Political Science Ph.D.

jmleadpipe
Fri, 24 Oct 2008 21:39:42 +0000

I’m not a PhD student but I’ve been walked through the admissions process several times as an undergrad before finally deciding that it wasn’t for me. I’ll try and answer a few of your questions:

1) Depends what field. Political economy or development will probably demand a higher level of coursework in economics but if you’re planning on doing a degree in Political Theory (which I’m guessing you aren’t) or focusing on American politics, chances are you will only be expected to have a familiarity with macroeconomics and microeconomics. It’s worth noting that one of the only true “hot” areas of hiring in Political Science right now is in more quant heavy areas such as statistical modeling and the like (which is why Rochester has been placing very well in academia) and these fields are very quant heavy.

2) In short, yes. If you’re applying for a PhD related to political economy, for instance, and have no coursework in politics besides intr to macro and micro where you achieved marks of C minus, this will hurt you. Admissions look at your grades relating to your specialty first, than your poli sci grades overall and then your elective grades though no one really cares much about these as long as you weren’t flunking out of “Intro to Geography.”

3) I doubt it. If you take some classes in areas that can relate to political science such as economics and statistics and do well, admissions might be impressed but they mostly care about excellence in your specialty.