How should I decide whether to take an introductory course or an intermediate level course for the breadth requirement?

Most students should take the introductory courses in their two main fields of interest. This gives you a good foundation for upper-level courses and will take care of their prerequisites. If you are less interested in one or two of the other fields, you may want to look at more appealing intermediate level courses that will satisfy the breadth requirement. There may be exceptions to this general approach, however, so we encourage you to talk to an advisor about what would be best for you. Can I specialize? Do I have to specialize? Political Science majors often specialize informally in one of the following sub-fields, although there is no requirement to do so, and there is no formal distinction between a student who studies American politics, for example, and one who studies International Relations. You may find that courses in different sub-fields will complement one another. American Politics investigates our national, state, and local political systems, including their political ...  more