Politics and Law (new)

For students interested in studying politics and law, Rhodes has everything you are looking for . . . from our Mock Trial program that has been to the national championships for 38 consecutive years to our impressive law school acceptance rates that far exceed the national average. 

At Rhodes, you will learn to address fundamental questions regarding constitutional, legal, demographic, and political structures in the United States. Our curriculum emphasizes skills in research methods, public policy analysis, and legal analysis. Our faculty direct the national award-winning Mock Trial program, advise the Tennessee Intercollegiate State Legislature, and connect students to internships in public affairs, political advocacy, public policy, and law at the local, state, and national levels. Our faculty are committed to student-centered programming for majors and non-majors, regardless of partisanship or ideology. Our approach is the dispassionate study of politics. 

Students can major in political science or bridge major in political science and international studies. Students can also earn a minor in political science or an interdisciplinary minor in law and society. Through the new Washington, D.C., summer program, students also have the opportunity to earn credit toward these programs. Two Rhodes graduates have served as justices on the Supreme Court of the United States.

• Five years after graduation, more than 90 percent of our graduates are enrolled in either law school or graduate school or are working in law, politics, government affairs, business, or nonprofit sectors.
• Rhodes graduates are prepared for a variety of careers in government service, public policy, law, education, criminal justice, business, and journalism. 
• Recent politics and law graduates have secured positions with the Federal Reserve Bank, the American Way, the Senate Judiciary Committee, the Republican National Committee, the Democratic Leadership Conference, the State Department, Teach for America, secondary schools, banks, public policy organizations, advocacy groups, various government agencies, a wide variety of law firms across the country, consulting firms, Congressional committees, public interest groups, academic departments of colleges and universities, and private lobbying firms. Graduates are regularly hired to work in the offices of state and national senators and representatives.
• Recent graduates have attended such law schools as Harvard University, University of Virginia, Georgetown University, Vanderbilt University, Tulane University, University of Chicago, Duke University, Emory University, University of Texas, University of Georgia, University of Tennessee, University of Alabama, Washington and Lee University, and Washington University, among others. 
• Recent graduates have also pursued advanced degrees in political science at Harvard University, University of Virginia, Boston College, Brandeis University, University of Texas, and University of Wisconsin, as well as in fields like public administration, business, journalism, education, history, and even medicine and veterinary science.

The Department of Politics and Law encourages students—regardless of major—to connect classroom learning with real-world engagement through a range of cocurricular opportunities.

Mock Trial
Rhodes' Mock Trial program is one of the nation's most accomplished. For 38 consecutive years, Rhodes has earned a berth in the national championships and holds more individual All-American awards and team trophies than any program in the nation. Each year, 50 to 60 students participate. 

Tennessee Intercollegiate State Legislature (TISL)
Students participate in this annual simulation of state government held at the capitol in Nashville, working across party lines to debate legislation and practice policymaking.

Advocacy & Student Organizations
Students engage through organizations such as IGNITE, which promotes young women’s political leadership; Just City Advocates, which partners with a criminal justice reform organization founded by a Rhodes alum; and A.S.I.A., which celebrates Asian cultures through campus programming and events.

Pizza & Politics
Since 2016, this monthly series has brought students together for respectful, student-led discussions on issues ranging from immigration and health care to presidential power and gun policy.