<p>I absolutely love studying government and public policy, but I've heard for years that a degree in Political Science is a horrible choice.
Would pursuing this degree be a waste? Would it help me begin a career with the federal government? (I've pretty much always wanted to work in D.C.)</p>
<p>Has any of these people ever tried explaining to you WHY it is a waste?</p>
<p>Empirical data does not support the claim that a poli sci degree leads to lower employment prospects vis-a-vis other social science majors, nor the claim that it leads to lower pay. </p>
<p>Being in a rigorous and well-ranked poli sci program myself, I can say that the knowledge gained from a poli sci degree suits your desire to study “government and public policy” quite well. It does not mean you MUST take it to enter government - take a terminal masters, something like the MPP after, which I believe does not make a poli sci major an absolute requirement for admissions - but it is likely the most popular choice, and for good reason.</p>
<p>Political Science is not useless if you get a master’s in it. Most positions want a master’s level degree. However, you can get a lot of business jobs and other government jobs with a bachelor’s.</p>
<p>For the n-th time, a degree is what you make of it. If you’re really passionate about the subject, work and study hard, it will be worth it for you, whether you get a job out of it or not.</p>
<p>As far as government jobs go, it’s not your poli sci degree that’s going to make the difference in getting it in the first place. You’ll want to get involved in the political system and make connections with people. If you think having a degree and applying for a job (or many jobs) is sufficient, you’re in for a long and painful process. People with degrees in x are a dime a dozen for pretty much any x you can think of. To the federal government, you’re a number out of thousands of applicants. The bureaucrats doing the hiring have no particular reason to pick your file. But if you’re passionate and participate in the political process, you’ll have more chance of getting noticed.</p>
<p>I don’t think that a degree in political science is useless per se, but I will tell you that it will probably be considered just like every other “liberal art” degree in regards to hiring. </p>
<p>I don’t know what the other poster above me was talking about when they said that people with political science degrees were getting jobs in business. I have never heard that before. The few people that I know that majored in political science are doing these jobs: one is an asst manager at walmart, another is unemployed, when back to get ANOTHER degree in CJ(bad move imo) and he is still unemployed, another is a teacher, and another one is a bilingual administrator. They really didn’t end up doing stuff with government and for what it is worth, most positions in goverment could be obtained with any 4 yr degree except for the higher up positions and even then there might be some flexibility in that.</p>
<p>Do yourself a favor and double major. You’re going to have to go to grad school I’d say for political science.</p>
<p>Would a handful of valuable internships not help my job prospects? </p>
<p>Also, can’t PoliSci majors land consulting jobs in D.C. if they don’t work for the government?</p>
<p>I think we should all keep in mind that PoliSci majors, while their unemployment numbers aren’t terrible, self-report their unemployment numbers (along with everyone else). Depending on what ‘study’ you are looking at, all or some of the information published comes from polling of graduates. I’m not sure there’s any other way to do it. They can lie or simply not respond; how many people are there in the world, a year out from college, eager to tell anyone that they are unemployed? Not too many people. To some extent, then, we can confidently say that the majors that have the highest unemployment rates are simply the majors that are the most honest. </p>
<p>To put it another way, saying that PoliSci majors poll very well after leaving school only tells us that they are either employed or don’t have any problem with lying anonymously. That is hardly a ringing endorsement of any major. </p>
<p>Reggie Bush, former Heisman Trophy Winner and Dolphins RB, managed to complete a political science degree from University of Southern California as he ran, juked and dived his way to his All-Purpose Yard(s) goal. He finished in three years. I think that, right there, shows potential employers some of the problems with the degree. If Mr. Bush, an excellent athlete, managed to get a three-year-PoliSci degree from a respected university even though he probably spent more time in the endzone than the classroom… There’s clearly a problem. </p>
<p>Any employer must be thinking that if a more regular student was not spending his/her time Bush-esque travelling, playing football and setting records (press conferences, Heisman Trophy acceptance banquets and ect) then what was that student doing?.. Were they drinking? Cleaning out bong resin? Playing too much CoD or with the opposite sex? </p>
<p>Of course, Bush is a very intelligent fellow. USC also helped him get his degree (beyond shoveling him buckets of cash). They knew that he would be, and now is, the face of their “We Train True Athlete-Scholars!” media campaign. I’m sure they cut him some slack along the way. Nevertheless, anyone who wants to be a PoliSci major (and only a PoliSci major) should prepare themselves for a few rough years.</p>
<p>^ You’re correct that that’s how surveys work. Here’s my question: what is the incentive for this hypothetical, anonymous survey respondent to lie? More importantly, why do you imply that this hypothetical, anonymous poli sci major is more incentivized to lie than any other major? Or do engineers take an “Ethics of Lying in Anonymous Survey Responses” course that I don’t know about? </p>
<p>The OP’s question implies the desire for empirical evidence. If you would like to question the epistemological foundations of scientific knowledge (since you seem rather fond of invalid single case studies) you’re welcome to do so in another thread.</p>