What is it like being a Politics major?
What are common misconceptions about POL majors?
What kind of internships and international experiences have majors had?
How will Politics majors save the world?
The breadth of the field of politics is both a blessing and a curse. One the one hand, politics certainly does have something for everyone. You can study almost anything both in our society and around the world through the lens of politics! On the other hand, it can be easy to bite off more than you can chew and to feel like you can never really make a dent in the wide world of politics.
What is it like being a Politics major?
To make this vast field of study at least a bit more manageable, the department has broken it down into four primary fields: American Politics, Comparative Politics, Political Theory, and International Relations. Although you choose which area you will specialize in during your sophomore year, this is fairly flexible and can change as you decide what you are interested in studying. So don't feel like you are deciding your fate before you're even truly in the department.
Politics majors write two JPs and a Senior Thesis. Although this may seem like a large workload in comparison with majors which require only one JP, you receive a lot of guidance from both your fellow majors and the faculty. For the fall JP, professors lead junior workshops which are small classes of about 8 students focusing on a particular topic. During the junior workshops, students choose a more specific idea within the general topic about which they write their JPs. This structure allows students to receive basic instruction in the methods of conducting independent work, while focusing on topics which the students are interested in.
The second JP allows students a bit more freedom. Working one on one with a professor that you seek out, you can tailor your spring JP to your individual interests and working habits. While this works well for some, others may have some trouble with this freedom, having to pull all-nighters days before the 30 pager is due.
Finally, like almost all other majors here at Princeton, Politics majors also have the infamous Senior Thesis. It is certainly daunting to think about an 80 to 100 page paper, but really, it's just several twenty or thirty page papers about similar topics linked with some of those transitions we learned in our freshman writing seminars. Over the course of many months secluded in your carrel (usually located in the depths of Firestone), you pump out pages upon pages of new research.
What are common misconceptions about POL majors?
There are at least a few misconceptions about Politics majors. Perhaps the most widespread is the idea that the Politics department is just a less difficult version of Woody Woo. Although there is overlap between the two majors, the Politics department actually allows much more freedom both in the classes that majors are allowed to take and the focus of their independent work. The Politics department is truly about the study of politics—whether that means studying theories of modern racism, examining the causes of war, or exploring the reasons that youth do not vote at the same rates as older people. Woody Woo, on the other hand, is about policy, not politics. Through a curriculum that synthesizes a variety of departments, it teaches students to find a problem in our society, and figure out a way to write policy to solve that problem. Woody Woo aims to prepare people for public service, whereas the Politics department aims to provide a certain lens through which to understand the world.
Another common misconception about the department is that since it is a popular major, you get no personal attention. In reality, a large department means that there are a lot of professors, and a lot of professors means a lot of people who are there to help you out. Although you may have to seek professors out, once you get some face-time (i.e. go to office hours, invite a professor to a meal, etc.), you will realize that the majority are willing and eager to provide guidance. You just have to make an effort in the first place. And if professors still scare you, Gayle Brodsky, the program administrator, is a gem. You can always ask her for advice or just stop in to say hi.
What kind of internships and international experiences have majors had?
Politics majors have had a wide variety of internships and international experiences. The Department advises students to go abroad typically during junior year. While students are still required to complete a JP during the semester abroad, the Department tries to make this as easy as if the student were on campus. The three ways of fulfilling this requirement are to work with a Princeton advisor through regular email contact, to find a foreign professor to oversee your work, or to join a Woodrow Wilson School task force if space is available. Politics majors have traveled all over the world through study abroad programs.
Students have also completed a vast range of internships. Although certainly some do internships with high profile finance companies and law firms, many others have interned both in government offices and a variety of non-profits. Although it is not required by any means, some students begin their thesis research during the summer before senior year, receiving funding to administer polls, or collect data in other ways. One group of students was even invited to spend the summer in South Africa researching AIDS policy. Just as the information covered by Politics classes is quite broad, so are the opportunities to which majors are exposed.
How will Politics majors save the world?
Politics majors will save the world by understanding the intricacies of international relations in order to decrease the number of wars around the globe.
