Political Science
Sociology
Speech Comm
PR/Advertising
History
Also do speech and PR overlap too much or just strengthen one another?
Are Sociology, History, and Poli Sci even worth it? (Non-Academia jobs)
My strongest career wants: Journalist
TV Anchor
Political Commentator/Analyst
Legislator
Lobbyist
Lawyer
Political Scientist
Judge
Campaign Organizer
Sociologist
I don’t know what speech communication means in the context of your university (is it a communication disorders program, or is it more like a communications major?) but I don’t think it overlaps with PR too much. Public relations is about much more than just communications.
The short answer is that it doesn’t matter for the majority of careers you listed up there. You could pick any one of these majors and go into any of those fields (two exceptions, listed below).
Here’s the long answer.
First, the two exceptions: Political scientists and sociologists hold PhDs in the field and conduct research in those fields. The most common setting is as a university professor, but many political scientists and sociologists go on to work at think tanks, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), government agencies, and nonprofit organizations. In order to get a PhD in the field, you really should major in that field in undergrad - non-poli sci majors don’t have great chances of getting into top political science PhD programs unless they took significant coursework in political science. Same is true for sociology. So if you think that you might want either of these jobs, you need to pick the major that goes along with it.
An offshoot of that is political commentator/analyst. I think those are two sort-of different jobs. A political analyst is, in my mind, a BA- or MA-level research associate at one of the above mentioned places who may assist doctoral-level political scientists in their work, or work under their supervision on a team that produces political analysis. For that, you really should major in political science. A political commentator really seems more to be someone who has an opinion (usually, but not always, informed by their political analysis and expertise) and is famous enough to get a platform from which to say it. You could major in anything; social science majors probably do have a leg up here. Ann Coulter majored in history (and got a JD); Michelle Malkin’s BA is in English; Keith Olbermann majored in communications; Megyn Kelly majored in political science (and also has a JD); Rachel Maddow majored in public policy (and also has a DPhil in politics from Oxford); Jon Stewart majored in psychology and Stephen Colbert majored in theater performance.
Lawyers and judges require JDs. You can go to law school with any major. One that requires a lot of writing and analytical thinking is probably a better bet for preparing for the rigors of a top law school, so in that case I would recommend political science, sociology, or history over the other two. (However, one famous lawyer - Judy Smith, the model for Olivia Pope - majored in public relations at Boston University before getting a JD at American University. Most of her work has been a mix of law and public relations.)
Legislators are elected from all kinds of fields. So what major you pick there doesn’t matter.
People also become journalists with all kinds of majors and backgrounds. What you really need is strong writing skills. It is also helpful to have an understanding of the issues on which you are writing. If you want to write on social and political issues, either sociology or political science could help you there. Speech communication might also be a decent major for that as long as you learn how to write well.
I do think that TV anchors may typically study communications or broadcast journalism (or English, if neither are available), but you can really pick anything because it depends on what you want to anchor. I believe that 5 out of the 7 people I listed above have a regular anchor spot on TV (and Ann Coulter appears frequently). Katie Couric majored in English with a focus on American Studies. Barbara Walters and Meredith Vieira also majored in English. Tom Brokaw majored in political science (and “beer and co-eds” apparently, lol). Deborah Norville and Ann Curry both majored in journalism.
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Honestly, the most common denominator between all of these seems to be political science, so I would pick that personally (and make sure that you get good analytical and quantitative skills). You could minor in public relations and/or just take a couple of classes in a variety of the other fields in which you are interested. Make sure that you take some solid writing classes and develop your skills in that area, and get experience with public speaking - perhaps joining something like Toastmasters or another organization on campus that requires regular public speaking. If your campus has a radio station or television program, working there would help - as would interning at a local radio station or TV news program.
Last comment - it seems to be a common myth around here that social science majors (and, indeed, any major besides the natural and physical sciences) are “worthless” and will leave you unemployed and penniless. That’s just not true. The rates of unemployment for social science majors are not significantly different from the unemployment rates for engineers, physics majors, and natural science majors, and only slightly lower than that of computer science and mathematics majors. And experienced political science majors earn, on average, as much or more than experienced chemistry, environmental science, geology, biology, nursing, information systems, journalism, marketing, and accounting majors (see here: https://georgetown.app.box.com/s/9t0p5tm0qhejyy8t8hub). The same is true of recent college graduates (with < 5 years of experience). So yes, it can definitely be worth it to pick a social science major.
Thanks for the Wonderful reply and info!
It was definitely nice to see son examples.
Couple notes that I didn’t make clear
The speech program is communications based not pathology.
As for the skills, I excel in speech( won competitions regionally), writing (Have some great internships), and reading/analytical skills (Act 32 in reading).
I agree with your sentiment that Poli Sci is the most pivotal to my outlook and would call it my “lock in”.
Without speech comm I worry about losing journalism (although your examples have eased my worries)
Without Pr I worry about the more practice buisnessy type of jobs (more of the logistical fall backs)
Without sociology I worry about the pure society analyzing conceptual jobs (Which I see as very appealing without the publicity risks of the others kind of like a burnout fallbacks)
I don’t think you have to worry about doing social/behavioral analysis without a major in sociology. Political science teaches you how to do that too, and you could always minor in or take a few classes in sociology.
I don’t know what you mean by practice businessy type jobs, but you can do business jobs with a political science major/without a PR major.