Degrees and Programs

The Department of Political Science provides students with the tools for a careful and systematic study of politics, within the scope of a liberal arts education. Students are grounded in factual material about governments, politics, and political philosophy.

We stress the importance of life-long academic skills in critical thinking, writing, and speaking: courses require analytic reading and clear writing. Classes rarely exceed twenty-five students in size, which means students get individual attention in a variety of ways.

The Major

To graduate as a political science major, students must complete 33 credit hours, normally 11 courses, with a minimum cumulative GPA of 2.0 in the department.

See Course Catalog

The Minor

To graduate with a political science minor, students must complete 6 courses (18 credit hours), including PSC 101 and PSC 102, plus four more political science courses.

See Course Catalog

Other Programs

The department urges its majors to consider enrolling in other programs at PC, as a complement to majoring in political science. Possible programs include the Women's Studies Program, the Black Studies Program, the Latin American Studies Program, the Public Administration Program, and the Business Studies Program.

Often, students have the opportunity to count some courses against two or more sets of requirements when they participate in these and other such programs.

PSC Honors Program

The Political Science Department's Honors Program is for qualified juniors and seniors. The Honors Program requires:

1. Twelve courses in Political Science (instead of the normal eleven)
   
2. At least one seminar course in Political Science
   
3. A two-semester thesis project (during the Senior year) under the guidance of a member of the faculty