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Ph.d. in political science.

We are ranked as a top-ten research department and our graduate program has an excellent job placement record. Over the past decade, the vast majority of our PhD graduates have gone on to attain tenure-track positions, and many other students have become leaders in the public, private, and non-profit sectors. 

In addition to a demanding sequence of courses during the first two years, our graduates begin working with faculty from the very first day, to gain an appreciation of the challenges involved in producing innovative research.

This paves the way to their own intellectual development, the first major milestone of which is a solo-authored research paper to be presented to the department during their second year in the program. From that point on, until the completion of the dissertation in year five, the focus is primarily on independent and collaborative research.

Our graduate program is organized around subfields that address major theoretical questions about political life, encourage collaboration across intellectual boundaries, and place us at the frontiers of the discipline. As a graduate student here, you will become certified in two major fields and gain exposure to other fields through our graduate workshop series.

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Chris Blattman

Faqs on phd applications.

• March 25, 2022

I’m asked about PhD admissions a lot. I’m going to give some advice and demystify the process of US admissions a bit. I also address the question “Would you be my advisor if I apply?” Since I can’t respond in detail to most emails, I hope this post answers your questions.

I won’t demystify the process entirely, because uniform applications are unhelpful to us reviewers. But I do want to make the application process easier to understand, both to make it easier for people like me to decipher your application, and also to level the playing field. Undergraduates at the top research institutions have the advantage of advisors who already give them this advice. I didn’t benefit from that advice as a young applicant, however, and I’d like to democratize admissions as much as possible.

You would be wise to get several opinions. In my case, my experience comes from my current role in Chicago Harris PhD admissions , two years on the admissions committee in Yale political science, two in Columbia political science, and one in Columbia sustainable development (which is essentially an applied economics PhD in science, environment and health topics). I also write letters for my research assistants and students every year.

Go here to read about the Harris Public Policy PhD, and here for information on the joint Political Economy PhD with political science. You’ll see why we think it is one of the best places to study political economy of development. Other specialities include applied microeconomics, formal political theory, and energy. It’s also one of the only places to get rigorous retraining in both political science and economics. And remember that most (though not all) public policy PhD programs are like applied economics programs. You will need many of the same requirements for admission.

If you are applying to economics or public policy, you absolutely must heed the following:

• Greg Mankiw’s advice for  aspiring economists  and  why you need math
• Susan Athey’s  advice to economics applicants

Nearly all of Athey and Mankiw’s advice applies equally well to aspiring political scientists who want to do political economy or development work, and indeed almost any of the applied empirical fields in politics.

For advice on political science PhD applications, also see  Dan Drezner  and  Dan Nexon , who focus a little on international relations scholars. My thoughts are are on economics and political science together, with the most relevance for those doing applied empirical work and my fields: development, comparative politics, political economy, and labor.

Should you do a PhD?

A first important, simple point: If your goal is to be a professional researcher and instructor, then a PhD makes perfect sense. If your goal is to occupy a highly technical policy position (such as a central banker, or a minister of finance), then a PhD may help. If these are not your goals, then it’s doubtful a PhD is a good idea.

I meet a lot of students who want a prominent career in policy, and see the PhD as a powerful accreditation. Especially students from middle and low income countries. That may be true in your country, but I’m skeptical.

Why? Opportunity cost. A PhD is five to seven years, and a Master’s is two. A PhD means you are sacrificing several years of valuable work experience and as much as several hundred thousand dollars in income. Also, you’ll be acquiring skills that are far too specialized for a policy career.

Also, PhD programs (like most organizations) don’t just teach you; they socialize you. They gradually change what you think is interesting and important, the peer group you compare yourself to, the value you place on leisure and family over career, and the kind of life you will value when you emerge. This is good for science, maybe or maybe not so good for you.

In sum, if your goal is to be influential in policy and practice, then an MA or MPA or MIA from a US or UK/European institution probably makes far more sense for you (e.g. Harris, Tufts, SIPA, Princeton, SAIS, HKS, etc). Or consider the MACRM program here at UChicago’s Harris Public Policy if you want intense and applied research training and the option of a PhD at the end. I talk about choosing among Masters-level programs  here .

Where should I go?

If you are set on a PhD, then you’ll want to attend an institution with full funding (which often comes in exchange for a reasonable research and teaching load). If a PhD is going to land you with tens of thousands in debt, it’s a highly questionable decision.

Your first objective is to get the best quality general research training you can. So don’t choose on your preferred city. And certainly don’t select schools based on a particular professor or speciality. Look for places with breadth and excellence across subfields. Apply to as many as you can afford. Then, only once you’re admitted, start to narrow down your choices based on fit and overall quality. Visit everywhere you are admitted, to be confident it’s the right place for you.

The other reason to apply to many places is that the admissions process is not only ridiculously competitive but also extremely idiosyncratic. Getting from the 100 attractive candidates down to the 30 to 50 you admit is borderline random. So even strong candidates with a good fit with a program might not get in.

That said, schools are much more likely to admit you if you demonstrate a good match with their faculty–something you need to help them see by researching the faculty and reading their work, and describing how you would fit in. Then explain in the letter the people you see as the best fit (see below). This is more important in politics than in economics. In my experience, in politics programs they tend to take your cover letter very seriously. In economics less so.

In the end, it is a numbers game. Applying to more programs might not change your expected probability of admission very much, but it will reduce the variance.

Ideally, however, you will want entry into the top ten schools in your field because it keeps the most doors open, especially if you want an academic job. It’s not necessarily fair, but it seems to be the way the market works. Especially in economics, which seems to me to be the most hierarchical field in social science. The good news, however, is that across most social sciences you can fabulous PhD training in the top 30-50 schools.

As far as I can tell, however, PhDs outside the top 50 schools are unlikely to lead to careers in research universities. This varies by discipline, but in the US the top 10 to 20 schools tend to staff the top 100 to 200 US universities. For those who graduate from lower-ranked programs, many opportunities remain open at teaching universities, think tanks, international institutions, government and the like. There are a lot of fulfilling research careers, and I am willing to bet that rates of job satisfaction are pretty high.

I would love to see (and will post) numbers on this if anyone has it for political science or economics.

Greg Mankiw also has advice on  choosing a grad program .

Should you do a PhD in economics, political science, or public policy?

As a MPA student, Dani Rodrik advised me: “Look at the people you admire and want to be like, and do what they did.” This is good advice, though it biases you to the areas you know not the areas you don’t. Most of the political economy scholars I admired at the time trained as economists, so I took the economics route. But I didn’t know the most interesting political science work because I had been trained in economics. So at least be aware of this circular trap.

Noah Smith  recommends an economics PhD  if you’re not sure what PhD you should do. He’s even a little more emphatic than that: “Economics is the best PhD you can possibly get.”

This is a little suspicious coming from an economist. It helps to remember that most people like to make their students in their own image (I am no exception).

I think Noah’s advice makes sense if you like economics a lot, if you want to do highly mathematical research, and if you want to be assured of a job. That is why I did an economics PhD.

But if you are motivated by other questions, prefer other methods, or if your strengths are somewhere other than math, I don’t see how your path to fulfillment lies through economics.

If for example you are deeply motivated by questions about politics, you will generally learn a lot more about politics in a political science department. Economics is almost unmatched at a very narrow slice of political economy. That’s what you’d expect as a result of specialization. But you will get fairly narrow political training. It worked for me, but you have to decide based on what and who interests you.

If your interests are political economy (like a great many readers of this blog) you will be well served by both economics and political science. But your choice will be path dependent. An economics PhD will most likely result in an economics job, for example. As I have written elsewhere , it is extremely difficult to get a job in another discipline, like political science.

What about policy school PhDs, such as Harris? These are a great fit for people interested in very applied work. To be honest, it will add a slight hurdle to the already hurdle-strewn process of getting a job in a conventional department such as economics or political science. Successful Harris graduates sometimes receive assistant professorships in economics and political science departments, but more often than not their career paths lie in professional schools of policy, health, education and the like.

We’ve also created a new political economy PhD program at UChicago, joint between Harris and the political science department. This is designed for students who want supercharged technical skills, and I suspect we will mainly place people in political science departments, as well as professional schools and some economics departments. Apply if you are interested in political economy issues and want the best training in formal modeling, econometrics, and microeconomic theory out of any political science department in the US.

Finally, there is the Sustainable Development PhD at Columbia, where I used to teach. This is basically an economics PhD where people study applied sciences, health, environment, etc. The biggest mistake I see applicants make is mistaking this for a non-quantitative program. This is a hard-headed ultra-quantitative program for people who want to be on the frontier of both economics and science at the same time, and requires all the math requirements of economics to be considered (see below).

Okay, so what does it take to get into a top school?

In my view, the fundamental problems in graduate admissions are “information overload” and “noise”. For every slot in a PhD program, there are probably 30 to 50 applicants. A department that plans to have a class of 20 students may receive 1000 applications.

Meanwhile, most departments delegate admissions to a small committee of two to six faculty. They don’t have time to read 1000 applications in detail. And the committee may change every year. Thus, their experience may be limited. And you never know who will be on the committee or what they care about. This adds further randomness.

These faculty want to admit the most talented and creative young researchers who will push the field ahead. And they also want you to pass all the most technical classes, because they hate kicking students out. So the admissions committee are looking for strong signals of intelligence, creativity, determination, and other proclivities for research.

But this is hard . There are too many applications. Applicants don’t have many good ways to signal quality. All applicants are trying to send the same signals. And there is a ton of uncertainty around each signal. Hence: Information overload and noise.

Your job as an applicant is to send the best, clearest signal possible, and minimize the noise around that signal.

Here are the components of an application, and advice on sending the best and clearest signals.

• This is especially true in economics, where some programs cull anyone with quantitative scores outside the very top percentiles. (They could care less about your written or other test scores.)
• Political science programs are more heterogenous in their cutoffs and what scores they look at (if any). But having a score above the 95th percentile is a good signal if you can manage it.
• Economics applicants will want to have A’s in as many mathematics classes as possible.
• Night courses or an MA or MPA are common ways to make up for a patchy undergrad degree. That’s what I did. See below for more information.
• Note, though, many and perhaps most people we admit do not have an MA. The American PhD is designed for smart people to come with only undergraduate training. But if you are coming from a foreign country, you probably ned an MA. See below.
• Letter writers take these letters very  seriously. Professors typically specify in their letter how and how long we have known you and often give a sense of ranking relative to previous students we have recommended.
• Non-academic letters are discounted, since they can seldom speak to your ability to do what a PhD expects of you: produce great research. So a great letter from your boss at a consulting firm, NGO, or government office probably will not help your application.
• This means that during or after your undergrad or MA you build relationships with two and ideally three faculty.
• So: Have you developed close relationships yet with professors in the field where you want a PhD? Start now. Work as an RA, take small classes, and remember that it’s better to get a great letter from someone less known than an okay letter from a well-known scholar.
• I’ve written more detailed advice on recommendation letters here .
• For most: quantitative methods. Economists in particular probably need 2-3 semesters of calculus and statistics each, plus real analysis and linear algebra. Other courses (e.g. differential equations) help. Aspiring political scientists (except the theory/philosophy focused and some ethnographers) would be wise to do the same in calculus and statistics. Nine out of ten job market papers I see use quantitative theory or statistics to some extent, often inadequately. The bar is rising rapidly and those with basic math foundations have advantages. This includes the ethnographers, who often want to do multi-method work, integrating insights from game theory or run regressions. If so, 4-8 classes of methods preparation in undergrad is the minimum to be literate in half the work in your field.
• I can’t speak for all schools, but each year I’ve served on admissions, most of the faculty on the committee discriminate against students that come straight from undergrad, at least in applied fields.
• Also see Mankiw on  working before grad school .
• A compelling personal/research statement. Most people do this wrong. Basically, you should be able to articulate a concrete research question and how you would propose to answer it. See my advice on writing a good statement .
• Outside funding.  This won’t make a difference at all schools, but at many it can help. US students should apply for an NSF and foreign students may have a similar institution in their country. See my  grant application advice .

Lest you are beginning to despair: Very few applicants have all of these things. Most applicants are weak in one or two or three areas. So don’t stress out too much. Even so stress out enough that you do now what you can to improve your chances with the time you have.

A big piece of advice: Try to work on research projects with professors, because the best way to decide whether you want to do something is to try it out before it’s too late. Become an RA in your department, or start looking for RA jobs with professors in top departments in areas of your interest. This will also help with letters and your statement.

If you think you don’t have what you need, but want a short, applied program designed to launch you into a top PhD program, consider the MACRM degree here at the Harris school. You will get PhD training in microeconomics, political economy, game theory, and stats/econometrics. You apprentice with a faculty member and get a string letter. I personally take and train 1-2 students a year.

How many programs should I apply to?

The short answer is “many”. I think 10–15 is commonplace in political science and economics. This is partly because admissions is so idiosyncratic. You don’t know your fit. We don’t either. There’s lots of noise. Most people who apply to 10-15 schools may only get into 2 programs. That’s what happened to me.

This is time consuming. More importantly for some of you, it’s expensive, because schools charge fees. Schools do so partly because otherwise we get WAY more applications than we can handle (and so that the students who are admitted don’t bear the burden of paying for admissions staff through their tuition).

Here’s the secret: if this cost is a real constraint for you, ask the school if they will waive the fee. Explain your personal circumstances in a short and professional email. Attach a CV.. Many schools will co sider your request seriously.

Thanks for the general advice, but what about you and Chicago?

If you want to know what it’s like to work with me,  read this .

Most of the students I work with are interested in topics related to something under the umbrella of the political economy of development (micro- and macro-level), conflict and terrorism, political behavior (like voting or rioting or collective action), or causal inference. If your topic falls here, then I’d be a natural advisor for you, and I welcome new students. I commonly work with economics, politics and Harris School PhD students.

Do I need to have faculty advisers picked out in advance?

Yes and no. Mostly no.

“Yes” because your personal statement should demonstrate that you are a good fit with the department. In your applications  you should be able to point to two to five faculty who, methodologically or topic-wise, do things that are relevant to you.

• The reason you want to identify multiple faculty is that we know things you do not: who has too many students already, who takes few students because they are solitary or retiring or on long leave, who has job offers elsewhere, etc. So don’t make your application hinge on one faculty member.
• Also, make sure the people you focus on are core faculty in the department, not adjuncts or someone in the law school, since these people seldom advise PhD students.

“No” because you think you know what you want to work on right now, but that will probably change three times. You haven’t learned much about the discipline yet, and it would be odd if two years of coursework and conversations didn’t change your mind.

Also, “no” because it’s rare to have a relationship and any kind of commitment to or from a faculty member in advance. Most of us tend to let the admissions process run its course before getting involved.

As a result, I don’t recommend contacting economics and political science professors in advance.

• This is different than psychology or some of the humanities or sciences where you are expected to have a specific advisor and relationship in advance.
• The reason is that we may get 1000 applications and a small committee may make 60 offers for 20 spots. It would be almost impossible to meet and screen people personally, and the majority of faculty in the department may not be closely involved in the admission process that year.
• Even so, we faculty can get bombarded by emails from prospective students in the months before applications are due. Different professors deal with this in different ways, and I am guessing a majority don’t respond at all. I try to respond but only to explain that I engage in depth with students mainly after the committee has made offers.

Special considerations for international students

The bad news: In my experience, it’s difficult to get into a top US PhD program without an American master’s degree. There are many exceptions. Several countries, especially in Europe and Latin America, have a premiere school that funnels students to top US PhD programs every year. Thus, American schools know what they are getting. Otherwise, it’s hard for an admissions committee to judge your record. This happened to me. I come from Canada, but from a school that few Americans know (Waterloo). Even though it’s not that foreign, Canada is foreign enough to create some hurdles in an already hurdle-strewn field.

A lot of foreign recommendation letters, especially those outside Europe, say very little about how they know you, how long, where their institution ranks in the country in research, what they think of your relative quality, whether they’ve sent grad students to the US before and where, etc. This tends to be helpful information and if you can find a diplomatic way to see if your professors are aware of the US norms, the better for you.

It’s also very hard for us to remember and track how every country grades their students. I wish students would make it easier for us. If your registrar or an online site can convert your GPA, do so. At minimum, I’d suggest telling us what it means in your personal statement.

I’m not sure about this, but I’d consider putting that conversion directly into the field online where it asks your GPA. Because many schools get from 1000 applications to the 200-300 they read in depth with a big spreadsheet of GPAs, GREs, school name, and a few other pieces of info. A blank GPA field either raises or lowers the chance they look at your application, and I don’t know which. There’s no simple solution or recommendation here. But this is something I think applicants ought to know about.

Comments and other perspectives welcome. I am also happy to entertain other questions. First see my advice on the right sidebar about success and fulfillment in a PhD, including (for the idealists like me)  how to still save the world .

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Department of Political Science

Graduate Program

Yale’s Ph.D. program has a strong historical record of producing leading scholars in the field of Political Science. (Please note: The department does not offer a stand-alone MA in Political Science. Information about the Jackson Institute MPP in Global Affairs .) Many Yale graduates have also had successful careers in government, politics, non-profit organizations, and the private sector. This historical strength is matched by a strong faculty deeply engaged in training current graduate students to succeed in contemporary Political Science.

One of the Department’s strengths is substantive and methodological pluralism—there is no single “Yale way,” and our students and faculty are motivated by a range of questions in and across the subfields of Political Science. At the same time as we acknowledge this diversity of interests, the Department’s curriculum is designed to ensure students have adequate opportunities to master the core tools of contemporary social science research, including a four-course sequence in quantitative methodology and research design (statistics), a two course sequence in formal theory, courses on experimental design, implementation, and analysis, and a training program in qualitative and archival methodology.

The Department also offers training in five substantive subfields: American Politics, Comparative Politics, International Relations, Political Economy, and Political Theory. In each of these subfields, faculty regularly teach courses that expose students to both the foundational work in these areas and current active research topics. In many subfields, this training takes the form of formal or informal “sequences,” for example Comparative Politics I and II are taught each year. These classes are supplemented by topical seminars on selected and advanced topics.

In addition to regular courses, the Department and affiliated institutions (in particular, the MacMillan Center and the Institution for Social and Policy Studies) host a variety of (near-)weekly workshops in which outside speakers and Yale affiliates present and discuss work. These workshops provide a unique opportunity for students to observe the work of leading scholars, as well as to develop their own research in conjunction with faculty and student review. Information about these workshops is available here.

Students will also take two courses as a cohort. The first, Introduction to Politics, is for all Ph.D. students in their first semester. The second, Research and Writing, spans the second year and is centered on students producing a publishable quality research paper prior to embarking on the dissertation. Students in Research and Writing present their final paper in the Department’s mini-APSA conference in April.

About eighteen students enter the Ph.D. program each year. The total number of students in residence at any one time, including students working on their dissertations, is approximately 100, of whom about 40 are taking courses.

The Director of Graduate Studies for the Political Science Department is Hélène Landemore . Professor Landemore’s DGS office is located in Room 234  in Rosenkranz Hall, 115 Prospect Street. To contact Professor Landemore or sign up for DGS office hours, email her at dgs.polisci@yale.edu .

The Graduate program registrar is Colleen Amaro.  Her office is located in Room 230 in Rosenkranz Hall, 115 Prospect Street. She can be contacted by email at colleen.amaro@yale.edu .

Graduate Program

Frequently asked questions, what graduate degrees are offered by the political science department at mit.

Master of Science in Political Science or PhD in Political Science.

How do I apply to MIT's Political Science Graduate Program?

Apply online via GradApply at https://gradapply.mit.edu/polisci .

Do I need a master's degree before applying for a PhD?

No. All applicants interested in a PhD in Political Science should apply directly to the PhD program whether or not they have a master's degree. Students who are accepted into the master's program in Political Science at MIT typically do not continue on for a PhD. Many of our PhD students do not have prior master's degrees.

How much is the application fee?

$75.00 US dollars. The Admissions Committee will not review applications received without a fee.

Can the application fee be waived?

The Office of Graduate Education (OGE) is pleased to offer fee waivers for US citizens and US permanent residents who demonstrate financial hardship, are current or former members of the United States Armed Forces, or who have participated in special fellowship programs, including MIT-sponsored diversity programs and recruitment events. International students attending US colleges and universities, who have participated in MIT sponsored programs, such as CONVERGE or the MSRP, are also eligible to apply for a fee waiver. Read more  here .

When is the application deadline?

The application deadline is December 15th for admission the following September.  Admission is for the fall semester only.

Is the GRE General Exam required?

The Graduate Record Exam (GRE) is required. For those taking the GRE, please check with ETS to allow sufficient time for the scores to reach us. The institution code is 3514. The department code is 1902.

Are TOEFL's required?

All applicants whose first language is not English are required to take the TOEFL, including students who have received degrees from English speaking institutions. In a limited number of cases a TOEFL waiver may be granted. Applicants must apply separately for a TOEFL waiver. The institution code is 3514. The department code is 92. We now also accept IELTs.

Are there minimum scores required on the GRE, TOEFL, and IELTS tests?

There is no minimum score for the GRE, but admission is very competitive and low GRE scores may weaken an application. The minimum score for the TOEFL is 600 paper based/100 internet based. The minimum score for IELTS is 7. If an applicant has not met the TOEFL/IELTS requirement the application will not be reviewed.

Do you accept GMAT or LSAT scores in place of the GRE?

If my gre or toefl scores are old and ets will not send them will they still fulfill the application requirement.

No. We require official ETS scores. An application is not considered complete unless we receive official ETS scores. The Admissions Committee may choose not to review incomplete applications.

Is a minimum GPA required to apply?

No, since many schools do not calculate GPAs we do not impose a set minimum. Although we do not have a minimum GPA requirement the applicant pool is academically strong and very competitive.

Does Political Science have a supplemental application?

Please submit two other documents, both in .pdf format: a copy of your resume and a writing sample. The writing sample should be no more than 50 pages in length and is used to assess an applicant’s conceptual thinking and analytical skills. Therefore, please submit a writing sample that best represents your potential to conduct PhD-level research, such as a research paper or a portion of an undergraduate or master’s thesis. Writing samples are welcome from any discipline and do not need to be from a political science course.

Can I visit the Political Science department prior to applying?

We do not require interviews of our applicants and it is not necessary to contact faculty members directly about your application. Prospective applicants are welcome to schedule an appointment with the graduate administrator for information about the program/admissions process, but we are not able to arrange meetings with faculty or current students nor can we accommodate classroom visits. For further information regarding campus tours visit the main MIT website. All applicants accepted into the program will be invited to visit at the department's Open House in March.

Are applications reviewed as they are received?

Applications are not reviewed until after the December 15th deadline. Admission decisions will be made in late February.

Are all applications treated equally in the admissions process?

Yes. MIT has a non-discrimination policy. The only applications which are reviewed separately are masters and PhD.

What is the average age of applicants?

Applicant ages vary. Some applicants are applying straight out of college, others from the work force or another masters program.

What component of the application holds the most weight during the decision process?

The admissions committee weighs all parts of the application in an effort to get as complete a picture of the applicant as possible. The committee looks for applicants whose intellectual interests, skills, aptitude and experience best matches the department's teaching and research programs.

When will I receive a decision from Political Science at MIT?

Decisions will be made in late February.

Is an accepted student allowed to defer?

Deferrals are handled on an individual basis and generally discouraged.

Are new graduate students assigned faculty advisors?

Yes. When a student enrolls, the department assigns a faculty advisor. The advisor and student are typically matched according to their field of interest. Faculty advisors may be changed during the academic year if fields of interest change.

Can I transfer credits from another SM or PhD program I have attended?

We do not require a set number of credits to complete our PhD program, but certain prescribed course work must be completed. Previous course work may, in limited cases, fulfill some of our requirements. A student's previous course work is reviewed by the student's advisor and the chair of the Graduate Program Committee to determine whether it fulfills a specific requirement.

Does the Political Science department fund all graduate students?

We do not fund master's students. Our aim is to fund all incoming PhD students. Funding is based on merit not need. The funding package is for 5 consecutive years with full tuition, health insurance and a 9-month stipend, provided students remain in good academic standing.

Can an applicant who was not accepted into the program request information as to why they were not accepted?

Due to the large volume of qualified applicants to the Political Science graduate program and the small number of students accepted into the program we are unable to give specifics as to why an application was denied.

How many years does it take to complete the SM program?

The SM program is typically a full calendar year or 3 semesters (fall, spring, summer).

How many years does it take to complete the PhD program?

It varies depending on the individual. Required course work and general examinations should be completed by a student's 5th semester. At that time, field research and dissertation writing begin. Typically, it takes at least 5 years to complete the PhD.

What do Political Science Master's and PhD graduates do after obtaining their degrees?

Graduates of the Political Science Master's and PhD program are engaged in a wide range of careers in academia, government and industry. See Job Placement .

Information for prospective graduate students

Like all of my colleagues, I receive a large number of email queries from prospective students about the application process to Harvard's Government Department. In case it's helpful, then, a couple of pieces of advice specific to the graduate program here at Harvard, before some more general advice about graduate school applications, including some thoughts from friends and colleagues in the discipline:

You may wish to consult the information posted on the Government department website , which has more details about the program and admissions process, as well as descriptions of research interests of current graduate students and faculty members. Unlike PhD programs in other disciplines/countries, our admissions process does not rely on faculty sponsors: that is, if you’re admitted, you’re admitted to the program more generally, rather than to work with a specific faculty member. In this sense, because the admissions process is centralized, and there aren't particular slots reserved for particular supervisors, you don’t need to go through the hassle of contacting individual faculty members to tell them that you're applying, ask them if they're taking graduate students (we are!), or ask them to sign off on your application or research interests. (There is a misperception that contacting faculty of interest increases your odds of getting in; it does not. The application website at Harvard includes a box where applicants can indicate which faculty they've been in touch with, but to my knowledge, no one looks at this.) Similarly, the sheer number of applications we receive (in a 1993 PS article, King, Bruce and Gilligan report the Government department was receiving ~700 applications a year) means that it's logistically impossible for us to meet with all of the prospective applicants who might wish to do so. The good news is that because the admissions process is centralized, this isn't something you need to do anyway! If you're admitted to the program, we'll fly you in to meet with us, so you'll have ample chance to meet with us then, figure out if the program is a good fit, and so on.

General advice about graduate school applications in political science

One of the challenges about offering more general advice about applying to PhD programs in political science is that the process is so idiosyncratic, both across subfields (a competitive file in political theory might look very different than in American politics), across institutions (some schools care a lot about subfield divisions, and others don't believe in subfields altogether), across time (who happens to be on the admissions committee that year often determines which files make it to the top), and across space (the information below is probably the most useful for applications to schools in the United States). Moreover, given structural changes in post-secondary education that have shrunk the size of the academic job market, there are plenty of good arguments against doing a PhD! The advice below, then, is focused less on the question of whether you should apply to PhD programs (though some of the advice from colleagues below speaks to this point), and more on demystifying the admissions process itself. In general you can think of graduate school applications as a signaling problem. Admissions committees are looking through hundreds upon hundreds of applications spanning thousands upon thousands of pages, trying to predict from your file whether you'll be able to succeed in their graduate program. At many of the top PhD programs, then, it's not about trying to figure out whether you're smart, but about trying to figure out if you're ready. So, committees are going to be looking for signals to help gauge how ready you are, both in your materials, and in letters from your letter writers. Here are a couple of things I wish I knew about this process when I was applying to graduate school.

Signaling you understand the field

Sometimes advisors will tell you about the importance of asking an interesting question in your research statement, but this isn't very actionable advice, because few of us deliberately study things we think are boring — and how do you know if your question will count as interesting to admissions committees? A better way to think about this is as an encouragement to do some reading. Academic disciplines are collective enterprises, in which scholarship is produced in conversation with others. Your research statement is a chance to show that you understand where the conversation is going. If you take a look at the recent books published in your subfield of interest at Princeton University Press or Cambridge University Press , for example, and read the first chapters of the ones that interest you (often times the first chapters are available free online!), what sorts of questions are they about? Take a look at articles published recently in the journals where the faculty you want to work have published. If some of them seems interesting to you, read them, along with some of the other articles they cite. Read pieces written by the faculty you want to work with too. The more you read, the better the sense you'll have of the landscape of the field, and the better sense you'll have about how to "sell" your interests. This is also helpful because sometimes the way we're exposed to the field in the introductory undergraduate classes that first hook us on the topic may not represent the state of the discipline. Similarly, when I was applying to PhD programs, the field looked very different in Canada, where I was from, than in the United States. You should ask one of your advisers to take a look at your research statement to solicit their feedback before you send off your application. Signaling you understand the field also matters in other ways: in your statement of purpose, if all of the faculty members you indicate you're interested in working with are outside of your subfield of interest, or who do work of a very different style (e.g. you want to do game theory, and they do critical theory, or vice versa), or are all in a different department, that can be a sign to admissions committees that you haven't done your homework.

Signaling you understand how to do research

If being a successful undergraduate student is typically about being a skilled consumer of research, being a successful graduate student is typically about being a skilled producer of research. Having previous research experience is valuable not only because it will teach you whether you really want to apply for grad school in the first place, but also because it will help you better understand the field , help you produce a strong writing sample , and help you get stronger letters . Not everyone gets the chance to do a lot of research in college, but research experience can take a variety of forms, from writing a senior or master's thesis, to working as a research assistant, either in college or afterwards. The kind of research experience you'd want to have is likely is going to vary based on the kind of work you're interested in doing (e.g. in parts of comparative politics, many applicants often have spent a year working as an RA or predoctoral associate running studies and analyzing data, which isn't necessarily the norm in quadrants of the field that don't rely as heavily on field experiments), but more experience is usually better than less. There are also a number of programs that offer research opportunities to college graduates from historically underrepresented groups. If this applies to you, you should speak to one of your advisers.

What makes an informative writing sample?

Some writing samples are more informative than others. If possible, your writing sample should be a solo-authored piece (i.e., isn't coauthored with one of your advisors, whereupon admissions committees might be unsure about how much of the work you did, even if you did the whole thing!), written in the subfield you're interested in studying (i.e. if you want to study American politics, your writing sample should ideally be about American politics, not IR). Ideally, it should also be consistent with the norms of academic research in whatever subfield you're studying (for most subfields, it shouldn't just be a literature review, political commentary, or a book report, say).

What makes a useful letter of reference?

The most helpful letters come from faculty members who can speak to your ability to conduct academic research in the discipline you want to study. Letters from celebrities, politicians, your boss in a non-research-based job, and so on, are going to be less useful to you, since they can't credibly speak to what you need your letters to speak to. This is another reason why having research experience before applying to graduate school is useful, since letter writers who you work as a research assistant for are well positioned to speak to your abilities in this front. Similarly, although it's not at all the case that you need to be a political science major in college in order to get into political science PhD programs, you do want to have at least one of your letters come from a political scientist, ideally in the subfield you want to study. (Chemists and comparative literature professors, say, can speak to your ability to do research, but not necessarily your ability to conduct research in political science).

Strong GRE scores

When I was applying to graduate school, I assumed that everyone understood that standardized tests were noisy and imperfect measures and that admissions committees wouldn't place much weight on them. Suffice it to say, the admissions committees at the schools I applied to disagreed! Regardless of how much weight committees should place on the GRE (although many critiques of the diagnostic value of the GRE suffer from some methodological flaws ), however, many do take them into account (although some departments have made them optional in recent cycles). For those programs that do require GREs, these scores are useful because they provide one of the few metrics in common across files that typically differ from one another along a large number of dimensions. (When I'm on admissions, I might not know how to compare a 3.9 GPA at school X with a 3.7 GPA in a different program of study at school Y, but I know how to compare a 168 GRE with a 160). You're unlikely to get into a graduate program just because of your GRE score (we reject applicants with 170/170 GREs all the time!), but doing well on the GRE (especially the quantitative score, since that's the part of the test that applicants tend to perform the most poorly on in relative terms) will be helpful. What counts as doing well will depend on the program to which you're applying (see some of the suggestions below for details).

Skills relevant to your proposed program of study

To some extent, your GPA matters less than the courses you've taken, or skills you've acquired. Admissions committees want to know whether you have the skills you need to do the research you're interested in. If you're interested in doing political economy-style work, a 4.0 GPA without any economics or math classes will be less helpful than a lower GPA that includes more technical coursework. Similarly, it's hard to study East Asian politics if you don't speak or have never studied any East Asian languages.

Additional resources

Finally, a number of friends and colleagues in the discipline have put together some helpful resources with advice about applying to PhD programs in political science in general, and in international relations in particular: "Should I Get a PhD?" is an interview-based site run by Tim Hopper that isn't specific to political science, but offers lots of helpful suggestions more generally about the more fundamental question of whether you should apply for a PhD in the first place. Dan Nexon has helpful advice at the Duck of Minerva on applying for a PhD in political science, and how to make your application more competitive. Nuno Monteiro has great advice both on how to decide whether to go to graduate school, and the tradeoffs between PhD programs (like those offered by the Government department) and MA programs (which the Government department doesn't currently offer as a standalone degree). Erica Chenoweth has similarly helpful advice; her discussion of the difference between policy-oriented degrees (like those offered at the Harvard Kennedy School ) versus academic degrees (like those offered in the Government department) is especially valuable. Steven Wilkinson has useful advice especially relevant for international applicants. Terri E. Givens has a series of helpful articles at Inside Higher Education on her graduate school experiences, especially relevant for first-generation students, and students of color. Duke's Sociology Department has a helpful FAQ page that's technically about applying to sociology PhD programs, but many of its suggestions apply to social science PhD programs more generally. Dan Drezner has a series of helpful posts at Foreign Policy on PhD programs in political science: see here for advice for undergraduates , here for advice for students who have already graduated , and here for advice on PhD applications for aspiring policymakers . Erin Simpson and Andrew Exum have helpful advice on the CNAS blog from the perspective of policymakers. Bradley Potter, Nathaniel Allen, and Torrey Taussig have helpful advice at War on the Rocks about good and not-so-good reasons to pursue a policy-oriented PhD. Chris Blattman has extensive advice on many of the above topics from a political economy perspective. Cyrus Samii has helpful advice on much of the above; his advice about applying to "boutique" departments is also particularly helpful. Justin Esarey has a helpful post on The Political Methodologist about how to know whether to apply to grad school in the first place, and if so, how to choose where to apply. Austin Carson has helpful advice on whether to go to grad school, along with what to do when you get there. Once you've been admitted to a PhD program, Chris Kennedy has useful advice about how to prepare for your first semester. Finally, here's some advice for early career researchers I was asked to put together by International Society of Political Psychology's Early Career Committee .

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So you want to get into a political science Ph.D. program… Episode I

After blogging last week about the gendered effects of a ph.d. for foreign policy professionals, i got a reasonable query from caitlin fitzgerald:  if getting a ph.d. is so great, how does one get accepted into a doctoral program in political science  this is a good question.  despite all of the warnings being proffered about ....

After blogging last week about the gendered effects of a Ph.D. for foreign policy professionals, I got a reasonable query from Caitlin Fitzgerald :  if getting a Ph.D. is so great, how does one get accepted into a doctoral program in political science? 

This is a good question.  Despite all of the warnings being proffered about the stultifying nature of graduate school and the horrible, very-bad, not-so-great quality of the academic job market, competition to get into top-tier grad schools is still quite high.  So, how do you get in? 

As someone who got accepted into a very competitive Ph.D. program in Boston San Francisco – well, not in San Francisco, but nearby – no, not Santa Clara [ OK, that’s enough!!–ed .] and as someone who has sat in on more than his fair share of admissions committees, I can proffer some useful tips.  I’m going to do this in two parts:  first, what undergraduates should do, and then what post-baccalaureate types should do.  I’m starting with the undergraduates because it’s not too late for them it’s at the college level when an individual applicant can lay the necessary groundwork for a strong application. 

Before I jump into the five dos and don’ts, let me remind you of something:  in good Ph.D. programs, admissions committees are looking for a reason to ding you .  The problem is a surfeit, not a dearth, of qualified applicants.  By the last stages of the process, admissions committees are often making accept-or-reject decisions on distinctions so minor that no one would admit them publicly (it’s not that we want to do this – it’s that admissions slots are scarce and looking at minutiae seems fairer than, say, a random draw).  What this means is that any serious chink in your admissions armor – low GPA, low GREs, weak recommendations, etc. – gives an admissions committee a valid excuse to ding you.  So if you’re really interested, you have to make sure that every facet of your application is up to par. 

With that out of the way, here are the Five Dos and Five Don’ts for undergraduates applying to Political Science Ph.D. programs in either international relations or comparative politics: 

THE FIVE DOS :

1.  Read some actual political science .  This might sound obvious, but a lot of undergraduate programs in political science — particularly in the first few years — will have syllabi larded with  weird textbooks and Foreign Affairs articles.  And that’s OK for undergrads — but if you’re thinking of getting a Ph.D. and you’re not terribly familiar with either  International Organization or the American Political Science Review , you’re in for a world of hurt.  Read the journals to get a sense of A) what it’s like to write in political sciencese ; B) not sound like an idiot when you write your application; and C) Make sure, one last time, that this is really what you want to do for the next six years. 

2.  Write a thesis .  Ph.D. programs want to be sure that you will have the intellectual chops to do real research and real writing.  The best opportunity you’ll have to do that as an undergrad is your B.A. thesis.  If you don’t write one and apply to a Ph.D. program, that’s a red flag.  Why didn’t you write one?  If you can’t handle that, how could you handle a dissertaton?  So write a thesis whether it’s required or not — and make sure it’s good. 

3.  Get comfortable with math .  Even if you’re aspiring to do pure political theory or qualitative work, you’re going to have to take classes in methodology, game theory and econometrics in graduate school.  Oh, and by the way, with the arrival  of Big Data , even areas of research that used to be qualitative are becoming quantitative.  The less innumerate you are, the less these courses will seem like a foreign language.  At a minimum, make sure you have familiarity with intermediate-level statistics and multivariate calculus.  Linear algebra is nice too. 

4.  Go abroad and learn a language .  Experience is not weighted all that heavily in grad school applications.  Overseas experience is an exception, particularly if you want to specialize in an area or region of the globe.  Learning a language pertinent to that region or area will help as well.  Exploit study abroad programs as a way to signal that you’ll be up for the rigors of field work. 

5.  Get rich .  Ready for some real-keeping?  If you can fund your own ticket for graduate school, the admissions standards are not nearly so high.  Whether you inherit family wealth, win an NSF fellowship , or finally make sure that Nigerian e-mailer comes through, having no need for fellowship support makes you a freebie to most programs. At that point, the equation changes from "is this candidate among the best?" to "is this candidate above the bar?"  The latter is much easier to clear than the former. 

And now…. THE FIVE DON’TS:

1.  E-mail professors in Ph.D. programs at length .  Your mileage may vary, but speaking personally, I’m at the point where I get so many of these emails that I ignore all of them.  All.  Of.  Them.  Why?  Because professors are not stupid — we know you’re sending these out en masse , we don’t know whether you really have the chops to get a degree, and because we don’t make decisions like this because of e-mails.  I won’t deny that this tactic might work once in a blue moon,  but it’s been so played out that most profs’ eyes glaze over a these missives. 

2.  Detail, at length, your plans to change the world in your personal statement .  The personal statement in a doctoral admissions packet is the easiest way for a candidate to screw up — it’ll be almost as bad as your dissertation prospectus .  What admissions committees are looking for are signs of emotional and intellectual maturity matched with an ambition to do first-rate research.  They are not looking for "and then I realized" epiphanies about how getting a Ph.D. will allow you to change the world .   Backstory matters in explaining why you’re interested in doing what you’re doing, but don’t kid yourself — unless you’re a survivor of an ethnic cleansing, your personal narrative at 21 is just not that interesting.  Side note :  if you are the survivor of an ethnic cleansing, hey, go to town in your statement. 

3.  Put all your application eggs into one basket .  Let’s say you’ve done everything I’ve suggested.  Let’s say you’ve researched grad schools carefully, and have decided that, given you’re research interests, the only person you can work with is Robert Bates at Harvard.  Congratulations, you’ve gone overboard in specializing!!  Apply to good programs, not just to work with one person.  Individual professors move, retire, pass away, go on sabbatical,  or drink too much and hit on students and make things veeeeery awkward in the aftermath.  Diversify your portfolio and make sure you apply to programs with a deep bench in your area of interest. 

4.  Get celebrity professors to write you letters of recommendation .  Letters of recommendation matter a lot to this process, and I’ve noticed a trend among those-savvy-beyond-their-years to make sure they ingratiate themselves with well-known professors as a way of calling attention to one’s application.  I get this instinct, and done well it can work — a glowing letter from, say, Madeleine Albright or Zbigniew Brzezinski that indicates deep knowledge about you can be a game-changer.  Here’s the thing, though — 99% of the recommendation letters I read from people at this level of fame are bland, impersonal boilerplate.  That will hurt you.  So don’t bend your research interests to match a star professor — make sure that the profs who know your area well also know you well enough to write good letters of recommendation. 

5.  Take on debt .  Let’s say you work really hard and get accepted to a top tier program, but without the fellowship support that you need because — silly you! — you’re not rich.  You night start thinking, "sure, I’ll have to take on some debt, but it’s a great program and therefore worth it."  Wrong!  First of all, it’s not like you’re going to be raking in the bucks as a post-grad — even a small amount of debt can be financially debilitating.  Second, not getting a fellowship is a powerful signal of lukewarm interest on the part of the school, so you’d already be starting with a strike against you.  Unless you’re rich, only attend traditional Ph.D. programs that offer you full tuition and a stipend. 

Oh, and one bonus DON’T: 

5*. Talk up your blog or Twitter feed as an example of research . It isn’t research, and no one cares anyway.

Part II — what to do if you’ve been out of college for a while and want to apply to get a Ph.D. — will follow this week. 

Professors — am I missing anything? Any more advice to proffer?

Daniel W. Drezner is a professor of international politics at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University. He is the author of the newsletter Drezner’s World . X:  @dandrezner

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Graduate Programs

Political science.

Our faculty and students profit from the many outstanding institutes, centers and programs at Brown that relate to the study of politics.

The Department of Political Science covers the four main subfields in the discipline:

• American politics focuses on the behavior of the executive, legislative, and judicial branches of government; state and local politics; the influence of public opinion, interest groups, and political parties on decision-making; and issues of race and gender.
• Comparative politics focuses on the comparative study of the behavior of governments and political institutions, non-governmental actors across the world, and on the relationships between political and economic factors in different cultures and societies.
• International politics considers how political decisions are made in a world without a central authority above the nation-state. Recent emphases include a significant role for international law, norms, and organizations.
• Political theory seeks to analyze both historically and philosophically the origins and underpinnings of political values.

Additional Resources

Our faculty and students profit from the many outstanding institutes, centers, and programs at Brown that relate to the study of politics. These include the  Taubman Center for Public Policy and American Institutions , the  Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs , the  Master of Public Affairs program , the  Urban Studies Program , the  Saxena Center for Contemporary South Asia , the  Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies , the  Center for Philosophy, Politics and Economics , the  Center for the Study of Race and Ethnicity in America ,  Middle East Studies ,  Development Studies , the  Population Studies and Training Center , and  Africana Studies .

Application Information

In addition to the GRE and writing sample, applicants are required to submit a personal statement, three letters of recommendation, transcript(s), and, if applicable, proof of language proficiency. For further application information, please also see the  Political Science admission guidance  and the  Graduate School's admission guidance .

Application Requirements

Gre subject:.

Not required

GRE General:

Official transcripts:, letters of recommendations:.

Required (3)

Writing Sample:

Personal statement:, dates/deadlines, application deadline, completion requirements.

The Ph.D. requires passing thirteen graduate-level courses with a minimum grade of B or better, though A grades are expected, including methods, field proseminars, course(s) in political theory, and Prospectus Writing. Students must also pass a written and oral preliminary examination in their primary field; a written and oral presentation of a dissertation proposal; and a written and oral presentation of a dissertation. A minimum of two semesters as a teaching assistant is also required.

Alumni Careers

Contact and Location

Department of political science, mailing address.

• Program Faculty
• Program Handbook
• Graduate School Handbook

Ph.D. Admissions

Apply here . 

Preparing to Apply

Before starting the application process please read the information about the graduate program requirements  and read our  Frequently Asked Questions . You may also find the Guide to Getting Into Grad School helpful. 

The Political Science department recognizes that the Supreme Court issued a ruling in June 2023 about the consideration of certain types of demographic information as part of an admission review. All applications submitted during upcoming application cycles will be reviewed in conformance with that decision.

All questions regarding graduate admissions should be directed to politicalscience [at] stanford.edu (subject: Admissions%20Enquiry) ( politicalscience[at]stanford[dot]edu ) .

The principal goal of the Stanford Ph.D. program in political science is the training of scholars. Most students who receive doctorates in the program do research and teach at colleges or universities. We offer courses and research opportunities in a wide variety of fields in the discipline, including American Politics, Comparative Politics, International Relations, Political Theory, and Political Methodology. The program is built around small seminars that analyze critically the literature of a field or focus on a research problem. These courses prepare students for the Ph.D. comprehensive exam requirement within a two-year period and for work on the doctoral dissertation.  

Admission to the graduate program in political science is highly selective. About twelve to fifteen students, chosen from a large pool of applicants, enter the program each year. The small size of our student body allows more individual work with members of the faculty than most graduate programs. It also makes possible financial assistance in one form or another to most students admitted to the Ph.D. program. 

Graduate Admissions FAQ

Please visit our list of  frequently asked questions.

You may also find the following links useful if you have general questions about student life and graduate study at Stanford University:  

Vice Provost of Graduate Education (VPGE)

• Graduate Academic Policies and Procedures Handbook (GAP)
• Graduate Life Office
• Stanford Bulletin
• Explore Courses

Knight-Hennessy Scholars

Join dozens of Stanford School of Humanities and Sciences students who gain valuable leadership skills in a multidisciplinary, multicultural community as Knight-Hennessy Scholars (KHS). KHS admits up to 100 select applicants each year from across Stanford’s seven graduate schools, and delivers engaging experiences that prepare them to be visionary, courageous, and collaborative leaders ready to address complex global challenges. As a scholar, you join a distinguished cohort, participate in up to three years of leadership programming, and receive full funding for up to three years of your PhD studies at Stanford. Candidates of any country may apply. KHS applicants must have earned their first undergraduate degree within the last seven years, and must apply to both a Stanford graduate program and to KHS. Stanford PhD students may also apply to KHS during their first year of PhD enrollment. If you aspire to be a leader in your field, we invite you to apply. The KHS application deadline is October 9, 2024. Learn more about KHS admission .

PhD Political Science

Program overview.

The Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in Political Science program serves students interested in academic positions as well as research and policy careers. The department and its  faculty  are committed to providing doctoral students with an excellent educational experience through coursework, comprehensive examinations, and the dissertation. 

The curriculum introduces students to all four fields and also develops their research skills through a series of methodology courses. Students may develop a traditional, academic focus in one of the fields, or they may combine it with public policy to highlight a policy orientation.

The PhD in Political Science covers four major fields in the discipline:

• American Government and Politics
• Comparative Politics
• International Relations
• Public Policy

All PhD students are fully funded for 5 years via a Tuition Assistantship which includes stipend, full tuition, and student health insurance. Answers to frequently asked questions can be found here from the department and here from the College of Social Sciences and Humanities.

For more information on curricular requirements for the PhD program see the  Course Catalog .

Type of Program

• PhD Program

Get more information about this graduate program.

More programs, bachelor of arts, political science, bachelor of science, political science, certificate in security and resilience studies, master of arts in political science, master of science in resilience studies.

Graduate Program

Introduction.

The graduate program in Government at Cornell prepares students for academic and research careers in political science. All students admitted to the program are expected to earn a doctoral degree. In exceptional circumstances, students who choose to leave the program or who fail to fulfill the requirements for admission to doctoral candidacy may be granted a Master’s degree. Completion of the Ph.D. program normally requires two-to-three years of full-time course work at Cornell and several additional years of dissertation research and writing.

The Ph.D. Program

The Graduate Program is divided into four subfields: American Politics, Comparative Politics, International Relations, and Political Theory . To be admitted to doctoral study, students are required to take a comprehensive written exam in one of these subfields for their major. For their second subfield, students choose to take an exam or complete coursework in a second subfield or a Course of Study of their own design.  Constructed around intellectual concerns and research problems of the student’s own choosing, the Course of Study is not to be conceived as a specialization within the student’s major field: rather, it should pursue issues which link several fields of study within political science and related disciplines. Students are expected to complete their subfield examinations by the end of their third year.

We expect our graduates to possess a broad understanding of the discipline, specialized expertise in one or more areas, and competence in social science methods. Students are required to take at least one reading course in three of four subfields before advancing to candidacy. During their study at Cornell, students must complete 12 graduate-level courses in Government and related fields. (Up to three courses may be transferred from graduate programs at other institutions.)

Doctoral students must demonstrate competence in either a foreign language or methods. In addition, they are expected to serve as teaching assistants for at least one semester. Experience in undergraduate teaching under the supervision of a faculty member is essential preparation for an academic career and an important component of the graduate program at Cornell. Most Ph.D. students serve as teaching assistants for at least two years.

Research Facilities and Resources

Cornell’s library system contains nearly five million volumes and is among the leading university research libraries in the United States.

Cornell offers intensive instruction in virtually all modern languages, including many of those less commonly taught, such as the Andean languages of South America and numerous languages of South and Southeast Asia.

Graduate students are encouraged to participate in Cornell’s distinguished network of interdisciplinary research activities. Those include the programs affiliated with the Mario Einaudi Center for International Studies: separate area studies programs in Southeast Asia, East Asia, South Asia, and Latin America; Slavic and Eastern European Studies; the Judith Reppy Institute for Peace and Conflict Studies; the Western Societies Program; Gender and Global Change; and the International Political Economy Program to name only a few. Other important centers for students include: the Institute for European Studies, Center for the Environment (with ten topical programs), the Society for the Humanities; the Women’s Studies Program; the Program on Ethics and Public Life; the Program in Visual Culture; the Africana Studies and Research Center, and the Cornell Institute for Social and Economic Research (CISER), and the Cornell International Institute for Food, Agriculture, and Development.

The English Language Support Office (ELSO) provides writing and speaking support to international multilingual graduate and professional students free of charge. This support includes credit-bearing writing and speaking courses; tutoring on writing projects, presentations, and pronunciation; workshops; and a conversation program. To learn more about ELSO’s programs, click here .

Submitting the Application

All application materials are to be submitted online at  http://www.gradschool.cornell.edu/admissions/applying/apply-now . Questions can be directed to [email protected]. 

Application must include copies of full academic transcripts from each institution previously attended, three letters of recommendation, an academic research statement of purpose, a writing sample, and TOEFL or IELTS scores (if applicable). Applicants are required to submit an academic statement and a personal statement describing how your personal background and experiences influenced your decision to pursue a graduate degree. This is an opportunity for you to provide insight into your potential to contribute to a community of inclusion, belonging, and respect where scholars representing diverse backgrounds, perspectives, abilities, and experiences can learn and innovate productively and positively together. We do not rank candidates by comparing their personal statements, but we do use them to acquire a fuller, contextual understanding of each applicant's strengths.  We do not require special formatting or page limitations for your writing sample.

Effective 2023, we no longer accept GRE scores.

If your native language is not English, you must submit a TOEFL or IELTS. The minimum scores are Writing: 20, Listening: 15, Reading: 20, Speaking: 22 and an overall band score of a 7.00 higher on the IELTS Academic exam. Scores must be sent electronically (e-delivery) to the Cornell University Graduate Admissions, Caldwell Hall e-download account. E-delivery may also be referred to as an e-TRF by your test center.  For admissions purposes, Cornell University's Graduate School does not require IELTS or TOEFL scores from applicants who meet a Standing Exemption .  Click here for additional information on Standing Exemption

The deadline for all applications and additional materials is December 15. This deadline is FIRM, no late applications or additional materials are accepted. Cornell University expects all applicants to complete their application materials without the use of paid agents, credentials services, or other paid professional assistance. The use of such services violates University policy, and may lead to the rejection of application materials, the revocation of an admissions offer, cancellation of admission, or involuntary withdrawal from the University. Applicants are informed of the admission decision before April 1 and are expected to notify the field of their acceptance before April 15.

Application fee waiver:  In cases of financial hardship, the Graduate School will consider a request for a fee waiver. Fee waivers can be requested on the application. You will need to provide a brief but well-considered explanation of how the application fee presents a financial hardship for you. Relevant factors include unemployment or underemployment, the Expected Family Contribution (EFC) from a recent FAFSA, economic conditions in your home country, etc.  More information on fee waivers is available through the Graduate School website.

Applications are reviewed and evaluated without reference to financial need. Under normal circumstances, and contingent on satisfactory academic progress, we provide full financial support for five years of graduate study. Regularly admitted students typically receive a full fellowship for their first year and last year. The remaining financial support usually takes the form of teaching assistantships. Students who do field research for their dissertation typically require support from external sources. Several of the area studies programs at Cornell provide fellowships for this purpose on a competitive basis. We encourage and help our students pursue these and other opportunities for outside support.

Graduate Courses

Methodology

• Introductory Probability and Statistics
• Advanced Regression Analysis
• Comparative Methods
• Formal Theory and Modeling
• Foundations of Social Sciences
• Experiment and Survey Design

American Politics

• Government and Public Policy
• The United States Congress
• Field Seminar: American Political Organizations, Institutions and Party Systems
• Democratic Theory and Institutions
• Political Economy of American Development
• Social Movements and State Expansion in the 20th Century
• American Foreign Policy
• Public Opinion

Comparative Politics

• Comparative Political Ecology
• Criminality and the State
• Comparative Democratization
• Administration of Agricultural and Rural Development
• Agrarian Political Economy
• Chinese Politics
• Comparative Labor Movements (Europe & Latin America)
• Comparative Political Economy (advanced industrial countries)
• European Parties and Party Systems
• Social Movements, Collective Action, and Reform
• State and Economy in Comparative Perspective

International Relations

• Field Seminar in International Relations
• International Political Economy
• International Security Politics
• Ethical Issues in International Affairs
• U.S. Foreign Policy in Perspective
• The Politics of Transnationalism
• Asian Security
• International Strategy
• Foreign Policy Analysis

Political Theory

• Secession, Intervention & Just War Theory
• Modern Social Theory
• American Political Thought
• Contemporary Democratic Theory
• Republicanism and Liberalism
• The Western Political Tradition
• Language and Politics

Life in Ithaca

Cornell University is situated in Ithaca, a small city in central New York on the southern shore of Cayuga Lake, the largest of the Finger Lakes. The expansive campus, overlooking the lake and bounded on two sides by deep glaciated gorges, is acknowledged to be one of the most scenic in the world. About 3000 acres of trails, ponds, gardens, and biological research facilities are administered by Cornell Arboretum.

Ithaca is a pleasant and livable city of humanscale, with varied and affordable shopping establishments and restaurants (including the world famous Moosewood Restaurant). There are excellent facilities for most indoor and outdoor sports. The area has a lively arts community; year-round concerts, theater, and musical events are presented at Cornell and Ithaca College featuring world-class performers. In addition to the films at numerous commercial theaters, a year-round program from early classics to the most recent avant garde offerings-are presented by Cornell Cinema. Formal lectures, conferences, and seminar series bring to the Cornell campus leading international figures in all the academic disciplines and in public affairs.

Housing for graduate students is available within walking distance of the campus, in residential areas within the city of Ithaca which are served by Ithaca Transit, and in the rural surrounding areas. Excellent medical services can be found in the City of Ithaca and at Cornell’s Gannett Health Center.

Click here for more information on planning a visit to the Cornell University campus and the Ithaca area.

Graduate Faculty

Cornell’s graduate field of Government has a large and diverse faculty representing the major theoretical, methodological, and substantive areas of contemporary political science. The ratio of faculty to graduate students is excellent; students have the opportunity to work closely with one or more members of the faculty. The faculty makes a special effort to place successful Ph.D. candidates in their first professional position in what has become a highly competitive and very selective academic market.

Click here for a directory of our graduate field faculty.

Graduate Awards

Our graduate students have won a number of prestigious awards, grants and fellowships. Click here for a list of recent award winners.

Graduate Student Handbook

Click here for the Graduate Student Handbook

Resources for Prospective Students

• Our Program
• How to Apply
• Admissions FAQs
• Dual JD/PhD Program
• Intellectual Life
• Professional Development
• Commitment to Diversity and Inclusion
• Living in Madison
• Prospective Student Visit Days

The Department of Political Science offers graduate study leading to the doctor of philosophy in political science. The department admits students only for the Ph.D. program, but a master’s degree may be obtained en route to the Ph.D.

The Ph.D. is earned through a combination of coursework and dissertation. The program is designed to provide students with both a general training in political science and the opportunity to specialize in their areas of interest.

The subfields of political science found in our department are  American politics ,  comparative politics ,  political theory and philosophy ,  international relations , and  political methodology . The department has a national and international reputation for the high quality of its faculty and the diversity of their approaches and interests. It has long been recognized for an acceptance of varied approaches to the study of politics and for its collegiality. The Political Science Department shares faculty with the  Robert M. La Follette School of Public Affairs , the  Law School , and the Department of  Gender and Women’s Studies . The presence of programs and centers such as the  African Studies Program , the  Center for European Studies , the  Center for Jewish Studies , the  Center for Russia, East Europe, and Central Asia (CREECA) ,  Integrated Liberal Studies , the International Studies major ( B.A . and  B.S. ),  Latin American, Caribbean and Iberian Studies , and others is also beneficial to our graduate students, providing opportunities for the advancement of interdisciplinary approaches in student research.

Please note: the Department admits students only for the Ph.D. program, but a master’s degree may be obtained en route to the Ph.D.

The application for the Fall 2024-Spring 2025 academic year was due December 15, 2023. Late applicants will not be considered for admission.

The application for Fall 2025-Spring 2026 academic year will open September 5, 2024 and is due December 15, 2024. Applicants are required to submit all application materials through the Graduate School’s online application . You can review the Graduate School’s website  Application Process at a Glance  for an overview of the application process.

Current UW-Madison graduate students must apply here , and should also contact Graduate Program Coordinator Erin Moskowitz ([email protected]) for additional details on the application process. 

Our admissions process considers applicants’ academic preparation,  re search experience, motivation, pursuit of excellence,  re silience and perseverance, and contributions  to  diversity. We view applicants as being more than the sum of their parts. As such, our admissions decisions  re ly on getting  to  know you as a scholar and person.

Application Fees Waivers

The Graduate School offers application fee grants to U.S. citizens, permanent resident applicants and students with DACA status who can document that they:

• participated in selected pipeline programs designed to prepare students for graduate studies (for example, McNair Scholars and SROP participants at Big-1o institutions), or
• grew up in a low-income family.

For more information and to apply for the Graduate School’s application fee grant,  click here . Our Department also provides application fee grants for participants in APSA’s Ralph Bunche Summer Institute and Diversity Student Recruitment Program. If you have participated in either of these programs, please contact Erin Moskowitz to request an application fee grant ([email protected]).

Admissions Requirements

The Graduate School sets the  minimum admission requirements for all applicants. All elements of the application are reviewed holistically, but it may be useful to know that students admitted to our program in 2022 had the following average scores:

• GPA of 3.84
• TOEFL exam ( if required ) iBT score of 110. Applicants required to submit a TOEFL score will be admitted only if they have a TOEFL score of 100 or more.

Application Materials Checklist

• Statement of Purpose for Graduate Study (no more than 2 pages in length). The statement of purpose is a very important part of your application; it allows you to inform and convince the admissions committee that your intellectual interests and goals align well with our program and faculty and that you are ready to take on the challenges of a PhD program. Questions to answer in your statement include: Why do you want to get a PhD in political science? What research question(s) do you hope to pursue while here? Why is Wisconsin a good fit for you, and why are you a good fit for the program? What faculty do you hope to work with, and why? You may also use the statement to indicate what else you would like us to know about you to better evaluate your application. Click here for more guidelines for the statement of purpose.
• Curriculum vitae (c.v.) or resume
• Three letters of recommendation, submitted electronically. The references identified in your online application will be sent a recommendation request by email. This email will include your name and a link to the electronic recommendation form. Contact your references in advance so that they can expect your request for recommendation. The request can be sent at any time providing you meet the December 15th deadline. You are able to change references or send a reminder through your application.
• Writing sample with an abstract (a research paper or thesis chapter that demonstrates your research, writing, and analytical skills. The document should also include a research abstract of no more than 600 words that indicates the central question, arguments, data sources, methods, and conclusions of the research paper or thesis chapter being submitted)
• Copies of transcripts or academic records from each institution attended. *For international applicants: your school should provide an official translation of your documents, or you must have a translation done by your school or an official translator. Do not submit an evaluation from a credential evaluation service, such as WES, in lieu of a translation.
• Supplemental Application. As a part of the online application, you will also complete a “supplemental application” section specific to our program. This section of the application will ask you questions with regards to items such as your research interests, level of language proficiency (for those students interested in studying Comparative Politics), methodological coursework you’ve taken, thesis and research experience, and which faculty at Wisconsin you are most interested in working with. On the supplemental application we also ask the following question: what lessons have you learned from your background and life experiences – including cultural, geographical, financial, educational, or other opportunities or challenges? What skills or abilities have you acquired from those lessons?  Your answer to this question is a chance for our admissions committee to get to know you better.
• TOEFL scores ( if required ; applicants required to submit a TOEFL score will be admitted only if they have a TOEFL score of 100 or more). Please note: our program only accepts TOEFL scores.

GRE scores are not required and will not be considered if submitted.

All materials must be submitted electronically through the  Graduate School application. If you have questions about the application process or application fee waivers, please contact our Graduate Program Coordinator, Erin Moskowitz at [email protected] .

When is the application deadline?

The application for the Fall 2025-Spring 2026 academic year will open September 5, 2024 and is due December 15, 2024.

Can the application fee be waived?

For more information and to apply for the Graduate School’s application fee grant, click here . Our Department also provides application fee grants for participants in APSA’s Ralph Bunche Summer Institute and Diversity Student Recruitment Program. If you have participated in either of these programs, please contact Erin Moskowitz to request an application fee grant ([email protected]).

Are GRE scores required?

Is a resume or c.v. required.

Yes. Our supplemental application requires a resume or a curriculum vitae (C.V.).

How do I submit letters of recommendation?

All letters of recommendation are submitted electronically through the admission application.

Can I request recommendations before I submit my application?

You may send the request to your recommenders at any time during the application process. The recommendation section of the application remains accessible after you submit your application.

My recommender has not responded. Can I send them another request?

Yes. To send another request to your recommender, you should go back into the recommendation section of your application and click the “Send Reminder” button. An email should be sent within 24 hours. You should contact your recommender to let them know to watch for the new message to arrive.

I am a current UW-Madison graduate student – how do I apply?

Current UW-Madison graduate students must apply here , and should also contact Graduate Program Coordinator Erin Moskowitz ([email protected]) for additional details on the application process.

How long should the statement of purpose be?

The statement of purpose should be no longer than two pages, single-spaced.

What should go into my statement of purpose?

The statement of purpose is a very important part of your application; it allows you to inform and convince the admissions committee that your intellectual interests and goals align well with our program and faculty and that you are ready to take on the challenges of a PhD program. Questions to answer in your statement include: Why do you want to get a PhD in political science? What research question(s) do you hope to pursue while here? Why is Wisconsin a good fit for you, and why are you a good fit for the program? What faculty do you hope to work with, and why? You may also use the statement to indicate what else you would like us to know about you to better evaluate your application. Click here for more guidelines for the statement of purpose.

Can I submit more than three letters of recommendation?

Yes, you can submit more than three letters of recommendation.

Am I required to take the TOEFL exam?

Every applicant whose native language is not English, or whose undergraduate instruction was not in English, must provide a TOEFL score. Please note: our program only accepts TOEFL scores. TOEFL scores must be submitted electronically via ETS. Your score will not be accepted if it is more than two years old from the start of your admission term. Country of citizenship does not exempt applicants from this requirement. Language of instruction at the college or university level and how recent the language instruction was taken are the determining factors in meeting this requirement. Applicants are exempt if:

• English is the exclusive language of instruction at the undergraduate institution;  or
• you have earned a degree from a regionally accredited U.S. college or university not more than 5 years prior to the anticipated semester of enrollment;  or
• you have completed at least two full-time semesters of graded course work, exclusive of ESL courses, in a U.S. college or university, or at an institution outside the U.S. where English is the exclusive language of instruction. Completion of graded course work cannot be more than five years prior to the anticipated semester of enrollment.

Can I submit IELTS or MELAB results instead TOEFL?

No, our program only accepts TOEFL scores.

How do I apply for funding?

We consider all applicants for funding, and you do not need to submit any additional materials to be considered for funding. We guarantee five years of funding for every admitted student. This support may come as a combination fellowships, teaching assistantships (TA), project assistantships (PA), or lectureship for one of our undergraduate courses. Our funding package includes a stipend, tuition, and excellent healthcare coverage.

What should I know about the writing sample requirement?

The writing sample should be a research paper or thesis chapter that demonstrates your research, writing, and analytical skills. The document should also include a research abstract of no more than 600 words that indicates the central question, arguments, data sources, methods, and conclusions of the research paper or thesis chapter being submitted.

What should I know about the supplemental application?

As a part of the online application, you will also complete a “supplemental application” section specific to our program. This section of the application will ask you questions with regards to items such as your research interests, level of language proficiency (for those students interested in studying Comparative Politics), methodological coursework you’ve taken, thesis and research experience, and which faculty at Wisconsin you are most interested in working with. On the supplemental application we also ask the following question: what lessons have you learned from your background and life experiences – including cultural, geographical, financial, educational, or other opportunities or challenges? What skills or abilities have you acquired from those lessons?  Your answer to this question is a chance for our admissions committee to get to know you better.

Can I submit a coauthored paper as my writing sample?

Yes. If you submit coauthored work as your writing sample, include a description at the start of the writing sample summarizing your precise contribution to the piece.

How do I check the status of my application?

The submission of your application is a 2-step process. First, you get your submission confirmation. Within a few days you will receive an email with directions to activate your NetID through MyUW. It is very important that you set up your  MyUW  account to check your application status. If you have further questions, please contact  [email protected] .

Can I transfer credits that I’ve taken in another graduate program?

The Graduate School’s minimum credit requirement can be satisfied only with courses taken as a graduate student at UW-Madison. Courses from a master’s degree from another institution may, at the discretion of the associate chair, be used to satisfy the department’s minor requirement.

I already have a Master’s degree. Do I have to complete another one?

Yes. You will earn an additional master’s degree as you pursue your Ph.D.

Is there a separate program for those who want to just earn a master’s degree?

No, we only admit to the doctoral program.

Do you admit for spring or summer terms?

No, we only admit for fall terms.

Do I need an undergraduate degree in political science to be considered for admissions?

No. While a bachelor’s degree from an accredited U.S. institution or a comparable degree from an international institution is one of the requirements to apply to our graduate program, we regularly admit students who have completed an undergraduate degree in other disciplines.

How long does it take to earn a Ph.D.?

For detailed program data, click  here .

For more FAQs, click here .

The Political Science Department and Law School at the University of Wisconsin-Madison invite students to enroll in a Dual-Degree Program (“the Program”) whereby students can earn both a Ph.D. and a J.D. with a course of student and writing requiring approximately seven years to complete.

The Program involves meeting the individual requirements for each of the two degrees, but also allows work taken in Political Science to count toward the J.D. program and the J.D. program to fulfill some requirements of the Ph.D. program.

A. Admission

Students in the Program must be admitted independently by the Political Science Department and the Law School, each of which will use their normal admissions criteria and procedures. Students need not be admitted to the Law School and the Political Science Department simultaneously, although concurrent admissions will be the normal procedure. Students interested in joining the Program are strongly encouraged to discuss their individual plans and goals with a member of the Advisory Committee before applying and to maintain contact during the application process.

B. Administrative Provisions

1. faculty advisors.

Each student must have a faculty advisor in the Law School and the Political Science Department. A single member of the faculty who has dual tenure or tenure-track appointment in the Law School and the Political Science Department may serve both functions. If the student has separate advisors, the advisors shall coordinate their advice.

2. Student Status

Although a student may take courses exclusively in the Law School or the Political Science Department in any given semester, the student shall be considered a “continuing student” in both programs. Hence, it is not necessary for the student to take a leave of absence or make a request for re-entry, as long as he or she is enrolled in courses in one of the two units.

3. Coordination between Law School and Department

The Law School and the Political Science Department will work together to develop a method of identifying dual-degree candidates, coordinating information about admissions t0mnthe program, etc. when it is determined that a student is admitted to both programs and that matriculation in one will be deferred, the Admissions Committee of the deferred program will be notified. However, the affected student is strongly encouraged to check with a member of the Advisory Committee to confirm that all necessary procedures have been completed.

4. Advisory Committee

The Advisory Committee shall take responsibility for seeing that the student’s program is well integrated and pedagogically sound.

A student shall be graded under the respective grading systems and criteria for permitting students to continue in the degree programs that the Law School and Political Science Department normally use.

6. Tuition and Fees

Tuition and fees for most semesters will be billed according to a combined fee schedule set by the UW Registrar’s Office.

C. Course of Study

This course of study is flexible, permitting a student, in consultation with his or her faculty advisors, to develop a personalized program meeting the student’s individual educational needs. Under this course, a student is encouraged or expected to undertake specified actions but may decline to do so if the student’s advisors approve of the decision. Program rules are stated in the absolute. Students may seek waiver of these rules as well as the general rules of the Law School or Political Science Department by following the normal procedures for those entities. All law students may petition the faculty Petitions Committee from relief from Law School rules. When students plan their 75 law credits, they must keep in mind that the course requirements for students seeking only the J.D. degree are different from the course requirements for those seeking the J.D. degree with “diploma privilege” (admission to the State Bar of Wisconsin without taking the state bar examination).

D. General Rules

• All students in the Program must participate in activities of the Institute of Legal Studies at the Law School, including scheduled lectures, seminars, and fellows’ workshops throughout their residency in Madison.
• During the first three years, students must complete one full academic year of study in the Law School and two full academic years of study in the Political Science Department. The normal sequence is described below.

E. Year 1 – First Year of Political Science

• A student’s first year program must be approved by his or her advisors. During the first year in the Political Science Department, a student is expected to take courses only in the Political Science Department, including Political Science 800. During the second semester of the first year in the Political Science Department, a student may take law-related course outside the Law School (including courses cross-listed with the Law School).

F. Year 2 – First Year of Law School

• The first year of the Law School’s curriculum has little flexibility. During the second semester, students may choose from a designated set of electives, and students in the dual-degree program should, if possible, choose an elective that maximizes the students’ educational progress in both programs. For example, a dual degree student might take a Political Science course during the second semester in place of one of the designated set of electives. Students who opt to substitute a Political Science course for a second semester elective may need to take the missed elective in their third year to conform with the Law School’s requirement that the first-year curriculum be completed within two years from matriculation in law school.

G. Year 3 – Second Year in the Political Science Department

• Year 3 will focus on the course work necessary to complete preparation for the preliminary examinations in Political Science. Students in the Program will normally complete these examinations during the summer after the third year.
• In June of Year 3, students must complete the standard Political Science Department preliminary examinations in a First Field and Second Field (drawn from among American politics, comparative politics, international relations, political theory, and methodology). Students must meet the requirements of any of these fields they choose, including methods requirements. Dual degree students will normally have American politics as one of their fields and include within that area one subfield that is law-related (most often, law and judicial process, but also possibly subfields such as policy or national institutions).
• Students who have another field as their primary field should have one subfield within that field be law-related. This deadline may be extended according to standard Political Science Department policies for students who undertake extensive foreign language or political methodology study (when methods is not one of the student’s fields).

H. Year 4 and Thereafter

• After the successful completion of the preliminary examinations, the student will complete additional coursework in political science in preparation for the dissertation research, and complete the law school curriculum for the J.D. The student’s advisors will work with the student and the Law School administration to ensure as much of the Political Science course work as possible counts toward the Law degree; final determination of what does count will be decided by the Law School. The coursework in the Law School will fulfill the Graduate School’s Minor requirement.
• A graduate student may receive up to 15, but not more than 15, advanced standing credits for courses in the Political Science Department and other University of Wisconsin departments to apply toward the J.D. degree under Law School Rule 3.16 or its successor. These credits will not be credited toward the J.D. until the student has successfully completed the prelims. As provided by this Rule, a student may receive advanced standing credits for courses taken before or after the student completed the master’s degree. Courses offered for advanced standing must be relevant to interdisciplinary legal studies but need not specifically have a law or Political Science content. Reading, research, or dissertation credits are eligible for advanced standing.
• Note: Law School Rule 3.16 permits a student in a dual program in law and other graduate fields to receive up to 15 advanced standing credits under certain conditions. These conditions include that the courses be of substantial relevance to the legal aspects of the student’s dual program and taken under a plan approved by the student’s law school faculty advisor. The credits will not be accepted by the Law School until the students has been formally admitted to the Ph.D. program.

I. Additional Rules

A student may participate in all activities available to law students following the normal rules. These activities include, but are not limited to, participation in a law journal, moot court, clinical programs, study abroad, and directed reading, or research. However, because students in the Program already have 15 credits of electives waived under paragraph (5), if they wish to take advantage of the “diploma privilege,” their ability to pursue the electives just mentioned will be limited.

J. “Normal Progress” Requirements in Political Science

In general, to make normal progress through the dual degree program you need to meet the criteria listed elsewhere in the Grad Guide with the exception that you must take and pass two general prelims before the start of the eighth semester rather than before the start of the sixth semester. Students requiring extensive language or methodological training may be granted one extra semester, as determined by the Associate Chair. Three or more courses in foreign language or methods (not including the required research design course or the required statistics credits) constitute extensive training and qualify a student for this extension of normal progress. If a student takes the Methods prelim, methods courses are considered part of general preliminary exam preparation and do not qualify for an extra semester.

• Financial Support

Students admitted to the program will be guaranteed five years of financial support from the Political Science department; however, Political Science Department funding may not be used during the first year of Law School study. Outstanding students admitted to the dual degree program will be eligible for possible scholarship funding for one year from the Law School, as part of the Law School’s normal merit-based financial aid program, to assist during year 2 of the overall program. While neither Law nor Political Science is able to guarantee funding beyond year 6, the high demand for teaching assistantships and empirical research skills related to law make it highly likely that funding will be possible for these years.

VI. Students Entering the Law School and Political Science Department at Different Times

• A student entering the Law School and Political Science Department at different times must comply with and may take advantage of the general rules described above except as otherwise provided in this section.
• The Advisory Committee may approve waivers of the rules regarding the first two years of the program.
• Law School Rule 3.16(7)(a)(2) authorizes advance standing credits for graduate work done prior to students becoming dual degree candidates. Under Rule 3.16(7)(a), a student may receive advanced standing credit when he or she has successfully completed the first year of Law School, has been formally admitted to the Ph.D. portion of a graduate program, has a Law School faculty advisor, and if the course work was of substantial relevance to the legal aspects of the student’s dual program and has been approved as such by the student’s law school faculty advisor. As noted in A.4 above, a maximum of 15 advanced standing credits will be granted for graduate work taken at the University of Wisconsin. The student may not receive advanced standing credits for course work taken at institutions other than the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Credits are granted upon approval of a petition to the Law School’s Petition Committee with the written support of the Dean or the Dean’s designee and the student’s law school faculty advisor.

Note: While students in dual J.D.-Masters programs may not use masters credits for advanced standing if the masters has been completed before entering law school, that rule does not apply to J.D.-Ph.D. students.

Department of Political Science Ph.D. students are encouraged to participate in our weekly workshops and colloquia . The workshops and colloquia offered in the Department are the American Politics Workshop , Comparative Politics Colloquium , International Relations Colloquium , Political Economy Colloquium , MEAD – Models, Experiments, and Data Workshop , Political Theory Workshop , and the Diversity, Equity, Justice and Power (DEJP) Lecture Series .

Workshops are one of the most important intellectual spaces in the department, providing an opportunity to become exposed to cutting-edge research and a chance to meet with scholars from other universities. In addition to featuring faculty papers and outside speakers, the workshops are an integral part of graduate training, serving as a place for students to present papers, as well as dissertation prospectuses, grant proposals, dissertation chapters, and practice job talks.

The department also hosts the Political Science Graduate Workshop (PSGW), which focuses on personal and professional development for graduate students in the department. The PSGW’s mission is to “foster communication and information-sharing among the grad students and faculty members of the political science department and to promote professional development opportunities for the grad students.” The topics covered in PSGW range from topics in graduate life (health and balance, financial life) to discipline professional development (publishing, communications). This workshop convenes several times per semester each academic year.

The following are a few examples of recent presentations by speakers at our workshops:

• Ariel White (MIT), “Throwing Away the Umbrella: Minority Voting after the Supreme Court’s Shelby Decision”
• Barry Burden and Jess Esplin (UW-Madison), “People Versus Places: The Unrepresentative Nature of Local Election Administration”
• Paru Shah (UW-Milwaukee), “Follow the Science: Evaluating Local Political Communication about COVID-19”
• Ada Johnson-Kanu (Kentucky), “Colonial Legacies in State building: Bureaucratic representation, policy implementation, and accountability in Nigeria”
• Gladys Mitchell-Walthour (North Carolina Central University), “Revisiting the Lulismo and Petismo Debate:  Afro-Brazilian Women Auxilio Brasil Beneficiaries and Voting in the 2022 Presidential Election”
• Andrew Kydd (UW-Madison), “You Can’t Get There from Here: On the Gap between Realist Theory and ‘Realist’ Foreign Policy”
• Risa Brooks (Marquette University), “To Support and Defend: Assessing Democratic Norm Socialization in West Point Cadets”
• Cyrus Samii (NYU), “Can Communities Take Charge? A Randomized Controlled Trial on Sustaining Schools in Afghanistan”
• Gary King (Government, Harvard), Title: “Statistically Valid Inferences from Privacy Protected Data”
• Diana Kim (School of Foreign Service, Georgetown), “Untouchability in the 21st Century”
• Laia Balcells Ventura (Government, Georgetown), “Past conflict, media, and polarization in Spain”
• Emma Rodman (Political Science, University of Massachusetts Lowell), “On Political Theory and Large Language Models”

Intellectual Life Across Campus & Our Campus Partners:

• African Studies Program 
• European Studies Center 
• Southeast Asian Studies Center 
• East Asia Studies Center 
• Nelson Institute 
• LaFollette School
• Global Legal Studies Center 
• Gender and Women’s Studies 
• Science and Technology Center 
• Land Tenure Center 

We guarantee five years of funding for every admitted student. This support may come as a combination fellowships, teaching assistantships (TA), project assistantships (PA), or lectureship for one of our undergraduate courses. Our funding package includes a stipend, tuition, and excellent healthcare coverage.

Teaching assistant (TA) duties vary from course to course, but they generally involve attending lectures, leading discussion sections, meeting with students outside of class, and grading class assignments and examinations. Project assistant (PA) positions give you a chance to work closely with a faculty member on his or her research. Your duties would depend on the nature of the specific research project, but we try to match incoming students with faculty working in their areas of interest.

All appointments include two valuable benefits. First, you qualify for complete remission of the cost of tuition. Second, you receive a fringe benefit package that includes single or family health care coverage at little cost.

Students are also eligible for a number of internal awards in the Department and at the University. These include awards through the Department’s Summer Initiative, which supports research and training during the summer; the Graduate School, which supports research and conference travel; a number of area and thematic research centers on campus; the Election Research Center, which supports research on elections; and a variety of other sources.

Department of Political Science Ph.D. students are encouraged to participate in our weekly workshops and colloquia. The workshops and colloquia offered in the department are the American Politics Workshop, Comparative Politics Colloquium, International Relations Colloquium, Political Economy Colloquium, MEAD – Models and Data Workshop, and the Political Theory Workshop.

Workshops are one of the most important intellectual spaces in the Department, providing an opportunity to become exposed to cutting-edge research and a chance to meet with scholars from other universities. In addition to featuring faculty papers and outside speakers, the workshops are an integral part of graduate training, serving as a place for students to present papers, as well as dissertation prospectuses, grant proposals, dissertation chapters, and practice job talks.

The Department also hosts the Political Science Graduate Workshop (PSGW) , which focuses on personal and professional development for graduate students in the Department. The PSGW’s mission is to “foster communication and information-sharing among the grad students and faculty members of the political science department and to promote professional development opportunities for the grad students.” The topics covered in PSGW range from topics in graduate life (health and balance, financial life) to discipline professional development (publishing, communications). This workshop convenes several times per semester each academic year.

The Department also actively supports our students throughout their job search. The Director of Graduate Studies and the major advisors review all job market materials such as CVs, writing samples, and diversity and teaching statements.  In addition, the department arranges special informational sessions, “mock” interviews, and practice job talks to prepare students for the kinds of questions they will face from potential employers. This support complements other departmental activities designed to professionalize graduate students, including brown bag discussions about attending professional conferences, publishing opportunities, and seeking grant funding.

As part of our commitment to your success as a scholar, the Department provides a number of complementary mentoring structures to support you in your first year and beyond.

Faculty advisors

All first year students are matched with a faculty member who serves as their first year advisor. This is your first point of contact for questions regarding courses, requirements, and anything else that comes up during your first year. Although your first year advisor is likely to be someone whose interests align with yours, you may switch your advisor at any time.

Peer mentorship program

During your first year you will also be matched with a more advanced graduate student who will serve as your peer mentor. For information about the qualities of a good mentor see here .

Semi-annual meeting requirement

What you need from an advisor will change at different stages of the program. To ensure that you are getting the advising you need, mentors and mentees are required to meet at least once each semester (virtually or in person). For a list of recommended topics to be discussed, please see the Advisor-Advisee Meeting Guidelines.

Graduate Program Coordinator

The graduate program coordinator is your source for all administrative questions. If your question begins “How do I…?”, start with the Graduate Program Coordinator.

Director of Graduate Studies

The Director of Graduate Studies oversees the graduate program from admissions to placement.

Diversity is a source of strength, creativity, and innovation for the department of political science at UW-Madison. We value the contributions of each person and respect the profound ways their identity, culture, background, experience, status, abilities, and opinion enrich the university community. We commit ourselves to the pursuit of excellence in teaching, research, outreach, and diversity as inextricably linked goals.

The Political Science Department fulfills its public mission by creating a welcoming and inclusive community for people from every background — people who as students, faculty, and staff serve Wisconsin and the world. We commit ourselves to maintain a welcoming and inclusive environment in our learning spaces and workspaces.

As part of that commitment, we encourage members of historically under-represented groups, including women, racial and ethnic minorities, and first-generation college students to apply. Fellowships are available to assist historically under-represented applicants, as well as those from any background that might have made educational achievement more difficult. The Graduate School offers admissions fee grants for low-income students and those who participate in selected pipeline programs designed to prepare students for graduate studies (e.g., McNair Scholars and SROP participants). As part of its commitment to the diversity of the graduate program, the Political Science Department also provides admission fee grants for participants in APSA’s Ralph Bunche Summer Institute and  Diversity Student Recruitment Program .

Our Department is an active member of APSA’s Diversity Student Recruitment Program. To enhance the diversity and inclusiveness of its graduate program (and of the discipline as a whole), the Department hosts an annual Diversity Recruitment Conference for undergraduates from underrepresented backgrounds with the interest and ability to pursue graduate study in political science. Unfortunately, last year’s conference was cancelled due to the pandemic. We hope to resume our outreach and recruitment efforts as soon as we can.

We strive to create a climate where every student can feel supported and thrive regardless of their background. There are a number of initiatives on campus that help foster this environment at UW, including the  Office of Diversity, Inclusion, and Funding  and  First Generation Student Success  network. These programs are part of the way we show that we  value diversity  together with colleagues across the University.

Built on an isthmus between lakes Monona and Mendota, Madison is renowned for its beautiful scenery. Urban culture, natural beauty, small-town charm – the greater Madison area offers it all. There’s also plenty to explore beyond the boundaries of the city, whether you get to know a favorite spot in one of Madison’s neighboring communities, or find a new hiking destination elsewhere in the state.

The Capital

Madison is not only home to the University of Wisconsin, it is also the state capital. There are many active organizations involved in local government in and around the City of Madison. It’s easy to get involved, whether you’re interested in attending proceedings of the state legislature, county board, or city council – all of which are open to the public – or want to be active in your local neighborhood association.

The Overture Center is the crown jewel of the Madison arts community and easily accessible on State Street. A wide variety of events, ranging from concerts to Broadway shows, are presented by local arts groups and traveling performers. The  Wisconsin Union Theater on campus is a multipurpose performing arts facility offering a varied, quality program of dance, music, theater, film, and cultural events. The city also boasts the Madison Museum of Modern Art and the Chazen Museum of Art, both of which are free to students.

Outdoor activities

In Madison, people appreciate the weather and take advantage of it. In general, Madisonians are very active, participating in winter sports like skiing, ice skating, and snowshoeing. Once the weather gets warmer, outdoor activities abound. From sailing on the lakes (or sitting lakeside at the Memorial Union Terrace), to biking through the Arboretum, to participating in the numerous local festivals each year, people are out enjoying the spring and summer. The  Wisconsin Hoofers  club is one of the oldest and largest outdoor recreational organizations in the country. Founded in 1931 as an outing club, Hoofers has grown from a single club to having over 3,000 members in its six separate clubs: Mountaineering, Outing, Riding, Sailing, Scuba, and Ski & Snowboard.

There are always fun things to do and events to attend on and around campus. A few great ideas:

• See the University’s collection of artwork at the Chazen Museum of Art .
• Tour our beautiful State Capitol.
• Discover the  Arboretum , one of the campus’s most celebrated features. Take in the scenery on the rooftop of  Monona Terrace .
• Visit beautiful  Allen Centennial Gardens .
• Walk the Lakeshore Path to Picnic Point .
• Visit a state park. Wisconsin is a beautiful state and maintains a state park system  with modern facilities for camping and hiking. There are four great parks within easy driving distance of Madison: Lake Kegonsa State Park, Devil’s Lake State Park, Governor Nelson State Park, and Blue Mounds State Park.
• Catch a (free) movie on campus. The university is also home to a number of groups that bring films to campus. Most active and diverse is the Wisconsin Union Directorate’s Film Committee  which presents four to five different series each week, from recent releases to international cinema.
• Catch a Madison Mallards game
• Attend the Taste of Madison, where local restaurants showcase tastes of their fare in this Labor Day weekend event on Capitol Square.

Adapted from Graduate Student Life: A guide to the graduate experience at the University of Wisconsin-Madison . You can check out more fun things to do in Madison here , and check out great examples of events around town here . 

Madison, Wisconsin Rankings & Accolades

  #3 Best State Capitals to Live In wallethub.com February 2020

#3 Top 100 Best Places to Live Livability.com February 2019

One of the Best Small Cities in America National Geographic, January 2018

#1 Nicest Cities in America Cheatsheet.com, June 2018

Biking and Walkability

#1 Surprisingly Bike-Friendly Cities Liveability.com, August 2018

#2 Most Walkable Cities Expedia.com, May 2018

#1 Best Places in the U.S. for Raising Children diversitydatakids.com, January 2020

Food & Drink

#2 Best Cities for Farmers’ Markets Better Homes & Gardens, June 2019

#1/#2 Best Cheese Curds in Wisconsin 10best.com, June 2019

Each spring we welcome admitted students to Madison for our Prospective Student Visit Days. During these two days we will have a number of sessions to introduce students to our program in greater detail and opportunities to interact with our faculty and current graduate students. We also schedule one-on-one meetings between admitted students and faculty in their areas of interest. The visit is a terrific opportunity to talk with faculty, meet future classmates, and learn more about our program and Madison.

Let your curiosity lead the way:

Apply Today

• Arts & Sciences
• Graduate Studies in A&S

Graduate Program

About the graduate program.

The doctoral program in political science at Washington University is one of the top programs in the country. Graduate students take classes and engage in research with a faculty recognized nationally and internationally as among the most expert, active, and productive in the country.

Job Training and Placement

Washington University's PhD program in political science is designed to prepare students for academic careers in research and teaching at major institutions across the country. We pride ourselves on our job placement on the academic job market. Our graduates go on to have successful careers in tenure track jobs, and our placement record is among the top in the discipline.

While our program stresses the importance of political methodology (applied statistics) and formal theory (game theory and mathematical modeling), our program is designed to train all students in these methods, regardless of their mathematical background. We provide professional training in the discipline through our professional development seminar and we encourage our students to attend professional meetings and participate in convention programs.

We have active research groups in American politics, comparative politics, international relations, positive and normative theory, and political methodology. We are also building a research group in race and ethnic politics and a number of students work in the field of political economy, collaborating with faculty in political science, economics, law, and business.

It is important to emphasize that we do not regard these sub-fields as separate entities. Many of our faculty have research and teaching interests that transcend political science subfields, as well as traditional disciplinary boundaries. We have strong connections with other departments at Washington University, including economics, anthropology, the law school, and with various interdisciplinary research centers on campus.

Annamaria Prati wins 2024 APSA Best Poster Award

Prati's poster was on the topic of “Building Peace in Fragile States? UNDP and Violence Mitigation.”

Shi and Rosas publish “If Foreign, Then Cleaner” in International Studies Quarterly

Dihan Shi and Guillermo Rosas' new article "“If Foreign, Then Cleaner”: Individual Corruption Perceptions and Support for Free Trade in Developing Nations" has been published in International Studies Quarterly.

Program Highlights

Job placement.

We pride ourselves on our job placement on the academic job market, and our placement record is among the top in the discipline. We place about 90 percent of our students, and we place most of them in tenure-track positions.

Financial Support

Our incoming classes are fully funded, covering tuition and living expenses. We try to provide financial support for our students during most if not all of their time at Washington University.

Graduate students take classes and engage in research with a faculty recognized nationally and internationally as among the most expert, active, and productive in the country.

Collaborative Publications

Graduate students regularly collaborate with our nationally and internationally recognized faculty to publish original work. Browse a selection of books, articles, book chapters, and other publications that have been coauthored by graduate students and faculty.

Master’s Degree in Statistics for Political Science Ph.D. Students

The Master’s Degree in Statistics is a tailored master’s degree program in statistics within the Department of Mathematics and Statistics for graduate students in Political Science. Note that while the program is designed to serve political science graduate students, it is run by the Department of Mathematics and Statistics.

Graduate Life

Our graduate program is relatively small. We admit around 10-12 students into the PhD program each year, and most of these complete the doctorate, generally in five to six years. There are a little over forty graduate students currently in residence.

Our department has long had a reputation for collegiality, and for treating graduate students as participants in the enterprise of teaching and research to which the faculty is committed, and from which we get a good deal of satisfaction, and fun. Every graduate student is assigned a peer mentor to welcome them in to our program and build community support across graduate cohorts. 

The University is centrally located in Saint Louis, Missouri, a metropolitan area rich in heritage and cultural offerings with an increasingly diverse community. Most faculty and students live in the neighborhoods immediately surrounding our attractive campus, but there is much to do and explore all over the Saint Louis region.

Graduate Resources

Find commonly used resources here, or see all resources. 

Guide to Graduate Studies (pdf)

policies and procedures for requirements, advising, formal evaluation, and more

Graduate Directory

find a listing of current graduate students

Graduate Requirements

view teaching and curriculum requirements

Graduate Placement

Search more resources.

• The Office of Graduate Studies in Arts & Sciences
• Office for International Students and Scholars
• WashU Resources

Have questions?

We're here to help! Feel free to reach out via the departmental contact form. 

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This subreddit is for discussing academic life, and for asking questions directed towards people involved in academia, (both science and humanities).

How to know the top Political Science (PhD) programs?

Hello everyone,

I am looking into applying to PhD programs in Political Science (next year), and most of my undergrad professors have told me to not apply to any schools outside of the top 15, but regarding this so-called "top 15," how do I figure out what those top 15 are? I genuinely have no idea. When people refer to these top schools, are they just referring to the U.S. News list? Are they looking at National Research Council rankings? What exactly?

I understand that there are some schools that are in the top no matter what the criterium (e.g. Harvard, Michigan, etc.), but I've been confused due to some schools that appear high in one ranking but low in another. For example, in the NRC ranking, Rice is ranked 4/15 in S-Rank ( https://www.chronicle.com/article/doctoral-programs-by-the-numbers-124714/?cid2=gen_login_refresh&cid=gen_sign_in ), but in U.S. News they are ranked #33 ( https://www.usnews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-humanities-schools/political-science-rankings ).

Does anyone have a definitive list? For what it's worth, I'm interested in International Relations/Political Economy. I'm trying to compile a list of schools to do more research on so I can have an idea of where I'll be applying to, but I have no idea how to compile this list.

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