Political science doctoral program

Requirements M. Degree Ph. Program Ph. Students must complete no less than 24 hours of dissertation credit As soon as possible after satisfying the requirements for candidacy, each student should submit three copies of a dissertation prospectus to the department chairperson, who will establish a dissertation committee of five faculty members, with at least three from the Department of Political Science and at least one from another department. The prospectus should contain the same information as an MA thesis prospectus see above.

The department chairperson will decide whether to approve the prospectus, on the recommendation of the dissertation committee. Once the prospectus has been approved, the student may begin work on the dissertation itself, under the supervision of his or her dissertation committee.

When finished, the student must take a final oral examination to defend the dissertation and demonstrate competence in the field in which it lies.

The examination, conducted by the dissertation committee, must ordinarily be held during the fall or spring semester. As work on the dissertation project progresses, students register for dissertation credit in order to maintain active status. They take Doctoral Continuing Enrollment GOVT during the third year of study if they have a master's degree or the fourth year of study if they have a bachelor's degree and Doctoral Dissertation GOVT after their dissertation proposal is approved.

A minimum grade point average of 3. Full-time status is considered to be nine credit hours per semester. Students are expected to complete the degree within four years for those entering with a master's degree and within five years for those entering with a bachelor's degree alone. Students advance to PhD candidacy by successfully completing all required courses, passing the oral qualifier and two written comprehensive exams one in each of their fields of study , and defending their dissertation proposals.

To earn the degree, students must pass a final oral defense of the dissertation. More information about course requirements can be found here. Applicants are considered and students admitted for the fall semester only. Please refer to the application deadlines page for the deadline to apply. To prepare for these examinations, you should take at least three courses in each of the two fields, including the field seminar. As a rule, the doctoral thesis requires at least one year of original research and data collection.

Writing the dissertation usually takes a substantially longer time. The thesis process includes a first and second colloquium and an oral defense. Consult the MIT academic calendar to learn the due date for final submission of your defended, signed thesis.

Graduate Program. Pushing the Scholarly Frontier. PhD in Political Science Our doctoral students are advancing political science as a discipline.

Requirements 1.