Re: question about poli sci grad school

kikachuck@xxxxxxxxx wrote:
> I'm currently a student at the University of New Mexico majoring in
> economics (going to be a junior in the fall, I spent my freshman year
> as a CS major but switched before last year) and was wondering about
> poli sci. grad school. Currently I am a statistics minor (but have
> only take 1 stats. class in addition to two calc. classes, the second
> of which I took this summer. I don't know the grade yet, but it will
> either be a low B or a C) and I chose this minor because I was
> thinking for a long time about econ grad school and I know those
> mathematical things help a lot. But the math is the problem. Frankly,
> it isn't my cup of tea and I'm not all that good at it (I'm at the
> level of competence, but not much higher than that). I also don't
> know if I really have the passion for economics to be successful at
> the grad school level. Adding these things together, I figure grad
> school econ isn't right for me, although I plan to finish my
> economics BA. My question involves poli sci grad school. I really
> like politics, and I probably should have gotten into it in the
> beginning, and I think that I might really enjoy poli sci grad
> school. So if I were to minor in poli sci, do you think that would be
> adequate preperation for grad school? I ran this idea over with my
> mother and she didn't seem terribly excited by the idea of poli sci
> grad school, she doesn't think there is much you can do with it. Is
> there a lot of oppertunity for somebody with an MA (or possibly Ph.d)
> in poli sci? Any advice on poli sci in general would be helpful.
>
> I have also considered going for an MBA after I graduate and I know
> for a fact that it would be more lucrative (my mom prefers this
> option). Generally speaking, is any one of these preferable over the
> other?
>
> I'm really confused at the moment as to what I should do with my life,
> any advice would be great.

Here's my highly subjective personal opinion:

There are lots of unemployed people with MBAs out there. An MBA is not a
ticket to any specific profession or to wealth or to a job at all. The MBA
is a credential useful for getting certain kinds of jobs, mostly in
business, ranging from marketing to securities analysis and beyond. Few
people, if any, go for an MBA mostly because of an intellectual interest in
the subject matter: it's a means to an end. The question is, what end, and
do you want it?

You are most likely going to be working for 40 or 50 years. It would be a
good thing if you worked at something you had a genuine interest in and
enjoyed. It doesn't sound as if a highly quantitative field would be your
cup of tea, so it's unlikely you'd want to be an actuary or an accountant or
a financial analyst, although a field that uses statistical analysis--like
the social sciences--would be fine. There are jobs out there researching
public policy issues. There are jobs teaching political science and history
at the secondary and college/university level. There are public policy jobs
with city, county, regional, state, and federal governments and agencies,
and with research institutes. There are jobs working for legislators at the
state or federal level. I'd suggest that you spend some time looking at web
sites of institutions that do public policy research and consulting and
education. Try the Edmund Muskie School at the University of Southern Maine,
for example. (I cite this one only because I know it--there are many
others.) Look at some publications in your university library to get the
names of other places. Make an appointment with the careers office at your
school and ask their advice about how to identify the things you actually
enjoy doing and career paths in which your chances of doing them are
maximized. Keep your options open, and don't think that the most obvious
choices are necessarily the best in the long run.


.

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