5 ms·

Honest question, what does one do with a Political Science degree anyway?

tropo 8y ago
The CIA hires them. If you want to actually take part in something political, like a political assassination, that would be the way to do it and even get paid. Heh. Maybe that is his real job. He wouldn't tell us, would he?
dragonwriter 8y ago
> what does one do with a Political Science degree anyway? It's a pretty common undergraduate degree for people going into graduate/professional education in public policy, public administration, and law, and more generally for people seeking to work either in or for groups seeking to influence the political and policy organs of government. Though some of us just build computing systems. Graduate degrees in political science may be less immediately relevant outside of the academy, but that's not really a change: it's not a field where most new developments have ever been quickly reduced from theory to practical application (which is mostly done by people policy/admin folks—the engineers and mechanics of government to the polisci scientists—drawing on the work of academics, not by political scientists themselves.)
akhilcacharya 8y ago
I was seriously considering double majoring in it in undergrad and still toy with applying to grad programs. For me, it’s just intense interest. I don’t really care what I’ll do with it.
- bbatha 8y ago
  I did just that and enjoyed the heck out of it. I found game theory to be fascinating from the perspective of a computer science student. I even managed to find a cross over grad class about using computational hardness to compare and prevent attacks on election systems.
inflatableDodo 8y ago
Given the recent news regarding Kerry and Massie, I'd say that one of the more important functional uses of the discipline is to trigger engineers who are trying to dismiss climatology, into making incredibly stupid arguments.
superhuzza 8y ago
The degree is fairly relevant for certain positions in government, NGOs, academia, national institutions, diplomacy think tanks, lobbies and more.
- jMyles 8y ago
  So you dispute the findings of the article then? If so, I think that a higher value comment is to explain why you disagree rather than to just say the opposite of what the article says.
  - deleted 8y ago
    [deleted]
tdeck 8y ago
Looks like it's pretty mixed; many go into finance: https://www.vpul.upenn.edu/careerservices/undergrad/majors/psci.php https://www.vpul.upenn.edu/careerservices/undergrad/majors/p...
- akhilcacharya 8y ago
  This says more about Penn than it does about Political Science graduates as a whole...
  - tdeck 8y ago
    Sure, but it was the first survey I could find after poking around for a bit. I'd be interested in seeing something more extensive if you can find it.
jMyles 8y ago
I think most of us frame it and then let it sit in our parents' attic - just like anybody else with a degree, really. :-) For real, though: I work in decentralized tech. I mean, a lot of people coming out of college work in some technology field, regardless of their degree.
zigzaggy 8y ago
I have a polisci degree. I help small and medium sized technology companies do business with various government agencies, primarily through relationship building, grants and proposal writing. Being exposed to cutting edge technologies, and often surrounded by passionate and intelligent people, is a rewarding career for me. And I’m self employed with several regular clients, so I have time to continue learning programming and other fun things.
astine 8y ago
I have a polisci degree. I write computer code for a living. More seriously, most of my classmates have either gone on to law school or gotten jobs with political fundraising groups.
cafard 8y ago
In my day (1970s), most PoliSci majors seemed to wish to go to law school. For that matter, I knew one who wished to go to grad school in the field, but settled for law school when a fellowship didn't come through.

The CIA hires them. If you want to actually take part in something political, like a political assassination, that would be the way to do it and even get paid. Heh. Maybe that is his real job. He wouldn't tell us, would he?

dragonwriter 8y ago

> what does one do with a Political Science degree anyway? It's a pretty common undergraduate degree for people going into graduate/professional education in public policy, public administration, and law, and more generally for people seeking to work either in or for groups seeking to influence the political and policy organs of government. Though some of us just build computing systems. Graduate degrees in political science may be less immediately relevant outside of the academy, but that's not really a change: it's not a field where most new developments have ever been quickly reduced from theory to practical application (which is mostly done by people policy/admin folks—the engineers and mechanics of government to the polisci scientists—drawing on the work of academics, not by political scientists themselves.)

akhilcacharya 8y ago

I was seriously considering double majoring in it in undergrad and still toy with applying to grad programs. For me, it’s just intense interest. I don’t really care what I’ll do with it.

bbatha 8y ago
I did just that and enjoyed the heck out of it. I found game theory to be fascinating from the perspective of a computer science student. I even managed to find a cross over grad class about using computational hardness to compare and prevent attacks on election systems.

inflatableDodo 8y ago

Given the recent news regarding Kerry and Massie, I'd say that one of the more important functional uses of the discipline is to trigger engineers who are trying to dismiss climatology, into making incredibly stupid arguments.

superhuzza 8y ago

The degree is fairly relevant for certain positions in government, NGOs, academia, national institutions, diplomacy think tanks, lobbies and more.

jMyles 8y ago
So you dispute the findings of the article then? If so, I think that a higher value comment is to explain why you disagree rather than to just say the opposite of what the article says.
- deleted 8y ago
  [deleted]

tdeck 8y ago

Looks like it's pretty mixed; many go into finance: https://www.vpul.upenn.edu/careerservices/undergrad/majors/psci.php https://www.vpul.upenn.edu/careerservices/undergrad/majors/p...

akhilcacharya 8y ago
This says more about Penn than it does about Political Science graduates as a whole...
- tdeck 8y ago
  Sure, but it was the first survey I could find after poking around for a bit. I'd be interested in seeing something more extensive if you can find it.

jMyles 8y ago

I think most of us frame it and then let it sit in our parents' attic - just like anybody else with a degree, really. :-) For real, though: I work in decentralized tech. I mean, a lot of people coming out of college work in some technology field, regardless of their degree.

zigzaggy 8y ago

I have a polisci degree. I help small and medium sized technology companies do business with various government agencies, primarily through relationship building, grants and proposal writing. Being exposed to cutting edge technologies, and often surrounded by passionate and intelligent people, is a rewarding career for me. And I’m self employed with several regular clients, so I have time to continue learning programming and other fun things.

astine 8y ago

I have a polisci degree. I write computer code for a living. More seriously, most of my classmates have either gone on to law school or gotten jobs with political fundraising groups.

cafard 8y ago

In my day (1970s), most PoliSci majors seemed to wish to go to law school. For that matter, I knew one who wished to go to grad school in the field, but settled for law school when a fellowship didn't come through.