Degree: Bachelor of Arts (BA)
Major: Political Science

Program Overview

The Department of Political Science offers a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science. Each student, upon declaring a major in political science, will be assigned to a faculty advisor to assist the student in course planning and considering their path after graduation. The department encourages students to develop broad substantive knowledge and methodological skills, and to take courses from across the three major subfields of Comparative Politics, International Relations, and US Politics. We recommend, but do not require, that students take our Research Methods seminar.  The department has no prerequisite course requirements.

Learning Outcomes

• Students will be able to assess and discuss competing arguments concerning politics and political institutions and systems.
• Students will be able to apply political science generalizations (e.g. theories, categories and causal arguments) to real world political events.
• Students will be able to define their own questions about politics, based on both their own curiosity and understanding of existing scholarship.
• Students will be able to identify and apply appropriate strategies to investigate questions about politics and political processes. This includes selecting tools from among the range of methods used by political scientists, and using them in ways that help to test ideas and craft arguments.
• Students will be able to communicate analysis and conclusions of one’s research and writing both orally and in writing.

Undergraduate Policies

For undergraduate policies and procedures, please review the Undergraduate Academics section of the General Bulletin.

Accelerated Master's Programs

Undergraduate students may participate in accelerated programs toward graduate or professional degrees. For more information and details of the policies and procedures related to accelerated studies, please visit the Undergraduate Academics section of the General Bulletin.

Program Requirements

Students seeking to complete this major and degree program must meet the general requirements for bachelor's degrees and the Unified General Education Requirements. Students completing this program as a secondary major while completing another undergraduate degree program do not need to satisfy the school-specific requirements associated with this major.

The major in political science leads to the Bachelor of Arts degree. The major requires 30 credit hours of coursework, distributed as follows:

a

At least four of these courses must be at the 300-level

Students select courses based on their specific interests, with approval of the faculty advisor. No more than 6 credit hours of independent study (i.e., POSC 395 and/or POSC 396) may count toward the major. Independent study completed through the Washington Center Program is excluded from this limitation.

Departmental Honors

Majors who maintain a grade point average of at least 3.3 overall on completion of senior year and 3.7 in political science courses, and who earn a grade of A in POSC 396, will be eligible to be nominated to receive their degrees “with Honors in Political Science.”