I am considering majoring in Political Science. I am just very nervous because like many people say it is very vague. I love politics and absolutely love current events. Other than campaigning or law, what other careers are out there that have to do with current events? What other careers can a polysci major work for. Thanks for the help!
P.S. I am also considering finance, economics, logistics, and management information systems. Any thoughts on these?
And the obvious question if I wasn’t clear: is this a major I should avoid and look into the other ones and treat politics and current events as a hobby?
I am going to suggest NOT doing a poli sci major unless you have a career already in mind that does not require a college degree. Without a Masters you are limited to middle class government jobs which you could have gotten with a business degree or any other degree for that matter, and if you got the business degree you could go to middle management easily in most companies. Which is something that will be much harder to do with a Poli Sci degree.
If you like Politics, either make it a hobby or a career, there isn’t really any middle ground. Finance and Economics are good majors. I don’t really know about Logistics. I would suggest staying away from computers as a career as everyone seems to be doing tech majors nowadays and as you may know a bubble only stretches so far before it breaks.
I do agree with the second part of Ultimablade’s post.
As for the first part, I don’t see why a business degree is enough for a middle class government job, while a political science degree is not enough for a middle class business job. I most certainly disagree with the concept of having to get a business degree in order to work in business. If we are not talking about accounting (and, partly, finance), typical business jobs do not require any specific degree. When it comes to whether a business degree is preferred to a social science degree, I’ve heard (and read) both yes and no. My personal decisions are based on the answer no. Of course, if, for any reason, you are more interested in business matters than in political science matters, the obvious choice would be to get a business degree.
http://www.browndailyherald.com/2013/04/05/taking-sides-should-brown-have-a-business-degree/
http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/college_guide/blog/business_professor_dont_study.php
Yeah, I also disagree with the first part of @Ultimablade’s post. Most jobs don’t really care what your major is, and by the time we are talking about middle management your major doesn’t matter at all - what matters is your experience.
Political science is no more or less vague than any other major. (I’m not really sure what that means, tbh.) But one important thing to remember is that political science is not about politics and current events. Political science is the scientific study of political/governing systems and political behavior. A political science major is going to learn about different systems of government (both the U.S.'s and comparative international systems), about the history of political thought and how it has influenced political systems today, about how to measure and analyze people’s political behavior (including coursework in statistics and research methods).
Some political science classes might have some classes on politics (which is the process of establishing governance), but it’s going to be from a more detached, social scientific standpoint. Political science majors may go onto manage campaigns or law school, but there are lots of other things they can do - both related to government/politics and not. They can become political/social science analysts for NGOs or think tanks; they can become foreign service officers and work for consulates or embassies abroad; they can work in international development and economics (if they take the coursework in this area); they can work for the federal, state, or local government doing any number of things. And, of course, they can go onto do completely unrelated things - they can go to do corporate management at a retail firm, be a management consultant, go into investment banking, go to medical school, get an accelerated BSN and be a nurse, become a social worker…