The graduate program in political science is designed for students
who are seeking a Ph.D. While some students enter the program after
getting a master's degree, exceptional students can win admittance
directly after obtaining a bachelor's degree. Each case is considered
individually, but applicants are more likely to gain admittance to the
program if they have a cumulative grade-point average of 3.5 or better,
particularly in the social sciences. Applicants also should have high
scores on the Graduate Record Examination and strong letters of
recommendation. In awarding financial aid to entering students,
preference is given to those students who have been admitted directly
to the Ph.D. program.
Applications for September admission
should be submitted no later than February 1 by students seeking
financial assistance. For everyone else, the deadline is March 1.
Transcripts, Graduate Record Examination scores, three letters of
recommendation, and a writing sample are required.
The
graduate program offers six areas of concentration: political theory,
international relations, comparative politics, women and politics,
public law, and American politics. Candidates for the Ph.D. select a
major area of study from among the six concentrations. To qualify in
the major area of study, a student must first pass a written and an
oral examination. The written examination is a take-home, open-book
examination, and each student has 24 hours to complete it. In addition
to the major field, Ph.D. students must work in two minor fields. To
qualify in the first minor field, a candidate must pass a written exam.
In the second minor field, students must attain a cumulative
grade-point average higher than 3.5 in at least three courses.
Individual fields may require more than three courses and may designate
further specific requirements. Having successfully passed all
examinations, the candidate must submit a dissertation proposal within
six months.
Typically, students take proseminars in their
major and minor areas (9 credits). Grading in proseminars is based
mainly on written examinations, as there are no assigned research
papers. Ph.D. candidates must take a two-term methods sequence
16:790:532-533 Research Design in Political Science. These courses
include elements of research design, quantitative methods, and
epistemology of the social sciences. In addition, students must
complete three or four research courses (9 to 12 credits) with at least
two instructors and take seven to eight electives (21 to 24 credits)
inside or outside the program. Before students take their qualifying
Ph.D. examinations, they must complete a total of 48 credits of course
work and have submitted a significant research paper.
A full
description of the program may be found in the brochure Graduate
Program in Political Science, which is available from the
department.
