1. Home ›
  2. Graduate ›
  3. Program of Study

Program of Study

Three people walk and talk in a hallway. Two appear to be students, and one looks like a faculty member. The male-presenting student on the left wears a blue shirt and khakis with a backpack. The center person wears a light blue, long-sleeved shirt and dark pants with a shaved head. The female-presenting student on the right wears a white blazer, green shirt, and jeans.

The Department of Political Science Ph.D. program follows a conventional structure.

As a first-year student, you will enroll in 24 credits of course work including Proseminar, which is required for all students in the Ph.D. program. You will not have any teaching or research responsibilities during your first year. Depending on your fields, there may be more required courses that you will need to enroll in.

In your second and third years, you will take courses in your first and second fields, methodology courses, and electives. At the end of the second year, you must pass a comprehensive exam in your first field. In addition to passing the comprehensive exam, students who have methodology as their second field must write and defend a paper that contributes to an area of methodology of their choosing. By the end of your third year, pass your proposal defense.

The last years of the program are focused on dissertation research, with you registering for field professionalization seminars and workshops. It is common for students to take a Dissertation Year Fellowship in their fourth or fifth year.

The program is designed to be completed in five years, and students in good standing are guaranteed five years of funding. Below is an illustrative timetable for progressing through the program.

Program sequence

First year

  • Successful completion of 24 substantive credits (8 courses or equivalent), including Proseminar

Second year

  • Successful completion of an additional 18 required substantive credit hours (6 courses or equivalent; 42 cumulative credits). It is permissible that some substantive course requirements and credit hours will be earned past the second year.

  • Pass the first field comprehensive exam

  • Competent and responsible performance of a TA or other duties if required

Third year

  • Competent and responsible performance of TA or other duties if required

  • Complete the language requirement; must show evidence of reading knowledge of a second language (ESL student exempted)

  • Submit one publication to an academic journal or submit a major grant proposal (needs to be completed before proposal)

  • Successful defense of the proposal by the end of the summer going into your fourth year

Fourth Year

  • Competent and responsible performance of TA or other duties if required

  • Clear progress being made on dissertation research

Fifth Year

  • Successful defense of the dissertation or preparing to defend in the summer after the fifth year

  • Before dissertation defense, you must submit a second publication to an academic journal* or submit a major grant proposal

*If two journal articles are submitted, at least one must be single-authored