espressoroast

I've been happily taking poli sci classes and planning to major in it, but I just read a few things on the internet about how it's not necessarily a well-respected or prestigious major. Prestige is, of course, not the determining factor when it comes to deciding your major, but it is discouraging to read things about how political science is one of the easiest majors to get a good GPA in. I plan to go into law or international relations, so it's a logical thing to study, but I wonder if/how/why the major appears to have this reputation? I love reading academic political essays and writing papers about international politics, but I wouldn't call it "easy"...I guess the grading can be more subjective than, say, math or economics, but...

tenisghs

@ espressoroast

I would not say Political Science is a boring and easy major. Some people will have a natural talent for politics and political theory. Others will pursue interests in other majors. It is an excellent liberal arts major that will prepare you for many careers. Advanced education may be required (law, grad school, etc.). Do not listen to others and major in what you're passionate and do well.

Student35

I wouldn't classify any of the arts and sciences as "easy." As for excitement, I find politics exciting, and if you do too then study it because you have a passion for it and because you do well with it. I personally find politcal scince to be a lot more interesting than math or economics. Subjects such as political science, history, sociology, and philosophy will challenge you and help develop your critical thinking skills.

Lumine

I'm in the same boat with mine, psychology. It's frustrating that people put it down. I say we get our degrees and then kick their butts I am interested in what people have to say about this, though. Personally, I don't know enough about poli sci to try to judge it one way or the other.

kelseyg

People probably think it's easy because they take intro or low level classes which are easy. That's the case with most humanities ("I took psych 101 and it was soo easy, I could totally be a psychiatrist if I wanted to.")

gprime

I think much of it comes from the difference in expectations. Most of the people I know who complain about Political Science are engineering or natural science majors. Their courses consist of regular labs and problem sets. To them, they expect regular "work" that they have to do in groups. With Political Science majors, the work is more of a "read this book and write a 10 page analysis" a few times a semester, and then take exams sort of major. They don't realize what is involved in reading and analyzing hundreds of pages of upper level theory a week, applying it in practical analysis, forming and presenting cogent arguements based on it, and otherwise weaving together significant amounts of abstract material to construct a more elaborate and broadly applicable theory. Were they to take a few upper level courses, they might change their minds.

eva10127

What? WHO dare say Psychology is easy......-_-, screw them. I'd love to laugh at them if they flunk a cognitive psychology 300 level. Challenge that if you want. Psych is easy T_T plsh........clinical psychology is most competitive right now, see if they can accomplish that.

Yes I hate how people comment about me majoring in psychology. "It's a cold job out there."......."Psychology?....oh....can you read my mind now?".....

Sorry, but it really irritate me to read that. xD

Son of Opie

Poli Sci was hard from what I heard at my school, but then again, people graduating from the department had something around a 100% acceptance rate into law school...

Grande Antilles

and useless some people say

sefago

From experience Political science is easy. The average GPA for political science majors should be around 3.6-3.7. Science majors complain because they do feel it is easier comparative to the work they do for their classes. I used to remember during freshman year(I am a science major) I used to come back home at 2 in the morning from the library and I saw my neighbor watching movies like everyday on his laptop and he was studying something related to political science. He also had like a 1990 SAT score and a GPA of 3.7. I had a SAT score 200+ higher and my GPA was far lower than his. However, the political science classes I have taken have been interesting and challenging but I don't put that much work into them

eva10127

wow 3.6-3.7...I thought History majors will get that. Well I never took a pol sci class before. I do have friends in the field that have about the same GPA. But maybe it depends from person to person.

Maybe people say it's "easy" because it does not get updated as much? Politics/Law does not involve scientific research with "new findings". Similar to history? Because I do find history easy since nothing can change history. It's still the same information no matter what way you learn it. (im a history minor)

Student35

I'm not sure why you think the GPA for poli sci majors "should be" anything. You have an equal chance to get as high of a GPA as anybody in any field. You CHOSE to study subject that you are studying.

The way subjects such as history are studied differ from the biological sciences. As for not being "updated," every discipline in the social sciences and humanities turns up new findings through scholarly research. There is just as much scholarly research done if fields such as history, poli sci or anything as there is the biological sciences. There's always a new way to interpret and analyze the past. Archaeologists can discover "new findings" just as biologists. Everything that you discover in the biological science was always there. It just takes you people longer to find it.

sefago

I concluded that the average GPA was around 3.6-3.7 because most people I met who majored in political science had GPAs of around that or even higher. This GPA wasn't common in my science class though. You pick what you study but it is incontestable that some subject matter is harder than others. I find some science classes easier than my history or political class- yes but I find out that if I put the amount of work into political science classes that I put into say organic chemistry- I was always guaranteed an A while organic chemistry was a B+

meltymervin

What does poli. sci. study exactly? I was never really clear. The one piece of advice: if you really like poli. sci. - GO FOR IT! it will be a great major if you are passionate... For example: I thought I would like psychology because of the possibility of becoming a therapist. However, I had always had a talent for maths... this talent burst through half through the semester, and I got really depressed about my psych major: me and my colleagues had nothing in common... all they wanted was the money, not necessarily to heal people. I switched into a pure math major and now I am taking 3-4 maths classes per semester and still getting a 4.0 (just found my final grades today-big relief). I found psych easy, but it just wasn't me, nor were the other people in it (honestly, i think most of behaviorism is complete BS, I like the positive attitude of humanism, keeps me from going back to depression ). Go in to poly sci, no worries about what people think, 'cause the only reason people call other majors easy is because they don't truly under stand them, or they have a weakness in that area.

kelseyg

I would strongly disagree - political theory is often the study of past ideas, and often you must study past events as in history, but much of political science is examining current or recent events.