Our daughter has to declare her major by the end of this semester. Over the summer she was leaning towards a math major but now she’s talking about political science with a stats minor. She hasn’t had a job or internship yet so I’m not sure what to think. She feels that she would need a masters degree in math to be employable and is overwhelmed by that. How employable will she be with a political science degree? Any thoughts ?
Probably about as employable as my son was with an IR degree and pretty fluent Arabic. He’s working for an NGO doing development related work. He’s had two internships one doing more analysis (he didn’t like sitting in front of a computer 8 hours a day) and then an internship where he is now. The stats minor should make her degree more marketable. There are jobs, but no guarantees.
My S graduated in May with a Poly Sci major and history minor. He was accepted into exec management training program at Fortune 200 multi-national company. If he goes to grad school it will be for an MBA and his company has tuition reimbursement company.
S had two internships during summers. One was for a Judge and the other was in an agency in NYS government. He also worked over the summers in min. wage job and worked on campus for 3 years in Career Dev. Office.
College kids today need to be very proactive, but IMO if they are they will get a job regardless of major.
I think she should investigate further about not being employable with a BS in math. I highly doubt she needs a masters to be employable.
Is your daughter interested in economics? D2 has done quite well so far with a double major in math and econ.
I echo much of the above - she could be an actuary with a BS in Math or statistics (will have to take actuarial exams). Could pair math with econ to pursue more of a finance direction or pair math with computers to go in the tech direction. A women with a strong math background and a BS degree should be very marketable to many employers.
Math majors are problem solvers by definition. Many businesses will higher math majors.
Right. I think at this particular moment in history math is probably the most marketable of liberal arts majors. Math majors can get hired to do anything.
You should probe a bit more into why she’s now leaning away from the math major.
Thank you all for the suggestions. She was leaning towards math a few months ago but apparently decided with the help of her advisor that it wasn’t for her. He told her that the STEM jobs will be outsourced & she may not be marketable there . She doesn’t like writing & she isn’t proactive with internships etc. so I’m not sure where she’s going with this. She’s strong in math but I can’t force her. Oh and she also mentioned a masters in political science & study abroad . Study abroad leaves little time for internships. Stressful 
With a political science and math/statistics (minor) she could get jobs with political polling firms–these folks usually do survey/polling work for candidates. She should look for internships with a firm like this or volunteer for a political campaign to get a sense of what the work is like. Almost all political science departments will have classes in political methodology where she can learn more about this. My son-in-law is working on a doctorate in political science at UNC and he’s getting a certificate in survey methodology–back-up if he doesn’t get a job in academia. IMO, she shouldn’t just go on to grad school–she should graduate and work first. That way, she’ll have better idea of what kind of work she wants to do.
It’s a national election year. Any kid over the age of 14 can get a volunteer job on a campaign, get an internship with a PAC or a national committee before the conventions, and a college kid can easily get a job (call it an internship) augmenting the political coverage at a local public access television station.
If your D isn’t motivated enough to get some practical work experience in the political arena- right now, when the election cycle is heating up, poli sci is likely not for her.
One of my kids started working for our congressperson while still in HS, which led to a better job in DC for the same Congressional office after graduation. (the staff in the constituent offices around the district often gets promoted to DC). That led to an even better job with a much more influential elected official. Etc.
But a TON of writing- both academic in college as well as in each of the jobs. The Legislative Director (a powerful person in the office) would point to one of the low level people and say “I need a position piece on Veteran’s Medical issues by the end of the week- GO” and that person would scurry off to research and craft a position piece. Someone would be doing Nuclear Power safety, someone else researching Immigration reform- whichever bills were sitting in committee at that point.
Fantastic opportunity for a kid who loves politics and loves to write.
I don’t know any Poli Sci disciplines which lend themselves to a kid who doesn’t like to write, however. Maybe Econ or Urban Planning- both of which can have very quantitative elements are a better fit???
Would she consider a statistics degree along with political science? Statistics isn’t quite as math intensive, and offers many opportunities. With a poli sci minor or double major, she could enter one of a handful of Masters Programs which could supply even more opportunities for polling or data analytics.
I know several political science people who either minored or double majored in statistics and went on to graduate study in psychology or statistics and were very successful in jury research.
She would consider a statistics major but the school doesn’t offer it.
Some schools call a statistics major Applied Math- if the college has a decent math department they likely have a statistics major even if the name doesn’t match.
People always admire others that study math. A math minor under any major looks great.
" He told her that the STEM jobs will be outsourced & she may not be marketable there ."
??? What kind of advisor is that? I guess all the kids with STEM majors ought to change majors right away. If she likes math she should continue in math. I hate to say this but is there any chance this guy has some preconceived notion that STEM fields aren’t for women? I only have sons so it’s not something I would normally think about but this guy’s advise seems off.
Math and Eco is an excellent combination. There is also Computational Finance or Financial Modeling (a minor at some schools?). Actuarial Science (math/business major) is also a high demand area. There is such a glut of Political Science graduates.
Ds1 was a poli sci major from a LAC. Did an AmeriCorps job for a year and now has a job that has little to do with poli sci, per se, but uses the critical-thinking and other skills he acquired as part of a strong liberal arts education. He worked since he was in seventh grade and his only real internship was while studying abroad, at a eco-related nonprofit.
Ds2 is a double major, govt and music (his school’s poli sci degree is called govt). He is the more prototypical poli sci guy – interned two summers with out local US rep, one summer with our state party and this past summer with a music-related govt agency, all while also working 30ish hours/week. He’s studying abroad and has an internship with another culture-related govt agency. He has no idea what he will do when he graduates in 2017, but he is totally employable, I think. A lot of the govt majors at his school (and others) go into consulting.