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Political Science
STUDENT RESOURCES
The
best place to seek guidance on political science resources at HPU is to
see one of the department's instructors. We also have experts on
campus to help you with
internships for university credit,
post-college employment and graduate school preparation, and
improving your
research and
writing skills. The materials below will provide you with some basic
information that you may also find useful:
Internship
Resources
Your best place to start looking for an internship is
to sit down with a political science faculty member in your area of
interest or the department's
coordinator for internships, Dr. Martin Kifer. A good overview of
how to obtain an internship with an international organization is available at
the University of Michigan's Center for International Education.
If you are looking for
information on US Congressional internships, most federal legislators
provide internship information and application materials on their websites.
Our department has a
good track-record in placing HPU students in local offices for many
different federal legislators in the area and in Washington.
HPU's Experiential
Learning Office can help you locate summer housing in
Washington, DC.
Many of our students' most
exciting internships have been with non-governmental organizations in
Washington or Raleigh. Most well-known think-tanks (e.g., Brookings,
Cato, and the John Locke Foundation) and public interest groups (e.g.,
Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch) have established
internship programs. Some, like the Heritage Foundation, even provide
intern housing and/or a stipend.
Are you looking for an
international internship during your "gap year" between HPU and graduate
school? See: The Center for
Interim Programs.
Resources
for Applying to Graduate School
Whether you are just starting your education at
HPU or going into your senior year unsure about whether graduate school
might be right for you, please see one of the faculty members in the
department if you think that graduate or law school may be an option
worth considering. While any faculty member will be happy to talk
you through the plusses and minuses of heading directly into graduate
school, the department's
coordinator for graduate school placement, Prof. DeSantis, can
direct you to numerous resources to help you make informed decisions.
Some other useful information can be found in the following places:
Preparing
to apply to graduate school. Published by the University of
Tennessee at Martin, this site provides a comprehensive overview of the
graduate schools application process.
The Association of Professional
Schools of International Affairs. This organization includes
most of the top IA programs in the country. Students
considering graduate school in international relations may find it
useful to review Foreign Policy's
2005 reputational ranking of these institutions.
Political science graduates frequently choose to hone
their practical and technical skills with a two-year MA degree in public
policy or administration. The NASPAA is the national accrediting agency
for high quality programs of this type.
Their
website provides information on applying as well as a search
engine to assist students in locating a strong program in their area.
Graduate school rankings in Political Science. This
interactive website allows students to generate lists of PhD political
science programs by prestige, cost, support for PhD students, time to
PhD, etc. The data are somewhat dated, but it is a nice place to start
thinking about potential programs.
The
Graduate Record Examination. Students applying to graduate
school generally must prepare for and take the GRE, a standardized
examination that assesses a students mathematics, verbal, writing, and
analytical skills. The GRE's website provides an overview of the test as
well as a sample examination. If you have already taken the GRE, the
website provides charts that convert your raw test scores into
percentiles.
If you are applying to law school, you will need to take the Law School Admissions Test
(the LSAT) and to provide various materials to the
Law
School Admission Council (LSAC), which acts as an applications
clearinghouse for law schools.
In depth information on the LSAT examination and the law school applications process
is located on the LSAC homepage. To get a general
sense about the the GPA and LSAT scores students typically need to enter
law school, you may want to review US
News and World Report's annual law school ranking of institutions.
Students thinking about law school
should see HPU's pre-law
services early on in their time at HPU.
The political science department has a very strong track-record in
placing its graduates into excellent law programs, especially when
students prepare adequately for the LSAT by taking a test preparation
course with either Kaplan
or
Princeton Review. If law school is in your future, the
political science department strongly urges you to properly prepare for
the LSAT.
Research and Writing Resources
"Citing Sources," a chapter from a leading student writing manual.
Covers how and when to cite as well as the formatting of bibliographies.
Paul
Hensel's International Relations Data Site (From Florida State).
This will link you to a tremendous number of data sites on countries, US
states, etc.
Political Science Resources on the Web (from the University of
Michigan library).
Professional
Organizations
APSA
is the flagship professional organization in political science. The association
publishes numerous journals, including PS, which is the main
journal addressing the occupational concerns and activities of
professional political scientists (full text articles from this journal
are available through Smith
Library's Journal Finder)
The American Bar Association.
The ABA is the nation's largest and best known association of lawyers.
Their website will link you to many resources for applying to law
school.
