College student looking for career help

Joined
Oct 27, 2007
Messages
2,765
Good evening everyone!

I am:

-College freshman
-Political Science major
-TV Productions Minor / Economics Minor


I want to set myself up to have a strong understanding of journalism, PR, and marketing because I think that will help me run or work for a campaign. What is the best degree to be either a politician or campaign manager? I want to work in politics or in a think-tank and want to prepare my collegiate schedule to focus on setting myself up for that in the best way.

I want to go to GMU for my Masters degree and then run for county or state office when I get out of school and eventually hit the US House. I plan on volunterring for a Senate campaign here in Jersey this Spring and I've been working a lot for the NJ Grassroots campaign for Ron Paul.

What else can I do to help put myself in a good position to have a career in politics?

Thank you!
 
Don't do poly sci...

Try to pick something that might actually be worth 4 years effort unless you just want to go to law school.
 
This will offend some, but I don't think Poly sci should be considered a major.
 
If there is someone who particularly inspires you try to see if they have a biography. In other words try and take a cue from someone who's been there. In the current economy though, you need to find a way to kick things up a notch.
 
major in whatever you want and run for public office

in fact, you don't even need a degree to run for public office...however unfortunately some people will discriminate against you.
 
DO NOT major in poli-sci. My major is poli-sci, but I'm going to be switching soon. I would try to get anything that would ensure you a job. Something in engineering, maybe? I'm thinking about doing something with econ and business... probably not much better than poli-sci, but I will still probably have an easier shot at finding a job. Poli-sci is in short one of the most useless degrees. Glad I figured that out before the first semester of college ended. If you're planning on spending money on law school afterwards, then maybe it'd be a decent choice, but if you're taking out any sort of money to go to college, I would switch now.
 
seriously man DON'T DO POLY SCI. Switch out before the end of your freshmen year. It will not help you with anything. It will not lead to any jobs. You become a paid campaign manager or paid politco by being extremely personable, networking with the right people, and working your way up the ranks. A poly sci degree is useless. Furthermore a career in politics is a pipe dream. It's not far off from wanting to be a pro athlete or rock star. And you're not even playing popular music, my friend. You're playing some obscure norwegian death metal. It just doesn't happen for most people, and even those who do succeed do not have steady gainful income.

Switch out to a practical major like finance, business, accounting, natural science(will most likely need grad school with this), engineering(absolute best undergrad degree you can get if you're good with math and problem solving), or marketing.
 
Last edited:
Good evening everyone!

I am:

-College freshman
-Political Science major
-TV Productions Minor / Economics Minor


I want to set myself up to have a strong understanding of journalism, PR, and marketing because I think that will help me run or work for a campaign. What is the best degree to be either a politician or campaign manager? I want to work in politics or in a think-tank and want to prepare my collegiate schedule to focus on setting myself up for that in the best way.

I want to go to GMU for my Masters degree and then run for county or state office when I get out of school and eventually hit the US House. I plan on volunterring for a Senate campaign here in Jersey this Spring and I've been working a lot for the NJ Grassroots campaign for Ron Paul.

What else can I do to help put myself in a good position to have a career in politics?

Thank you!

If you are looking to join a think tank, economics will be the most valuable degree. Turn the economics minor into an economics major. If you have time to do both and are dedicated, double major in political science and economics (what I am currently doing). But if you only have time for one, major in economics and minor in political science. I went into college as political science major and econ minor, and then upgraded econ to a major during my second year. I love both, the political theory courses are my favorite, but studying economics is vital to understanding policy and politics in general. And if you do major in economics, you'll most likely have to learn Keynesian models in macro classes. If you are really dedicated to being an intellectual, you are going to want to do some reading of Austrian theory (Big book, but the absolute greatest book) on the side or during the summer. If you are looking to go to graduate school for economics, you are going to want to at least minor in Mathematics as well. The best track would be a double major in Economics and Mathematics with a minor in Political Science (if poly sci is something you really want). I went with a Political Science and Economics double major and am looking to pick up a Mathematics minor; my political science degree is going to be useless unless I decide to go to graduate school for political science. It's really just a hobby degree; it has low marketability.

But yes, definitely replace political science or add on another degree. If not, the only job you'll be finding will be as a bureaucrat. For some people that's ok, but most people that support Ron Paul probably don't support the bureaucracy, so it could be awkward.
 
Well Dick Cheney was a poly sci major.

If you want to work for the political-industrial complex, then it's probably a reasonable choice.
 
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