<p>hi is anyone here from columbia who did a poli sci major/has friends who did it? what is the workload like? number of classes recommended for each year?
im afraid that since poli sci is so popular at columbia they might make it really really hard...</p>
<p>it’s hard, but not especially so, the classes are curved to Bs. So it isn’t easy to rock them. But poli sci majors are the most hard working in the college. If you’re interested in it, it’s great, the profs are top notch and the workload is tough but manageable. It is a very established department - specialty is international politics for which Columbia is considered one of the best in the world.</p>
<p>poli sci are the most hard working? thats bs. the vast majority of majors are a complete joke, and that includes poli sci for sure. the only reason they would work especially hard is to make up for deficiencies in competence. physics is literally the only difficult major in cc, and that’s because of its time commitment, not its difficulty (outside of 2800).</p>
<p>if you’re smart, you won’t have any problems here. if not, then you probably shouldn’t be here. that’s all it comes down to.</p>
<p>larger majors = easier, because more people have to be allowed to pass the courses. anyone who’s taken undergraduate econ classes will know what i’m talking about. </p>
<p>confidentialcoll is right about the quality of the department though.</p>
<p>n.b.: my perspective may be the outlier.</p>
<p>Hi, I’m a senior at Columbia and also a Political Science Major. I honestly don’t think that you can say what majors at Columbia are easy or hard. I think that being a Political Science major is easy because I enjoy the classes and the topics, but I don’t think that being a music major or an econ major would be easy because I’m not passionate about those things.</p>
<p>That being said, I can tell you a little bit about the requirements for the major. Each student chooses a concentration (American, International, Comparative, Theory) and also a second subfield to take classes in. You must take two introductory courses, and two seminar courses (seminar courses are for juniors and seniors, they’re smaller classes on more advanced subjects and usually involve a long research paper). You must also take a certain number of electives, which are just more political science classes.</p>
<p>Although the department is one of the largest, it is also one of the most competent. I’ve always been able to see someone in the department when I need advice or counseling, and when I came back from studying abroad it was very easy to get my courses approved. You’ve probably also heard about the outstanding reputation the department has. Also, I’ve always been pleased by the selection of classes - there are always plenty of classes to take and plenty of interesting topics.</p>
<p>I hope this helps!</p>
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<p>arrrr, that was supposed to read “aren’t the most hard working”, effing sleep deprivation. </p>
<p>Ivilleslacker is pretty accurate, the point is you’ll be able to manage it and it’ll be easy for you get stimulated about the work, because columbia is very international and very political so the practical ramifications of what you study become clear very quickly.</p>