Graduate Program

The principal goal of the Stanford graduate program in political science is the training of scholars. 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, Colorado College, Harvard, Houston, M.I.T., Princeton, Yale, Southern California, Virginia, and Wellesley. Some graduates joined the faculty at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis and the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. Still others have positions in research organizations like the RAND Corporation, or in univeristy administration, government, nonprofit and consulting. Please consult our placement history to see more detailed information.

Admission to the graduate program in political science is highly selective. About twelve to fifteen students, chosen from a large pool of applicants, enter the program each year. Thus the total number in residence, at all levels of study, generally does not exceed eighty. The small size of the graduate student body permits 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.

The typical graduate course is a small seminar that analyzes critically the literature of a field or focuses on a research problem. These courses prepare students for the Ph.D. comprehensive requirements within a two-year period and for work on the doctoral dissertation . Each student, in consultation with his or her advisor and the Director of Graduate Studies, decides what constitutes the best preparation in each of the fields chosen to fulfill the Ph.D. requirements. This arrangement allows students to adapt a course of study to their needs and interests while assuring broad exposure to the discipline. The major fields of political science for purposes of satisfying the Ph.D. are American Politics, Comparative Politics, International Relations, Political Methodology, Political Institutions , and Political Theory. Students in our program also have access to courses and seminars in other Social Science departments on campus. In addition, the Stanford Graduate Business School, through its Political Economics group, offers relevant courses in formal theory and American politics.

Next: Graduate Program Requirements

For questions about the graduate program that are not covered in these pages, please contact Linda Bostwick at lbost@stanford.edu.