What I did with my Political Science degree and my one regret

I went into my undergrad years without any clear aims. I didn’t have the kind of Chinese immigrant parents who pushed me to pursue a STEM career or get an MBA. I think they were simply too busy running a business of their own to know how to guide me in this foreign land of America. So when I decided to study Political Science, they just thought that I was going to work at the UN or something.

Working at the UN, being a diplomat or running for office were the only identifiable career choices I could pinpoint and explain to my parents (and if I was really honest with myself, I didn’t know what else I could do with a PoliSci degree either). By the time I reached my senior year, I hadn’t explored my options beyond these tropes and decided that maybe I wanted to keep studying so that whenever I did decide, I’d be the most qualified.

Law school was a easy leap, but I wasn’t keen on being a lawyer. (I now know that you can get a law degree and do lots more than practice law!) Graduate school was another logical choice, but where and what would I study? I took both the GREs and the LSATs to give myself options for further study.

I think I chose this road and then kept some blinders on during that pivotal year when all my peers were discussing careers and jobs. I didn’t attend any job fairs or have in-depth conversations with any career counselors. I suppose had it all figured out, that I would just keep going to school.

My one regret

Having “chosen” something already (I decided to on grad school, to get a PhD in Political Science), I shut out all other options and didn’t allow for much self-discovery. The one regret I have looking back on that period was not examining the skills I had after my studies and applying that into potential career paths. I didn’t even consider that my research and analytical skills would be suitable for consulting, marketing, or advocacy.

I thought that I needed to already be on these tracks in order to enter into those sectors. This fear that “I’ve missed out” or “it’s too late” still creeps in today. Not true! Even after a doctorate I’m still figuring out what I can do with my degree (education-tech, publishing, content marketing are just some of the fields I’ve looked most recently).

So, we published this article last month on our Ilkmade Careers blog, called The Classifieds, which explores five career paths for Political Science graduates (Bachelors, Master’s or PhD!). Some paths may seem obvious to some (those who explored one of these options) and eye-opening to others.

I’m happy to chat through each one in the comments below! And would love to hear from PoliSci graduates who launched careers on any one of those paths!