Beginning in Fall 2018, a political science minor requires you to complete 18 hours of coursework distributed as follows:

Requirement Hours
PS 100 3
Select two additional 100- or 200-level Political Science courses 6
Select three 300- or 400-level Political Science courses from courses offered on the Urbana-Champaign campus* 9
Total Hours 18

To declare a Political Science minor, students should submit an online request here to the Department of Political Science to be signed by an academic advisor.

*Courses MUST be taken on the Urbana-Champaign campus. Study abroad and transfer coursework does not apply.

Students beginning at Illinois prior to Fall 2018 have the option to follow the above curriculum or the old minor curriculum. The old minor curriculum can be found below.

Political Science Minor Prior to Fall 2018

Requirement Hours
PS 100 or 101 (101 recommended) 3
Field Courses from PS 201 (US Racial & Ethnic Politics), PS 220 (Intro to Public Policy), PS 230 (Intro to Political Research), PS 240 (Intro to Comparative Politics), PS 270 (Intro to Political Theory), PS 280/281 (Intro to International Relations 6
Advanced level (300- or 400-level) courses from subfields in which credit for the minor has already been completed 9
Total Hours 18

 

The fields from which students may choose advanced-level political science courses depend on the choice of 100 or 101 and the field courses chosen. The Political Science Curriculum Guide shows how courses fit into the subfields.

Students may count up to 6 hours of PS 300 (Special Topics) courses in appropriate fields toward the minor. A political science advisor can tell you the fields to which different sections of PS 300 belong. Students may count hours from PS 490 (Individual Study)  and PS 491 (Government Internship) towards the minor, if the topic of the research  completed for the independent study or internship was in an appropriate field.