FAQ

December 15, 2025

You can find out more information about life at Notre Dame and housing through Graduate Student Life.

All applicants must submit:

1. Statement of Intent: to be attached to your Online Application Form

2. Writing Sample

3. Curriculum Vitae or Résumé

4. Three letters of recommendation

5. Unofficial Transcript

6. Graduate Record Exam (GRE) Test Scores

7. TOEFL or IELTS for non-native speakers of English

8. Application fee of $75 (or fee waiver)

You can find more information about international students through the Graduate School and International Student and Scholar Affairs (ISSA).

Yes, students may transfer credits from another graduate program. Transfer credit is subject to approval of the Director of Graduate Studies, and there is no guarantee that transfer credit will be awarded. Students cannot apply for transfer credit until they have completed at least one semester of study at Notre Dame.

The Ph.D. program is designed to be completed in five years of full-time study. Actual time depends on the student’s progress, research, fieldwork, and field of study. 

There is no required length for the writing sample, but most range from 10-25 pages, double-spaced. The writing sample should represent academic or scholarly writing. Applicants in the past have included portions of master’s thesis, honors thesis, research and seminar papers, or academic articles. Bibliographic references are not counted toward the 25 pages.

The statement of intent should not exceed two pages, single-spaced. Typically, the statement describes the applicant’s research interests, reasons for applying to Notre Dame, preparation for the subfield of study, future career plans, and other aspects of the applicant’s background that may aid the admissions committee in evaluating the applicant’s aptitude for graduate study.

No, applicants are not required to have an agreed faculty advisor for the dissertation before being admitted. However, applicants should make sure there is sufficient overlap between their own interests and those of the faculty to support their research and eventually form a dissertation committee.

The Notre Dame Graduate School may provide a fee waiver:

• on the basis of need or financial hardship

• to U.S. citizens and permanent residents from underrepresented minority groups

• through your participation in a variety of programs (example programs)

• to United States Armed Forces veterans and active duty service members

• or based on your application to a national fellowship

The Graduate School offers additional information. You may also email gradapp@nd.edu

No, our program is set up for admitted students to begin the fall semester.

The Graduate School will waive the English proficiency test requirement for non-native English speakers who spent a minimum of two academic years at an academic institution whose primary language of instruction was English. If that is not obvious from the transcripts, a letter from the Registrar’s Office (or the office responsible for academic records) confirming English as the language of instruction is required. If applicants are unsure whether they will need a letter or not, please contact gradapp@nd.edu.

Applicants whose native language or language of college instruction is not English must submit official scores from the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL), the International English Language Testing System (IELTS), or the Duolingo English Test (on the 160-point scale with subscores) to demonstrate English language proficiency. The scores reported must result from a test taken within the last two years. Applicants may also upload preliminary (unofficial) scores to expedite the review process, if available.

The Graduate School offers additional information about approved language tests and minimum scores.

The institution code for both the GRE and TOEFL exams is 1841.

The official testing service must submit GRE scores from the last five years; to expedite the review process, applicants may also upload preliminary (unofficial) scores, if available.

No. However, admission is highly competitive, and admitted students generally have very high GRE scores (approximately 165+ verbal,158+ quantitative, and 5 in analytical writing). Admitted students typically have an average GPA of 3.71+ in their previous studies.

Yes. The GRE is required for Fall 2025 admissions — no exceptions.

We typically receive more than 200 applications to our Ph.D. program but can only matriculate 9-10 students a year. No one factor determines whether an applicant is admitted or not, and our admissions committee reviews all of the applications holistically before reaching a final decision.

No, the admissions committee begins reviewing the applications after the application deadline, and offers of admission are made in late January or early February.

You can find information about financial aid through the Graduate School and Office of Financial Aid.

Yes, graduate students may apply to teach their own course after they have defended their dissertation proposal.

Yes, students receiving a stipend from the university are required to perform six semesters of service, with a minimum of two semesters as a teaching assistant. The department offers other service opportunities, including serving as research assistants, editorial assistants for academic journals, methodological consultants, and instructors of record.

Political Science offers generous financial aid to its Ph.D. students. All admitted students are offered five years of a graduate stipend and tuition fellowship so long as they make satisfactory progress toward the degree. Students also have opportunities to secure generous funding for annual conference travel, field research, specialized training, and professional development as well as support from various research institutes on campus. In addition, each year a number of our admitted students are awarded one of the Graduate School’s Select Fellowships, which recognize outstanding academic performance and exceptional promise in graduate studies.

Notre Dame is home to a number of research institutes and interdisciplinary centers that serve as anchors for our intellectual community and provide additional funding and support for graduate research. Including:

• Center for Social Concerns
• Center for Social Science Research (CSSR)
• Constitutional Studies Program
• de Nicola Center for Ethics and Culture
• Gender Studies Program
• Graduate School: Office of Grants and Fellowships
• Graduate Student Union
• Institute for Latino Studies
• Institute for Scholarship in the Liberal Arts (ISLA)
• Kellogg Institute for International Studies
• Keough School of Global Affairs
• Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies
• Liu Institute for Asia and Asian Studies
• Nanovic Institute for European Studies
• Notre Dame International Security Center (NDISC)
• Notre Dame Learning | Kaneb Center
• Rooney Center for the Study of American Democracy

The department offers rigorous methodological training in quantitative and qualitative inquiry forms. The quantitative methods sequence begins with foundational courses in statistics, research design, and econometrics and progresses to maximum likelihood estimation and generalized linear models. We also offer advanced courses on a range of topics, including causal inference, Bayesian statistics, experiments, and survey research. The qualitative sequence surveys key issues in qualitative methods and research design, such as causal complexity and inference, case selection and case study, QCA methodology, and practical field research training.

The methods sequence does not assume that students have had prior exposure to advanced mathematics or statistics.

Faculty list their research areas on their bio pages.