<p>Hi all. I am an international student in my first year at UCLA, and I am hesitant about applying to Notre Dame right now. I am a poli sci major, which is not a big thing at UCLA. I would appreciate it if someone could provide some information for me to decide whether to transfer. One of the major factor to me is the marketability of poli sci major at Notre Dame. Many thanks in advance!</p>
<p>Hey lumberjack23!</p>
<p>As a poli sci major here at ND (albeit a young one; I’m only a freshman), I can definitely say that it’s definitely a different environment than at UCLA. The amount of poli sci majors here can seem a little ridiculous at time (it’s the most popular major of any undergrad majors offered, with around 500-600 students out of the 8000+ undergrads here declaring poli sci). </p>
<p>In terms of marketability, the sense I get is that a political science degree from ND is regarded fairly well, as our poli sci department is relatively strong and large, and many upperclassmen seem to be fairly well connected in terms of internships, contacts in DC, etc. As a freshman, I’m not how accurate this is, though.</p>
<p>What information, besides marketability, are you interested in learning more about?</p>
<p>On marketability – only 41% of political science grads are employed six months after graduation. Most of the rest are in graduate school (mostly law school) or service projects. [Undergraduate</a> Program // Department of Political Science // University of Notre Dame](<a href=“http://politicalscience.nd.edu/undergraduate-program/]Undergraduate”>Undergraduate Program | Department of Political Science | University of Notre Dame) </p>
<p>To be brutally honest, a political science degree (or one in history, philosophy, anthropology, English, theology, etc.) is not particularly marketable, especially in this economy. Most on-campus recruiters are focused on business and engineering majors; there are few employers interested in Arts & Letters majors, and students need to do a lot of work to find that first job. By all means, study political science if that is what interests you, but please understand that the reputation of most departments is related to the strength of their graduate programs, not to the job placement of their undergraduate majors. There are always lots of internship opportunities available, especially unpaid or low-paid, but getting a “real” job that pays the bills is another story.</p>
<p>@claremarie From what I heard, whether you can find that first job depends heavily on the reputation of not the department but the whole college. I understand that pol sci major by and large is not attractive to employers, and I was just wondering if the prestige of ND could offset that disadvantage. Based on what you said, I am discouraged from applying to ND now.</p>