Why Students Choose Political Science & Satisfaction at Graduation: A Case Study

• In Event: Institutional Research on PS Majors & PhD Students & Curricular Evaluations of Research Methods

Abstract

An important set of concerns in undergraduate curriculum design, course planning, and extra-curricular planning in political science is understanding what draws students to the major. In a world of limited resources, departments need to deploy those resources in ways that best meet student needs while at the same time maintaining the content and rigor of political science as a discipline. In our experience, faculty and administrators often base these decisions on intuition rather than on data. We are fortunate to work in a large, R1 department with a steady enrollment of approximately 1,000 political science majors. In this paper, we leverage institutional and assessment data collected by the university and the department to examine why students choose political science as a major and how they feel about the major upon graduating. We divide our analysis into four sets of factors: nature and quality of instruction in the political science department, skills students develop in the major, interest in political science research and content, and interest in participating in politics. This paper is important because it can help us better understand our students and can help us improve the ways in which we utilize resources in political science departments. We also believe these findings will improve student recruitment, retention and success in political science by helping departments more effectively provide and communicate the resources majors are seeking.

Authors

• Janet L. Donavan, University of Colorado, Boulder

• Sarah Brown, University of Colorado Boulder