In the future I want to get involved in politics, and I want to learn about “Global” politics meaning not solely based in the United States, And I don’t just want to learn about global “Law”, I want to learn about Law, History, Sociology, and Business.
At first I was going to pursue a Masters in Political Science because it seemed to include my interest but lately I’ve been hearing that degree isn’t taken seriously by anyone and the only people who are taken seriously in politics are people with Law or MBA degrees, is that true?
It seems like Law degrees are focused only on laws in the United States so I feel I would miss out in a lot of my interest if I go that route.
MBA programs seems to be more “Global based” but It doesn’t seem like they touch topics such as History and Sociology so I also feel I would miss out in some of my interest if I go that route.
Any advise?
Major in whatever is most interesting to you. Electives can round it out. Lots of lawyers go into politics but it is not like it is a prerequisite. More that the same type of people are attracted to both jobs. Understand the economy. Understand US history. Global is OK, but not really going to get you elected.
You can’t equally pursue all of your interests. At some point, you are going to have to choose one, and focus your career on that. That’s not to say that you can’t change careers later, but there’s no graduate degree that you can take that will focus equally on law, history, sociology, and business. Moreover, you do a master’s degree not just to learn more stuff, but to prepare yourself for some kind of career. You get a JD because you want to be a lawyer (and JD programs don’t teach you the law; they teach you how to think like a lawyer).
Of course the only people in politics are not people with law and business degrees. Look up the background of your state and local politicians and you’ll see that’s untrue. The governor of my state has a PhD (not sure what it’s in). The junior senator from my state has a BA in government, but no graduate degrees. Our U.S. representatives include a carpenter who never attended college, a former therapeutic recreation specialist, a PhD-level psychologist, a former Air Force officer, a guy with an MPA, a guy with a BS in community development, a guy with a master’s in public policy, and a former construction manager. (I will say, though, that JDs are vastly overrepresented in politics.)
You can go into politics with any kind of degree; I think JDs are overrepresented in politics because the kind of people who are interested in running for office are also the kind of people who are interested in being lawyers. That doesn’t mean you can’t be successful without one - as most people are probably unaware of the educations of most of their elected officials. (I had to look up the ones I listed above.)
But you shouldn’t shell out money for a degree that’s not going to lead you to a career, and surely you must have a career in mind for before you entire politics or as a backup plan. So finish college and think about what you want to do first before you decide on a grad degree.
Just wanted to add this: You can start volunteering in a political campaign right now. Campaigns need volunteers and if you are willing to make a commitment of time and you are willing to do grunt work, you can learn much about politics from working in campaigns. You could also look for internships in congressional offices as a college student. There are all sorts of hands on experiences that can tell you if politics is something you want to pursue. In the meantime, get your undergraduate degree and study economics, history, international relations, etc and learn about the world and become a well rounded person.