Political Science Pre-Law - B.S.
The Political Science Pre-Law major enables students to develop skills in both theoretical and practical analysis, understanding, and evaluation of the American federal system of jurisprudence and the constitutional nature of the civil-social order, in preparation for the Law School Admissions Test (LSAT).
Students majoring in Political Science Pre-Law students are trained in the fundamentals of political science while receiving additional preparation in the foundations of American legal processes and procedures. Elective courses are designed to prepare students for specializations in legal studies. Additionally, students majoring in Political Science Pre-Law are encouraged to take a second major. The following companion majors are frequently chosen by Pre-Law students: Business, Criminal Justice, Economics, English, History, Psychology, Theology and Philosophy, Social Work, and Writing.
General Education
Students majoring in Political Science Pre-Law will complete the following General Education requirements and competencies with the listed courses. Where no course is specified, students are free to choose courses that meet the university requirements.
- Communication Competency: COM-100 (division requirement)
- Intercultural Competency: GEO-202 (core requirement)
- Math Requirement: MAT-112, MAT-204, or MAT-305 (pre-requisite for Research Methods)
- Social Sciences: POL-100 (pre-requisite for some upper division POL and HST courses), ECO-213 (core requirement)
Requirements (48 credits)
Common Core (15 credits)
| POL-100 | American Government | 3 |
| POL-215 | Foundations of Political Science | 3 |
| ECO-213 | Macroeconomics | 3 |
| POL-322 | Research Design and Methods in Political Science and Economics | 3 |
| POL-471 | Political Science/International Relations Capstone | 3 |
Choose the three courses below (9 credits)
| POL-291 | Introduction to Law | 3 |
| GEO-202 | Political and Cultural Geography | 3 |
| POL-200 | State and Local Government and Politics | 3 |
Choose four courses from the following (12 credits)
Cognate or Major Electives (12 credits)
Twelve credit hour cognate (group of courses from a second major or a minor) OR any courses listed below not previously taken. If the student does not have a second area of study, the major electives must be completed from the courses below:
Electives for Pre-Law Majors only:
Students majoring in Political Science Pre-Law must sign up for POL-275 for 0 credits at least once and may repeat up to 7 times. Students may opt to take the tutorial for 1 credit in the semester the Law School Admission Test (LSAT) is completed.
Electives for Political Science and Political Science Pre-Law Majors, unless already part of required courses:
| ECO-270 | Comparative Economic Systems | 3 |
| ECO-315 | Urban Economics and Policy | 3 |
| ECO-340 | Globalization and Economic Development | 3 |
| ECO-365 | Public Administration and Finance | 3 |
| ECO-454 | International Economics | 3 |
| GEO-202 | Political and Cultural Geography | 3 |
| HST-300 | Western/American Intellectual and Social History | 3 |
| HST-301 | American Foreign Relations | 3 |
| HST-302 | American Political Parties | 3 |
| HST-400 | American Constitutional History | 3 |
| INR-332 | International Peace and Security | 3 |
| INR-375 | Foreign Policy Analysis | 3 |
| INR-432 | Global Governance | 3 |
| MAT-204 | Applied Statistics I | 3 |
| MAT-304 | Applied Statistics II | 3 |
| MAT-305 | Statistics for Social Sciences | 3 |
| POL-200 | State and Local Government and Politics | 3 |
| POL-220 | Issues in Political Science | 3 |
| POL-230 | World Politics | 3 |
| POL-232 | Comparative Politics | 3 |
| POL-350 | Political Science Practicum | 1 to 3 |
| POL-354 | Foreign Governments | 3 |
| POL-365 | Religion and Politics | 3 |
| POL-367 | Political Thought | 3 |
| POL-371 | International Studies | 3 |
| POL-399H | Honors College Thesis-Political Science | 3 |
| POL-401 | Political Science Travel Seminar | 3 |
| POL-475 | Independent Learning in Political Science | 1 to 3 |
