Careers

Political Science instils a range of highly transferable skills that are marketable in many fields and several career paths which place a premium upon training in Political Science:

  • Politics: BC Premier Christy Clark, US President Barack Obama, and provincial NDP leader Adrian Dix all got started by studying Political Science. And Political Science graduates often work for political parties as researchers, recruiters, organizers, policy advisors, and campaign managers.
  • Public service: Canada's three levels of government employ over a million people in Canada, many of which are Political Science graduates.
  • Semi-independent government agencies, boards, commissions, and Crown corporations such as Elections Canada, Statistics Canada, or provincial and federal legislatures, as well as municipalities, all hire Political Science graduates.
  • International diplomacy and foreign service
  • International and non-government organizations (NGOs)
  • Law: Law schools accept more applicants with Political Science degrees than from any other educational background, according to expert Rand Dyck.
  • Advocacy groups, independent research organizations and think tanks  
  • Education 
  • Journalism
  • Business
  • Labour unions

Famous Political Science graduates include:

Obama

  • US President Barack Obama
  • BC NDP leader Adrian Dix
  • Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton
  • Former Prime Minister of Canada Brian Mulroney
  • Former BC Premier Ujall Dosanjh
  • Donald Fehr, Executive Director of the NHL Players' Association
  • Kevin Newman, News Anchor, Global National
  • Jeffery Simpson, Globe and Mail National Affairs Columnist
  • Paul Wells, Senior Columnist, Maclean's magazine
  • Mark Parker, CEO of Nike Inc.
  • Steve Case, co-founder and former CEO of AOL
  • Christine Lagarde, Managing Director, International Monetary Fund