Graduate Program
All information regarding our Ph.D. program is available on our website. Feel free to view the pages listed to the left and if you decide to apply please look at the "Application Instructions" page for a checklist of everything required to complete your application. The Department of Political Science does not mail application materials to prospective applicants.Diversity and International Students
The Department is committed to increasing the social diversity of its graduate students and faculty. While women currently make up a substantial fraction of each entering class, we are anxious to further expand the representation of women in our applicant pool. We also strongly encourage applications from members of historically disadvantaged minority groups. Fellowships to assist minority applicants, as well as those from any background that might have made educational achievement more difficult, are available.
Our graduate students have come from around the world. We believe that the presence of international students enhances our graduate program. If you are an international student, you must be sure to follow the special admissions procedures described below. While it is important to us to attract students from many lands, international students must realize that the demanding workload in the doctoral program means that it is imperative to be fluent in English before arriving. International students must also demonstrate the financial resources to support their studies at the University.
Life After Graduate School
Our former graduate students have taken up a variety of jobs-one even became Secretary of Defense. But the majority of our graduate students go on to become professors themselves. We work hard to assist our graduate students in finding the best possible jobs. Recent graduates now teach at MIT, Harvard, Colorado, Indiana, Texas, Barnard, Vassar, Clemson, American, Smith, and Williams, among many others.
What kind of job you get after graduation depends on both what kind of career you want and on how you prepare yourself for that career during graduate school. As a top department, our faculty are deeply involved in research, producing new knowledge as well as teaching. Naturally, many of our graduates seek a similar career. A significant portion of our students, however, choose to devote themselves primarily to teaching. Many of these graduates have found positions at some of the most prestigious liberal arts colleges in the country. The Wisconsin department welcomes students with both of these career goals.
In the current job market how well you do depends critically on how well you develop your professional abilities while in graduate school. This means doing well in classes, but it is even more important that you become an active member of the profession while completing your graduate studies. This may mean presenting papers at conferences or publishing articles while working on your thesis. It also means that you learn what the profession is about, and what subjects represent the exciting intellectual challenges of your subfield, long before you land your first job. This is a department that will actively assist you in reaching these goals. We provide financial assistance to grad students who are participating in professional conferences, and help them find support either internally or from external sources to obtain funds for data or travel expenses that are essential to their original research. In short, we have a variety of resources to draw on in preparing students for the market, and make every effort to gear the graduate program toward that eventual goal.
With Wisconsin's reputation for scholarship, the strength of its faculty supporting you, and a lot of hard work on your part, you will maximize your chances of landing the kind of job you want.