Political Science, Business Administration, Econ at UC

<p>First, a little information on myself: I'm a California Community College student and I've finished 34 UC transferable units with a 3.5 GPA. I'm planning on transferring to a UC through a TAG agreement and my current major is Political Science. I'm the first person in my family to be in any sort of college (Community, Public, Private, or otherwise)</p>

<p>It's my dream to go to law school and I'm well aware that the "law field is drying up etc." I don't expect to make 160K a year or practice Biglaw; I just want to be a lawyer and earn a decent salary (Like a starting salary of 55K sounds reasonable to me and I'll work my way up).</p>

<p>I'm having a hard time deciding between staying in my Political Science major or switching to an Economics or Business major. The reason that I chose Political Science is because it interests me, it's relatively easy and I can earn a great GPA in it. I had an aversion to Economics because it had too much Mathematics (I am TERRIBLE in Math). Business seems like a perfect balance between Economics and Political Science. Political Science doesn't seem to be as useful as an Econ/Bus degree and I don't want to earn a BA in something that's considered useless.</p>

<p>I know that Law Schools would prefer an intellectual major over a vocational major. But my problem is that I cant afford to go major in political science, not get into a decent law school and then be stuck with an unmarketable degree. I am aware that most schools want Calculus and Statistics for Business majors and that terrifies me. I took Elementary Algebra 3 times because I earned a D the first 2 times and then finally got a B. However, I am very gifted in English, Philosophy, Political Science and my all time favorite class has ALWAYS been History. I read history in my spare time because it's fun. I know I was BORN to be a lawyer but I'm confused and I need advice. The people around me don't know what to tell me. The counselors at my community college are not helpful.</p>

<p>Is there anyone out there who is in my position or who has been in my position that can offer me advice, please?</p>

<p>Which UCs are good for Business and Political Science? Also how come Business Administration isn't offered at more UCs?</p>

<p>Truthfully business admin require just as much math, and when you transfer you need more math classes on top of the ones at c.c.</p>

<p>You need a year of calculus just to transfer and after that there are usually 4 more cmath courses on top of that. truthfully if you are bad at math, Econ might not be the best major to be in.</p>

<p>Stick with poli sci and do your best. I found that after you transfer if you were a 4.0 student in cc then your gpa stays close to that but if your a 3.5 student most drop to around 3.0</p>

<p>P.s for most Econ majors the gap buster classes at c.c is usually the calculus classes</p>

<p>Wait, If I don’t complete 1 year of Calculus (1&2), does that disqualify me for transferring to a UC? In the IGETC, it says only 3 units of Math are required. </p>

<p>Do I have to complete ALL of my undergrad courses o Assist.org to transfer? </p>

<p>I don’t mind trying to do Calculus at the UC, I’ve never taken Calculus in high school but I’m willing to study and put in the time/work/effort.</p>

<p>to get into UCLA(Business Econ)/Cal(Business Admin)/UCI(Business Econ/Business admin)/UCSB(Business Econ) etc your going to need a year of calculus completed to stand any chance of getting in.</p>

<p>To transfer you only need 3 units. However for specific majors they have very strict requirement. </p>

<p>For majors that are competitive it is suggested you complete all the assist.org classes or else your going to be at a major disadvantage.</p>

<p>Truthfully if you struggle at elementary algebra. Calculus is an entirely different animal. In UCI’s case when i transfered, once at UCI you need to take a variation of multi-variable calculus as well</p>

<p>If you can handle elementary calculus and hardcore stats then econ would be okay.</p>

<p>Business is not that bad. After finishing calculus, the only classes you will be doing math is accounting or some operation research/management science classes. </p>

<p>UCI, UCB, and UCR offer business admin. </p>

<p>You could always do poli sci and study accounting on the side.<br>
UCI, UCLA, and UCSD offer accounting minors.</p>

<p>I think you should just stick with poly sci. Since you couldn’t handle elementary algebra, I doubt you can handle econ or accounting. </p>

<p>Remember not everyone majors in econ/business/engineering.</p>

<p>Thanks guys. I think I will just stick with Political Science. It’s also way easier to get in as a Political Science major.</p>

<p>I figured out that I would have to take another 4 semesters at Community College if I were to do Calculus. I need to take the prereq courses of College Algebra, Trig, and Pre-Cal before I’d be able to do Calculus 1 and 2. </p>

<p>That would be MTH 20, MTH 37, MTH 1, MTH 2 here at Chabot College. </p>

<p>Poli Sci it is.</p>

<p>^
there are ways around that. Like taking the placement test at a different district? But you not be able to pass since you had trouble with just algebra.</p>

<p>If your ultimate goal is to get into law school, then major in something you can earn a high GPA in. If you suck at math, calc 2 and 3 will destroy you. Also, upper division microeconomics and econometrics courses can be very “mathy” depending on the prof. However, if you really wanted to do it “itransfer” is correct, you can speed through the pre-reqs. UCSD will accept you even if you dont have the calc pre reqs done (as long as IGETC is done). Then after your accepted you can take the placement test there and place into calc 1. Then you take calc 1 and 2 during the summer sessions prior to transfer and your golden. You take calc 3 and some misc grad requirements during your first fall quarter and get started on your bread and butter econ courses during your first winter quarter. </p>

<p>The above is exactly what I did, it can be done.</p>

<p>I’m also a PoliSci major, and I’m surprised by your thinking that it is unmarketable outside of law school. I thought just the opposite, that it was perhaps (well, one of) the most versatile liberal arts degrees. But, YMMV.</p>

<p>Its wierd because I am in almost the exact same position as you right now. Im the first one to go to college in my family in a field other than medical//nursing. My parents have been pushing me ever since I got out of high school to get into the nursing field like my sisters. But I hate nursing, I dont find it interesting at all. I love political science because I can usually never get enough of it. Im great at it too so that helps. But since Im the first one going a different path than my parents want me to, its wierd and extremely scary. I have GPA just a little higher than yours and still am scared I will fail out. But I couldnt imagine doing anything else, so I stick to polisci. The only advice I have to you is stick to what you like, because I think that is what will help you in the end.</p>

<p>Also, If your not good at math, I dont think Econ//business is right for you.</p>

<p>I havent researched much about business but I know UCSD and UCLA are great for Political Science.</p>

<p>Unfortunately to earn a degree in Business Administration you have to take at least two semesters of Calculus. Business Departments have instituted these requirements for Calculus and keep expanding the number of courses you have to take not because you will ever need to use it but due to the perceived need for Business to be considered a more substantial major. Even though 99% of Business majors will never use Calculus once during their entire business careers Business schools want to be able to say that the major has a very rigorous curriculum and is worthy of the same respect accorded to academic departments.</p>

<p>The truth is that the Calculus courses taken by Business and Economics majors are very watered down versions of the three semester Calculus sequence taken by Math, Physical Science and Engineering majors.</p>

<p>Even so, your inability to master elementary Algebra woud probably make it impossible for you to succeed even in these Calculus lite courses.</p>

<p>@babyygurl: I’m in the same exact position as you. Everyone else in my family is in the nursing/pharm/medical field and I had a lot of pressure to follow. Instead, I found that I’m really interested in and want to major in political science. I want to go to law school and I’m scared too but we just have to trust it’ll be okay because I can’t imagine doing anything else. Basically, I got a lot of crap from my family and very little support. Even though it’s been almost two years since I changed my major from biology, most of them have the same opinion though my mom came around. All you can do is show everyone else that you won’t fail, use that as a motivator lol. </p>

<p>My advice is, do what you want to do because you’ll succeed if you really want to achieve your goals and you’re interested in the subject. There’s no point in earning low grades in a major that you’re not even really into.</p>