Graduate school

PhD, predoc, MPP, MPA and MA: what each degree is, what to do each year of college, and the programs that help you get there.

Inside the New York State Capitol in Albany

Which degree?

Pick one. The details, the year-by-year path and the programs below all switch to it. Not sure? Take the quiz.

What a PhD is

Original research and teaching. A PhD prepares you to be a professor, or to do research at think tanks, in government and in tech. Political science PhD programs pay you.

Length: 5–6 years
Who pays: The school: tuition plus a stipend. 2026–27: Princeton $52,680, Duke $43,775, CUNY Graduate Center $31,141
Pick it if: You want answering questions with data or theory to be your career
Apply: Fall of senior year or later. Most deadlines fall Dec 1–17; Columbia's is Nov 25. See Applying

A political science PhD can also lead to data science.

PhD students train in statistics, causal inference, survey design and coding, and some go straight into industry. Michigan's placement records include a research scientist on Meta's demography and survey science team, a director of data science at Civiqs and a lead data scientist at Cox Automotive. MIT's include a data scientist at NORC. Choosing methodology as a minor field keeps that door open.

A master's is not required for a PhD.

Most political science PhD students are admitted straight from a BA or after a paid research job. A paid year or two first is normal; the standard route is a predoc, a full-time research assistant job.

Where to look.

predoc.org is the main job board; filter by political economy or public policy. Listings go stale, so confirm on the lab's own page. For a pay benchmark, Stanford's SIEPR economics predoc posted $64,260 a year.

PhDs beyond political science

CUNY Graduate Center

Doctoral programs across the social sciences

Anthropology, Criminal Justice, Economics, Educational Psychology, Political Science, Psychology, Sociology, Linguistics and Urban Education. The GC also offers an M.S. in Quantitative Methods in the Social Sciences and a Demography Certificate.

NYU PhD in Statistics and Computational Social Science

NYU Steinhardt · due Dec 1

Combines statistics, computation and social science on problems in public health, education and criminal justice. Graduates go into academia, nonprofits, government and industry.

Michigan PhD in Information

School of Information · due Dec 1 · no GRE

Computational social science is one of its research areas, and some of its faculty also work with Michigan's Center for Political Studies. Funded with tuition, a stipend and health insurance for 12 months a year.

Find your subfield

You don't have to be a "methods person" to get a political science PhD. You apply to study one subfield, only some subfields are math-heavy, and most programs teach statistics from the start.

The five core subfields

Mixedoften quantitative

American politics

Also called American government and politics

U.S. institutions such as Congress, the presidency and the courts, plus elections, public opinion and political behavior.

Look for: No special prerequisites are listed. Expect statistics: Harvard's math prefresher notes it is hard to take American politics courses without meeting statistical or game-theoretic models

Mixedqualitative and quantitative

Comparative politics

Compares politics across countries and regions: democracy, development, civil war, institutions and identity.

Look for: A foreign language and knowledge of a region. Rutgers tests majors in the language they need, and Michigan advises starting languages before graduate school
Research: Berkeley PhD students usually spend at least a year doing fieldwork

Mixeddepends on approach

International relations

Also called international relations and world politics

War and security, trade, international law and organizations, and why countries cooperate or fight.

Look for: Methods vary: historical, statistical and game-theoretic work all appear. No IR-specific prerequisites are listed

Lightlittle math

Political theory

Also called political thought, or normative political theory and philosophy

Ideas of justice, legitimacy, democracy and power, read through the history of political thought and contemporary philosophy.

Look for: Reading in philosophy, history or classics, and often a foreign language: UVA requires one for theory majors
Methods: Duke's methods requirements don't apply to theory students, Harvard lets them skip its methods course, and Berkeley weighs math less for theory applicants

Heavyreal math

Methodology and formal theory

Also called research methods, quantitative methodology, or formal and quantitative analysis

Methodologists build the statistical and research-design tools other political scientists use. Formal theorists use game-theory models of strategic choices.

Look for: Math and statistics. Duke's methodology field expects competency in both, and Michigan asks methods majors for math coursework
Tip: Many students take methods as a minor next to a substantive subfield

You don't have to arrive methods-heavy

Math camps. Harvard, Stanford, Michigan, Princeton and UC San Diego run summer math courses for incoming PhD students. At Harvard, almost every first-year student takes it.
Methods from scratch. Stanford says you don't need advanced quantitative courses to be admitted, and its first-year sequence assumes no background in statistics or advanced math.
Language or methods. At the CUNY Graduate Center, UCLA, Yale and Columbia, a research-tools requirement can be met with a foreign language or with methods courses.
Your topic can change. Michigan notes that students often change focus once coursework starts. The statement of purpose is not a contract.

Be honest with yourself about math.

Quantitative skills still count. Most top programs require the GRE again, and Stanford reports admitted students typically score 163 or higher on the quantitative section. Stanford also requires two methods courses of every PhD student. Taking PSCI 200 and an intro statistics course, such as PSYCH 107 or DATA 205, helps whichever subfield you choose.

Other fields at some schools

Some departments add fields beyond the core five. Check whether a field can be your main field or only a minor.

Public policy. CUNY Graduate Center (Public Policy, with areas like health, education, housing and urban development), UC Berkeley (Public Policy & Organization), UT Austin, Texas A&M (Public Policy / Public Administration), Syracuse (public administration and policy) and Michigan (a student-designed Public Policy and Administration minor).
Law and courts. Princeton and Rutgers (Public Law), Michigan (Law, Courts, and Politics), UC Berkeley (Public Law & Jurisprudence), Washington and UT Austin, which also has a combined JD/PhD.
Race, ethnicity and gender. UCLA (Race, Ethnicity & Politics), Rutgers (Women and Politics), UC Berkeley, Washington and Ohio State (Race, Ethnicity, and Gender).
Political psychology and behavior. Stony Brook, Ohio State and Minnesota (as a minor).
Political economy and formal theory. Rochester (formal political theory; every student takes it or methodology), Yale, NYU and UChicago, which runs a separate Political Economy PhD with its public policy school. Expect heavy math.
Organized by theme. Duke has no American, comparative or international relations fields. Its six fields are Political Behavior & Identities, Political Institutions, Political Economy, Security, Peace & Conflict, Political Methodology, and Normative Political Theory & Philosophy.

What a predoc is

A predoc is a full-time, paid research job with a professor or research center, usually for one or two years before a PhD. You clean data, run analyses and see how research gets made. Economics departments hire the most predocs, but political science, sociology and public policy centers hire them too, and you don't need to major in economics.

Length: 1–2 years, usually starting in July
Pay: Posted salaries run about $59,500 to $69,300 a year (Stanford GSB, the Stanford King Center, SIEPR and MIT); Stanford IRiSS pays $32.45 an hour
Any major: Yale ISPS "very strongly encourage[s]" applicants who didn't major in political science, Opportunity Insights says applicants "need not be Economics majors," and the Stanford King Center welcomes "all disciplines"
When to apply: The fall of senior year. Many economics predocs close between August and October (in 2026: Opportunity Insights Oct 1, SIEPR Oct 8, Stanford GSB Oct 16; Yale's Tobin Center opens its rolling application Oct 5). Political science ones, such as Yale ISPS and Stanford IRiSS, hire on a rolling basis or in spring
Where to look: predoc.org, filtered by field, and the research centers in the list below

What postings ask for

Twelve official predoc postings from September 2026, across economics, political science and public policy, ask for much the same things. Here is how often each came up, and how to build it at Queens College.

What they ask for	How often	At Queens College	When
Stata, R or Python	12 of 12 name Stata or R; 10 also name Python	R is taught in DATA 205, DATA 306 and DATA 333, and in Professor Earl Asberry's section of PSCI 200; check the syllabus, since it can vary by instructor. CSCI 111 is intro programming, with no prerequisite. Practice free with R for Data Science or LinkedIn Learning	Start with your first statistics or methods course, then use it every semester
Statistics and regression	8 of 12 name a statistics, econometrics or math background	Intro statistics: PSYCH 107, DATA 205 or ECON 249. Regression: ECON 382 (Introduction to Econometrics) or DATA 306 (Data Analysis and Modeling)	Intro statistics freshman spring or sophomore year; regression junior year
Math	4 of 12 mention math; predoc.org recommends calculus and linear algebra for economics	Calculus after MATH 122 (Precalculus): MATH 131 for the social sciences, or MATH 141 or MATH 151. MATH 231 (Linear Algebra I) and MATH 241 (probability) for economics predocs	Calculus freshman or sophomore year; linear algebra sophomore or junior year
Research experience	7 of 12 require or prefer it	Research assistant work with a professor, a summer research program, or the Honors in the Social Sciences thesis	Sophomore year on
A writing sample	10 of 12 (7 require it, 3 make it optional)	An empirical paper from a writing-intensive seminar such as PSCI 381W, DATA 334 (Applied Research), ECON 390 (Research Methods in Economics) or your honors thesis. See below	Finished by the end of the summer before senior year
A code sample or data task	7 of 12	One clean, commented script from a class project or research job	Junior year on
CV and transcript	CV 12 of 12; transcript 11 of 12	See the sample CV	Keep both current
References	10 of 12 ask for names; only Stanford GSB wants letters up front	Two or three professors who know your research	Ask early in senior fall

None of the twelve set a minimum GPA, but several ask for it, and SIEPR looks for "high grades in quantitative courses." One catch for economics: MATH 231 requires MATH 141 or MATH 151, not the social-science calculus (MATH 131), and ECON 202 (intermediate microeconomics) requires MATH 131 or the equivalent. If you might apply to economics predocs, choose the MATH 141 or MATH 151 track.

Consider an economics minor.

Most predocs are in economics, and economics coursework helps you qualify. That doesn't mean you have to do an economics PhD: a predoc is strong research training in general, and some are in finance and behavioral research. Stanford GSB's Research Fellows, for example, work across finance, organizational behavior and political economics. See the economics minor.

The writing sample

Have an empirical paper finished by the summer before your senior year. It doesn't have to be long: 12 to 15 pages is appropriate. Several postings ask for an excerpt of about 5 pages, so know which section you would send.

What makes it empirical. A clear question, real data, a method (at least a regression), results in tables or figures, and an honest section on limitations.
Where it can come from. A paper for a writing-intensive seminar, DATA 334, ECON 390 or a chapter of your honors thesis. Ask the professor to read a draft.
Data you can use. ICPSR (Queens College is a member), the American National Election Studies, the Cooperative Election Study, IPUMS census and survey data, and NYC Open Data.
Write it yourself. A Harvard Kennedy School posting asked for a single-authored sample, and MIT Blueprint Labs says code samples must be "no more than 50% AI-assisted." Use AI as a proofreader at most (see Statements, help and AI).
Keep a code sample too. Seven of the twelve postings ask for a code sample or a data task. Keep the R, Stata or Python script behind your paper clean and commented.

Programs to apply to

The next deadlines for this degree.

All programs

Guides for graduate school

Start here: graduate schoolGround rules for funded programs, and the first things to do
Talk to your professorsOffice hours, and an email you can copy
Methods and skillsStatistics, R and the courses that teach them
Pair your majorMinors and second majors that open doors
Recommendation lettersHow to ask, with a sample email
Statements, help and AIWho reads your statement, and where AI fits
Applying to PhD programsFees, waivers, the GRE and the rest of the file
PhD visit programsFunded campus visits; apply the summer before senior year
Sample résumé and CVCopy the structure, not the content
Scholarships and fundingQC's own application, national awards and study abroad
Journalism, nonprofits and governmentPaid internships and fellowships outside graduate school
Building a networkProfessors, the career center and NYC events