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 189 | Skills For Academic Success (Students transferring in 24 or more credits do not need to take UNIV 189.) | 1 |
| Communication (C): | ||
| ENGL 110 | College Composition I | 3 |
| ENGL 120 | College Composition II | 3 |
| 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 110 | Fundamentals of Public Speaking | 3 |
| Quantitative Reasoning (R): | ||
| STAT 330 | Introductory Statistics | 3 |
| 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 list | 6 | |
| Social & Behavioral Science (B): | ||
| POLS 110 | Introduction to Political Science | 3 |
| or POLS 115 | American Government | |
| Select from current general education list | 3 | |
| Wellness (W): Select from current general education list | 2 | |
| Cultural Diversity (D): Select from current general education list | ||
| Global Perspectives (G): Select from current general education list | ||
| Total Credits | 40 | |
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: Humanities | 3 | |
ARB, ENGL, FREN, GERM, HIST, HUM, PHIL, RELS, SPAN, or WGS | ||
| Area Two: Social Sciences | 3 | |
ANTH, CJ, COMM, EMGT, POLS, SOC, or WGS | ||
| Area Three: Fine Arts | 3 | |
ARCH, ART, ENVD, LA, MUSC, or THEA | ||
| Total Credits | 9 | |
Major Requirements
Professional courses require a minimum GPA of 3.00.
| General Education Requirements | 40 | |
| AH&SS College Requirement | 9 | |
| Pre-Political Science Requirements: | ||
| Must complete the following 12 credits of pre-political science courses with an average GPA of 3.00. | ||
| POLS 110 | Introduction to Political Science | 3 |
| or POLS 115 | American Government | |
| POLS 220 | International Politics | 3 |
| or POLS 225 | Comparative Politics | |
| POLS 240 | Political Ideologies | 3 |
| POLS | 100 or 200 level course | 3 |
| Professional Major Requirements: | ||
| POLS 325 | Applied Research Methods | 4 |
| POLS 489 | Senior Seminar | 3 |
| 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 Electives | 6 | |
| 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 122 | 36 | |
| Total Credits | 122 | |
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.
