prospective studentsThink of yourself as a public servant? There are 5 or 10 people working behind the scenes for every elected official who grabs the limelight and even more working during campaign season. Many of the offices of New Jersey legislators are staffed by our graduates and a good number of our students have run for office at the local, state, or national level.

Does your public service focus on advocacy, lobbying, or grass roots organizing? We’ve got the courses and the internships to help.

Do you think law school might be on the cards? We have an unofficial pre-law track involving 106 Law and Politics, 340 Law and Society, and 401 Constitutional Law, with electives that ex-plore gender, policy, courtroom concerns, affirmative action and higher education.

Considering a career in teaching? The joint major in History and Political Science is something you should look into http://history.rutgers.edu/undergraduate/major-minor-and-joint-requirements/joint-majors-and-options/54-academics/joint-majors/89-historypolitical-science-joint-major

Beyond the obvious paths that the political science major is thought to prepare you for – elected office, campaign work, government service and the law – the political science major is ideally positioned to help you develop the critical thinking and communication skills for the business world, for journalism, and for social media careers.

For any of these paths you should plan to pursue at least one internship toward the end of your studies. Internships help you hone your self-presentation skills, expose you to possible career paths, and boost your resume. Check here for more information about Internships

Alumni Voices

Beth Eisen, Senior Communications Manager in a non-profit organization based in California

When I was in my senior year I took part in the DC internship program offered through Rutgers' Political Science program. I worked at the Australian Trade Commission at the Australian Embassy in Washington DC. I learned about international trade and investment by supporting the team across sectors on various projects. That experience directly influenced my ability to land a similar position with the British government in NYC upon graduation. Everyone else needed masters degrees to get the Business Development Associate role at UKTI; I was able to get it based solely on the transferable experienced I gained with RU Poli Sci. From there, every position I took in my career was intentional to build skills and grow as a professional. Most came through the network I built, but this coming Monday I'm starting a new position at a nonprofit in California as a Senior Communications Manager... and my new boss is a Scarlett Knight as well. We talked about it in my interview and it helped me land my next dream job.