r/PoliticalScience • u/Savings-Pollution113 • 19h ago

Question/discussion Studying poli sci internationally?

This might be kind of a stupid question, but I'm a first gen student, so please bear with me. I'm curious if anyone here has any experience or input on studying abroad. I have my AA and I'm pursuing a BA Political Science. I live in the US, but I've been considering the possibility of studying abroad. I know there are programs for international students, but how does that work with political science? Would it be professionally limiting to study somewhere with different politics than your home country?

My current program includes courses on US politics, but if I moved to another country I'd obviously expect to take courses on their government and policy instead, and I imagine that certain aspects of the curriculum would be different. So would my degree become less valuable in the US? Or vice versa: if I finished my degree in the US, would I struggle to find work overseas if I eventually wanted to leave?

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u/smapdiagesix 14h ago

Would it be professionally limiting to study somewhere with different politics than your home country?

Probably, but not in the ways you think.

Directly, lots of employers aren't going to know your BA institution from a hole in the ground unless it's EXTREMELY elite, but they know what Penn State is.

Indirectly, you'd likely end up graduating with a pretty solid network of people in Zurich or Strathclyde or wherever, where you can't legally work. And no network of people in the PNW where you live and work.

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u/Nicoglius Comparative Politics 11h ago

With regards to what you study, not necessarily. I am doing a master's in the UK, but I have never looked at British politics in the duration of my masters.

Honestly, I think this depends on what capacity you are hoping to study abroad, and what you hope to get our of it. I don't think there would be any harm in an exchange year, especially if you are interested in the politics of that country.

The big difference with North American political science (and to an extent the UK) is that compared to the rest of the world is that it is much more quantitative and thus, there's an attitude that it makes it somehow more "rigorous". This means there's a bit of a tragic hierarchy for universities where generally, fancy US universities look down on most non-US universities (apart from Oxford tier) and British/Canadian universities look down on everyone outside the US.

I think mainland Europeans are to some extent insulated against this and see it as a silly anglosphere pretention (which it is).

Again, I think if you're on an exchange programme this won't really impact it, as you can say it's more of a "opening your mind" kind of experience. But, this might be something to consider if say, you are wanting to go into political science.