Political Science, B.A.

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To graduate with a B.A. in political science, students must complete a minimum of 36 credits in political science with a grade of “C” or better. At least 15 of these 36 credits must be completed at UMBC.

All students must complete the following lower-level course:

POLI 100 - American Government and Politics (3.00)

Courses at the 200 level

Students are required to take four additional courses at the 200 level. They may choose among the following or any other 200 level POLI courses offered:

POLI 200 - Introduction to Political Science (3.00)
POLI 210 - Political Philosophy (3.00)
POLI 220 - The U.S. Constitution: Where It Came From and What It Says (3.00)
POLI 230 - Introduction to Constitutional Law (SS) (3.00)
POLI 233 - Common Law and Legal Analysis (3.00)
POLI 240 - State and Local Politics (3.00)
POLI 250 - Introduction to Public Administration and Policy (3.00)
POLI 260 - Comparative Politics (3.00)
POLI 280 - International Relations (3.00)

One of the following three courses:

At the upper level (300- and 400-level courses), students are required to take a minimum of 21 credits. All students are required to take one of the following three courses:

Note:

Students are required to take six additional, three-credit, upper-level courses, with at least two of these six courses being 400-level courses.

In addition to these formal requirements, the political science faculty makes the following recommendations to its majors:

Majors are strongly urged to take one or more courses in English composition beyond ENGL 100 before taking 200 level or higher POLI courses.
Majors are urged to take additional courses in mathematics, computer science, principles of economics, American history, philosophy and other social sciences.
Majors planning to enter graduate or professional study are especially urged to take STAT 121 or a more advanced statistics course.