Why phd in political science

Students also select 12 hours in the disciplinary scope of political science. The student completes 18 credit hours in a subfield of political science and, within that subfield, an area of specialization. Six one-semester courses 18 credit hours provide a common core of training for Ph. The courses provide an indispensable framework of research methods, policy processes and institutions.

Ordinarily, the student completes this portion of the curriculum in the first four semesters of full-time study. Each student will develop an individual program for achieving appropriate competence in their areas of specialization, for example in economics, foreign languages and other advanced analytic skills. The student, in consultation with his or her advisor, constructs the remaining part of the curriculum around individual interests and career goals. One part of the curriculum introduces the student to the breadth of the political science discipline.

This part of the curriculum requires a survey of diverse areas of political inquiry. To achieve this goal, the student selects four additional courses 12 credit hours that survey important subfields of political study. In most cases the student will select from the following list. Other courses may be used to satisfy this survey requirement if approved by the students advisor and the Director of Graduate Studies.

Note that students with a Masters degree in political science from another institution may meet a part of this requirement by transferring courses, subject to approval by the Director of Graduate Studies and the students Advisor. The student completes 6 courses 18 credit hours in a subfield of political science and, within that subfield, an area of concentration.

This list is not inclusive. Students should consult their advisor and the Director of Graduate Studies for additional options tailored to individual career goals. Students may need to acquire knowledge and skills more commonly taught by faculty in another discipline such as Economics, Public Administration, Criminal Justice, Gerontology, Sociology, History, or the sciences. These students should develop a suitable program in that discipline in consultation with the appropriate faculty and with the approval of the Director of Graduate Studies.

The Department has explicit agreements for transferring credit to the Ph. Students must pass the qualifying written examinations in three areas: methodology, institutions and policy processes and subfield specialization, accompanied by the subfield oral examination. E-mail professors in Ph. Detail, at length, your plans to change the world in your personal statement. What admissions committees are looking for are signs of emotional and intellectual maturity matched with an ambition to do first-rate research.

They are not looking for "and then I realized" epiphanies about how getting a Ph. Side note : if you are the survivor of an ethnic cleansing, hey, go to town in your statement.

Put all your application eggs into one basket. Apply to good programs, not just to work with one person. Individual professors move, retire, pass away, go on sabbatical, or drink too much and hit on students and make things veeeeery awkward in the aftermath. Diversify your portfolio and make sure you apply to programs with a deep bench in your area of interest. Get celebrity professors to write you letters of recommendation. I get this instinct, and done well it can work — a glowing letter from, say, Madeleine Albright or Zbigniew Brzezinski that indicates deep knowledge about you can be a game-changer.

That will hurt you. Take on debt. Talk up your blog or Twitter feed as an example of research. Daniel W. He blogged regularly for Foreign Policy from to Twitter: dandrezner.

Shusha was the key to the recent war between Azerbaijan and Armenia. Now Baku wants to turn the fabled fortress town into a resort. Drezner So you want to get into a political science Ph. Despite all of the warnings being proffered about By Daniel W. The Political Science doctorate is awarded after this three-year period and after the viva. Sciences Po QS Ranking Programme objectives The political science doctoral programme is designed to provide: A complete international level training course in all of the areas relevant to political science ; A research methodology in the social sciences including classes in qualitative and quantitative analysis; A personalised supervision process within the Doctoral school and in the research centres , by an internationally recognised and involved academic staff.

Careers The political science programme trains academics and researchers for careers in France and abroad, as well as high-level professionals for all levels of politics: public politics, opinion survey analysts, territorial administrations, journalism, political consulting, diplomacy, foreign diplomatic academies, specialists in specific cultural areas, etc.

Support from research centres The political science doctoral programme receives the support of Sciences Po's three biggest laboratories who also take in doctoral students: The Centre de Recherches Politiques de Sciences Po CEVIPOF : It covers three main fields: political behavior, political sociology and political theory.

Quantitative and qualitative methodologies are used at different levels of observation: local, national and European. The Center for International Studies CERI : this centre works on social sciences on an international level by combining a number of different approaches: international relations, comparative political sociology, the political economy, political anthropology.

The researchers at the CERI produce work that is anchored in the field, where they speak the language and know the territory. It covers political issues by emphasising the link between policy and politics and by investing in the question of methods.

Students must choose a section that corresponds to one of the three main sub-categories in political science studies : Comparative politics International Relations Political Behaviour New!