Basics of Course Planning for Your Major
You probably learned a lot about the requirements of the Miami Plan for Liberal Education when you attended summer orientation. Divisional advisers can perhaps be best at helping you plan your strategy for completion of the Miami Plan. Your faculty adviser in the department can best help you plan what courseswill most challenge you and help you meet your academic needs and goals. While every student is different, of course, and student schedules will vary widely, we recommend that you consider the following as you begin your major program. All requirements for
the majors, minors, and thematic sequences, as well as lots of other information, are discussed later in this handbook. The department completed a major overhaul of the political science major in 2006, and new rules will apply to students entering the university starting in Fall 2006; both the new and the old rules will be discussed below, as will be the new Miami Plan courses that the department offers.
Political Science Majors (POL)
If you entered Miami before Fall 2006 and are majoring in political science, you should take POL 241 first, if possible. Then you should move on to take other courses at the 200-level; you need to take at least three of these courses that introduce different subfields of political science. These courses are prerequisites for courses you will then take at the 300- and 400-level later (e.g., POL 241 is the prerequisite for upper-level courses in American
politics). We strongly encourage you to take these introductory courses in your first and second year. Please note that the POL major gives students great freedom in course selection after the introductory level; we urge you to talk about what most interests you and what courses will best meet your needs with your faculty adviser. If you are starting at Miami in the Fall of 2006, then you must take POL 241 and at least two other introductory courses at the
200-level.
*Students who entered Miami prior to Fall 2006 and have taken POL 141 or POL 142, do not need to take POL 241.
Diplomacy and Foreign Affairs (DFA)
Majors in DFA should begin by taking POL 271 (World Politics) and 221 (Modern World Governments). These
courses are prerequisites for the courses you will later take. You may then take POL 373 (American Foreign Policy), which is also required of DFA majors, and begin taking some of your related hours as well as other political science courses required of DFA majors. Again, your faculty adviser stands ready to help plan your individual strategy.
Public Administration (PA)
Public Administration majors should begin by taking POL 241 and then POL 261, the introduction to public
administration and a prerequisite for upper-level courses in this area. We also encourage PA majors to take ECO 201 (microeconomics) and 202(macroeconomics) as early as possible in your major program. Students can then move on to courses at the 300-level and above.
The Political Science Department organizes its course offerings into five fields. Each of these fields has its own number suffix in the course numbering system. You can thus identify the fields by name and number.
Number suffix and field:
01-19 Political theory and Methodology
20-39 Comparative Political Systems
40-59 American Political Systems
60-69 Public Administration and Policy Analysis
70-89 International Relations (except for 477, independent readings).
The field number is preceded by a single digit number which indicates the level of the course being
identified. Thus, Political Science 261 (Introduction to Public Administration) describes a course which is slightly more advanced than one at the 100-level, and it places the subject matter within the area of Public Administration and Policy Analysis. The third digit in a course number is just to distinguish one course from another; for example, POL 352 can be taken before 351, or you can take 352 and never take 351. The third digit does not indicate a relationship between courses.
While students are not restricted to courses in any field and may enroll in courses in all areas, there are pre- requisites for certain upper-level (300 and above) courses. It is also not necessary to take courses in numerical order where different fields are involved or even with respect to the very different subjects within the same field. For example, 201 Modern Political Ideologies need not precede 271 World Politics.
The following are pre-requisites for upper-level courses:
POL 241 (American Politics) for all upper division courses in American Politics
POL 201 (Modern Political Ideologies) forPOL 302 and POL 303
POL 221 (Modern World Governments) for upper division courses in Comparative Politics
POL 261 (American Public Administration) for upper division Public Administrataion courses.
POL 306 (Applied Research Methods) for POL 406 and POL 466 (Public Policy Analysis)
POL 271 (International Politics) for all upper division courses in the International Relations
POL 331 (Development of the Russian Polity) for POL 332
If in doubt about the sequence of courses, consult your adviser or the instructor of the course.
