Political Science

Political Science: Major

Holy Cross students who major in political science gain in-depth understanding of the American political system, other political regimes, the international system, and political philosophy. In uniformly small classes, students also improve their critical and analytical skills and competence in oral and written expression.

Political science is one of Holy Cross’ most popular majors. The major is rigorously structured so as to ensure breadth as well as depth, with courses required in each of the discipline’s four subfields. Department faculty conceive the most fundamental purpose of the major as helping students to become thoughtful, well-informed, and ethical citizens of a constitutional, self-governing republic. Political science majors have gone on to successful careers in local, state, and federal government, academia,  law, journalism, business, high-school teaching, nonprofit organizations, the armed forces, and the priesthood. 

Program Highlights

Students majoring in political science take courses in four main areas:
 
  • American government
  • political philosophy
  • comparative politics
  • international relations
students and a professor in a class
Subfields

Learn more about the political science department’s four subfields.

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Charles Carroll Program

The program brings guest lecturers to campus, funds a sophomore seminar and provides paid summer research internships.

Group of students in Washington DC
Washington Semester Program

Many political science majors spend a semester working, studying, and conducting research in Washington, D.C.

Political Science News

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107 Holy Cross Students Conduct Original Research Across Disciplines This Summer
This summer, 107 Holy Cross students conducted original, cutting-edge research through the Weiss Summer Research Program: 71 students in the natural sciences; 30 in the humanities, social sciences, and fine arts; and six in economics. The far-ranging research projects gave …
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Holy Cross Student Interning at NBC Nightly News Reports: ‘Has It Ever Been This Bad With North Korea? Yes, Actually’
During a summer internship with NBC Nightly News — and while national tensions are running high between the United States and North Korea — James O’Connor ’18 reports that this hostility is nothing new, in an article he wrote for …
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Holy Cross Senior and ‘Ex-Cancer Patient Helps Youths at Sunrise Hospital From Afar’
From thousands of miles away at Holy Cross, Michael Spada ’18 continues to give back to his Southern Nevada community, particularly Sunrise Hospital where he overcame a form of non-Hodgkin lymphoma in 2010. Spada, who understands first-hand what hospitalized children …