Degree programs - Department of Politics and International Relations

Today's graduates can reasonably expect to change jobs, even careers, several times over the course of their working years.

An undergraduate education in politics is excellent preparation for this necessary flexibility in employment. Recruiters look for individuals who are well spoken, can do thorough research, and can think clearly; companies can teach the specific technical skills they require, but they cannot compensate for the essential qualities that make for bright and articulate employees.

After graduation  

Our students have found significant success in the world of work. Among the jobs they have secured: attorney, city planner, social psychologist, foreign-service officer, budget analyst, university professor, interest group administrator, congressional staffer—one alumnus is even a golf course architect! The range of vocations suggests the potential of the politics major.

And though we cannot make promises, there is published survey evidence that within ten years of graduation students with degrees in the social sciences achieve higher status positions within the workplace, earn higher incomes, and express greater career satisfaction than do their peers with degrees in scientific and technical fields of study.

Our students' record in gaining admission to top tier graduate and law schools is equally solid. Harvard, Oxford, Penn, Virginia, Toronto, North Carolina, Duke, and Syracuse have all received our majors. In addition, our students have won several prestigious fellowships for graduate study; including the Fulbright, Truman, and Rhodes scholarships (though, in truth, we shared the latter student with our friends in the English Department).