phd political science yale

Department of Political Science

Application Information FAQs

Q. can i apply for a master’s (m.a.) degree program or for part-time study.

No, we do not offer a Master’s (M.A.) degree program or part-time study.

Q. Can I apply as a transfer student?

No, we do not accept transfer students. If you are currently enrolled in an M.A. or Ph.D. program, we will still review your application. If accepted, however, you will have to complete the entire Ph.D. program at Yale. Subject to Department rules, you may be able to obtain credit for up to three graduate-level courses taken outside of Yale.

Q. How many students are accepted into the program?

Our target size for the entering class is 18-20.

Q. Where do students come from?

On average, about one-half to two-thirds of our students are U.S. residents, with the remainder coming from abroad.

Q. What is the gender breakdown of the entering class?

We target an entering Ph.D. class divided evenly between men and women. On average, about half of entering Ph.D. students are female.

Q. How long does the Ph.D. program take? Do I have to stay in New Haven?

The Ph.D. program can be completed in as little as 4 years, although in practice students take between 5 and 8 years. Students are required to be in residence for at least six semesters (3 years). While being in residence does not require living in New Haven, it is harder to regularly attend classes and workshops, as well as informal Department events, without living nearby. In later years, students often go to the field to conduct research or leave New Haven to work at other universities or non-profit groups.

Q. Can I continue to work while in the Ph.D. program?

No. The Ph.D. program is considered a full-time position, and students are generously supported. As such, while students are encouraged to work as research assistants with faculty to gain experience, any employment that takes beyond 10 hours a week requires approval both from the DGS and the Graduate School.

Q. If I get a PhD in political science, will I get a tenure track academic job?

Maybe not. In general, the academic job market is very tight, and some fields have very few jobs relative to the number of students receiving the Ph.D.

Q. Did you receive my test score/transcript/recommendation letter? Can I send it directly to you?

The department does not manage the online application system. To find out the status of your application, please contact the Graduate School’s Admissions Office . You must also submit all material to them.

Q. I would like to visit the department, can you help set up meetings?

Unfortunately, given the volume of requests we receive, we cannot schedule meetings or visits apart from our regular visiting weekend for admitted Ph.D. students. If you are planning to visit, please take the time to examine our list of faculty and individually contact those you would like to meet with.

Q. If I am admitted, will I be funded?

All admitted Ph.D. students receive full funding for 5 years (with the possibility of a sixth), including tuition, health insurance, and a generous stipend. Students are generally required to participate in teaching in years 3 and 4. International/foreign students are also funded.

Q. How does the admissions process work?

Each year, the department composes an admissions committee with faculty from across the subfields. Each application is read by multiple readers. We then try to admit a final class with representation across the subfields. We do not regularly interview candidates for admission.

Q. What are my chances of being admitted?

We target an entering class of approximately 18 students. We usually extend about twice that many offers of admission. So in an average year where we receive about 600 applications, we will admit about 6% of those who apply.

Q. What are you looking for in a candidate?

The department aims to produce the next generation of leading scholars in political science. As such, we are interested in admitting students who show promise in mastering the discipline of political science, and who will go on to be leading researchers and teachers in the field. Experiencing conducting research, real knowledge of both political science research and politics, and strong academic performance are all indicators we take into consideration. It is also very helpful if your recommendation letter writers are able to provide evaluations of your potential to succeed in graduate school.

Q. My background is in [INSERT] and my grades and test scores are [INSERT], will I get in?

Given the number of requests we receive to evaluate potential files, we can’t offer individual feedback. Many students we admit do have a background in political science, but not all do. Additionally, students have different grades, often because they go to schools with different grading standards or major in fields with higher (or lower) average grades. There is no minimum GRE score required. GRE scores of previously admitted students have ranged between 150-170 for the verbal section and 150-170 for the quantitative section. Please keep in mind that GRE scores are but one of many criteria used to evaluate an applicant.

Q. My application was rejected, can you provide feedback on why it was rejected?

Unfortunately, given the volume of applications we receive (more than 700 in some years), we cannot offer individual feedback. Many strong students will not be admitted, often because we simply lack space or because of a lack of fit with our faculty.

Q. How long can my writing sample be? Does it have to be a political science paper?

There is no page limit for the writing sample, so please feel free to submit a writing sample that you feel best supports your application. It doesn’t have to be a political science project.

Q. Do you offer any visiting student or non-degree programs?

If you are interested in applying as a non-degree student in our program you must first find a suitable Yale political science faculty member who is willing to serve as your Yale advisor if you were to be admitted to the non-degree program. Once you have a faculty member willing to do this you can submit an application. Information on the non-degree programs offered, as well as the application, can be found here .  Please note that the faculty member must provide a letter of support that should be included with your application.

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Yale College Programs of Study 2024–2025

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Political Science

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• Summary of Requirements

Directors of undergraduate studies: Andrea Aldrich ; politicalscience.yale/edu

Political science addresses how individuals and groups organize, allocate, and challenge the power to make collective decisions involving public issues. The goal of the major is to enable students to think critically and analytically about the agents, incentives, and institutions that shape political phenomena within human society. The subfields of political philosophy and analytical political theory (which includes the study of both qualitative and quantitative methodology) support the acquisition of the lenses through which such thought skills can be enriched. The subfields of American government, comparative politics, and international relations, in turn, allow students to reinforce and refine those skills, while also promoting their application to a wide variety of contexts, whether contemporary or historical. Students may also construct interdisciplinary curricula, which allows them to apply the approaches of the discipline to a topic for which a more complete understanding also involves approaches gleaned from other disciplines.

Requirements of the Major

Students are held to   the requirements that were in place when they declared their major .  However, with approval from the director   of undergraduate studies (DUS), the following requirements, updated for  the academic year 2022-2023, may be fulfilled by students who declared the   major in a prior term.

Students following the standard B.A. degree program  must take twelve term courses. These courses include:  at least two introductory courses (i.e.   bearing numbers between 101 and 119); at least one course designated as belonging to the methodology and formal theory subfield; at least two non-introductory lectures designated as "core"; at least two classes in each of any two of the department's subfields (other than methodology and formal theory)—international relations, American government, political philosophy, and comparative politics; at least two seminars, including at least one during their senior year.

All students, regardless of their graduating year,  may also take courses related to political science that are offered by other departments. Students who elect the standard program may petition to count up to two such courses toward the major. Students may routinely count Residential College Seminars taught by members of the Political Science faculty toward the major, and they may petition to count one Residential College Seminar taught by an instructor outside the department. Students who have completed Directed Studies may, with the approval of the DUS, count one term of  DRST 005  or  DRST 006  toward the major.

Students following the standard B.A. degree program, interdisciplinary concentration  are allowed to identify and pursue an area of study that crosses conventional disciplinary and departmental boundaries. Examples of interdisciplinary concentrations include (but are not limited to) urban studies, health politics and policy, political economy, political psychology, or a focus on the politics of a given global region informed by the study of the history and society of that region. Students choosing an interdisciplinary concentration are required to take twelve term courses toward the major. At least seven courses must be in the field of concentration. Of the courses counting toward the major outside of the field of concentration, at least two courses must be taken in each of any two of the department's five fields. As many as three courses taken in other departments may be counted toward the major, with the permission of the DUS.  Note:  students who choose the interdisciplinary concentration must fulfill the introductory course requirement, the core lecture requirement, the methodology and formal theory subfield requirement, and the seminar requirement as described for the standard degree program.

Students wishing to pursue the Political Science major with an interdisciplinary concentration must submit an application, which is due prior to the beginning of the November recess in the student's final year of enrollment. Students should also meet with the DUS to discuss their proposed program of study in their sophomore or junior year.

The intensive major  The intensive major gives students an opportunity to undertake more extensive coursework and research for the senior essay than is possible in the standard major. Requirements for the intensive major are identical to those for the standard program or interdisciplinary concentration, with the following exceptions: (1) in the spring term of the junior year, intensive majors take PLSC 474 in preparation for writing a yearlong senior essay; (2) in the senior year, intensive majors fulfill the senior essay requirement by enrolling in the yearlong course sequence PLSC 490 and PLSC 493 ( PLSC 490 also counts toward the senior seminar requirement); (3) a total of fifteen term courses is required.

Juniors wishing to pursue an intensive major must apply to the DUS. The application should contain: (1) the intensive major application form signed by a faculty adviser who has agreed to supervise the student for the final three terms of enrollment; (2) a plan of study that identifies the political science courses that will be taken in those three terms; and (3) a one-page description of the proposed senior essay.

Seminar requirement  Students majoring in Political Science are required to take at least two seminars taught by members of the Political Science department, including at least one during the senior year. 

Credit/D/Fail  Students may count up to two lecture courses taken Credit/D/Fail toward the major, which will count as non-A grades for purposes of calculating Distinction in the Major . Seminars taken Credit/D/F will not count toward the major requirements, but will count as non-A grades for purposes of calculating Distinction in the Major .

Senior Requirement 

Seniors in the major must complete a senior essay. The essay can be written either in one term or over both terms of the senior year. In order to graduate from Yale College, a student majoring in Political Science must achieve a passing grade on the senior essay. The senior requirement for the standard B.A. degree program with an interdisciplinary concentration is the same as for the standard program, with the provision that the essay must be written on a subject that falls within the field of concentration.

Senior essay  The senior essay provides an appropriate intellectual culmination to the student's work in the major and in Yale College. The essay should ordinarily be written on a topic in an area in which the student has previously done coursework, and an effort should be made to demonstrate how the student's work relates to broader topics, issues, and approaches within the discipline of political science. It should rest on research that is appropriate to the subject matter, and should reflect an awareness of how the student's topic is connected to previous work within the discipline of political science. Essays are expected to be in the range of 25–30 double-spaced pages. At the beginning of the term in which the essay is written, students must have their senior essay topic approved by a faculty member who has agreed to advise them. Each student is expected to consult regularly with the seminar instructor or adviser and take the initiative in developing a plan of research, scheduling regular meetings, and submitting preliminary drafts for review.

One-term essays may be written either in a seminar or, with the approval of an adviser and the DUS, in PLSC 480 . More extensive information about the senior essay can be found on the department website .  

Yearlong senior essay  Students who wish to undertake a more extensive research project than is possible in a single term may fulfill the senior essay requirement by enrolling in the yearlong course sequence PLSC 490 and 491 . Both classes are offered in both terms, but must be taken in order. PLSC 490  also counts toward the senior seminar requirement. In the first term, students writing a yearlong senior essay develop a research prospectus for the essay and begin their research under the supervision of a member of the faculty who specializes in the area being investigated. In the second term, students complete the essay. Yearlong senior essays are expected to be substantially longer than a regular term paper. While there is no fixed length, they are normally at least fifty pages long.

Majors who wish to enroll in the yearlong senior essay must apply for admission in their junior year. By the appropriate date, students should submit to the office of the DUS: (1) the yearlong senior essay prospectus form signed by a faculty adviser who has agreed to supervise the student during both terms of the senior year; and (2) a one-page statement describing the research project. Due to space constraints in  PLSC 490 , it is expected that no more than fifteen students will be admitted each term.

Students graduating in spring 2026 and subsequent classes   have the option of choosing an honors track or a non-honors track. Senior essays of students seeking to fulfill the honors requirements may be either semester-long or year-long. Honors will be awarded to students who meet the standard for honors on their senior essay (as determined by a second reader appointed by the director of undergraduate studies) and who meet certain standards of achievement across graded coursework in the major as determined by the chair, the DUS, and the faculty. Senior essays of students not seeking to fulfill the honors requirements must be written within a seminar and will not be assigned to a second reader.

The DUS and other members of the department can provide advice about departmental requirements, options within the major, requirements of two majors, study abroad, and other matters related to the major. Majors must secure written approval of their course selections each term from the DUS. All subsequent changes in a student's major program must also be approved. Although advisers (beyond the DUS and the senior essay adviser) are not formally assigned, students are encouraged to seek advice from other department faculty members who are knowledgeable about their fields of interest. Information on faculty interests can be found on the  department website .

Combined B.A./M.A. degree program  Exceptionally able and well-prepared students may complete a course of study leading to the simultaneous award of the B.A. and M.A. degrees after eight terms of enrollment. See Academic Regulations, section L, Special Academic Arrangements , “Simultaneous Award of the Bachelor's and Master's Degrees.” Interested students should consult the DUS prior to the sixth term of enrollment for specific requirements in Political Science.

Study Abroad 

Students who study in a junior term abroad program or at another university during the summer may, with the approval of the DUS, count up to two courses toward the major. Students who study in a junior year abroad program may, with the approval of the DUS, count up to four courses toward the major. Students may also petition to have non-Yale courses that were not taught in political science departments count toward the major. Pending approval of the DUS, these courses will count toward the maximum number of substitutions.

SUMMARY OF MAJOR REQUIREMENTS

B.A. DEGREE, STANDARD PROGRAM

Prerequisites  None

Number of courses  Standard major— 12 term courses; intensive major— 15 term courses

Distribution of courses  2 intro courses; 2 core lectures; 2 seminars (1 in senior year); 1 course in methodology and formal theory subfield; 2 courses in each of any two subfields (excluding methodology and formal theory subfield)

Substitution permitted  2 courses from other depts with DUS approval

Senior requirement  1-term senior essay in sem or in  PLSC 480 ; or 2-term senior essay in PLSC 490 , 491

Intensive major  1 addtl elective;  PLSC 474  in spring term of junior year; 2-term senior essay in PLSC 490 , 493

B.A. DEGREE, INTERDISCIPLINARY CONCENTRATION

Number of courses  Standard major with interdisciplinary concentration— 12 term courses; intensive major with interdisciplinary concentration— 15 term courses

Distribution of courses  7 courses in concentration: 2 intro courses; 2 core lectures; 2 seminars (1 in senior year); 1 course in methodology and formal theory subfield; outside of concentration: 2 courses in each of any two subfields

Substitution permitted  3 courses from other depts with DUS approval (2 courses from other depts with DUS approval for intensive major)

Senior requirement  1-term senior essay in sem or in PLSC 480 ; or 2-term senior essay in PLSC 490 , 491 ; both options on subject within concentration

Intensive major  1 addtl elective;   PLSC 474  in spring term of junior year; 2-term senior essay in PLSC 490 , 493  on subject within concentration

Requirements for the Standard and Intensive majors

Standard major:   12 courses (12 credits), including the senior requirement

Intensive major: 15 courses (15 credits), including the senior requirement

• 2 introductory courses
• 2 core lectures
• 2 seminars (1 in senior year)
• 1 course in methodology and formal theory subfield
• 4 courses, 2 each of any two subfields (excluding methodology and formal theory subfield)

Standard major only:   1-term senior essay in sem or in PLSC 480 ; or 2-term senior essay in  PLSC 490 , 491

Intensive major only: 1 addtl elective;  PLSC 474  in the spring term of junior year and PLSC 490  and PLSC 493  during the senior year

Interdisciplinary Concentration

• 7 courses focused on area of concentration
• 4 courses in each of 2 subfields focused outside the area of concentration
• the senior requirement(s) should be focused on the area of concentration

Political science involves the study of politics from the local to the global level—politics within countries, politics among countries, and theories and philosophies of politics. Consistent with its expansive spirit of inquiry, the Political Science department offers courses touching on questions about power, conflict, ideas, representation, institutions, distribution, and identity. In their research, faculty members approach the study of political phenomena from multiple directions, using different methodologies suited to the kinds of questions asked. This pluralistic and interdisciplinary approach often creates overlap with fields such as anthropology, economics, history, philosophy, psychology, and sociology. The major offers a broad liberal education, but it also serves as great preparation for many careers, including those in public and international affairs, law, and business.

Political Science courses are organized into five subfields: comparative politics examines politics in one, several, or many countries; international relations explores politics among nations, including wars, international negotiations, and international institutions; American government encompasses politics at local, state, and federal levels; political philosophy involves the history of political ideas and theories of politics; and analytical political theory develops the statistical methods and formal logic used to formulate and test hypotheses about politics. Majors in Political Science gain experience in a wide range of areas by taking courses in three of the department’s five subfields. Although there is no specific course required for the major, the department offers introductory surveys of various subfields of the discipline (see below).

The programs in Global Affairs and in Ethics, Politics, and Economics have substantial overlap with Political Science. Many courses offered by these programs may count toward requirements of more than one of the three majors.

First-year students considering Political Science as a major may find it useful to take some introductory courses in the field. These courses provide a good orientation to issues explored at a deeper level in more advanced offerings, such as departmental seminars reserved mostly for majors.

• PLSC 111 , Introduction to International Relations
• PLSC 113 , Introduction to American Politics
• PLSC 114 , Introduction to Political Philosophy
• PLSC 116 , Comparative Politics: States, Regimes, and Conflict
• PLSC 118 , The Moral Foundations of Politics
• PLSC 119 , The Common Good 

For more information, visit the  undergraduate section  of the department website.

FACULTY OF THE DEPARTMENT OF POLITICAL SCIENCE

Professors  Bruce Ackerman, Akhil Amar, Seyla Benhabib ( Emeritus ), Paul Bracken, David Cameron ( Emeritus ), Benjamin Cashore, Bryan Garsten, Alan Gerber, Jacob Hacker, Oona Hathaway, Daniel HoSang, Gregory Huber, Isabela Mares, David Mayhew ( Emeritus ), Gerard Padro i Miquel, Doug Rae ( Emeritus ), John Roemer, Susan Rose-Ackerman ( Emeritus ), Frances McCall Rosenbluth, Bruce Russett ( Emeritus ), Kenneth Scheve, James Scott ( Emeritus ), Jasjeet Sekhon, Ian Shapiro, Stephen Skowronek, Steven Smith, Milan Svolik, Peter Swenson, Edward Tufte ( Emeritus ), Ebonya Washington, Steven Wilkinson, Elisabeth Wood

Associate Professors Peter Aronow, Katharine Baldwin, Sarah Bush, Ana De La O, Alexandre Debs, Hélène Landemore, Nuno Monteiro, Kelly Rader

Assistant Professors  Alexander Coppock, Allison Harris, John Henderson, Joshua Kalla, Sarah Khan, Christina Kinane, Egor Lazarev, Daniel Mattingly, Salma Mousa, Elizabeth Nugent, Giulia Oskian, Tyler Pratt, Didac Queralt, Lucia Rubinelli, Fredrik Sävje, Emily Sellars, Ian Turner

Senior Lecturers Boris Kapustin, Stephen Latham, David Simon

Lecturers  Elizabeth Acorn, Andrea Aldrich, Paris Aslanidis, Leanna Barlow, Scott Bokemper, Federico Brandmayr, Andrew Bridy, Greg Collins, John Dearborn, John DeStefano, Amir Fairdosi, Michael Fotos, Karen Goodrow, Thomas Graham, Maria Jose Hierro, Jane Karr, Robin Landis, Mordechai Levy-Eichel, Joanne Lipman, Nicholas Lotito, Itumeleng Makgetla, Renata Mustafina, Nilakshi Parndigamage, Tiago Peterlevitz, Joan Ricart-Huguet, Alexander Rosas, Vishvini Sakthivel, Walter Shapiro, Gordon Silverstein, Daniel Tavana, Bonnie Weir, Jacob Weisberg, Graeme Wood, Lauren Young

See visual roadmap of the requirements.

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Center for the Study of American Politics

American politics & public policy workshop.

The American Politics & Public Policy Workshop series is cosponsored by the Yale Center for the Study of American Politics (CSAP) and the Institution for Social and Policy Studies .  Each seminar features a presentation of current political science research by leading scholars in the field of American politics including distinguished faculty from other institutions, CSAP research fellows, ISPS Postdoctoral Associates, and Ph.D. candidates at Yale.

The workshop meets on most Wednesdays from 12:00-1:15 p.m. in Room A002 at ISPS, 77 Prospect Street. Lunch will be be provided. 

To receive regular announcements and invitations, please subscribe to the American Politics & Public Policy Workshop:

MEMBERS OF THE YALE COMMUNITY : PLEASE LINK HERE TO SUBSCRIBE WITH YOUR YALE NetID .

NON-YALE SCHOLARS : Please contact Pamela Greene to join the subscriber list to attend workshops with guest speakers.

Faculty organizers: Jacob Hacker , Stanley Resor Professor of Political Science; and Ian Turner , Assistant Professor of Political Science

Graduate Student Workshop Coordinator: Eric Scheuch , PhD Candidate in Political Science

Seminar Coordinator and Contact: Pamela Greene

Fall 2024 Schedule 

*Indicates workshops that are open to scholars outside of Yale.  Please contact Pamela Greene to be added to our guest scholars email list.  (Graduate student workshops are internal and open to current members of the Yale community only.)

Past Seminar Series:

• Four Graduate School alumni awarded 2024 Wilbur Cross Medals
• The Graduate School Dean's Office
• News & Announcements

2024 Yale Graduate School Wilbur Cross Medalists (L to R): James Scott (’67 PhD, Political Science), Anne Ferguson-Smith (’86 PhD, Biology), John Guillory (’79 PhD, English Language and Literature), and Kai Li (’86 PhD, Computer Science) 

Four alumni of the Yale Graduate School of Arts and Sciences (GSAS) will be honored with Wilbur Cross Medals in recognition of their exceptional scholarship, teaching, and public service. The awards are the highest honor the school bestows on alumni.

One of the medals, to longtime Yale professor James Scott (’67 PhD, Political Science), is being awarded posthumously. Scott, a pioneering social scientist who founded and was director of Yale’s Program in Agrarian Studies, died on July 19 but had learned before his death that he was being honored.

The other medal recipients are Anne Ferguson-Smith (’86 PhD, Biology) a renowned geneticist and the Arthur Balfour Professor of Genetics at the University of Cambridge; John Guillory (’79 PhD, English Language and Literature) a scholar of Renaissance literature and the Julius Silver Professor of English Emeritus at New York University; and Kai Li (’86 PhD, Computer Science) a groundbreaking computer scientist and the Paul M. Wythes ’55, P’86 and Marcia R. Wythes P’86 Professor at Princeton University.

Ferguson-Smith, Guillory, and Li will return to Yale for a series of campus events and to deliver public lectures. Nancy Lee Peluso, a professor in the University of California-Berkeley’s Graduate School in Society & Environment, and Ian Shapiro (’83 PhD, Political Science; ’87 JD), Sterling Professor of Political Science and Global Affairs at Yale, will deliver a lecture in honor of James Scott, whose life and contributions also will be celebrated at a gathering on October 7, 11 am-2:30 pm at the Yale Farm, 345 Edwards St. All are welcome; register at https://tinyurl.com/gatheringforjimscott .

The Wilbur Cross Medals celebrate the legacy of service and achievements of Wilbur Lucius Cross (1889 PhD, English Literature), who served as dean of the Graduate School from 1916 to 1930 and was Connecticut’s governor from 1930 to 1939. Awarded annually by the GSAS Alumni Association, the medals are presented for exceptional scholarship, public service, teaching, or academic administration. 

Short profiles of this year’s honorees follow, as well as the titles, times and locations of their lectures, which are free and open to the public.

Anne Ferguson-Smith is a developmental geneticist, genome biologist, and epigeneticist who is a world expert on mammalian development and genetic imprinting. She leads a research group of experimental and computational scientists whose work focuses on the epigenetic control of genome function, particularly the implications of epigenetic inheritance for health and disease. She also investigates how genetic and environmental factors influence development and health within and across generations. 

At the University of Cambridge, Ferguson-Smith has served as pro-vice-chancellor for research and international partnerships and as head of the Department of Genetics. She has been president of the UK Genetics Society since 2021, and in the same year was named executive chair of the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council. Her biomedical contributions have been recognized with election as a fellow of the Royal Society, from which she received the Buchanan Medal in 2021. In 2023 she was named Commander of the British Empire.

Ferguson-Smith’s lecture, “Epigenetic Inheritance - Models and Mechanisms,” will take place on October 7 at 4 pm in the O.C. Marsh Lecture Hall of the Yale Science Building, 260 Whitney Ave.

John Guillory has focused his work on Renaissance literature, the history of literary study, the history of rhetoric, and the early history of media studies, especially the work of I.A. Richards, Marshall McLuhan, and Walter Ong. He is the author of Poetic Authority: Spenser, Milton, and Literary History , Cultural Capital: The Problem of Literary Canon Formation , and the upcoming On Close Reading , which will be published next year by the University of Chicago Press, among other works. In addition, he has written numerous essays exploring issues of literary study and criticism, general education, and rhetoric, as well as such literary figures as Milton, Shakespeare, Marlowe, Bacon, and others. He is currently at work on a book entitled Freedom of Thought: Philosophy and Literature in the English Renaissance .

Guillory’s honors include the René Wellek Prize of the American Comparative Literature Association, the Francis Andrew March Award of the Association of Departments of English for Distinguished Service to the Profession of English Studies, and the Golden Dozen Teaching Award at New York University.

Guillory will speak on the topic “It’s not what you know, it’s who you know: On the Concept of Social Capital” on October 7 at 3:30 pm in Room L02 of the Humanities Quadrangle, 320 York St.

Kai Li has made significant contributions in several areas of computer systems. 

His dissertation pioneered a shared virtual memory system that allowed users to store shared data across a network of computers without physically shared memory. He also led the development of a user-level communication mechanism for such environments, a key idea that became the foundation to the industry standard Infiniband that is now deployed in most hyperscale data centers.

Li also led the development of data deduplication and cofounded Data Domain Inc., which revolutionized storage systems for efficient backup and disaster recovery. He was the co-principal investigator of ImageNet, which propelled deep learning to the forefront of machine learning and sparked what many call the “deep learning revolution.”

Li, who grew up in Chanchun, China, was one of the first group of students to come to the US from China for PhD studies after the Cultural Revolution. He is a fellow of the Association for Computing Machinery and the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers and is a member of the National Academy of Engineering.

Li will lecture on “The Transformative Power of Education: From Factory Floors in China to Academic and Entrepreneurial Success in the U.S." on October 7 at 3:30 pm in Rosenfeld Hall, 109 Grove Street.

James Scott was Sterling Professor Emeritus of Political Science and professor emeritus of anthropology at Yale, and held an appointment in environmental studies. He was a member of the faculty from 1976 until his retirement in 2021. Scott’s scholarship spanned multiple disciplines and subjects, focusing on such topics as peasant resistance, top-down state social planning, anarchism, state violence, and Southeast Asia studies. His 10 books include The Moral Economy of the Peasant , Seeing Like a State , The Art of Not Being Governed , Two Cheers for Anarchism , Against the Grain , and Weapons of the Weak: Everyday Forms of Peasant Resistance . His final book, In Praise of Floods: The Untamed River and the Life it Brings , will be published by Yale University Press in 2025.

Scott conducted fieldwork in Malaysia, Burma, Africa, and elsewhere. Toward the end of his life, he was especially interested in the revolution in Burma. He was founder of the Independent Journal of Burmese Scholarship. The interdisciplinary Program in Agrarian Studies, which he founded at Yale in 1991, has been emulated by institutions around the world.

“James C. Scott: In a Field of His Own,” is the title of the lecture that will be delivered by Peluso and Shapiro on October 7 at 4 pm in the auditorium of Henry R. Luce Hall, 34 Hillhouse Ave.

Peluso teaches in the Department of Environmental Studies, Policy and Management at Berkeley and is an affiliate professor in the school’s geography and anthropology departments. She has conducted research in Java and Kalimantan, Indonesia, for over 40 years. She co-edited the books The Social Lives of Land , New Frontiers of Land Control , Taking Southeast Asia to Market: Commodities, People and Nature in a Neoliberal Age , Violent Environments , and Borneo in Transition: People, Forests, Conservation, and Development . Her first book, Rich Forests, Poor People: Resource Control and Resistance , will be updated in Indonesian in 2025. Peluso is vice president of the Association of Asian Scholars and will serve as the organization’s president in 2025-2026.

Shapiro has written widely on democracy, justice, and the methods of social inquiry. His most recent books are Politics Against Domination , Responsible Parties: Saving Democracy from Itself (with Frances Rosenbluth), The Wolf at the Door: The Menace of Economic Insecurity and How to Fight It (with Michael Graetz), and Uncommon Sense . His current research concerns the relations between democracy and the distribution of income, wealth, and risk. He served as the Henry R. Luce Director of the MacMillan Center for International and Area Studies 2004-2019.

Written by Susan González

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Your Ph.D. experience has equipped you not only with specialized expertise in your discipline, but also with a strong transferable skill-set that may be applied to a range of careers. Take advantage of OCS resources to explore career options, develop professional skills and experiences and conduct a rewarding job search.

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Full-time clinical research coordinator opportunity at yale school of medicine.

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A full-time clinical research project coordinator opportunity is available at Yale University School of Medicine for projects related to stress, trauma, health behaviors such as alcohol intake, marijuana use, neuropsychiatric disorders and experimental research. Research involves investigating prevention and treatment …

Spend your Summer with biopharma company, Boehringer Ingelheim

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With summer internships across the US, BI offers a variety of opportunities that will allow you to grow and development many skills. Interns work on challenging assignments to enrich their programs of study. And through planned events, they are able …

Position at The Center for Autonomic and Peripheral Nerve Disorders in the Neurology Department at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center

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The Center for Autonomic and Peripheral Nerve Disorders in the Neurology Department at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center is looking for a new clinical research assistant/lab technician.

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Alumni Spotlights

Boris Albers (PhD ’08, Engineering & Applied Science)

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Alissa Ardito Ashcroft (PhD ’04, Political Science)

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• Assistant General Counsel Congressional Budget Office

Ellen Babby (PhD ’80, French Literature)

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• Independent Consultant Nonprofit Management

Ariel Bardi (PhD ’15, Comparative Literature)

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Anna Barry PhD ’98, Biophysical Chemistry

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• Venture Partner Deerfield Management

Anne Bauer (PhD ’08, Physics)

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• Lead Data Scientist The New York Times

Arjel Bautista (PhD ’10 Chemistry)

• Senior Director, ESG Performance and Reporting Bristol Myers Squibb

Lauren Bierbaum (PhD ’08, American Studies)

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• Senior Research Analyst CREDO, Stanford University

Peter Blodgett (PhD ’07, History)

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• H. Russell Smith Foundation Curator of Western American History Huntington Library

Nancy Brune (PhD ’06, Political Science)

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• Executive Director Kenny Guinn Center for Policy Priorities

Erin Burke (PhD ’17, Biological Anthropology)

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• Researcher Modern Fertility

Meisha Bynoe (PhD ’10, Microbiology)

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• Director of Customer Services & Business Operations Philips Healthcare Canada

CV to Resume Conversion

Transferable military traits, tips from a top tech recruiter: how to land a tech job with no experience, finding your perfect postdoc experience, transitioning from physics to data science, science policy career panel, vault career guides.

This is just a sampling of the many career and industry guides available through Vault/Firsthand, a resource free to Yale students and postdocs.

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Undergraduate Students : Use Yale email and netID sign-on for undergraduates

Other New Users : Use this URL to make a new …

Vault Consulting Firms (Europe, Middle East, Africa and Asia-Pacific regions)

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Rankings of Consulting Firms in the Europe, Middle East, and Africa (EMEA) and Asia-Pacific (APAC) regions. These rankings recognize the …

Vault Consulting 50 Ranking

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2024 Vault Consulting Top 50 North America and Best to Work For

Yale students and postdocs can access the entire  …

Vault Guide – Investment Management

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The  Vault Guides to Jobs  series provides essential information about key careers and industries, with an emphasis on preparing for …

Vault Guide – Wealth Management

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Vault Top 25 Rated Banks and Firms

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Best Banks to Work For | Top 25 Rated Banks and Firms (firsthand.co)   This list is compiled using a weighted formula …

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The First EHR-Based Machine-Learning Model for GI Bleeding

Listen to, "the first ehr-based machine learning model for gi bleeding".

Acute gastrointestinal (GI) bleeding is the most common GI diagnosis requiring hospitalization in the United States. Patients with acute GI bleeding either vomit up blood or have blood in their stool and must be evaluated in the hospital.

“When a patient arrives at the hospital with acute GI bleeding, physicians need to quickly figure out answers to three questions: Why is the patient bleeding? What supportive care can help them get through this episode of bleeding? How can I stop the bleeding long term?” said Dennis Shung, MD, PhD , assistant professor of medicine (digestive diseases, biomedical informatics and data science) and director of digital health (digestive diseases).

While all acute GI bleeding is abnormal, some patients are very low-risk and may not need to remain in the hospital. Current guidelines recommend physicians use clinical risk scores, like the Glasgow Blatchford Score (GBS) or the Oakland Score , to help determine which patients may need medical intervention, such as a blood transfusion or endoscopic procedure, and which patients may be safely discharged from the hospital.

“We don’t always know the location of the bleeding source,” said Loren Laine, MD , professor of medicine (digestive diseases) and chief of Yale Digestive Diseases. “Acute GI bleeding can stem from various causes, including ulcers, tumors, or inflammation anywhere throughout the GI tract. This limits the usefulness of the current clinical risk scores, which require the physician to know the location of the bleeding”.

Yale researchers are developing a machine-learning risk model that uses electronic health record (EHR) data to provide an initial patient assessment based on symptoms rather than where the bleeding is thought to be.

“Caring for patients in a hospital is complex and fast-paced. Physicians shouldn’t need to spend time punching in numbers that already exist within the EHR,” said Shung. “Our model extracts clinically relevant, structured data fields – like labs, medical history, medications, age, vital signs, and Glasgow Coma Scale scores – from the EHR to give a real-time risk assessment of each individual patient.”

In a new paper published in Gastroenterology , Shung, Laine, and colleagues evaluated the machine learning risk model against existing clinical risk scores to determine the most accurate approach. The study showed that the EHR-based machine learning model performs better than existing clinical risk scores and identifies more very low-risk patients who can safely leave the hospital.

“Many patients who are very low-risk do not want – or need – to remain in the hospital,” said Laine, co-senior author of the paper. “If we can quickly and more accurately identify very low-risk patients, we can reduce patient inconvenience and reduce health care costs – all without harm to the patient.”

The model outlined in the paper uses data fields from Epic, the most widely used EHR globally, which offers the potential for health systems across the world to tailor the data fields for their particular patient populations and unique needs.

The paper also found that while the machine learning algorithm performed better, both the GBS and Oakland scores performed well. Shung said this finding has led him and his team to consider designing a clinical decision support tool that shows the GBS score, Oakland score, and a machine learning score so that they can see three views on the patient.

“Machine learning systems are complex, and, at least for now, they may not have the trust that the other validated clinical risk scores do,” said Shung, who is the first author of the paper. “We don’t need to throw out the clinical risk scores, but we can build upon them and add new information to create better clinical decision support tools. This could be the future of risk stratification.”

Shung, alongside other Yale researchers, continues to investigate how doctors and medical students interact with artificial intelligence (AI) tools, including GutGPT , a generative AI that allows them to ask questions to treat hypothetical patients with GI bleeding.

“The lesson I take away from my research is that it’s not just about a technology and how it performs,” said Shung. “We’re human, and we all bring our own experiences to the human-computer interaction. We need to figure out how to integrate these advanced technologies into a human, complex care delivery system. It’s a socio-technical challenge. We're excited about exploring in all these different ways.”

“ Validation of an Electronic Health Record-Based Machine Learning Model Compared to Clinical Risk Scores for Gastrointestinal Bleeding ” was published in Gastroenterology . Other authors of the paper include Colleen Chan, PhD ; Kisung You, PhD; Neil S. Zheng, MD; Shinpei Nakamura; Theo Saarinen; Michael Simonov, MD , lecturer in biostatistics (health informatics); Darrick K. Li, MD, PhD , assistant clinical professor (digestive diseases); Cynthia Tsay, MD; Yuki Kawamura, MD, PhD , associate research scientist; Matthew Shen; Allen Hsiao, MD , professor of pediatrics (emergency medicine) and professor of emergency medicine; and Jasjeet Sekhon , Eugene Meyer Professor of Political Science and Professor of Statistics and Data Science (co-senior author).

Since forming one of the nation’s first sections of hepatology more than 75 years ago and then gastroenterology nearly 70 years ago, Yale School of Medicine’s Section of Digestive Diseases has had an enduring impact on research and clinical care in gastrointestinal and liver disorders. To learn more about their work, visit Internal Medicine: Digestive Diseases .

Featured in this article

• Dennis Shung, MD, MHS, PhD Assistant Professor of Medicine (Digestive Diseases); Director of Digital Health, Digestive Diseases
• Loren Laine, MD Professor of Medicine (Digestive Diseases); Chief, Section of Digestive Diseases, Internal Medicine; Chief, Section of Digestive Diseases; Medical Chief, Digestive Health, Yale New Haven Health
• Colleen Chan, PhD
• Darrick K. Li, MD, PhD
• Allen Hsiao, MD, FAAP, FAMIA Professor of Pediatrics (Emergency Medicine) and of Emergency Medicine; Chief Health Information Officer, Yale School of Medicine & Yale New Haven Health, Yale School of Medicine; Vice Chair of Clinical Systems, Biomedical Informatics & Data Science
• Jasjeet Sekhon Eugene Meyer Professor of Political Science and Professor of Statistics and Data Science

PhD, Political Science

Welcome to my website. I am a Provost's Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Pennsylvania for the 2023-2024 academic year. Starting Fall 2024, I will be an Assistant Professor in the Political Science department at SUNY Binghamton . My research focuses on race, identity, and behavior in American politics. My dissertation project, "The Politics of Asian-ness: Understanding the Importance of National Origin and Group Membership on the Political Representation" focuses on Asian American political behavior and examines the conditions and context in which the pan-Asian identity is politically unifying, despite great variation in national origin backgrounds. Through a series of studies, which employ methodologies ranging from experimental design to observational analysis, I find that national origin identity is often more important than the pan-ethnic identity, but pan-Asian identity can nonetheless be activated and made salient in political contexts. I received my PhD in Political Science from Yale University in 2023, where I was affiliated with the Institution for Social and Policy Studies and the Center for the Study of American Politics. I graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 2013 with a BA in Economics, Mathematics, and Theatre Arts, and from University College London (UCL) in 2014 with an MSc Economics. NOTE: This is an old, outdated version of my website. Find my new website here .

FAQ for Prospective Ph.D. Students

What is your department's philosophy, what graduate degrees does the department of political science offer, how long is your program, what are the requirements for the ph.d. degree, how is your placement record, where can i get more information on life at stanford, housing, financial aid or being an international student, can i complete the program via distance learning, online or on a part time basis.

• Can you tell me more about the JD/PhD program? How do I apply for it? How long does it take? How much does it cost? 

Can you provide any advice on applying for graduate school, how to prepare myself for graduate school or how to prepare and strengthen my application?

Financial support, what is the annual cost of attending your program, what type of financial support do you offer, do you offer support for the summer months, is there support available for field work, how do i apply to the knight-hennessy scholars program, what are your research areas.

• How can I find out if any of your faculty members does research in my area of interest?

Preparing for Admission

Am i required to secure an advisor before applying to your graduate program.

• Is Political Science a required major to apply to your graduate programs?
• Is a master's degree required for admissions?

Are applicants expected to have taken advanced coursework in mathematics and statistics?

If admitted, can i obtain credit for previous work.

• Can you provide some guidelines for preparation? How are applications evaluated? 

What are the admissions committee's expectations of prospective students?

Do you have a minimum gre score or gpa requirement, if admitted, may i defer my offer until a later year, application procedures, how do i apply, what is the application deadline, are applications reviewed and admissions decisions made on a rolling basis, how can i check the status of my application can you tell me if you received my application/transcripts/test scores/letters of recommendation, when will admission decisions be announced, when will the application for the 2025-26 academic year be available, can i apply for winter, spring, or summer quarter admission, what are the application requirements, do i need to submit a separate application for departmental fellowships or assistantships, what is a statement of purpose, can i submit a cv as part of my application, can i apply for an application fee waiver, can i update my application materials (cv, writing sample, statement of purpose or unofficial transcripts) after i submit my application.

• Does the 20-35 page writing sample page limit include the bibliography?

I am having technical problems with my online application. What do I do?

Gre and toefl, are gre scores required for the political science phd program, do i have to submit gre scores if i already have a master's degree, i sent my official gre or toefl scores but it still says they haven’t been received on my application status page. should i resend them.

• Will my application be reviewed if my official GRE/TOEFL scores arrive after the deadline?
• I asked ETS to send my GRE scores in a previous year. Do I need to resubmit my GRE scores?

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Can i list multiple sets of gre/toefl scores on my application , letters of recommendation, some of my letters of recommendation might arrive after the deadline. is this okay.

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Will you accept letters of recommendation mailed from Interfolio or my university's career center or letter service? Can my letter writers submit letters via email, mail, or fax?

I'd like to make changes to my letters of recommendation writers after i submitted my application or sent the letter of recommendation request. how can i do that, may i submit more than three letters of recommendation, and will they all be included in the review process, can you provide guidance on who i should ask for a letter of recommendation, do my recommenders need to wait for me to submit my application in order to submit their letters, do i need to wait for my recommenders to submit their letters in order to submit my application, transcripts.

• Do I need to send official transcripts at the time of application? 

Does Stanford want an updated transcript with my fall quarter/semester grades?

Do i need to list schools i attended for less than one year or on a part-time basis, i just started a graduate program and will not have any grades at the time i apply to stanford. do i need to upload a transcript, my transcripts are not in english. will you accept them, my school’s grading system does not use a 4-point scale. how do i enter my grade point average in the online application, international students, are there any special application requirements for international applicants, does my foreign degree qualify me for graduate study at stanford.

• Do I need to submit TOEFL scores?
• Am I exempt from submitting TOEFL scores?

Can I request a TOEFL waiver? 

My toefl scores are not recent. will you accept them , may i submit ielts scores instead of toefl scores, my school's grading system does not use a 1-4 scale. how do i enter my grade point average in the online application, as an international student, am i eligible for funding, i went to school outside of the united states. do i have to use certifile/chesicc/the collegenet document service to submit my official transcripts, can i contact the admissions committee to inquire about my preparation in advance of my application, should i contact stanford faculty to discuss my interest in the program, will i have a chance to talk to someone before i decide to accept an offer of admission, master's degree for doctoral students, can i get a master’s degree from the department of political science.

The Department of Political Science does not embrace any particular philosophy or approach to the study of political science. We offer courses and research opportunities in a wide variety of fields in the discipline (see  Research Areas  below). Our principal goal is the training of scholars. 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.

Our graduate 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.

We offer a PhD in Political Science. The Department does not offer a master’s degree for external applicants. Only students currently enrolled in a PhD or professional school program at Stanford University may apply for a Master of Arts (MA) in Political Science.

The Ph.D. program is designed to be completed in five years of full-time study. Actual time depends on students' progress, research and travel requirements, and fields of study. The minimum residence requirement for the Ph.D. degree is 135 units of completed coursework, which takes approximately four years.  The fifth year is typically spent writing the dissertation.

Requirements vary depending on which fields a student elects to study. The minimum residence requirement for the Ph.D. degree is 135 units of completed coursework, which takes approximately four years.  The fifth year is typically spent writing the dissertation. All students must complete five units of graduate instruction in Political Theory unless previously taken as an undergraduate, and take a two-quarter sequence in quantitative methods. A language might also be required if the student and advisor think it appropriate for dissertation research. Beginning in their second year, students serve as teaching assistants in undergraduate courses for a minimum of three quarters, but most will serve as many as five quarters.

Students are required to satisfy the Ph.D. comprehensive examination requirements in one field as well as take coursework and fulfill any additional requirements in a second and third field and write at least one research paper. Upon completion of these three requirements, the student is eligible to be recommended for Ph.D. candidacy. It is expected that students will attain candidacy by the end of the second year. In their third year, students are asked to submit a formal dissertation proposal for approval. Doctoral candidates form a Dissertation Reading Committee in the fourth year and take the University Oral Examination after they have made substantial progress on their dissertations. Students must finish all requirements and file a thesis to receive their Ph.D. degree.

See the  requirements page  for more details.

Most students who receive doctorates in the program do research and teach at colleges or universities. In recent years, they have obtained positions in political science departments at such institutions as the University of California at Berkeley, UCLA, Harvard, NYU, M.I.T., Princeton, Yale, Southern California, Virginia, and Wellesley. Others have positions in research organizations like RAND, and still others have positions in university administration and government. Click to see the  list of recent placements .

Visit the  Graduate Student Gateway .

No. The Ph.D. program requires students to be present on campus and in-person for each quarter enrolled. The Ph.D. program is a full-time program and may not be completed on a part time basis. 

Can you tell me more about the JD/PhD program? How do I apply for it? How long does it take? How much does it cost?

Information on the JD/PhD program is available  here . 

Please review the information on the ‘ Guide on Getting Into Grad School .’ We are not able to speculate on an applicant's chances of admission, or review application materials prior to application, or provide guidance on individual applications beyond what is provided on the Political Science department website and the Guide to Getting Into Grad School.

The costs of pursuing graduate study at Stanford depend on various factors, including student's housing preferences and family circumstances, among other factors. Information about financing graduate study and typical expenses for graduate students can be found through  Graduate Admissions.  Information about our financial support, which usually covers tuition and living expenses, follows below.

The Department intends that all graduate students (both domestic and international) should have adequate support to enable them to complete their studies while enrolled full-time.  The standard financial package offered to admitted students covers the full cost of tuition and an additional amount for living expenses . The latter amount comes in the form of a stipend during the first year and a combination of teaching and research assistantships during years 2-5.  The Department also provides students with annual funds for professional development and health insurance fees. The Department provides five years of support for Ph.D. students who are making sufficient progress towards degree.   Current information regarding tuition, fees, and living expenses .

Funded PhD students in good standing are eligible to receive 12 months of funding each year, for as long as five years.

In addition to providing the standard package described above, the Department will provide each student $1,500 in discretionary funds every year in year 1-5.  Most students use this money to fund professional development expenses, including language study, faculty guided research and field work. In addition, funded PhD students in good standing are eligible to receive 12 months of funding each year for as long as five years, which provides students with the possibility of conducting field work during the summer. It is also possible to use pre-doc fellowship funds to support field work during the later years of the program. There are also numerous opportunities to supplement the funding by the department with grants and stipends from university research centers, such as the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies , the Institute for Research in the Social Sciences (IRiSS), and the Stanford King Center on Global Development . 

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 .

The department offers teaching and research opportunities in  five major research areas : American Politics, Comparative Politics, International Relations, Political Methodology, and Political Theory. In addition, there are ample opportunities for graduate study in related departments at the university.

How can I find out if your faculty does research in my area of interest?

You can access more specific information about particular faculty members by going to the  faculty page.

No. It is not necessary or possible to secure an advisor before admission to the program. Offers of admission are made to the program, not to work with particular advisors. Applicants are encouraged to read the  Admissions FAQ  and contact politicalscience [at] stanford.edu (subject: Admissions%20Enquiries) (politicalscience[at]stanford[dot]edu) with any general admissions questions before contacting faculty.

Is Political Science a required major to apply to your graduate program?

No, the department does not require that prospective students be political science majors. On the other hand, the department does expect that prospective students have had sufficient exposure to the field for them to develop a clear statement of purpose for attending our graduate program. In addition, as part of the application materials, applicants are required to submit a written sample that will certainly justify students having previously studied political science.

Is a master’s degree required for admission?

No, a master’s degree is not required for admission, although roughly one-third of our applicants have completed a graduate degree prior to application to the PhD program.

No, students are not required to have taken advanced courses in quantitative methods as a prerequisite for admission. In fact, the department offers a four quarter sequence in quantitative methods that introduces first and second year students to methodological tools that they can later use in their chosen fields of study. This sequence does not assume that students have had prior exposure to statistics or advanced mathematics. In addition to the sequence, the department offers a math refresher course for three weeks prior to the start of classes in the fall for all students. Note, however, that there are certain areas of study (such as American politics and political behavior) that will require more training in quantitative methods beyond the first-year sequence. Opportunities to pursue advanced work in quantitative methods exist both within and outside the department (e.g., taking courses in the economics and statistics departments).

The Department rarely accepts the transfer of previous graduate work toward fulfilling pre-candidacy course requirements. However, students with previous graduate work may be able to count some of their previous course credits toward the university residency requirement, thus reducing the time required for the Ph.D. degree. The university may allow a maximum of 45 units for work done elsewhere in another graduate program. Transfer credit is subject to the approval of the Office of the University Registrar, and there is no guarantee that transfer credit will be awarded. Students cannot apply for transfer credit until they have completed at least one quarter of study at Stanford. 

Can you provide some guidelines for preparation? How are applications evaluated? 

Admission to our program is highly competitive. The selection of PhD students admitted to the Department of Political Science is based on an individualized, holistic review of each application, including (but not limited to) the applicant’s academic record, the letters of recommendation, the scores on the General GRE (Graduate Record Examination), the statement of purpose, and the writing sample. About 12-15 students, chosen from a large pool of applicants, enter the program every year. These students are chosen on the basis of a strong academic background as evidenced by previous study, test results, writing sample, and letters of recommendation. Although we have no official score requirement, admitted students typically have GRE scores of 166+ verbal, 163+ quantitative, and a score of 5.5 in the analytical section.  Admitted students typically have a GPA of at least 3.8 in their previous studies. Please be assured that the department reviews each application very carefully and makes decisions on an individual basis.

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.

Regrettably, we are not able to speculate on an applicant's chances of admission, or review application materials prior to application, or provide guidance on individual applications beyond what is provided on this website. 

Admission committees follow guidelines established by the university and the department to ensure a fair review of application materials and the selection of a high quality pool of incoming students. An  overview of graduate admission  and study at Stanford is available.

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.  

No, all applications will be considered. However, admission to our program is highly competitive. Admitted students typically have very high GRE scores (approximately 166+ verbal, 163+ quantitative, and a score of 5.5 in the Analytical section).  Admitted students typically have a GPA of at least 3.8 in their previous studies.

One year deferrals are granted only for serious and unforeseen circumstances that occur after the time of application. The one exception to that policy is that one year deferrals are allowed for students who will spend the next academic year at Stanford Law School as part of the Stanford joint JD/PhD program. Deferral requests to allow students to attend another university for a different degree program (such as a JD) are highly unlikely to be granted. Deferrals for longer than one academic year are not possible. Students should only apply during this admissions cycle if they intend to be at Stanford for the next academic year.

You must apply online via the  Graduate Admissions  web site. Note that online applications require the use of a credit card.

The deadline to apply for admission for the 2025-26 academic year is 11:59pm (Pacific time) on December 3, 2024. Regrettably, we are unable to accept  late applications.

No. We begin reviewing all applications after the application deadline and make all admissions decisions by the end of February. There is no advantage to applying early.

To check your application status, click the Visit Your Status Page button here . Due to the number of applications that we receive we cannot confirm receipt of any application documents or tell you if your application is complete. 

Letters of recommendation: Your Status Page will update automatically when letters of recommendation are received. Contact your recommendation writers (not the department) if you are missing letters of recommendation. Additional information about letters of recommendation is below in the Letter of Recommendation section of the FAQ's. 

Transcripts:  Official transcripts are not required at the time of application. If you are offered admission to Stanford and accept the offer, you will be required to submit official transcripts that show your degree conferral. Please do not send official transcripts with your application.  

All applications, even those marked as "awaiting materials," will be considered by the committee.  

Offers of admission will be made in late February. Admitted applicants will be invited to attend our Ph.D. Admit Visit to be held in early April.

September 15, 2024

No, students may only enter the program during the fall quarter.

A complete application consists of the following documentation:

• Stanford online application including  statement of purpose
• At least three  letters of recommendation
• Unofficial transcripts from each institution you attended for at least one year (Official transcripts are not required at the time of application. If you are offered admission to Stanford and accept the offer, you will be required to submit official transcripts that show your degree conferral.) 
• General  GRE and TOEFL scores  reported directly to Stanford (code 4704) - Learn more about these  test requirements .  GRE scores are required for the Fall 2024 admissions cycle.  We will accept results from the ETS home tests.
• Writing Sample : a recent scholarly or critical paper (20-35 pages, double-spaced). Applicants may submit two or three shorter samples if they do not have a long one. Writing samples must be written in English. 
• Application fee of $125. Information on Graduate Fee Waivers is available  here . 

Please refer to the  Office of Graduate Admissions Frequently Asked Questions  for additional information on the application process and requirements.

In general, no. In most cases, you will be considered for any available departmental funding awards when you apply for graduate study, and a separate application is not necessary. Note that in order to be considered for Knight-Hennessy Scholars , you must submit a separate application.

The Statement of Purpose should describe succinctly your reasons for applying to the proposed program at Stanford, your preparation for this field of study, research interests, future career plans, and other aspects of your background and interests which may aid the admissions committee in evaluating your aptitude and motivation for graduate study. The Statement of Purpose should not exceed two single spaced pages (this is approximately 1,000 words). Additional information on crafting your statement of purpose is available here . 

Yes, submitting a CV is required. Applications may upload a CV under "Experience" in the application. 

Fee waivers are available for some applicants. Please visit Graduate Admissions for information on applying for an  Application Fee Waiver . Please do not contact the Department to request a fee waiver as unfortunately, we are unable to grant them. 

Be sure to submit your fee waiver request at least 10 business days (two weeks) before the application deadline to ensure a timely decision.

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 .

Applying to the Knight-Hennessy Scholars is not required in order to be admitted to the Political Science PhD program or to receive a funding package from the department. 

You may update your application on your status page after submitting your application as follows:

• Recommenders, Test Scores and Contact Information (email, phone, address) may be updated anytime before or after the application deadline. However, after December 10 there is no guarantee the Admissions Committee will see the updates as they will have already begun reviewing applications.
• Statement of Purpose
• Writing Sample
• Unofficial transcripts
• The application system will allow you to update items in Additional Information anytime before or after the deadline.  However, after December 10 there is no guarantee the Admissions Committee will review the updates as they will have already begun reviewing applications. In addition, the Committee will still see the original versions of your documents if you submit new versions under Additional Information. 

Does the 20-35 page writing sample page limit include the table of contents, bibliography, and appendices?

No. The table of contents, bibliography, and appendices are not included in the 20-35 page writing sample.

Submit a request to Graduate Admissions (application login required).

Yes, GRE scores are required for all applicants. We are not able to grant waivers or make exceptions to the GRE requirement. We will accept test results from Educational Testing Service (ETS) home tests. If you are unable to take the GRE either at a testing center or via the at-home testing service by the application deadline, unfortunately you will need to wait until the next application cycle to apply. 

No other exams (including the LSAT or GMAT) are accepted in lieu of the GRE. 

Yes, all applicants must submit GRE scores, even if they have completed an advanced degree.

If you instructed ETS to send your test scores Stanford more than two weeks ago and your GRE or TOEFL scores are still shown as "Awaiting" on your Status Page, please  submit a help request  to Graduate Admissions. 

Important: it may take up to two weeks from the date you you asked ETS to send the scores for test scores to be "Received" on your Status Page.  Please do not request that ETS send scores again or contact Graduate Admissions to ask why your scores are listed as "Awaiting" if it has been less than two weeks since you submitted your application to Stanford. For example, if you sent your scores on December 1st, you can expect your test scores to appear as "Received" on your status page by December 15th.

If we haven't received official scores by the time the admissions committee begins review, we will consider your application with unofficial scores. This will not harm your chances of admission. We will, however, need to receive official scores from ETS before making an offer of admission.

Will my application be reviewed if my official GRE/TOEFL scores arrive after the deadline?

Yes. Any scores you self-report on the application are considered unofficial but sufficient for the initial review process. If we haven't received official scores for all sections by the time the admissions committee begins review, we will consider your application with the unofficial scores submitted in your online application. We will need to receive official scores for all sections of the GRE from ETS before making an official offer of admission. 

However, your unofficial GRE/TOEFL scores for all sections of the tests must be included in your application by the application deadline. This means that you must have taken the GRE/TOEFL prior to the application deadline. If you are unable to submit unofficial test scores for all sections of the test by the application deadline, we recommend that you wait to apply until the next application cycle.   

I asked ETS to send my GRE scores in a previous year. Do I need to resubmit my GRE scores?

If you had ETS send scores to Stanford prior to June 1, 2023 you will need to resubmit them.  

We follow ETS policies on score validity (five years for GRE scores, two years for TOEFL scores). Refer to Test Scores for the earliest test date Stanford considers to be valid for the current application cycle.

Yes. List all GRE tests you took within the past five years that you wish to be considered by the admission committee. Do not enter “superscores” (a single entry that includes your highest section scores from multiple test dates). The application system will automatically display to the admission committee the highest score you earned in each section as well as all reported scores.

Please ask your letter writers to upload their letters no later than December 10th. If you do not have three letters of recommendation by then, your file will still be passed to the faculty committee for consideration.  While recommenders may upload outstanding letters after December 10th, there's no guarantee they will be read as the committee will have already begun its work.  

One of my letter writers is having technical issues submitting their letters of recommendation. Who should they contact?

They should use the link in the recommendation request email they received when you registered them as a recommendation writer to request technical support.  Please do not instruct letter writers to contact the department for help with technical issues. Additional information for recommendation writers is available  here .  

No. As recommenders are required to respond to specific evaluation questions on the recommendation form, Interfolio is not compatible with the online system. Please ask your recommenders to submit their letters directly using the online application system. Please remember that letters written specifically for your Stanford graduate program tend to be stronger than letters written for general use purposes.

You may manage your recommenders on the same Recommendations page where you registered them. This includes sending reminder emails and changing recommenders. You continue to have access to this page after you submit your application.

To change one of your recommenders: on the Recommendations page of the application, click on the recommender’s name you wish to replace, then click Exclude at the bottom of the resulting popup window. You then will see the option to add a new recommender. The recommender you exclude will not receive an email notification.  

The department expects to see three letters of recommendation per application. Applicants may enter up to four recommenders and all letters of recommendation submitted by the December 10th deadline will be considered in the review process. However, there is no automatic advantage or disadvantage to submitting more than three letters of recommendation. Letters of recommendation will be evaluated solely on what they say about an applicant’s academic potential for graduate work, not on how many are submitted. 

Letters of recommendation should come from academic or professional references who know you well and are qualified to evaluate your potential for graduate study. It is strongly recommended that at least one of these letters be from a university professor familiar with your academic work. Please see here for additional information.  

No. Your recommenders may submit their letters before or after you submit your application.

Do I need to submit official transcripts at the time of application?  

No. Official transcripts are not required at the time of application. You must list and provide your unofficial transcript for every post-secondary institution where you were enrolled — or are currently enrolled — in an undergraduate or graduate degree program.

If you are offered admission to Stanford and accept the offer, you will be required to submit official transcripts that show your degree conferral.

No, this is not necessary. Applicants may upload updated transcripts via their Status Page until the application deadline. 

If you were enrolled in an undergraduate or graduate degree program at that school, then yes. If you are offered admission to Stanford and accept the offer, you will not be required to submit official transcripts for schools you attended for less than one academic year or on a part-time basis.

In lieu of a transcript, please upload a document that includes the courses that are in progress.  

Yes, as long as you must submit original language records with official English translations. We accept translations issued by the institution or a professional translating service. Translations must be literal and complete versions of the original records.  

You are asked to enter both GPA and GPA scale for each institution you list on the application. Enter your GPA as it appears on your transcript. Do not convert your GPA to a 4.0 scale if it's reported on a different scale.

Information for international applicants  is available from Graduate Admissions.

Stanford’s assessment of a post-secondary degree is based on the characteristics of a national educational system, the type of institution you attended, and the level of studies you completed. Refer to the Eligibility page to view the minimum level of study you should have achieved from a recognized academic institution to enroll in graduate study at Stanford. Contact  Stanford’s Office of Graduate Admissions  (not the Department of Political Science) with any further questions.

Test of English as a Foreign Language Internet-Based Test (TOEFL iBT) to be eligible for admission, unless you are exempt or successfully apply for a waiver (see below). 

Applicants must score at least 100 on the Internet-based TOEFL in order to be eligible for admission, though admitted applicants typically score at least 115. 

We accept the TOEFL iBT Home Edition and TOEFL iBT Paper Edition if you are unable to take the traditional TOEFL iBT test in a test center. If you take the Home Edition or Paper Edition, you may be required to complete additional English placement testing prior to enrollment.

Am I exempt from submitting TOEFL scores? 

You are automatically exempt from submitting a TOEFL score if you meet one the following criteria:

     A. You (will) have a bachelor’s, master’s, or doctoral degree from a regionally- accredited college or university in the United States (territories and possessions excluded).

     B. You (will) have an equivalent degree from an English-language university in Australia, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand, Singapore, and the United Kingdom.

If you are offered admission, the official transcript must be received showing conferral of the degree from the qualifying institution or TOEFL exam scores will be required to enroll. 

You may request a TOEFL waiver in the online application if you (will) have a bachelor’s, master’s, or doctoral degree from a recognized institution in a country other than Australia, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand, Singapore, and the United Kingdom in which English was the language of instruction.

• You will be asked to provide the URL for the page on your institution's official website stating the language of instruction.
• If your institution offers instruction in languages other than English, you must upload an official statement from your institution certifying that your program was taught exclusively in English.

Your waiver request will be routed to Graduate Admissions after you submit your application. Allow up to 15 business days after submitting your application for a response. This will not delay the receipt of your application by your graduate program.

Please note that the department of Political Science does not evaluate TOEFL waiver requests. Direct all questions to Stanford's Office of Graduate Admissions. 

For the current application cycle, TOEFL scores from tests taken on or after September 1, 2023 are valid.  

No. We do not accept TOEFL Essentials scores or any other English proficiency test (e.g., IELTS, PTE) or coursework in lieu of the TOEFL. 

Yes, both international and domestic students receive the same funding package from the department. See  here for further information .

No, the use of these services is encouraged but not required. See here for more information on submitting transcripts.

No, the admissions committee is not available for consultation. We are not able to speculate on an applicant's chances of admission, or review application materials prior to application, or provide guidance on individual applications beyond what is provided on this website. 

Applicants may try to contact faculty before applying to discuss their interest in the PhD program, though it is not required nor expected. It is not necessary or possible to secure an advisor before admission to the program. Applicants are admitted to the program, not to work with particular faculty. Applicants are encouraged to read the  Admissions FAQ  and contact  politicalscience [at] stanford.edu (politicalscience[at]stanford[dot]edu)  with any admissions questions prior to contacting faculty.

Yes. The department invites admitted students to campus for a visit in April. This event is an excellent opportunity to talk to faculty and students about specific concerns or questions a prospective student may have.

The Department does not offer a master’s degree for external applicants. Applicants interested in a master’s degree should look into the  Ford Dorsey Masters in International Policy . Current doctoral students from within the Stanford Political Science department or in another Stanford University department may apply for a Master of Arts in Political Science during the course of their Ph.D. program. Master's candidates must take 45 units of course work, and 25 of those units must be in graduate seminars. There is no examination or thesis requirement.

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Welcome to our PhD Program in Political Science!

For students interested in graduate study in political science, we provide excellent opportunities for you to succeed at Ohio State. Our location in Columbus offers exciting extra-departmental opportunities as a major research university in one of the thirty largest metropolitan areas in the country. In 2021, U.S. News and World Report ranked the department 17th overall in the country, 12th in International Relations, 11th in American Politics, 20th in Comparative Politics, and 13th in Political Methodology.

Our distinguished and diverse faculty are strongly committed to working closely with graduate students. We combine traditional disciplinary major fields and innovative departmental specializations along with providing students with the most up-to-date training in theory and methods. 

You will have the opportunity to join a highly competitive, supportive community of students, who typically receive full financial support to pursue their degrees. Most students receive a five-year funding package that pays a stipend, tuition and fees, and health care. 

Fields of Study and Departmental Specialization

For most students, arriving at a course of study will involve the selection of two focus fields and a course-out minor from either one of the focus fields, a graduate interdisciplinary specialization, or a graduate minor. 

Focus Fields of Study

American Politics ( Ranked 11th in the nation in 2021) Comparative Politics  ( Ranked 20th in the nation in 2021) International Relations ( Ranked 12th in the nation in 2021) Political Methodology ( Ranked 13th in the nation in 2021) Political Theory

In addition, students may choose one or more departmental specializations. More individualized programs emphasizing either breadth or depth may be developed in consultation with an academic advisor.

Departmental Specializations

Political Psychology Formal Theory Political Economy Race, Ethnicity, and Gender

"I was attracted by Ohio State’s graduate program in political science because of its commitment to supporting graduate student research. The department’s outstanding faculty have guided me throughout the challenging process of selecting a dissertation topic, gathering preliminary evidence, spending months abroad collecting data, and finally writing my Ph.D. thesis. I am particularly grateful for exceptional financial support that allowed me to travel across Africa in search of the best available evidence for answering my research questions. " - Vladimir Chlouba, Ph.D. Candidate

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Master of Public Health (MPH) Degree

How is the mph curriculum structured.

• 20 course units (two years)
• The MPH core curriculum
• The 2-part Professional Skills Seminar
• Departmental courses
• Electives and/or concentrations and tracks
• The applied practice experience
• Master's thesis or capstone course

What does the MPH Core Curriculum consist of?

The core curriculum for the MPH program consists of 5 courses and two Professional Skills Seminars. Our foundational classes in biostatistics, epidemiology, social and structural determinants of health inequities, and health policy and health care systems ground students with the breadth of skill sets and perspectives essential to careers in public health. "Major Health Threats" is an interdisciplinary course that uses a combination of lectures, case studies, and vignette approaches. Students learn to actively apply concepts, hone data interpretation skills, and frame research and health solution projects.

• EPH 505a - Biostatistics in Public Health (not required for BIS)
• EPH 507a - Social Justice and Health Equity
• EPH 508a - Foundations of Epidemiology and Public Health
• EPH 510a - Health Policy and Health Care Systems
• EPH 513b - Major Health Threats: Ethics and Practice -----------
• EPH 100a - Professional Skills Seminar
• EPH 101b - Professional Skills Seminar

Departments and Programs

Health care management program, health policy, social and behavioral sciences, concentrations and tracks.

The following concentrations and tracks are available for students to customize their elective courses in the MPH program. They are 3-5 courses each and are added once students have begun the MPH program. Concentrations offer the opportunity for students to direct their applied practice experiences, whereas tracks are exclusively course based.

Global Health Concentration

Here at YSPH, we believe that Global Health is Public Health. This means that it is not just a one department of study but rather an important theme that is woven throughout the program. Students in any department may also participate in the Global Health Concentration . YSPH GHC faculty is on the front lines of global health responses.

Maternal Child Health Promotion Track

The Maternal and Child Health (MCH) Promotion track is a cutting-edge promotion-education program that takes a multidisciplinary approach to implementing evidence-based practices to improve outcomes. The MCH Promotion Track faculty trains students on the importance and application of implementation science to maternal-child health promotion.

YSPH Public Health Modeling (PHM) faculty is on the cutting edge of developing and assessing public health through mathematical modeling. Students in any department may also pursue the modeling concentration .

U.S. Health and Justice Concentration

Vast, persistent, and avoidable health inequalities by race, geography, class, gender identity, and sexual orientation are well documented. YSPH USHJ faculty realize that addressing these inequalities is both a critical challenge and a critical objective for public health researchers and practitioners. This U.S. Health and Justice (USHJ) Concentration is for students who want to not only research and understand health inequities but to be agents of change for a new generation.

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