Insight from a Political Science Major (bachelor's, skills, degrees, costs)
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While browsing the education forum and reading post related to majors I often see Political Science thrown into the list of worthless degrees. I graduated from college a year ago with a B.A. in Political Science, and would like to share my experiences with having a Poli Sci B.A. I hope this provides some insight for those prospective Poli Sci majors.
Upon graduating one will not have a clear idea of what they want to do:
This is a big disadvantage of having a non technical degree. An engineer will be an engineer upon graduating, an accountant an accountant, a nurse a nurse and so on. Not the case with a Poli Sci. Upon graduating I was not a Political Scientist. That would take another 4-6 years, of education.
It may be difficult getting a job:
I will admit landing a job with the degree was tough. The problem I had was not employers looking for technical skills, but rather seeking candidates with certain applicable work experience. Fields that I thought would be related to my degree such as government work, required govt related work experience, the legal field wanted related legal work experience, and so on. The second problem was that I was competing against a range of other majors since the jobs I was applying for didn’t require a specific degree. (There is no job outside of teaching that specifically requires a Poli Sci degree). This increased the level of competition for jobs.
Starting salary will be on the lower end of the wage spectrum:
Salaries for jobs in which I received interviews ranged from $24,000-$38,000, with an average of 31,000. I live in the Dallas Fort Worth metro, so 31,000 can go a lot further here than other areas of the country, but I wasn’t rolling in dough.
Advice for the upcoming Poli Sci majors
1. Obtain a high GPA. Good grades will get your resume a head of the pile, a low GPA will get it thrown out.
2. Gain valuable work experience while in College. The days of not working and just going to school are over; employers want valuable work experience to go along with the degree
3. Combine the degree. The Poli Sci degree in and of itself isn’t worth much, being one of a handful of social science and liberal arts degrees, but when combined with work experience, or a more advanced degree makes it powerful.
4. Sell your skills, specifically analytical abilities, written, and oral communication skills. These skills are fundamental to any job, and Poli Sci does a great job of developing the skills. Almost all employers seek these skills and showing a prospective employer that these skills are present within oneself will provide an edge. Also computer skills help.
5. Narrow the field. There are a lot of options for work available for Poli Sci majors, but that doesn’t mean one should apply to any and every job. Focus on certain fields (Mortgage, Insurance, and Human Resource for example), develop skills and experience, and focus resources around those fields.
6. Be persistent. I never gave up looking for a job, even when I ended up with a low paying one, I kept looking, developing my skills, and used the work experience to gain something much better, with much higher pay.
Good post...although I would disagree with point number 5 for recent grads. I would advise them to apply to any and every job (within reason of course) and see what offers you get. It's important to test the waters and see where your strong points are (as well as your weak ones) and sculpt and build your strengths from there.
Let me add to the good advice: Do NOT go to Law School.
Why? Because our nation already has a huge oversupply of lawyers (many with poly sci degrees who couldn't find jobs), many of whom never find work in the legal profession and end up unemployed, underemployed-out-of-field, impoverished, burdened by huge student loan debt that cannot be discharged in bankruptcy, and/or miserable (even if you find work, it might be 70 hours/week under high pressure).
Very good post, and as flyers29 commented, it's fairly accurate. My input is don't hesitate to take a lower paying job to start with. When I was in school, median salary data suggested that i would be making in the mid-40k range. By the time I graduated in 2008, I was in for some great disappointment. I took a job in the lower 30k range and have seen my salary go up about $10k in the last two years. Experience means everything these days.
I wish I would have had more practical advice while I was in school deciding what I wanted to do.
I'm an unemployed poli sci major graduated in 08 from UTSA. The only reason I got degree in it was it didn't have a lot of math. Also, I like politics and government type stuff. I'm having a hard time finding any job with this major. I never did any internships in college which I should of done. My major didn't prepare me for anything in the working world. At least I have a bachelor's degree though but not like a BA means much now a days.
I will admit landing a job with the degree was tough. The problem I had was not employers looking for technical skills, but rather seeking candidates with certain applicable work experience. Fields that I thought would be related to my degree such as government work, required govt related work experience, the legal field wanted related legal work experience, and so on. The second problem was that I was competing against a range of other majors since the jobs I was applying for didn’t require a specific degree. (There is no job outside of teaching that specifically requires a Poli Sci degree). This increased the level of competition for jobs.
The problem isn't the major. It's that students very often choose it as a means of avoiding the "what will I do when I grow up" question. And that's the student's fault.
Political science along with all liberal arts majors give you a broad--a LIBERAL--knowledge of a wide array of subjects. But not in-depth knowledge in a specific, narrow, subject. Now, that's not to say that it's worthless or that you can't get a job. There is intrinsic value in the knowledge itself, but that is the pursuit of knowledge, not the pursuit of a career.
The problem is, too often students choose liberal arts majors not because they have a specific career in mind, but because they don't have a specific career in mind and liberal arts allow them to avoid figuring that out. There are of course ways to leverage a polisci degree into a career. Many students double major, pairing polisci with a language or economics or history, for example. And many students get internship or volunteer experience that prepare them for a career. These students do this because they have a specific career path in mind.
Career prep in college is a double-edged sword. Yes, 'professional degrees' as they are called (those that lead directly to a career of the same name: accounting, engineering, education, etc) prepare a student for a job in those fields directly after college. But they come at a cost. Students in these fields don't get a broad education in a variety of subjects, that liberal arts majors get. They are immersed in their subject and rarely venture into coursework beyond that. So while they are qualified for their careers, they aren't qualified for much else. Not good, if you decide to change fields or your field is hit especially hard in a recession. In this recession especially, you might be very glad your polisci degree offers you the flexibility to pursue many career paths!
2. Gain valuable work experience while in College. The days of not working and just going to school are over; employers want valuable work experience to go along with the degree
Quote:
Originally Posted by txmusicgal
I'm an unemployed poli sci major graduated in 08 from UTSA. The only reason I got degree in it was it didn't have a lot of math. Also, I like politics and government type stuff. I'm having a hard time finding any job with this major. I never did any internships in college which I should of done. My major didn't prepare me for anything in the working world. At least I have a bachelor's degree though but not like a BA means much now a days.
I see this as a major problem with college students. I understand that students may not always have the time to do an internship or volunteer work, but some just don't see the value or they believe that simply showing to class and graduating is good enough. Those days are long gone. The applicant with the lower GPA with work/internship/volunteer experience is going to get the job instead of the applicant with high GPA and no experience.
There was a point in time when an employer was willing to train a new hire. This was primarily because back then most people made a career out of their job and it was seen as an investment for the company. But, it costs money to train an employee, and with the economy not being as robust as it was between 1945 and 1980, companies started looking for applicants with a college degree. The logic being that they could save $$ by not having to train new hires [as much]. Now it has been taken a step farther for the same reason: a new hire with prior work experience will require even less training. It's all about the bottom line.
It also doesn't help that millions of people are now attending college, so the competition from that alone is stacking the odds against you. Why wouldn't you want to do something that gives you an edge?
Some employers won't even consider an applicant that does not have internship experience.
Also, the whole I chose this major because it required the least math and/or science can be to your disadvantage, too. It shows that you are taking the easy route and an employer might assume that you would also take the easy route as an employee.
I just graduated with a poli sci degree (3.85 GPA) along with internship experience, fantastic references...and I'm 34 and already had 12 years technical experience (I'm trying to get out of IT).
I just graduated with a poli sci degree (3.85 GPA) along with internship experience, fantastic references...and I'm 34 and already had 12 years technical experience (I'm trying to get out of IT).
I can't find any jobs other than IT positions.
What are you looking to do? Unfortunately a lot of poli sci work relates to local, state, and federal government, which are all suffering from budget problems right now.
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