Zoe Berg, Photo Editor

The political science major is adding several requirements that the department says will equip students with greater depth of knowledge in the field. 

The major’s changes will go into effect for the class of 2026 and will not affect any current Yale College classes. The core major will remain 12 courses but will now include three additional requirements: an introductory course, a methodologies course and an intermediate lecture. This scaffolding will help students develop a deeper understanding of the field, according to director of undergraduate studies David Simon. The department will also establish a two-tiered senior essay system that allows seniors to choose between a standard seminar-style essay and a more comprehensive “honors” track with more advising resources.

“We emphasize[d] making sure that there [was] a certain breadth of what students took, but we didn’t have much to ensure that students got the kind of depth of knowledge that a major sort of implies,” Simon said. “We’re trying to have a little more control over the trajectory of the student that comes [into the major] and the student who comes out the other side.”

These changes were approved at a December Yale College faculty meeting and will go into effect next year for students in the incoming class of 2026. Declared and prospective majors graduating in 2025 and earlier will continue to use the department’s current major roadmap. 

Around eight percent of undergraduates major in political science, making it Yale College’s second-most popular major, after economics. Faculty are pleased with the major’s historic popularity, Simon said, but want to lay out a more consciously designed framework for students to work through. The major will continue to have no prerequisites or specific mandatory courses. 

Laying the tracks

The first of the planned changes, the introductory course requirement, will require students to take at least two of the department’s five introductory courses, each of which focuses on one of the department’s five subfields: international relations, American government, political philosophy, comparative politics and methodology and formal theory. 

Previously, students were not required to take any of the department’s introductory courses, though they were asked to take two courses, which could include introductory courses, in each of any three of the department’s five subfields. Originally, the department considered establishing an “Introduction to Political Science” course, but scrapped the plan after receiving negative student input. 

The fifth subfield is currently known as analytical political theory but will take on the new name “methodology and formal theory” as part of the major’s redesign. Courses in this subfield include quantitative courses like “YData: An Introduction to Data Science,” as well as qualitative classes such as “Strategic Models of Politics” and “Mixed Methods Research.” Students in the major will be required to take one course in the methodology and formal theory subfield. 

“In Political Science, as in some other social science disciplines, there is more use of quantitative and formal methods now than in the past, so the department has decided to add a course requirement there as well, so that their students can access this kind of literature more easily, as well as understand its strengths and weaknesses,” Divisional Dean of Social Science Steven Wilkinson wrote in an email.

Students in the major will also be required to complete an intermediate lecture course. Around 20 courses, mostly higher-numbered courses taught by core political science faculty, will fulfill this requirement, including “The Politics of American Public Policy” and “Game Theory and Political Science.”

Overall, Simon said, having all students take core introductory and methodological courses will better prepare them for upper-level seminars, many of which presume a baseline of methodological knowledge. Those seminars, he added, may in turn be able to add more advanced and engaging content to their syllabi.

These additional requirements may make double-majoring in political science more challenging, especially for those adding the major in their junior or senior years. Roughly 15 percent of political science majors are double majors, though Simon said that fewer than 10 students typically add the major during their senior years.

Thesis track

Seniors graduating in 2026 and beyond will be able to choose an “honors” thesis track, pursuing a more intensive thesis topic that may require additional advising resources. These students will be able to write one- or two-semester theses in either a seminar or directed reading course. The track would be an incentive and encouragement, Simon said, for students to pursue a particularly special project. 

Non-honors essays, on the other hand, will only be written within a semester-long seminar, and the determination of whether that essay meets the department’s standard will be made by that seminar’s instructor. Currently, all senior essays are evaluated by a second reading, but this new change allows departmental advising resources to be more concentrated on honors students. 

Currently, to graduate with distinction in the political science major, students have to receive an A or A- in three-fourths of classes counting towards their major. Now, students will instead complete an honors thesis as a way to graduate with distinction.

“The bar [for receiving honors] is a little bit higher, but we don’t think that it’s anything punitive,” Simon told the News. “We think of it as a response to where there is kind of a demand for a more rigorous experience. In some sense, we are just recognizing what students are already doing, pursuing a sort of project that’s really a special endeavor.”

The move comes in response to a wider shift away from the University-wide distinction standards, allowing each department to instead design its own honors system, according to Simon.

Student input

The News spoke to five current political science majors, four of whom praised the changes. Theo Haaks ’24, a member of the department’s undergraduate advisory committee who met with Simon to make suggestions about the changes, said that he likes the additional scaffolding, and he noted that many students in the major naturally fulfill the new requirements over the course of their four years.

“The goal of the committee was to make sure we are building up the major so that people who want to get a lot out of it can do so,” Haaks said. “This might make people get a little out of their comfort zone, and reinforce a sense of structure and rigor, which I think is important for a college major.”

Haaks further noted that political science is seen by some peers as a less rigorous major, and said that these changes may improve the major’s reputation.

Political science major Diba Ghaed ’24 agreed, saying that while she appreciates the “current flexibility” of the major, she also thinks there is value in adding more structure.

“I think having a bit more structure in the major would be great to make sure that students are hitting target areas and getting a well-rounded political science education,” Ghaed said. “I think a methods class requirement is a great addition to the major; I took a political science and statistics class and thought it was really useful.” 

Matthew Pecoraro ’22, who is studying political science and is also in the combined bachelor’s and master’s program in chemistry, was less keen on the additional requirements. 

He had originally intended to pursue only chemistry, though he was interested in American government and had taken some courses in that area, and ultimately was able to double-major due to the flexibility of the current political science major.

“I really didn’t intend to be a political science double major until the start of my senior year,” said Pecoraro. “I’m generally against the changes just because someone like me wouldn’t be able to waltz into the second major if it was more rigid. Right now, one of the good things is that it’s very flexible. Now I just have to fulfill the senior requirement, and that’s it.”

But Simon expressed confidence about the major’s enduring attraction. 

“Political science will continue to be a popular major for students because it will both offer a wide range of topical and intellectually engaging classes, and now with the roadmap have more guidance in how to think like a political scientist,” Simon said. 

The political science department is located in Rosenkranz Hall.