Get a jump start on what you want do in college or test your interest before you get there by taking a class in political science! 

Education

Take a class in political science. 

Choose a cause you care about and then explore what different organizations in your community are doing to help. See if you can volunteer or organize donations from friends and family.

Make a difference in your community. 

Your participation in politics at the local, state, and federal level can make a big difference. Check out this cheat sheet for easy ways to start getting involved today! 

Advice

Get involved in local politics.

Political Scientists

Study the origin, development, and operation of political systems. May study topics, such as public opinion, political decision-making, and ideology. May analyze the structure and operation of governments, as well as various political entities. May conduct public opinion surveys, analyze election results, or analyze public documents.

Investigative occupations frequently involve working with ideas, and require an extensive amount of thinking. These occupations can involve searching for facts and figuring out problems mentally.

Investigative

Artistic occupations frequently involve working with forms, designs and patterns. They often require self-expression and the work can be done without following a clear set of rules.

Artistic

Social occupations frequently involve working with, communicating with, and teaching people. These occupations often involve helping or providing service to others.

Social

Third Interest High-Point

Second Interest High-Point

Enterprising occupations frequently involve starting up and carrying out projects. These occupations can involve leading people and making many decisions. Sometimes they require risk taking and often deal with business.

Enterprising

Conventional occupations frequently involve following set procedures and routines. These occupations can include working with data and details more than with ideas. Usually there is a clear line of authority to follow.

Conventional

First Interest High-Point

Realistic occupations frequently involve work activities that include practical, hands-on problems and solutions. They often deal with plants, animals, and real-world materials like wood, tools, and machinery. Many of the occupations require working outside, and do not involve a lot of paperwork or working closely with others.

Realistic

Job Zone Five: Extensive Preparation Needed

Miscellaneous Social Scientists and Related Workers

Life, Physical, and Social Science Occupations

Social Scientists and Related Workers

Disseminate research results through academic publications, written reports, or public presentations.

Identify issues for research and analysis.

Develop and test theories, using information from interviews, newspapers, periodicals, case law, historical papers, polls, or statistical sources.

Maintain current knowledge of government policy decisions.

Collect, analyze, and interpret data such as election results and public opinion surveys, reporting on findings, recommendations, and conclusions.

Interpret and analyze policies, public issues, legislation, or the operations of governments, businesses, and organizations.

Evaluate programs and policies, and make related recommendations to institutions and organizations.

Write drafts of legislative proposals, and prepare speeches, correspondence, and policy papers for governmental use.

Forecast political, economic, and social trends.

Consult with and advise government officials, civic bodies, research agencies, the media, political parties, and others concerned with political issues.

Provide media commentary or criticism related to public policy and political issues and events.

Conference phones

Desktop computers

Digital audio recorders

Digital video disk DVD players

Handheld calculators

Laptop computers

Overhead display projectors

Adobe Systems Adobe Acrobat

Bare Bones Software BBEdit

CQ Press Political Reference Suite

DataMystic TextPipe Pro

EBSCO Publishing Academic Search Premier

EBSCO Publishing Political Science Complete

Email software

Europa World Plus

FedStats

Gale Expanded Academic ASAP PLUS

IBM SPSS Statistics

IDM Computer Solutions UltraEdit

Interuniversity Consortium for Political and Social Research (ICPSR) database

JSTOR database

JudgeIt II

Library of Congress E-resources Online Catalog

Microsoft Access

Microsoft Excel

Microsoft Office

Microsoft Outlook

Microsoft PowerPoint

Microsoft Publisher

Microsoft SharePoint

Microsoft Visio

Microsoft Word

Oxford Reference Online

ProQuest Public Affairs Information Service (PAIS) database

ProQuest Worldwide Political Science Abstracts

Sage Reference Online

StataCorp Stata

WinBUGS

Former White House Advisor

<p>In Philadelphia, the Roadtrip Nation team climbs to the top of the clock tower at city hall to meet Andrew Lins, a conservation preserver working on restoring the Liberty Bell. Next up is an interview with Billy King, team president of the Philadelphia 76ers. After traveling to New York, they interview "Cousin" Jeff Johnson, a social and political activist with his own show on BET.</p>

Philadelphia - New York City

From listening to you guys, the one thing that I realize is that it makes me think about my life and when I was in your shoes. And to be honest with you I didn't necessarily have a set plan either. But if you want to continue to grow as a person, you need to figure out what's best for you. How is it that you're gonna map your life? It's always easy to just sit and be comfortable in what you're doing, but for me as an individual, I feel like I continuously need to keep growing. Because I feel like as I broaden my horizons I become a better person, I become a more interesting person, and it helps me to figure out what I want to do with the other parts of my life. As long as you find those things that are important to you and that you're passionate about you'll find a way to work on them. 

Passion

Planning

Continue To Grow

I'm listening to you guys. So one thing that I realize is that it makes me think about my life and when I was in your shoes, and to be honest with you I didn't necessarily have a set of plan either. But if you wanna continue grow as a person, you need to figure out what's best for you. How was it that you gonna map your life? It's always easy to just sit and be comfortable in what you're doing. But for me as an individual, I feel like I continuously need to keep growing. Because I feel as I broaden my horizons, I become a better person, I become a more interesting person and helps me to figure out what I want to do with the other parts of my life life. As long as you find those things that are important to you and that you're passionate about, you'll find a way to work on them. [MUSIC] >> I think what's important is to find something you really love doing. You're gonna be doing it for a long time. Something that you can, at the end of the day, you can feel like you're doing something you really wanna be doing and love doing. I think it's kinda the most important thing. Some people I guess get a rush off of just the things in life. You know, the material things. I think most people, it's more about, do you have love in your life, are you bonding with your family, have you done something in your community? There are a lot of different ways of expressing and creating that connection, that bond. You know, I found a way that worked for me. [MUSIC] It says when will there by room for me on the bus. >> [LAUGH] 

Clyde Williams

Former White House Advisor

Videos

Clyde Williams

Milestones

Education

Career

Career Roadmap

My work combines:

My work combines:

Government

Politics

Learning / Being Challenged

Interviewed By

What Drives You