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Political Science - Standard

Major Requirements

Major: Political Science - Standard

Degree Type: B.A. or B.S.
Required Degree Credits to Graduate: 122

Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences

Degree Requirements                                                                            

Bachelor of Science (B.S.) Degree – The completion of a minor program of study, a second major, or a second degree is required.                                                                            

Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) Degree – Second year language proficiency required.

General Education Requirements

First Year Experience (F):
UNIV 189Skills For Academic Success (Students transferring in 24 or more credits do not need to take UNIV 189.)1
Communication (C):
ENGL 110College Composition I3
ENGL 120College Composition II3
One Course in Upper Level Writing. Select one of the following:3
Business and Professional Writing
Writing in the Technical Professions
Writing in the Humanities and Social Sciences
Researching and Writing Grants and Proposal
COMM 110Fundamentals of Public Speaking3
Quantitative Reasoning (R):
STAT 330Introductory Statistics3
Science & Technology (S):
A one-credit lab must be taken as a co-requisite with a general education science/technology course unless the course includes an embedded lab experience equivalent to a one-credit course. Select from current general education list.10
Humanities & Fine Arts (A): Select from current general education list6
Social & Behavioral Science (B):
POLS 110Introduction to Political Science3
or POLS 115 American Government
Select from current general education list3
Wellness (W): Select from current general education list2
Cultural Diversity (D): Select from current general education list
Global Perspectives (G): Select from current general education list
Total Credits40

Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences College Requirements

An additional 9 credits are required by the College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences for all Bachelor of Science and Bachelor of Arts degree programs of study, except the Bachelor of Fine Arts degree, the Bachelor of Music degree, Bachelor of Landscape Architecture degree, and the Bachelor of Science in Architecture degree:

AH&SS College Requirements
Courses used to satisfy any general education requirement cannot be used to also count toward the AH&SS College Requirements. A minimum of three credits is required in each of the 3 following areas for a total of 9 credits. Choose only those courses with the prefixes listed for each area. A course with the WGS prefix can only be used in one area.
Area One: Humanities3
ARB, ENGL, FREN, GERM, HIST, HUM, PHIL, RELS, SPAN, or WGS
Area Two: Social Sciences3
ANTH, CJ, COMM, EMGT, POLS, SOC, or WGS
Area Three: Fine Arts3
ARCH, ART, ENVD, LA, MUSC, or THEA
Total Credits9

Major Requirements

Professional courses require a minimum GPA of 3.00.

General Education Requirements40
AH&SS College Requirement9
Pre-Political Science Requirements:
Must complete the following 12 credits of pre-political science courses with an average GPA of 3.00.
POLS 110Introduction to Political Science3
or POLS 115 American Government
POLS 220International Politics3
or POLS 225 Comparative Politics
POLS 240Political Ideologies3
POLS100 or 200 level course3
Professional Major Requirements:
POLS 325Applied Research Methods4
POLS 489Senior Seminar3
Select a minimum of one course from each of the four areas listed below:12
Area 1:
Political Behavior-Executive-Legislative Process
Political Behavior-Political Parties
State and Local Politics
Public Policy Analysis
Area 2:
Constitutional Law-Civil Liberties
Constitutional Law-Criminal Justice
Area 3:
Global Policy Issues
International Law
Ethnic Conflicts
Environmental Policy and Politics
Current Topics in International Law
Area 4:
Global Policy Issues
Politics of the Developing Countries
Politics of the Industrialized Countries
Comparative Political Economy
Environmental Policy and Politics
Political Science Electives6
At least 6 credits must be from permanently numbered courses. Courses which are eligible to fulfill this requirement may come from Special Topic classes offered by the Political Science Department; classes may also include those not selected to meet the requirements in Sections I and II above, or any of the following courses:
Terrorism
Current Politics
Problems and Policies In American Government
Campaigns and Elections
Judicial Process
Gender Issues and the Law
Women and Politics
Principles of Public Administration
Degree Requirements: Potential of 36 credits to reach 12236
Total Credits122

Degree Requirements and Notes

  • Students should refer to www.ndsu.edu/cjps for information regarding application to professional program.
  • The department will review applications on a rolling basis. Student must apply to be a major or minor no later than the first day of classes of the semester in which they intend to graduate.                                            
  • To apply, a student must have completed a minimum of 36 credit hours and achieve a minimum GPA of 3.0 in the pre-political science courses and 2.75 overall in NDSU coursework.                        
  • Once admitted to the professional political science program, failure to maintain a minimum GPA of 3.00 in the professional political science courses and a cumulative 2.75 in all coursework will result in an academic warning issued by the department for the first violation.  Students will receive notification of this warning at their NDSU email address.  Failure to return to these minimum standards will result in being administratively removed from the program.                                                                           
  • Internal and external transfer students will be handled similarly to students who commence their studies in the pre-professional program.                                                                  
  • Students who entered the University and declared political science as their major prior to fall 2012 will be grandfathered into the program and will not be subject to these guidelines.
  • These guidelines apply for all majors and minors of political science.