Outcomes

Iowa State University’s College of Liberal Arts and Sciences Career Services surveys alumni six months after graduation to track trends in placement. This table shows career outcomes at that point among Bachelor’s degree recipients for the five most recent years of available data (from 2016–2017 to 2020–2021), for both Political Science majors and, for comparison, all Liberal Arts and Sciences majors:

Total Occupied Professionally Occupied Employed Further Education Other
Political Science 93% 85% 62% 30% 1%
Liberal Arts and Sciences 90% 84% 66% 22% 1%

As the table shows, a very high proportion of Political Science Bachelor’s-degree recipients are “occupied,” which encompasses being employed or continuing with further education (or, for a small number, not seeking employment), even though these figures include the pandemic-afflicted 2019–2020 academic year. Notably, the placement rate for Political Science undergraduates is somewhat higher than the comparable rate for graduates in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. A markedly high share of departmental graduates successfully seek admittance to professional schools, especially law school. The Department is very proud of our students’ success, which attests to the quality of the education they receive and of the skills they acquire.

Recent employers of Political Science Bachelor’s-degree graduates include:

  • Alpha Gamma Delta
  • AmeriCorps
  • Arcanum Consulting Inc.
  • Army National Guard
  • Aurora Police Department
  • Bahamas Public Parks & Public Beaches Authority
  • Boys & Girls Club of Story County
  • Brooksource
  • Canon Business Process Services
  • Catherine McAuley Center
  • CDS Global
  • CDWG
  • Center for Rural Affairs
  • Cerner Corporation
  • City of Dubuque
  • Diversified Management Services
  • Epic
  • Fourth Presbyterian South BostonB
  • Gilmore & Bell
  • Greater Burlington PartnershipB
  • HB Roswell Realty
  • Hotel Pattee
  • Human Rights Campaign
  • Hy-Vee Inc.
  • Iowa Attorney General’s Office
  • Iowa Business Council
  • Iowa Events Center
  • Iowa Senate Republican Caucus
  • Keller Williams Realty
  • LS2 Group
  • Manatee County, Florida
  • Mercer Health Insurance
  • Mister Africa International
  • National Student Leadership Conference
  • Nationwide Insurance
  • Peace Corps
  • Pella Corporation
  • Principal Financial Group
  • REM Iowa Community Services
  • Securian Financial Group
  • SmithMonson LLC
  • State of Colorado
  • Stoltze & Stoltze, PLC
  • TD&I Cable Maintenance Inc.
  • TMG Management Ltd.
  • United States Army
  • United States Department of Agriculture
  • United States Marine Corps
  • United States Navy
  • United States Senate
  • Vote Smart
  • Weitz Company
  • Wells Fargo
  • Wilcox Law Firm
  • Woodward Academy
  • Workiva
  • WorldWide Logistics