Doctor of Philosophy in Political Science

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Program Link:
https://pppa.wsu.edu/graduate/graduate-degrees/
Total Graduate Faculty in Program:
21
Graduate Students in Program:
29
Students Receiving Assistantships:
18
Priority Deadlines:

  • Fall January 10

Campus:

  • Pullman

International Student English Proficiency Exams

International students may need to surpass the Graduate School’s minimum English language proficiency exam scores for this program. If the graduate program has unique score requirements, they will be detailed below. Otherwise, please refer to the Graduate School’s minimum score guidelines.

  • 575 TOEFL Minimum score
  • 90 TOEFLI Minimum score

Degree Description:

Twenty one faculty members teach and conduct research in the major subfields of the discipline: American, comparative, international relations, public policy and administration, political theory, and political methodology, with sub-specializations in public law, political communication, political psychology, French and European politics, American foreign policy, gender and politics, environmental policy, and qualitative methodology.

Admission Requirements:

A writing sample.

Student Opportunities:

Our Ph.D. is designed to give students substantive flexibility in mapping out their program of study.  Students choose from one major foundational training area within which they will focus for their preliminary exams:

  • Institutions and Processes
  • Behavior and Psychology
  • Theory and Philosophy

Students also choose a specialization field:

  • American Politics
  • Global Politics
  • Public Policy/Public Administration

The foundational training area allows students flexibility in structuring their course loads  to take advantage of the areas of particular strength within our department, such as political psychology, global justice and security studies, philosophy, and gender, while building critical skills in research and methodology.

Career Opportunities:

Academic career at research university or teaching college, research thinktanks, non-profit organizations, corporations, and governmental careers.

Career Placements:

Academic jobs at various Research I universities, as well as ones at smaller liberal arts colleges.
Government analytic and policy making jobs (defense and intelligence community).
Work for profit and non-profit organizations.

Contact Information: