Political Science Degree Program

Why Political Science at TLU?

Our program is designed for experiential learning, with the TLU campus and the City of Seguin as your laboratory for developing leadership skills and becoming an engaged citizen. Seguin’s small size means that you will meet and work directly with policymakers and business professionals to address key local problems. Meeting with the mayor, reviving programs to integrate the Seguin community with campus, partnering with the city to develop public transportation infrastructure—the opportunities to develop and implement real local change in Seguin simply are not available elsewhere. At the same time, Seguin is growing, presenting new opportunities for students to leverage their expertise to make real, meaningful change in the community. We work on these civically engaged projects while developing our moral, ethical, and critical thinking frameworks. What does citizenship mean? How do we become effective leaders? You will wrestle with these questions as you apply them to your work.

Our program is accessible, with key experiential learning opportunities built right into our curriculum. Interested in legal careers and ready to develop your negotiation and public speaking skills? Our Model United Nations program is a core part of our comparative politics course. All students focus on logical reasoning and clear argumentation through individual undergraduate research projects, in class with peer support. Develop relationships with local political leaders and learn how to plan, manage, and assess complex projects through our civic engagement courses. Individualized and flexible degree plans mean that every student completes an internship and works with their advisor to customize their learning toward their vocation. Gain skills and experiences employers want that are often offered as optional or extracurricular activities all as part of your coursework as a TLU political science major.

Want To Be More Involved?

Our majors are among the most involved students on campus, holding key positions in the Student Government Association and a wide range of clubs and organizations. They are recognized by student affairs staff as Distinguished Student Leaders and leaders of organizations winning the Student Organization of the Year Award. Our program is also home to the Alpha Mu Psi chapter of the Pi Sigma Alpha National Political Science Honor Society. Our chapter recognizes students for their outstanding achievement in political science, and membership provides students with scholarship, networking, and publication opportunities.

We also sponsor the CIVIC Club (Creating InVolved Students and Communities), a student-led organization dedicated to helping our majors discern what careers are best for them, to providing connections to alumni for networking and mentorship, and to fostering a collaborative environment where students support one another as they achieve their goals. Combined with faculty guidance and support, programs in the club, like law school preparation, informational interview training, and alumni speakers ensure that our majors have developed individualized plans for success in collaboration with faculty and peers.

Students in the political science program have access to a semester-long program at American University in Washington, D.C. The Washington Semester Program gives students the opportunity to work alongside and to learn from policymakers and political leaders running our country. Students complete an internship with a government or non-profit organization in Washington and attend to seminars, lectures, and on-site meetings with key decision-makers. Classes are taught by experienced policymakers and practitioners. Our partnership with American University ensures that TLU political science majors can access this program at a substantially reduced tuition cost.

Where Can Political Science Take Me?

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Major in Political Science for a Bachelor of Arts

• Pre-Law

  Designed for students interested in careers that utilize law, our pre-law program teaches the critical reasoning, logic, and advanced writing skills you need to apply to law school or to work in the legal field. Students with pre-law concentrations benefit from access to local legal internship networks, faculty pre-law advising, and courses designed to expose students to legal research and writing in a small and supportive classroom environment.

  Our individualized advising approach helps match students’ career and life goals with their career plans. We place students at some of the highest ranked law schools in the nation, including Georgetown University, Washington University, Emory University, Arizona State University, and the University of Texas Austin. We also help students who want to practice in Texas join local legal networks that help them gain admission and maximize scholarship opportunities at institutions like the University of Houston, Southern Methodist University, Texas Tech University, St. Mary’s University, and others. Our students work in private practice, firms of all sizes, and at the national level as Chief Legal Officers, Judge Advocates General (JAG), and state attorney positions.

  Our pre-law program is not just pre-law school. Our students are successful in legal related careers with titles like Senior Contracts Administrator, Vice President of Trust Administration, and paralegal. Interested in law? We help you discern your legal path.

• Public Policy and Administration

  The TLU public policy and administration program combines hands on, experiential learning with a strong local network of alumni public policy practitioners. Many of our students convert their internship experience in local government into a full-time position. These positions often sponsor students to earn master’s degrees, especially in public administration and public policy. We have relationships with graduate Master of Public Administration (MPA) and Master of Public Policy (MPP) programs for students looking to apply to graduate school. Our standalone courses in public policy and in public administration help to better prepare and to distinguish our students for these opportunities.

  Our students are key administrators in state and local government, including state and local positions as Director of Community Development, Emergency Management Program Manager, Chief Legal Officer, Associate Commissioner, Director of Judicial Services. At the national level, these positions include Contracting Officer and Assistant Chief of Budget Formulation. They work for public policy organizations in roles like Senior Manager of Public Policy and Senior Policy Advisor.

  Interested in working for elected politicians? TLU alumni staff politicians and committees in positions on the House Armed Services Committee and as District Director, Digital Media Manager, Chief of Staff, and Director of Constituent Services.

• International Politics

  Our courses in comparative politics and international relations are some of the primary ways that students from all majors can explore the world while at TLU. With a focus on contemporary political issues, courses on political economy, the politics of development, and the consequences of war and peace challenge students to consider how political life is and should be structured.

  TLU faculty work to expose students to new ways of thinking and organizing political institutions, which often inspires students to study abroad. Our International Studies program helps make study abroad possible by providing students with baseline cultural and political knowledge to prepare them for a study abroad experience and managing financial costs so that study abroad is attainable and affordable. We work closely with our Study Abroad office to assist political science students in selecting programs where they can experience the political world through different perspectives. Then translate that experience into work as a Foreign Service Officer with the U.S. Department of State or other positions abroad.

• Liberal Arts

  TLU political science majors learn the leadership, decision-making, and critical thinking skills that private sector employers want. We help our students articulate these experiences so that they are competitive for a wide range of positions, especially those in management and leadership. Political science helps you learn to be a better leader, using your power and influence effectively, ethically, and purposefully. Leverage your political science degree for leadership positions as a Project Manager, Assistant Director of Marketing, Logistics Analyst, Systems Analyst, and Project Coordinator.

• Political Research

  All our political science majors conduct individual undergraduate research projects as part of their capstone experience. The size, scope, and individualized nature of these projects helps to distinguish our students on the job market. TLU faculty mentors help students develop project ideas that link directly to their intended career goals, enabling them to explore research opportunities that can then translate into newly learned skills for job applications and personal statement experiences for graduate school.

  We define research broadly and provide our students with tools to conduct qualitative interviews, quantitative statistical work, and legal research and writing. With small class sizes, students can easily work directly with faculty on their own research or collaboratively with faculty on co-authored projects. Students also benefit from faculty connections to the broader political science discipline that enable them to work on research articles for publication in scholarly journals, to learn professional skills in the discipline, and to organize and present at conferences.

  Our students use their political research experience in their careers and as preparation for graduate school earning graduate degrees in National Security Studies, International Relations, Applied Intelligence, Conflict Resolution, and political science, among others.

Political Science Degree Plans

Customize your bachelor’s degree in political science with a specialization in international politics, liberal arts, political research, pre-law, public policy and administration.

View the Degree Plan for Political Science (Pre-Law B.A.)

View the Degree Plan for Political Science (Public Policy & Administration B.A.)

View the Degree Plan for Political Science (International Politics B.A)

View the Degree Plan for Political Science (Liberal Arts B.A.)

View the Degree Plan for Political Science (Political Research B.A.)