Political Science Major (BA, BS, HBA, HBS)	Print Version
	College of Liberal Arts | Political Science

Students selecting a major in political science must complete 52 credits of political science course work, of which at least 36 credits must be upper-division courses. As part of these overall credit totals, political science majors must complete:

I. Five Foundation Courses

Normally, foundation courses are taken in a student’s first two years. The department encourages students to take them in their first or second year.

PS 201. *Intro to United States Government (4)
PS 204. *Intro to Comparative Politics (4)
PS 205. *Intro to International Relations (4)
PS 206. *Intro to Political Thought (4)
PS 400. Political Analysis (4)

Majors must take the prerequisite foundation course in a given subfield before enrolling in upper-division subfield courses. (For example, PS 201 must be taken prior to enrolling in PS 321.)

II. Four Upper-division Subfield Courses

One course each from at least three of the four following subfields:

1. American national government and politics, to include the judiciary, state and local government, public policy, public administration
2. Comparative politics
3. International relations
4. Political philosophy

III. The Political Field Work Requirement

Either:
PS 406. Projects (2) and PS 410. Internship (1–12)
Or:
Petition the department in writing to accept other field political experience.

Students may take up to 12 credits of PS 410, Internship, but only 4 of these credits will count toward the Political Science major and minor. Credits over the 4-credit maximum may be applied toward general graduation requirements.

IV. A Capstone Course Experience

Either:

A Writing Intensive Course (WIC, designated with a ^) that is in a subdiscipline in which the student is interested:
PS 419. ^Topics in American Politics (4)
PS 429. ^Topics in Judicial Politics (4)
PS 449. ^Topics in Comparative Politics (4)
PS 459. ^Topics in International Relations (4)
PS 469. ^Topics in Political Philosophy (4)
PS 479. ^Topics in Public Policy and Public Administration (4)

Or:

A three-term, three-course senior thesis sequence:
PS 401. Research and Scholarship (1–16)
PS 402. Independent Study (1–16)
PS 403. Thesis (1–16)

Majors are required to maintain a minimum cumulative 2.50 grade point average for all political science course work.

Candidates for a BA degree must complete the university foreign language requirement. Students pursuing a BS degree must complete 15 credits in mathematics, computer science and/or quantitative studies (for students beginning fall 1997 or transfers beginning fall 1999) as follows:

1. Computer science (3–4 credits), and

2. Any course from the College of Science except math or statistics (3–4 credits), and

3. One of the following (8 credits):

1. Any 8 credits of departmentally approved statistics (ST) courses, 4 credits of which must be at the 300-level or above (8 credits).
2. MTH 111 and MTH 245 (8 credits).
3. Any 8 credits of MTH courses at the 200 level or above (not including MTH 211, MTH 212, MTH 213, MTH 391, or MTH 392).
4. MTH 241 or MTH 251, and ST 351 (8 credits). Economics majors.

Courses used to satisfy the BS requirements may not also be used to satisfy baccalaureate core requirements. Many departments require specific courses to satisfy this set of requirements; students should consult their academic advisor for details.

Students interested in graduate study are advised to acquire competence in statistics and computer data processing. Students interested in law school should consult Rorie Solberg, pre-law advisor, in their second year.

No more than 6 credits from PS 402–PS 406 and PS 410 may be applied to the major.