Bachelor of Arts [B.A] [Political Science] From University of Illinois

At the University of Illinois, most freshmen who begin as political science majors graduate as political science majors. Political science is a great major to have in college. The discipline looks at the most important issues of our time. Past and present students who major in political science do interesting and important things on campus, and they have wonderful careers and lives after graduation.

Occasionally, prospective freshmen still in high school ask: “What courses in high school might best help me in college?”, or, “What goes with political science?” A few words on each of these questions is in order. Probably, the most important quality successful students can seek in their high school curriculum is “academic intensity”; that is, courses requiring “a high concentration of intellectual effort.” So, the first response is that you should take classes you enjoy but that are “academically intense.” Abide by the suggestions of your high school counselor and teachers, but keep academic intensity in mind. Two areas of study in high school, however, may pay unexpectedly high dividends in college: foreign languages and mathematics.

Students in LAS need to complete four levels of a foreign or “non-primary” language, or three levels each of two foreign languages. In general, each sequential year of foreign language study in high school, or each semester in college, counts as one level of a foreign language. So, if you complete four years of a foreign language in high school, you will have completed the foreign language requirement in college. Completing the requirement in high school allows you the opportunity to move to more advanced study of a foreign language in college, or it frees space in your schedule to pursue other interests, or both. Knowledge of a foreign language also opens up a wider array of study abroad options.