Study Political Science at PC

You can take a wide range of courses in political science at PC, and you can specialize in American politics, constitutional law, comparative politics, international relations, or political theory. In class, you and your fellow students will engage in rigorous discussions, simulate legislatures and presidential debates, or even practice speech-writing. You'll have the opportunity to work individually with professors on their research (or yours!).

Your faculty will bring politics and government up close to you. To learn about presidential campaigns, for example, PC students worked in the New Hampshire presidential primaries in both 2000 and 2008. Students engaged in get-out-the-vote activities in Florida in 2004. PC students are working on both sides of the 2008 elections as website managers, campaign coordinators, and staffers.

And, of course, you'll find groups like the Young Democrats, College Republicans, and the South Carolina Student Legislature. Honor societies such as Pi Sigma Alpha recognize superior work of students in the classroom and beyond.

Study elsewhere

You'll have different opportunities for internships, from city government to Capitol Hill. PC offers students a Washington Semester program at American University, as well as a semester in Havana, Cuba. PC students also participate in study abroad experiences such as the Hansard Scholar program in London.

Independent travel and study

Working closely with your faculty advisor and other faculty mentors, you can design your own political science study experience for course credit. Topics in previous years range from environmental policy to judicial politics to the politics of American sports. Using the contacts available through the PC alumni network, you can find opportunities throughout the country and the world.

Your future

Whether you want to focus on law school, run for city council, go into business, develop a blog, do non-profit work, or become a teacher, your political science major or minor prepares you for what lies ahead.