Given my interest in diverse career options both in Ireland and internationally, which course would you recommend: English literature, international relations, or political science?

The detail most students miss about Ireland is that post-study options depend on the occupation you eventually enter, not simply the degree title, since Ireland's Third Level Graduate Programme gives eligible graduates a working window but the permanent route after that runs through an employment-permit-eligible job.

How the Three Courses Actually Differ

What Actually Determines Your Outcome

• Pair the degree with a second skill: International Relations plus economics or data plus a language, Political Science plus statistics and public policy, or English Literature plus digital marketing or communications, all outperform the bare degree alone.
• Ireland's Graduate Outcomes data supports this: in the 2024 cohort, 63.1 percent of Arts and Humanities graduates were employed 9 months after graduation, while 73 percent of graduates overall entered high-skilled occupations, showing versatility works when combined with a deliberate second skill.
• Check the occupation, not just the degree title: Ireland's Critical Skills list leans heavily toward ICT, engineering, sciences, healthcare and finance, though its broader General Employment Permit route covers many more occupations subject to conditions.

This Information Is Also Available On

• Ireland's Higher Education Authority (HEA), Graduate Outcomes Survey 2025
• Ireland's Immigration Service Delivery, Third Level Graduate Programme
• Ireland's Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Critical Skills and General Employment Permit guidance

My Advice

If you genuinely cannot decide among the three, lean toward Political Science or International Relations while deliberately building a second skill such as statistics, a foreign language or digital communications alongside it. If your ultimate ambition is UN, NGO or diplomatic work, remember the bachelor's is usually only step one; a strong master's, internships and language ability tend to matter more than which of these three undergraduate degrees you started with.