What can I do with my Political Science degree?
Typical career options for Political Science graduates include: government service and diplomacy, politics, law, teaching, journalism, business, and work as lobbyists, public affairs officers and directors of non-profit institutions, interest groups and international organizations. Political Science majors can venture into any of these paths due to their strong liberal arts foundation and their ability to analyze and assess the political arena and the policy processes that characterize it.

UMBC Political Science students have gone on to such outstanding law and graduate schools as Yale, the University of Chicago and the University of Virginia, as well as all Baltimore and Washington metropolitan area schools. They have become judges and major partners in law firms, executive officers of major corporations, and some hold prominent administrative positions in the government. Some have become foreign service officers or have achieved cabinet-level positions in state and local governments. Many have become tenured faculty members at colleges and universities. Sixty percent of political science majors go on to take advanced degrees, over half in law.

Law
Some students venture into the legal path by applying to law school. The prospective law student needs critical understanding of human institutions and values. Here political science offers a good preparation, focusing on government institutions and the political process which influences the legal branch. Despite the relative steady annual growth in the number of law graduates, the demand for lawyers remain. There are many different areas of specialization within law and the demand for lawyers with expertise in the newer fields of regulation and public policy, such as environmental law and international law is valuable. Furthermore, increasing numbers of persons with legal training are being employed by corporations, governments, banks, the media, and virtually all types of organizations in American society and internationally.

Government and Public Service

Other Political Science graduates enter the executive branch of the federal government which includes civil service, independent agencies and commissions, the intelligence community, defense, the foreign service and political appointments. There are also good opportunities for recent college graduates to work in Congress, as a staff member for individual members of Congress or for committees. Others find jobs in the congressional and the judicial branches of government in the executive offices which service Congress and the courts - the General Accounting Office, the Congressional Budget Office, the Congressional Research Service, the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts, and the Federal Judicial Center. Others prefer to work in the state and local government labor forces. These include departments and agencies of state and city government; positions with chief executives at the state, county or local levels or in the state legislatures or county and local councils.

Politics

Political Science majors are also well-suited to work with interest groups such as organizations of like-minded citizens, associations of business firms, individual corporations and labor unions. These organizations look for people with the ability to analyze and address public policy as well as to plan ways to affect favorably the outcomes of political processes. Work in these organizations would include advocating particular policy choices and trying to persuade public officials to see the policy situation their way. Similar to this type of work is that with political parties, individual campaigns and campaign consulting firms. More and more people are entering electoral politics with the goal of becoming campaign consultants. Campaigns require people who are willing to work long hours, often for little pay, particularly at the entry level positions, and often who are willing to travel. This profession is not for someone who wants regular, stable office hours.

Eduction

Still others decide to become elementary or secondary school teachers. There are opportunities to use political science knowledge in government and history courses. If they become school administrators at the local or district levels, political science training can be profitably applied to basic problem solving situations. Political science majors who are inclined to work with young people should investigate opportunities for teaching in both public and private schools. These careers help meet a societal need and also offer relatively good entry level pay for nine to ten months of formal job time.

Academia

Lastly, for those who wish to pursue a career in political science itself, most of the available jobs will continue to be in the colleges and universities. A Ph.D. degree is virtually a prerequisite for any of these positions. Other job opportunities that are available for professional political scientists also require advanced degrees. These career openings may be found in professional research organizations or think-tanks, survey research institutes, and foreign affairs research organizations that operate either privately or under the sponsorship of the government.