.</p>
<p>I like both a lot. I was mainly wonder whether one was more marketable than the other. My initial reaction would be to say that poly sci is a little bit more marketable, but I know a lot of history people who end up working in government offices. Any thoughts about the marketability of these degrees?</p>
<p>I’m not in this field at all, but I’m pretty sure that history and poli sci are on pretty equal footing in terms of marketability. I think what will really make you stand out to law schools are what sort of interships/volunteering/ECs you have done. The actual subject you studied is not as important. I guess grades are also important, but it seems the skill set required to do well in poli sci and history classes is pretty similar.</p>
<p>In short: If you like history more than poli sci, just major in history.</p>
<p>Well, my mom has two bachelor degrees, one in history and one in political science. She worked as communications director on a state legislative campaign at one point. Not a great job, I know–but it was all well and good, because she met my dad doing it.</p>
<p>I know another guy who’s on a leave of absence from our local state university, where he’s a double major in history and polisci, to work as a field organizer on the presidential campaign where I intern. It’s not a super-prestigious job, but everyone starts at the bottom of the food chain in campaigns. There’s a girl with a degree in polisci from Harvard, who was president of Harvard Model Congress and who did a summer internship at the campaign’s national headquarters, who has the same job. So does a guy who has a master’s degree and was the former political and finance director for a member of Congress. Four years ago, another guy I know had the same job after being president of the statewide Young Democrats in a fairly large state. He is now the youth vote director for the campaign in another large swing state. So this guy, who doesn’t even have a degree yet, is on the same level of the ladder as people with these credentials. Sounds pretty marketable to me.</p>
<p>The combo is not redundant. In fact, many people do not even consider them to be in the same academic discipline (political science is a social science, while history is often classified as a humanities.) That’s not to say that there’s no overlap - it would be rather ridiculous to attempt to teach basic concepts in political science without drawing on historical examples - but the focus of the fields are, for the most part, not the same (exceptions being history of political thought and the like.) </p>
<p>Your institution is the one that has the final say as to whether a minor is required, so that’s where you should go to double-check, but I doubt it would be necessary to take on a minor on top of a double major. My school requires at least one major and one minor, meaning that double major students would not be forced to take on one additional field of study. </p>
<p>I’m pretty sure minors, if you do choose to take one on, is not going to make-or-break a hiring decision. I suppose one exception might be if you apply to positions that requires knowledge of quantitative analysis. But there’s again no guarantee that you would have taken a methods course for an undergrad econ minor, and you can remedy this easily by taking your undergraduate political science methods course. And I have definitely seen several internship postings with working knowledge of Stata as a requirement.</p>