Major in Political Science, Public Policy and Service Concentration

The Public Policy and Service concentration is designed to help students develop the knowledge and skills to analyze the connections between politics, public policy, public administration, and public service. It is designed to help students to pursue careers in the public sector and non-profit sectors, domestically and internationally. Students will learn about large organizations, the public policy process, program evaluation, policy effectiveness, and sustainability, among other topics. Public Policy and Service students are strongly encouraged to complete an internship to gain practical experience working in the field.

Learning Objectives

Upon successful completion of this program, students will be able to:

1. Reason through political claims and assertions by political actors.
2. Recognize and respond to diverse ideological perspectives.
3. Locate political issues and controversies within their relevant institutional and historical contexts.
4. Demonstrate familiarity with the institutional processes of politics in numerous global and domestic political arenas.
5. Demonstrate confidence in expressing opinions and presenting analyses of political problems and their solutions.
6. Demonstrate confidence in describing the public policy process.
7. Articulate and identify public service values.

To change your Major to Political Science, you can either call the College of Liberal Arts Academic Advising Center at 970-491-3117 or send an email to cla_advising@colostate.edu. More information is available on https://advising.libarts.colostate.edu.  

Effective Spring 2025

Political science majors must achieve a minimum grade of C (2.000)​ in each of the political science (POLS) courses counted toward meeting the requirement of the major. Students may enroll in either the standalone major or (at most) one of the concentrations under the Major in Political Science.

International Relations, Comparative Politics/American Politics and Law/Political Theory Course List

Public Policy and Administration Course List 

Support Option

Political Science majors must complete one of the following five Support Options.

Minor or Interdisciplinary Minor Support Option

Course List

Code	Title	Credits
Select a minor or interdisciplinary minor in consultation with advisor.		21-24

Student-Selected Course Group Support Option

Course List

Code	Title	Credits
A program of courses proposed by student and approved by advisor containing a minimum of 21 credits, of which at least 12 must be upper-division (300- to 400-level).		21

 Second Major Support Option

Course List

Code	Title	Credits
Select a second major in consultation with advisor. This option may require as much as 36 credits. Credit range shown is approximate, and may require more or less, depending on the second major chosen.		27-36

Foreign Language Support Option

Course List

Code	Title	Credits
A minimum of 5 courses totaling at least 15 credits in a single foreign language, including at least 2 courses of language instruction or in the language at the upper-division level.		15-22

Methods Support Option

Course List

Code	Title	Credits
Methods Support Option		21
POLS 320	Empirical Political Analysis	3
STAT 301	Introduction to Applied Statistical Methods	3
Select two from the following:		6
PHIL 120	History and Philosophy of Scientific Thought (GT-AH3)
PHIL 327	Philosophy of Behavioral Sciences
PHIL 415	Logic and Scientific Method
Select one from the following:		3
STAT 305	Sampling Techniques
STAT 341	Statistical Data Analysis I
STAT 342	Statistical Data Analysis II
Select two from the following:		6
ANTH 441	Method in Cultural Anthropology
AREC 335/ECON 335	Introduction to Econometrics
SOC 210	The Power of Numbers--Statistics in Sociology
SOC 311	Sociological Research Methods

¹

Select a minimum of 12 upper-division (300- to 400-level) credits to fulfill this requirement. Sophomores may take only 300-level courses from this section.

²

Courses selected to fulfill the "International Relations/Comparative Politics/American Politics and Law/Political Theory" requirement may not also fulfill the "Public Policy and Administration" Course List, and vice versa. 

³

Sophomores may take only 300-level courses from this list.

⁴

Select enough elective credits to bring the program total to a minimum of 120 credits, of which at least 42 must be upper-division (300- to 400-level).

⁵

Students must complete one upper-division course in each of four of the five departmental subfields (American Politics and Law, International Relations, Comparative Politics, and Public Policy and Administration, Political Theory) prior to taking POLS 492. 

Distinctive Requirements for Degree Program:

Political science majors must achieve a minimum grade of C (2.000)​ in each of the political science (POLS) courses counted toward meeting the requirement of the major. Students may enroll in either the standalone major or (at most) one of the concentrations under the Major in Political Science.

Upper-Division course in at least four subfields of political science required to register for POLS 492.