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. Minimum degree requirements are as follows (effective for students matriculating in or after Fall 2024):
Requirements
- First field: at least four courses
- Second field: at least four courses
- Methods Requirement (SEE ADDITIONAL INFORMATION BELOW; Political Theory excepted):
- POLSCI 731: Scope and Methods in Political Science (Fall Year 1)
- POLSCI 630: Basic Regression (Spring Year 1)
- POLSCI 748: Causal Inference (Year 2)
- Foreign Language Requirement
- Students in some areas of concentration will need to establish foreign language competency in order to be strong candidates on the job market. Consult with your faculty advisor to plan for attaining that competency in a timely manner.
- Political Theory course(s)
- Recommended: one or more courses in normative political theory and political philosophy
- Workshops
- Students are expected to attend all workshops pertaining to their first and second fields and all department-wide speaker series
- Qualifying Procedure – required by some, but not all fields, and typically taken at the end of the 2nd or beginning of the 3rd year
- Preliminary Exam in your first field – taken at the end of the 2nd year
- Prospectus Defense – completed by the end of the third year
- Dissertation
NOTE: Cross-listed courses cannot be double-counted for both first and second fields.
Effective Fall 2018, courses below the 500 level may not be applied toward the required credits needed for a post-baccalaureate degree. With the approval of their director of graduate studies and the associate dean for academic affairs, graduate students may enroll in lower-level courses, but these courses will not count toward any graduation requirement and will not be included in a student’s GPA calculation.
This new policy affects all UG (undergraduate-level) course registrations for incoming or continuing graduate students beginning in fall 2018 and beyond. UG courses that graduate students have taken before fall 2018 will still count toward their degree credit requirements and GPA as allowed under the old policy.
Methods training in the PhD program aims to ensure that students gain the requisite foundation to understand a range of high-quality scholarship in political science and to conduct their own research. The requirements and expectations described below do not apply to PhD students in normative political theory. With this exception, we expect all students not only to fulfill requirements but also to choose at least several courses beyond requirements to augment their methods skills, in consultation with their advisor. We expect some students to choose a deeper engagement, through methods as a second field.
I. Foundational Requirements
Students in the PhD program (except those in Normative Theory) are required to successfully complete the three methods courses below:
- POLSCI 731: Scope and Methods in Political Science (Year 1, Fall)
- POLSCI 630: Basic Regression (Year 1, Spring)
- POLSCI 748: Causal Inference (Year 2, check course schedule)
POLSCI 630 and 748 assume a certain skill set, including sufficient proficiency in math and the programming language R—but we do not assume most students already possess these skills. In the department, we offer POLSCI 609 (Year 1, Fall), which provides students with the minimum requisite skills for these courses. It introduces a broad range of mathematical and statistical topics, in particular, linear algebra, basic probability, and statistical inference. It includes a lab component, to teach students R. The department has available upon request a short exam to help students assess for themselves if they are already well prepared with the requisite skills to successfully complete POLSCI 630 and POLSCI 748 without further coursework.
Students may take courses outside the department to acquire the requisite skills at a more advanced level and to go beyond the material offered in POLSCI 609. A background beyond 609 will be required to complete more advanced courses in econometrics in and outside the department. Those who do not already have the necessary mathematical and statistical background should consider the courses in Part II below, in consultation with their advisor and the methods field chair.
II. Departmental Expectations: Augmenting Skills
As noted above, we expect all students, except students in normative political theory, to augment their skills beyond course requirements. This sets students up to conduct independent research without major constraint, in the PhD program and beyond. An investment in more skills is essential to be competitive on the job market. Below we provide a (non-exhaustive) list of courses for students to consider, in consultation with their advisors, to add to methods skills in the way best suited to subfield and individual research interests. Critically, many of these courses require a mathematical foundation beyond the level of POLSCI 609. Students who do not come into the program with the requisite background should work with their advisors and the methods field chair to determine how best to acquire the relevant skills. This should be done as early in the program as possible.
Foundational courses in math and statistics:
- MATH 730: Probability
- MATH 780 or 202: Calculus
- MATH 781, 218, or 221: Linear Algebra
- STA 611: Introduction to Mathematical Statistics
- STA 532: Theory of Statistical Inference
Advanced statistical modeling courses:
- POLSCI 733: Advanced Regression
- POLSCI 643S: Applied Bayesian Modeling
- POLSCI 634: Social Networks and Political Interdependence
- SOC 729S: Structural Equation Modeling
- ECON 613: Applied Econometrics in Microeconomics
- ECON 707: Econometrics II
Courses in formal modeling:
- POLSCI 631: Introduction to Deductive and Analytical Approaches to Political Phenomena
- POLSCI 633: Positive Political Theory
- POLSCI 730: Formal Modeling in Political Science
- POLSCI 749: Advanced Game Theory
Courses in machine learning and data science:
- POLSCI 538: Introduction to Machine Learning and Text as Data
- STA 561: Probabilistic Machine Learning
- SOC 690: Computational Social Science
- IDS 701: Unifying Data Science
- IDS 702: Modeling and Representation of Data
- IDS 703: Introduction to Natural Language Processing
- IDS 705: Principles of Machine Learning
Advanced research design courses:
- POLSCI 635: Survey Methodology Practicum
- SOC 699S: Qualitative Methods in Sociology
- POLSCI 6XX: Experimental Design
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