>> The skill set political scientists are most likely to develop is really critical thought.
Their standards of knowledge go up.
A lot of people think in Political Science we talk about
what's online or what's in the paper and that kind of stuff.
And sure, there's some of that.
But what we do is we raise standards of knowledge.
That it's not about are you a liberal
or are you a Republican or are you Conservative, whatever.
We spend our time really making data driven standards of knowledge.
Epistemology is what we call it.
So those skills are really applicable everywhere.
It's critical thought. It's understanding data.
It's reasoning in a higher level.
It's understanding the difference between personal opinion and actual fact.
There can be disagreement on the implications of the facts,
but political scientists tend to be really good at understanding
the difference between "I think, I feel" and "we know".
And we try to push on the "we know" in light of the data.
 
What kind of careers can Political Science,
well, of course they can become political science professors and their lives will be magical as a result.
But most students go into a variety of fields.
We have, of course, a lot of people think, oh, they become lawyers or they run for office.
And we do have a lot of that.
But, you know, I'm thinking we have students at Columbia,
we have students at Harvard,
we have students at, all these great schools that are doing student services.
That are doing social work.
That are doing urban planning and urban politics.
We have a lot of people who do grassroots politics.
We have a number of folks who worked in the Mayor's race
and are now working on Beacon Hill.
We have a number of students that work in the Governor's Office.
So what I would say, it's sort of a linking theme
as a lot of our students care about social justice, broadly construed.
And then they go into careers that allow them to advance that.
So sure, if you're a biology major, sure, you're going to be a biologist.
But if you don't want to be in biology, you're sunk, right?
In Political Science we give the skills to afford whatever your passion is, whatever your interest.
To take it from something you like to do to a vocation.
 
All the Political Science faculty are really good about keeping office hours and the like.
Leila Farsakh is our Chair right now.
I run, Erin O'Brien, I run the Public Policy minor.
Doctor Weiner runs International Relations minor.
Who else?
Doctor Cunningham runs the Internship Program.
And that changes year to year, but it's on the website and we post it as things change.
But we have an open-door policy.
I know for instance I told students, if I'm there and not panicked, I can meet with you.
Knock on the door.
Worse case scenario, might not now.
And they get it, but if I'm there, most of us are willing to chat.
 
 
 
