Political Science?

[LawMan018]

Hey guys! Long time no see. I've been really busy so haven't been on much since early 2011. I'm finishing up with an Associate of Arts degree in General Education and should be finished by mid to late this year depending on what I need to transfer as a Junior. Basically, it has taken me this long to figure out what interests me.
As the title says I'm interested in either Political Science or International Relations as a degree option and was wondering if any members have a similar degree and if you were happy with it. Were you able to get a good job and one you enjoyed with it? Again, I'm just in the early stages of preparing everything and just looking for some insight from someone who has knowledge in that area.

[awms]

Il be honest with you a political science degree or any arts major for that matter doesnt mean anything in most business circles....most companies just want to know you have a degree...does not matter if you major in political science or zoo animals lol a degree will get your foot in the door. That being said if your an out going, hard working person you can go far in any company! my brother has a b.a in political science and now works for a large company making 80 000 year (started at 30 000) but he worked his way up and now at only 28 hes making a solid living and has a nice house, nice car ect ect. Most degrees unforchantly are not worth the paper they are written on...its hard to hear when you just worked your ass off for 4-5 years and spend thousands haha but unforchantly thats the truth. I came to this realization while I was studying kinesiology...found it to be a total over hyped and over priced degree with to many random elective classes so I dropped out, took the money I was going to spend on college and certified my self as a personal trainer, bought 6000 dollars worth of gym equipment and now I make more then most of my peer with degrees.

[awms]

since I did not really answer your question here you go haha I just wanted to shed light on the topic with my opinion.

Do what you love to do! think about what you have a passion for even if its stupid and do it! dont get stuck sitting behind a desk at a shitty job you hate just because its the "next step"...I took a massive chance by dropping out of school to pursue my dream but Im glad I did! and now its paying off.

[gixxerboy1]

Il be honest with you a political science degree or any arts major for that matter doesnt mean anything in most business circles....most companies just want to know you have a degree...does not matter if you major in political science or zoo animals lol a degree will get your foot in the door. That being said if your an out going, hard working person you can go far in any company! my brother has a b.a in political science and now works for a large company making 80 000 year (started at 30 000) but he worked his way up and now at only 28 hes making a solid living and has a nice house, nice car ect ect. Most degrees unforchantly are not worth the paper they are written on...its hard to hear when you just worked your ass off for 4-5 years and spend thousands haha but unforchantly thats the truth. I came to this realization while I was studying kinesiology...found it to be a total over hyped and over priced degree with to many random elective classes so I dropped out, took the money I was going to spend on college and certified my self as a personal trainer, bought 6000 dollars worth of gym equipment and now I make more then most of my peer with degrees.

i completely agree

[Times Roman]

unless you plan on doing something technical.

there is no substitute for an accounting degree if that's going to be your field. well, the degree is just the first step actually.

[Kingweb50]

My friend has a masters in public policy and international relations. He is having the most difficult time finding a job. He says there are lots of jobs out there but they all want 5-10 years experience and nobody is willing to let someone "new" in the door to get the experience. Also, the jobs in that field do not pay the best, There are much better options available that would be more useful in the real world I would think.

[Hoggage_54]

Not worth it in my opinion... it's a pseudo science... students graduate thinking they understand the world and think they can solve it with political and economic ideologies, but then they enter the real world and everything they learned was crap.

[awms]

The problem is there is an education bubble right now and education is not what it once was...in the past having a university or college education was a big deal! but the education system has become so corrupt and commercial that now you learn what ever big business wants you to learn. Once big business was allowed to but their nose into the education system it went to shit!! soon after came student loans so now even the "poor" and middle class can go to college! lol Now an education is more about making money then actually educating students.

Most degree's could realistically be done in 2-3 years but they add in a bunch of extra electives and credits to squeeze more money from you, you buy more books, parking passes ect ect and they make more money....then you leave school with a piece of paper saying you have a b.a in "surfing and water" (thats a real degree by the way) and you cant find a job because the 200 other student interviewing for the same job also have a degree.

If you want an education do it because you really want to learn about a specific topic other wise its a waste....if your doing it so you can make more money I can assure you that you will be disappointed!

[Nooomoto]

Hey guys! Long time no see. I've been really busy so haven't been on much since early 2011. I'm finishing up with an Associate of Arts degree in General Education and should be finished by mid to late this year depending on what I need to transfer as a Junior. Basically, it has taken me this long to figure out what interests me.
As the title says I'm interested in either Political Science or International Relations as a degree option and was wondering if any members have a similar degree and if you were happy with it. Were you able to get a good job and one you enjoyed with it? Again, I'm just in the early stages of preparing everything and just looking for some insight from someone who has knowledge in that area.

I hold a BA in Poli Sci and an MA in INR. I'm currently employed by a large, private corporation as an intelligence analyst, and have begun the application process for a career with a government agency (I've taken the CI and lifestyle polygraph exams necessary for security clearance, waiting for the recheck to come back). Analysis is work I thoroughly enjoy and will even more-so if I get the government job, as I'll be doing something that has real-world effect. It's not for everyone and can be tedious. The people you produce product for often have wild expectations that seldom reflect the reality of the situation. The work also requires you maintain some level of security clearance (depending on what exactly you are doing), which can put limitations on some people's chosen lifestyles. Things like debt, international travel, illicit drug use, etc come into question. More often than not it's debt that will cause you to lose your clearance. This is something to consider.

I would say that the majority of Poli Sci grads who wish to continue in the field go to law school, as it opens a wider array of avenues to pursue within the field and lends a legitimacy to you. I chose to continue on to graduate school instead...not really sure why. Being a lawyer just didn't really interest me. As mentioned above, most corporations and places that would be hiring don't really care necessarily what your degree is in, more that you have one. My father for instance had a degree in accounting and went on to become a Senior Special Agent with US Customs (before it was ICE), he was responsible for implementing the ability to respond tactically to hostile situations with expedience, and spear-headed many large undercover operations here in Miami in the 80s and 90s. He saw a lot of action and retired happy. He had former military experience which helped, but my point being that your area of study in which you get your degree doesn't necessarily dictate what you do with the rest of your life.

PM me if you have any questions as responses can get quite lengthy. LOL.

[thegodfather]

I have my B.A. in Political Science, from a very well regarded university. Let me explain to you LawMan, that in most cases, there are very few Bachelor degrees which translate DIRECTLY into a job field. Whoever mentioned PoliSci as a pseudo science, thats not really correct. I dont think there is anyone who actually claims (including Political Scientists) that PoliSci qualifies as a 'science' of any sort. I think it would be more fair to call Psychology a pseudo science, as the people in those fields actually consider what they do to be backed up by scientific theory. Anyway, the vast majority of bachelor degrees, if they are in a particular subject/major area of study, just scratch the surface of knowledge in that field.

Many people miss the point of the Baccalaureate degree. Most of the time, it is not for that degree to translate directly into a 'specific' job field. The point is, that you chose a topic that you are passionate about, and studied that topic for 4 years. the B.A./B.S. also helps make you a more well rounded, educated, and versatile person. This is the point of colleges requiring you to take 64 credits of liberal arts, humanities, mathematics, and various other electives. The point of the Baccalaureate is to give you a broad knowledge base, and then to be able to transition into a graduate program of some sort. You must also consider that there are essentially two paths when moving into higher education, the Practioner/Private sector field, and the Research/Teaching/Academia field. This basically means, are you going to pursue a path in higher education where you enter into the private work force, are a practioner in some field (law/medicine), etc; or do you pursue a path such as a PhD which in 99% of fields will qualify you as a researcher, and a teacher in that particular field.

There are a small number of Bachelor degrees which translate directly into jobs, the ones that come to mind quickest are- Actuarial Science(matematics), Accounting, Biochemistry/Chemistry, Human Resources, Computer Science, Education, and maybe 1-2 other degrees. Other then that, in any OTHER field, the minimum requirement is an M.A./M.S., at the Masters level to be considered close to an expert in that field,or to allow you to teach as an adjunct professor at a university. Most degrees lay the groundwork for pursuing higher education beyond the Bacclaureate level. Whats important to realize, is that most graduate programs, regardless of the field they are in, DO NOT REQUIRE you to have a Bachelors degree in that particular field, some will just require you have a certain number of courses in that field completed. Medical school, Law school, Business school (MBA), all only require a BA/BS in any field. While medical school requires 8 courses in specific course work, the others do not. Often they just require a GRE/GMAT score. Other fields like DPT(Doctor of Physical Therapy), PsyD (Psychology Practioner), Nursing school, etc, require you to go and complete 5-10 courses that you may not have covered in your undergraduate coursework.

The job market is very similar. The majority of jobs do not require that you have a BA/BS in any particular field, or coursework, they simply want you to have a bachelors degree to demonstrate you are a well rounded and educated individual, and you've demonstrated the dedication to pursue 4 years of higher education. The trend as of late, is for more and more people with BA/BS's to be competing for ENTRY LEVEL positions, that in the past, would have required only a high school diploma. The BA/BS has been relegated to the status of essentially being the 'new' HS diploma. As someone mentioned previously, there is an education bubble. Theres a very interesting video out, the name of which escapes me, but which shows that in a lot of cases it is not economically feasible to get a college degree. It's interesting, because if a lot of company's do not require a degree in a specific field of study, then you wonder, why do they require one at all? Well the answer is pretty simple, its a very effective way to weed people out, and because there are SO MANY people with college degrees out there, they can afford to be selective and still get a significant number of clients with aptitutde.

The Bachelors degree has been diminished greatly by the vast amount of people pursuing college now. In the past 20 years, the number of people earning college degrees has sky rocketed. This is very much in part to the liberal ideology that "everyone" can get a college education, or should be able to get a college education. Well, as we know with any market, once you flood the market with a huge supply, the demand goes down significantly. Currently, the market is flooded with bachelor degree holders, and therefore people either have to settle for jobs at a significantly reduced salary, have a super super niche specialty area of work/expertise, or pursue levels of progressively higher education in order to beat other applicants. We are a nation of overqualified paper holders. We also let far too many people into college, who really shouldnt be there.

This is a large part of why the United States economy has switched from a production/manufacturing economy, to a service/information based economy. For instance, many companies no longer produce drugs, they simply have found that they can take drugs from the Chinese, and MARKET them better. This is just one instance, but we could sit here for days and discuss the ways in which the economy has fundamentally changed as a whole.

Perhaps it would be better if you told us what job you are specifically looking to obtain, your long term career goal? Then we can give you some input on how to eventually obtain that job. As for myself, since you asked in the OP thread, I have a B.A. in Political Science, I took my LSAT's and got a 172, but then decided that I did not want to be a lawyer, talk about another field which is completely flooded with J.D.'s (getting a job as a lawyer is f**ing insanely hard, at least decent paying), among other reasons. So I completed the 8 courses I need to be eligible for Medical School, and I'm applying this Spring. Thats still one area of the job market, where I can get into, pick a hard and competitive specialty, and become indispensible.

[tcw]

Well said.

are you interested in Politics?

That's what your Poly sci degree is good for. Inter with a political office and move to the capital of your state. INtern with a government agency or a political candidate. You're gonna have to bust your arse and shine some shoes....but that's what it takes to get a job in politics. A BS or BA doesn't carry much weight anymore....unless its a speicalized degree in a field where the demand it great.

Nursing, Accounting, Comp.Sci, some Types of Engineering, those come to mind off the top of my head. Don't forget to count your finances too. You don't want to graduate with a 100k bill....and be without a job when you get out.
That sucks!

A friend of mine keep getting degree, after degree. The dude must of had 3 bachelors degrees....and a masters degree before landing a job as a professor. I'm not talking about basket weaving...he had degrees in Civil Engineering, Math, Science, Master's in Engineering....a real brain. But the truth of the matter is....he didn't find any work that appealed to him...so he just stayed in school. Later...he ended up persuing a PHd in Engineering and teaching at the college level (now that's a cake Job if there ever was one).

I have my B.A. in Political Science, from a very well regarded university. Let me explain to you LawMan, that in most cases, there are very few Bachelor degrees which translate DIRECTLY into a job field. Whoever mentioned PoliSci as a pseudo science, thats not really correct. I dont think there is anyone who actually claims (including Political Scientists) that PoliSci qualifies as a 'science' of any sort. I think it would be more fair to call Psychology a pseudo science, as the people in those fields actually consider what they do to be backed up by scientific theory. Anyway, the vast majority of bachelor degrees, if they are in a particular subject/major area of study, just scratch the surface of knowledge in that field.

Many people miss the point of the Baccalaureate degree. Most of the time, it is not for that degree to translate directly into a 'specific' job field. The point is, that you chose a topic that you are passionate about, and studied that topic for 4 years. the B.A./B.S. also helps make you a more well rounded, educated, and versatile person. This is the point of colleges requiring you to take 64 credits of liberal arts, humanities, mathematics, and various other electives. The point of the Baccalaureate is to give you a broad knowledge base, and then to be able to transition into a graduate program of some sort. You must also consider that there are essentially two paths when moving into higher education, the Practioner/Private sector field, and the Research/Teaching/Academia field. This basically means, are you going to pursue a path in higher education where you enter into the private work force, are a practioner in some field (law/medicine), etc; or do you pursue a path such as a PhD which in 99% of fields will qualify you as a researcher, and a teacher in that particular field.

This is a large part of why the United States economy has switched from a production/manufacturing economy, to a service/information based economy. For instance, many companies no longer produce drugs, they simply have found that they can take drugs from the Chinese, and MARKET them better. This is just one instance, but we could sit here for days and discuss the ways in which the economy has fundamentally changed as a whole.

Perhaps it would be better if you told us what job you are specifically looking to obtain, your long term career goal? Then we can give you some input on how to eventually obtain that job. As for myself, since you asked in the OP thread, I have a B.A. in Political Science, I took my LSAT's and got a 172, but then decided that I did not want to be a lawyer, talk about another field which is completely flooded with J.D.'s (getting a job as a lawyer is f**ing insanely hard, at least decent paying), among other reasons. So I completed the 8 courses I need to be eligible for Medical School, and I'm applying this Spring. Thats still one area of the job market, where I can get into, pick a hard and competitive specialty, and become indispensible.

[wmaousley]

sweating from reading the above post, Man thats a workout. lol

From my experience with working around various government agencies, More than a fare share of CIA, DIA, NSA, TF Orange, USASOC, JSOC etc; guys are Political Science Majors. For some unknown reasons to me, seems the people with a Political Science Major with a foreign Language skill end up with the ABC groups.

International Relations nor political science are degrees I would get if I planned on a career in the private sector. If I could go back I wouldve majored in some form of ENgineering, I am a finance Major and a business major. Both suck ass IMO.

[Sc0rch]

I have a BSEE from UCF and have done very well with it. I don't think a Poli Sci or IR degree would do much good at the bachelors level.

Engineering, accounting, physics, organic chemistry, computer science will do well at the BS level.