Political Science, BA or BS; Pre-Law Concentration

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The major in political science requires completion of HIST 222 , and POSC 100 , at least one credit of an internship or directed research, and 34 credits in additional work in political science. Qualified majors may avail themselves of Congressional District Office Internships around the state, internships with the Washington Center and Institute for Experiential Learning in Washington, D.C., law offices, businesses, and a wide variety of state and local government offices.

The optional pre-law concentration requires completion of HIST 222 , and POSC 100 , at least one credit of an internship or directed research, and 40 credits in additional courses, including 31 credits in political science, 3 in psychology, 3 in philosophy, and 3 in economics or accounting.

The optional Political Science, BA or BS; Global Politics Concentration requires 24 credits of core political science courses, 15 credits of courses focusing on regional area studies, and 9 credits of courses focusing on transitional communities and related issues.

Political science majors may earn either the Bachelor of Science or Bachelor of Arts degree.

No grade below “C-” will be accepted for courses applied to the major.

Civitae Core Requirements (39-40 credits)

Civitae Core

History majors in the Pre-Law concentration may count Civitae Core courses satisfying major requirements as also satisfying their respective Civitae Core requirements, up to two Pillar courses and one Perspectives course. The following are the courses in this major that may be used in this way:

HIST 222 , among others, can satisfy the Historical and Contemporary Insights Pillar requirement
POSC 100 can satisfy the Human Behavior and Social Institutions Pillar requirement

Courses satisfying major requirements that are designated as Civitae Core courses subsequent to the print deadline of this Catalog will not appear in the above listings but will be eligible to also satisfy Civitae Core requirements, subject to the same rules as the others. (If doing so would otherwise decrease the total credits required for the degree below 120, General Elective credit must be substituted to restore the total.)

Transfer students go to Transfer Student General Education for requirements.

Additional Degree Requirements

Additional Degree Requirements BA Degree 3 credits
Additional Degree Requirements BS Degree 3-4 credits

Major Requirements/53-59 credits

HIST 222 - United States History 1877-Modern Times 3 credits
MATH 171 - Statistical Decision Making 3 credits
POSC 100 - The American Political System 3 credits
POSC 250 - Political Science Research Methods 3 credits
POSC 200 - Global Politics 3 credits
POSC 270 - Introduction to Public Administration 3 credits
POSC 275 - The American Judiciary 3 credits
POSC 305 - International Relations 3 credits
POSC 331 - Ancient and Medieval Political Philosophy 3 credits
POSC 332 - Modern Political Philosophy 3 credits
POSC 350 - The American Presidency 3 credits
POSC 353 - The American Congress 3 credits
POSC 357 - Constitutional Rights and Liberties 3 credits
POSC 455 - Constitutional Law 3 credits
POSC 461 - Senior Seminar 1 credit
PSYC 101 - Introduction to Psychology 3 credits
PHIL 300 - Logic 3 credits

Choose three credits from the following courses:

ACCT 240 - Principles of Accounting I 3 credits
ECON 217 - Principles of Microeconomics 3 credits
ECON 218 - Principles of Macroeconomics 3 credits

Choose three credits from the following courses:

POSC 314 - Political History of Africa 3 credits
POSC 335 - Western European Politics and Government 3 credits
POSC 343 - American Foreign Policy 3 credits
POSC 375 - Latin American Politics and Government 3 credits
POSC 442 - International Law 3 credits

One credit from one of the following three courses

POSC 490 - Directed or Independent Study in Political Science 1-18 credits
POSC 492 - Internship in Political Science 1-18 credits
POSC 498 - Honors Research in Political Science 3 credits (must be approved by the Senior Honors Research Committee)
**A minimum GPA of 2.5 is required to enroll in an internship.

General Electives

General Electives for BA (18-25 credits)
General Electives for BS (17-25 credits)

Pre-law students are advised that they should present at least a 3.0 GPA (as well as a good LSAT score) to the law school admissions committees in order to be competitive law school applicants.

Total Credits Required

BA, BS in Political Science with a concentration in Pre-Law 120