Career: Political Scientists
USDA/Ken Hammond
How does the government decide how much pollution industry can release into the air and water? What’s the best way for local mayors to convince voters to reelect them? Why do some people vote and not others? How does democracy differ in countries across the globe?
Political scientists study political systems from every angle, looking into their birth, growth, and operation. While most strive to discover the trends that shape our identity, their interests and jobs vary greatly. For example, some survey the public about their political opinions; others use math to analyze election results.
Political scientists study the way people organize their societies, whether neighborhoods, nations, or the world community.
Did You Know?
- As a political scientist, you could work for a government, a think tank (research organization), a not-for-profit, a political lobby group, a university, or even a business.
Are You Ready To...?
- Study how recent decisions by the Supreme Court have affected health care
- Conduct a public-opinion survey on a political candidate
- Interview the people of a changing neighborhood about their relations with neighbors
- Look into the election results for small towns in the American South
- Monitor the elections of a newly formed government
- Predict the growth of the European Union
It Helps to Be...
Able to make connections. As a political scientist, you’ll often have to interpret numbers and make comparisons.
Make High School Count
- Take challenging courses in world and U.S. history, as well as in government and politics.
- Study a foreign language. You may use it to do research or to work in other countries.
- Flex your writing muscle in English.
- Study statistics to get a head start on a key tool of social science.
- Build solid computer skills.
- Pay attention to current events and read political analysis.
- Run for student government or write news articles for the school newspaper.
- Intern or volunteer with a not-for-profit institution or political campaign.
Did You Know?
- As rumor has it, Albert Einstein once said that politics is more difficult than physics.
Outlook
Government economists predict job growth for political scientists to be slower than the average for all careers through 2016. Competition among Ph.D.s makes tenure-track university faculty positions hard to come by. However, there should be some opportunities in policy and research. For example, political scientists may find jobs at not-for-profit and political lobbying organizations.
Compensation
The U.S. Department of Labor estimates that the average salary in 2008 for political scientists was $99,320.
