Department of Government

For Freshmen

Your first three semesters at Harvard are a time for exploration and discovery, with an eye towards choosing a concentration that speaks to your passions, serves your interests, and points you toward a future career. A very flexible concentration, Government offers a wide variety of subjects to study, even as it deepens your analytical and writing skills. For a brief overview of the study of political science at Harvard, click here. Some of our concentrators have a passion for contemporary politics; some wish to apply their analytic and quantitative skills to understand thorny public policy choices; some are interested in the civic philosophy of the ancient Greeks, some in the challenges of global citizenship; some have a passion for the political culture of a particular region of the world; some want to grasp the more general interrelationships of ethnicity and civil war, or human rights and emerging democracy. There is no one path through the Government Department, but the courses of study our students pursue prepare them well for whatever endeavors they pursue beyond Harvard.

The staff of the Government Undergraduate Program Office is eager to offer you guidance in your choice of concentration and can provide information about the different subfields of political science and course selection for prospective concentrators. Please do not hesitate to contact us, either by dropping by the office at 1737 Cambridge Street, or via email or phone (5-3249). It is easy to set up a time to talk with the Director of Studies, Assistant Director of Studies, or one of the Program Staff. You should also feel free to talk to any of the Government resident tutors in the Houses who act as official Advisers to Government concentrators.

A good way to find out if Government is the best concentration for you is also to attend events that we sponsor especially for students. If you would like to be informed of upcoming events of particular interest to concentrators or potential concentrators, please click here and we’ll add you to our list!