Politician / Member of Parliament
🎙️Represents voters: drafts and votes on laws, meets constituents, pushes for repairs, schools and hospitals, speaks in public and debates opponents.
Prospects & pay
What the work is like
💼 Job market
🇺🇸 $228.6k a year on average
Chief executives & legislators — US: Census ACS 2020–24 (full-time), BLS projections 2025–35
🇬🇧 £100.6k median a year · 112,000 jobs
Chief executives and senior officials — UK: ONS ASHE 2025 (full-time)
🤖 AI & automation
AI drafts bills and analyses constituents' letters. Voters' trust, public life and political accountability stay with the human.
Who it suits
Interests: 🏛️ History, society, politics, 🗣️ Persuading and negotiating, 🧭 Organising and leading, ⚖️ Law and justice.
Key strengths: understanding people, speaking and writing, organisation.
Where to study
- Bachelor's BA Politics, PPE, Law, Economics or History (common, not required)
- Selection Party selection and election — no formal qualification
Key school subjects (A-level / IB / AP): Politics, History, English Literature, Economics.
🧗 No formal requirements. A typical route: a politics, law or economics degree, a party youth wing, working as a staffer for an MP, a local council seat, then party selection and election.
Universities
🇬🇧 United Kingdom
- London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) London · €33.2k–45.9k/yr
£28,900–39,900 (2026/27, fixed for the degree); A-levels/IB; IELTS ≈7.0; TMUA for some programmes - University of Oxford Oxford · €43k–72.2k/yr
IELTS 7.5 (7.0 each); subject test (MAT, PAT, TSA, LNAT, UCAT), interview; apply by 15 Oct; medicine takes ≤14 international students/yr - King's College London London
Non-UK foundations not accepted, only King's IFP; nursing: interview, English Band B; medicine and dentistry: UCAT
🇺🇸 United States
- Harvard University Cambridge, MA · €54.1k/yr
SAT/ACT required; English test optional; aid for internationals on the same terms (need-blind), full need met - Georgetown University (School of Foreign Service) Washington, D.C. · €65k/yr
SAT/ACT required; English test recommended, not required; a few need-based scholarships for internationals - Princeton University Princeton, NJ · €59.6k–61.9k/yr
TOEFL/IELTS/DET for non-native speakers; SAT/ACT recommended, required from fall 2028 entry; need-blind, full need in grants
🇩🇪 Germany
- Free University of Berlin Berlin · free
No tuition; a graded C1 certificate to apply, DSH can be passed before enrolment; apply via uni-assist - University of Mannheim Mannheim · €3k/yr
Non-EU: €1,500 a semester; C1 (TestDaF 4x4, DSH-2) by the deadline; no fully English bachelor's; apply directly - University of Konstanz Konstanz · €3k/yr
Non-EU: €1,500 a semester (Baden-Württemberg); German C1 (DSH-2/TestDaF 4x4) *
🇳🇱 Netherlands
- Leiden University Leiden · €14.3k/yr
Certificate + usually 1 university year; IELTS 6.0–7.0 by programme (International Studies 6.0, LUC 7.0); medicine is numerus fixus - University of Amsterdam Amsterdam · €17.5k/yr
Certificate + usually 1 university year (Diploma finder); IELTS 6.5 (PPLE 7.0); medicine is Dutch-taught, numerus fixus, €34,700 - University of Groningen Groningen
VWO level by file review; IELTS 6.5 (by programme); €100 fee; numerus fixus by 15 January, others by 1 May, non-EU conditions by 1 July
🇫🇷 France
- Sciences Po Paris · €14.9k/yr
File + interview; Paris taught in French, Le Havre/Reims/Menton in English; aid up to full waiver - Sciences Po Bordeaux Pessac
Own selection (international track), taught in French * - Panthéon-Sorbonne University (Paris 1) Paris · €2.9k/yr
DAP, French B2 (law C1); non-EU pay €2,902 in 2026/27
🇮🇹 Italy
- LUISS Guido Carli Rome · €14k–15k/yr
Private, flat fee regardless of income: €14,000 (2026/27), €15,000 (2027/28); own test or SAT, English B2 - University of Bologna Bologna · €1.2k/yr
English programmes: B2 (some B1), selection by SAT, TOLC-E or CEnT-S; 12 school years. Non-OECD citizens: €1,157 a year - University of Milan Milan · €1.1k–4.3k/yr
12 school years; Italian B2 (English B2 for English programmes); programme tests; income abroad: fixed fee by country group
🇪🇸 Spain
- Carlos III University of Madrid Getafe · €6.8k–8.2k/yr
Homologation + UNEDasiss, PCE; many English/bilingual programmes; non-EU pay Madrid non-resident rates * - Pompeu Fabra University Barcelona · €1.8k/yr
Homologation + UNEDasiss, PCE; some programmes in English; non-EU €30/ECTS * - Complutense University of Madrid Madrid · €6.8k–8.2k/yr
Spanish B2 required (DELE/SIELE/CCEE); homologation + UNEDasiss, PCE; non-EU pay 4th-attempt rate
🇨🇿 Czech Republic
- Charles University Prague · free
Free in Czech (Czech ≈B2 + exams, ÚJOP course); English programmes €40–30,620/yr - Masaryk University Brno · €0–16k/yr
Free in Czech; English €2,700–7,500/yr (Informatics €4,500), Medicine CZK 380,000; Czech ≈B2 + entrance exams - Prague University of Economics and Business Prague · €0–5k/yr
Free in Czech; English bachelor's €5,000/yr (2026/27 intake; €6,000 from 2027/28)
Things to know
🎤 Public speaking, being on camera🌙 Night shifts and on-call🧳 Frequent work trips
Similar careers
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