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5 Majors to Consider for a Career in Government and Public Administration

What should you study if you are interested in a career in Government and Public Administration?

Government and Public Administration careers include jobs in planning and performing government functions at the local, state, and federal levels, including governance, national security, foreign service, planning, revenue and taxation, and regulations.  

If you are interested in a career in Government and Public Administration here is a list of 5 majors you might consider when thinking about your degree options. 

  1. Political Science and Government 
    Political science and government majors study the systems people set up to organize their societies, from neighborhoods to nations.
  2. Economics
    Economics majors learn to decode the systems behind what can often appear impossible to understand. They study economic models and theories to analyze how the seemingly simple acts of buying and selling can be complicated by factors such as taxes, interest rates, inflation, labor disagreements, and even the weather.
  3. History
    History majors learn how to interpret objects and written documents from the past. They also read the works of published historians and evaluate their ideas.
  4. Finance
    Finance majors learn how to make financial decisions for organizations. Course work covers such topics as planning, raising funds, making wise investments, and controlling costs.
  5. Business Administration and Management
    Business administration majors learn the mechanics of business through classes in fundamentals such as finance, accounting and marketing and delve into more specialized topics. Students find ways to solve problems using data, and they develop communication and managerial skills.

When you think about careers in the Government and Public Administration career cluster, these are just a few examples of potential majors to get you started. Explore more majors or search for colleges on BigFuture that offer these or similar majors to start building your college list!

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