OVERVIEW
School
of Arts & Sciences
The Graduate Program
The Department of Political Science offers the degrees of Master of Arts
and Doctor of Philosophy. However, the MA degree functions primarily as
a stepping stone to the PhD. The department does not have a distinct MA
program, and does not, except under very unusual circumstances, admit
students for graduate study who seek a terminal Master of Arts degree.
However, PhD students who, for various reasons, choose to discontinue
their training after two years are eligible for a terminal MA, contingent
upon the successful completion of the requirements outlined below.
The graduate program in political science incorporates six fields:
Students choose three of these fields as areas of concentration. The
first field must be one of the following: American Politics, Comparative
Politics, World Politics, Normative Political Theory. Students may combine
work for the MA and PhD degrees with a program of regional specialization
leading to a certificate in Latin
American studies, Asian studies,
West European studies, or Russian
and East European studies.
Admissions
Applicants for admission must submit transcripts of all college-level
work, three letters of recommendation, a career statement, and scores
on the verbal, quantitative, and writing assessment-analytical sections
of the Graduate Record Examination. International applicants whose first
language is not English are required to submit either the TOEFL administered
by the Educational Testing Service with a minimum score of 550 (paper-based
test)/213 (computer-based test)/ 80 (new internet based test or iBT) or
the IELTS administered by the University of Cambridge, Local Examinations
Syndicate with a minimum score of 6.5 (taking the academic writing and
reading modules).
For admission and awards consideration, complete applications must be
submitted by January 15. The department admits students only for the fall
term.
Financial Assistance
Graduate students entering the program with a fellowship or teaching
assistantship/teaching fellowship who have demonstrated high-quality graduate
work and are maintaining good academic progress can expect to have financial
aid renewed for up to three years. If they have successfully passed the
PhD comprehensive examinations at the outset of the fourth year, additional
financial aid from the department will be contingent upon a yearly review
indicating that they are making substantial progress toward completing
the dissertation. A graduate student who has not passed the PhD comprehensive
examinations in September of the fourth year of graduate work ordinarily
is not eligible for additional financial assistance until these examinations
are passed.
Requirements for the MA
For the MA, students must earn 30 hours of credit with a B average or
better in courses numbered 1000 or above. At least half of these credits
must be carried in courses numbered 2000 or above. All MA students are
required to complete a 9-credit core-course sequence in theory and methods
(PS 2020, 2030, and 2040), comprising graduate-level training in empirical
analysis of political behavior and normative political thought. The remainder
of the students’ MA course work is used to develop competence in
one of the four main fields of political science offered by the department.
Unless otherwise noted below, students must complete at least four graduate
seminars in their first field prior to the PhD qualifying exam.
Students whose first field is American politics must take the core course
in American politics (PS 2200). Those students who select world politics
as their first field must complete a minimum of six courses, including
“Theories of International Relations” (PS 2501), two courses
each in two areas of concentration (international organization and global
governance (IO), international political economy (IPE), and international
conflict and security (ICS)) and a sixth course in any area of concentration
within world politics.
Students must then pass a comprehensive examination, for MA purposes,
covering one of the four general fields: World Politics, American Politics,
Comparative Politics, or Normative Political Theory (beyond the core course
sequence).
Requirements for the PhD
Credit Requirement: A minimum of 72 credit
hours, including the master’s degree, earned from any suitable combination
of formal course work, independent study, research, teaching, or dissertation
work as detailed elsewhere in this bulletin.
Students in the PhD program must choose three fields, one of which must
be from the four main fields: American politics, comparative politics,
world politics, and normative theory. The requirements for the first field
are outlined above in the section regarding requirements for the MA. Unless
otherwise stated below, students are required to complete at least four
graduate seminars from one of the remaining five fields of study for their
second field, and three courses from one of the remaining four fields
of study beyond the departmental core (PS 2020, 2030, and 2040) for their
third field.
Students who select American politics as their second field must complete
the core course in American politics (PS 2200). Students who select world
politics as their second field must complete a minimum of four courses
in world politics, including PS 2501, two courses in one area of concentration
within world politics and one course in another area of world politics.
Students for whom world politics is a third field must complete a minimum
of three courses including PS 2501.
PhD Qualifying Examinations: The MA comprehensive
exam also serves as the PhD qualifying exam for those students who wish
to pursue graduate work at the PhD level. Students admitted to the graduate
program with MA degrees from other institutions must take the MA comprehensive/PhD
qualifying exam, usually within their first year of study at the University
of Pittsburgh.
Supervised Teaching Experience: Supervised
teaching experience is an integral part of the doctoral program. Normally,
teaching experience is gained first by conducting recitation sections
of an introductory course or by assisting a faculty member in an undergraduate
course, followed by the teaching of one’s own course, in the 4th
or 5th year of study.
Comprehensive Examination: Students take a
PhD comprehensive examination after approximately one year of coursework
beyond the MA, comprising a research paper in their first field, a written
exam in their second field, and an oral exam in both fields. Students
are not required to take an exam in their third field of study.
Dissertation Overview: Following successful
completion of the comprehensive examination, the student files an application
for admission to candidacy for the Doctor of Philosophy degree. At this
stage the student presents a proposed topic for doctoral research and
a research design for its execution to be reviewed by the dissertation
committee.
Dissertation Defense: The final oral examination
in defense of the doctoral dissertation is conducted by the doctoral committee
and is open to the University community.
Graduate
Course Listings
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