Students talk about their favorite subjects and the pros, professors, and professions behind them.
Noreena Chaudari
Major: Government and International Relations (Poli. Sci)
Year: Senior
Did you know what you wanted to major in when you came to Clark?:
I definitely knew that I was going to be a Government and International Relations major when I came to Clark. The reputation of the program was a major factor in my deciding to come to Clark.
Best class so far:
I can’t pick a single favorite class because I am a huge political nerd and have loved most of them. The ones I’ve found most fascinating are US Judicial Politics, Money and US Politics, and the American Presidency.
Worst class so far:
The worst class was the Political Science research methods course. The class really didn’t have any new information that was imperative to my understanding of the field of political science seeing as the class focused largely on how to write a research paper. Unfortunately this is required for the major, but it may have improved as there has been a change in professor since I took the course.
Best/worst professor:
In my opinion the best professor in Political Science is Professor Miller because he really knows the material he’s teaching.
I’m not sure I want to say there is a worst professor. There are some professors that I don’t think I’ll be taking another course with, but I like to give them the benefit of the doubt and assume they were just having an off semester when I had them.
Okay, let’s bring in a scary question: what do you want to be when you grow up? What profession are you looking toward in the future?
While I had not doubts about what I was going to major in at Clark, I have no idea what I’m going to do with my life post-Clark. Right now I’m considering becoming a professional student, but I don’t think that counts as a real profession.
Pros/cons of your major:
Something that is a pro and a con is the knowledge you gain of the United States government and the governments of various nations of the world. This is a pro and a con because in some cases you may prefer to remain ignorant to how these governments actually function while in other cases it’s great when you can understand the political news.
If you could recommend one class to anyone thinking about choosing this area of study what would it be?
I would recommend US Congress to anyone considering being a Political Science major with a subfield in American Politics. The course was related to a lot of other courses I have taken within the major and would give a good view of what to expect to learn within the field because of the connections between the legislative branch of the federal government with the executive and judicial branches.
