Graduate Program Overview
A general overview of the Ph.D. program and requirements can be found in the UCI General Catalogue. On this page, you will find information on general questions about applying to our program, including financial assistance questions, as well as additional information on our primary and secondary fields.
Secondary Fields:
Graduate Program Admissions Information
How to Apply
All applicants for the PhD programs must apply online using the UCI Online Application for Graduate Admissions. If you have questions with the application system, please submit your inquiry on this contact form.
Application Deadlines
Applications open each year in the first week of October and are due December 1 for a program starting the following fall quarter.
Most students who are admitted will be informed by late February although some decisions are delayed into March or later.
Admission Requirements
The following items are required as part of the graduate application and all required components must be submitted electronically, through the online UCI Graduate Application portal. For detailed information on each item, please visit here.
- Online application (includes Statement of Purpose and Personal History)
- Application Fee
- GRE official score
- TOEFL or IELTS official score (if applicable)
- Letters of Recommendation (minimum required: 3, maximum accepted: 5)
- Transcripts
- Supplemental Materials
- CV or Resume (optional)
- Writing Sample
May be single-spaced; an excerpt from a longer piece is fine; 20 pages is the maximum length
If you have further questions, please visit our FAQ page.
Costs and Financial Support
View the University of California's current published fee and tuition rates. United States citizens and permanent residents who relocate to California from other states may apply for legal residency here, following one year of continuous residence. The required “procedures of intent” are outlined here.
All applications for PhD admission are considered also for financial support, and all admission offers to Political Science currently include six years of funding. Applicants are not required to apply separately for admission and financial support. Our competitive, merit-based funding packages include:
- Academic year fees;
- comprehensive student health insurance;
- a combination of TA or Graduate Student Researcher (GSR) appointment with individual members of faculty, and fellowship quarters in lieu of employment.
All offers to non-residents of California include non-resident tuition for the first year of study for US citizens and permanent residents, and for the first three years for international students (conditional on satisfactory progress). Financial assistance based on need (loans, primarily) is available to qualifying student applicants, through UCI Financial Aid & Scholarships.
Application Questions & Answers
How important are GPA and GRE scores?
Lower than average scores do not necessarily decrease your chances of being admitted. The admissions committee looks at all aspects of a student’s record—not just grades and scores but also your research goals, experience, and a whole host of considerations. Your statement of purpose and letters of recommendation are thus very important.
Do I need an undergraduate degree in political science or international relations in order to be admitted to the Ph.D. program?
No, many students we admit each year did their undergraduate work in other fields, including Economics, History, Mathematics, Psychology, and Women’s Studies.
Do you require an M.A. degree for admission to the Ph.D. program? Do most of your students have further education beyond the B.A.?
We do not require that students have an M.A. degree before entering the Ph.D. program. Many of our students come right out of undergraduate programs, but perhaps a third to one-half will have already earned master's degrees at other universities.
I have an M.A. degree already. Can I transfer some of these credits to your program?
The department allows students who have an M.A. degree to transfer up to three courses for credit. Students may also waive out of the quantitative methods requirement by transferring in two graduate classes or three undergraduate statistics classes. Final decision on transfer credits will be made only after you have been admitted to the program.
Do you offer an M.A. in political science?
Students may earn an M.A. degree on the way to earning the Ph.D., but we do not admit students who intend to complete their studies with an M.A.
Can I enroll part time in the Ph.D. program? Can I take classes during the evening to fulfill your degree requirements?
No, the Ph.D. program requires a full-time commitment to classes prior to advancement to Ph.D. candidacy (generally at the end of the student's third year in the Ph.D. program). Most of our graduate classes are offered during the work day.
Is an interview required for admission?
No. However, if you are given an offer of admission, you will be invited to a "Visiting Day" before you will need to make your decision on whether to enroll. This visit gives you a chance to familiarize yourself with the campus and program.
What should go into the academic statement of purpose? The personal history statement?
The academic statement of purpose should explain why you are applying to the political science graduate program at UCI and what you hope to accomplish as part of your graduate program. Often about 1000 words is sufficient for a thorough but concise statement. Some topics you may address include your academic background and interests (including prior research you have done), the research topic(s) (or broader areas) which interest you, how these interests fit with the faculty and research at UCI, other particular reason(s) for applying to this program, your long and short-term academic or professional career goals, and why earning a doctoral degree advances these goals. You might also address your academic and personal strengths and successes, as well as any barriers you may have had to overcome. And you may include anything else from your personal, family, or academic history that assists the admissions committee in understanding your plans and interests or that explains something in your record.
The personal history statement is optional, though highly recommended (required for those applying for a fee waiver) and provides an opportunity to expand upon the applicant's personal and family history as it relates to doctoral study. If you prefer, you may submit a statement which combines both the academic statement of purpose and the personal history statement, an especially useful option if you have already written such a statement.
Why is the English language proficiency threshold for admission to the School of Social Sciences different (higher) than the threshold for admission to UCI?
UCI recognizes two levels of English proficiency: A lower level that is required for admission to any doctoral program and a higher level that is required for working as a Teaching Assistant (TA). Because all doctoral students in Social Sciences work as TAs, we require all students to meet the higher standard. Students can show their proficiency by meeting any one of the following criteria:
- TOEFL iBT: Overall score of 80 or higher; score of 26 or better on the speaking section. (Scores are good for two years.)
- IELTS: Overall score of 7 or better; no section below 6; score of 8 or better on the speaking section. (Scores are good for two years.)
- TOEP: Score of 5 or better. (Scores are good for as long as a student is enrolled at UCI.)
- Having earned an undergraduate degree from an institution at which English was the sole language of instruction according to the World Higher Education Database within the past five years.
What is the code for UCI’s Department of Political Science?
UC Irvine’s Institution Code is 4859. The department code for Political Science is 1902 for the GRE and 89 for the TOEFL.
The six year funding packages mention teaching assistant, research assistant, and fellowship support, but what is guaranteed?
The particular mix will vary for different students and by year, but in most cases the basic funding package guarantees fellowship support for one year and teaching assistant support for each quarter for five years. This support includes stipend, health insurance, and tuition and most fees.
Your teaching assistant duties may vary from quarter to quarter, and may include holding discussion sections and/or office hours, grading papers, and other duties assigned by the professor. TAs are expected to work 220 hours over the 11-week quarter, which averages 20 hours per week. Currently first year students are relieved of TA duties, allowing for an eased transition into graduate school.
RA appointments are made directly by faculty with research grants. Generally, faculty make these to students who they advise or who they have trained or worked with in the past. As a result, relatively few RA appointments are made to first year students.
Are there other UCI funding sources for incoming students?
The Graduate Division offers recruitment fellowships for incoming students. See HERE for a description. The Department nominates students for these awards, based upon the information students include in their applications. These are highly competitive across the entire campus.
What additional financial support is available to enrolled students at UCI?
The Department makes funds available for summer stipends, on a competitive basis and conditional on good progress. Students remaining on campus may also have the opportunity to serve as teaching assistants or graders during summer session. Once students advance to Ph.D. candidacy, graduate students are eligible to teach summer session courses as instructors, on a competitive basis. The School of Social Sciences and the department provide funding to offset costs for travel to conferences.
In addition, many of our students have received grants and awards from other units in the school or on campus. For instance, our students have received grants from the Center for the Study of Democracy, The Center for Global Peace and Security, The Center for Asian Studies, the Center for the Scientific Study of Ethics and Morality, the Center for Citizen Peacebuilding, and others.
The Graduate Division also advertises ongoing funding opportunities and is the best place to check for information and updates.
Where do I go for more information?
For academic questions, we encourage prospective students to contact the Graduate Admissions Director, Professor Robert Uriu at rmuriu@uci.edu or visit the Social Sciences Graduate Studies website.
More information about the University, the admissions process, financial aid, and more, can be found on the “Prospective Student” page on the Office of Graduate Studies website, at UCI Graduate Division.
Primary Fields
American Politics
Our American Politics subfield includes leading scholars studying governing institutions like the presidency and Congress, political behavior like voting and participation, as well as vital questions related to race and ethnicity, gender, public opinion, and media. Unifying these different subjects is a shared commitment to studying American politics in ways that are theoretically insightful, empirically rigorous, and substantively important. Graduate training begins by guiding students through studies in institutions and behavior, complemented by various substantive foci and methodological tools before students delve into their specific research questions.
Faculty members include:
Michael Tesler
Field Coordinator
Comparative Politics
Comparative Politics is the study of similarities and differences of political institutions, identities, systems, and organized interests within and across countries around the world. At UCI, our comparativists cover a range of countries and regions, including Eastern and Western Europe, Africa, South/Southeast Asia, China, and the US in comparative perspective. Across this breadth of coverage, the subfield has overlapping strengths in several substantive areas including citizenship and migration, political economy, ethnic politics, and political violence. Students routinely attend conferences, publish with faculty, and are encouraged to spend time abroad doing research.
Faculty include:
Samantha Vortherms
Field Coordinator
International Relations
International relations explores how global, regional, and domestic factors influence the interactions between states and other actors in an international context. The interests and expertise of the International Relations faculty in the department cover a broad range of methodological approaches and substantive interests, including international organizations, global governance, security, markets, finance, and religion. Several faculty are affiliated with UCI’s Center for Global Peace and Conflict Studies (CGPACS), a multi-disciplinary program that promotes scholarly, student, and public understanding of international conflict and cooperation.
Faculty include:
Erin Lockwood
Field Coordinator
Political Theory
The political theory faculty are a diverse group who share an interest in the most fundamental questions of political thought. Strongly committed to intellectual and theoretical diversity, the program aims to bridge divisions between the various paradigms and traditions of political theory, between the history of political thought and contemporary political theory, and between theoretical and empirical forms of inquiry.
The program has particular strengths in contemporary European political theory, democratic theory, critical theory and poststructuralism, multiculturalism, diversity, and identity, colonialism and imperialism, and the philosophical and methodological foundations of political inquiry.
It maintains close connections with the internationally known Critical Theory Institute, its graduate curricular partner - the Critical Theory Emphasis, the system-wide UC Humanities Research Institute, Interdisciplinary Center for the Scientific Study of Ethics and Morality, and the Center in Law, Society, and Culture.
Faculty include:
Keith Topper
Field Coordinator
Secondary Research Fields
Doctoral students need to complete 3-5 courses to fulfill the requirements of a secondary field. Students typically choose to complete one of the major subfields as a secondary field, but students can also assemble their own secondary field out of our department’s research strengths. Some include:
Race, Ethnicity & Politics
UCI's Department of Political Science is a national leader in research, graduate training
and undergraduate teaching in the field of race, ethnicity, and politics. With leading
scholars of Black politics, Asian Americans politics, and U.S. Latino politics, this
group uses a rich variety of methodological approaches to provide key insights into
the heart of understanding American democracy, democratic backsliding, political participation,
and immigrant political incorporation. REP scholars include Jordie Davies, Louis DeSipio,
Claire Kim, Davin Phoenix, and Michael Tesler.
Critical Theory
Anchored by the activities of the internationally known Critical Theory Institute,
UCI routinely ranks first or second in this field. The Critical Theory Emphasis (CTE)
is an officially recognized, interdisciplinary concentration open to students in any
PhD program on the UC Irvine campus. Political Science students who are admitted to
the CTE and complete all of its requirements may count it as their second field for
the Political Science PhD. Students seeking to do so should apply for admission to
the Emphasis as soon as possible. They may also seek the advice of Political Science
faculty who participate in the program, including Kevin Olson and Keith Topper. Please
see the UC Irvine General Catalogue for current requirements. Application instructions and annual course offerings can be found on the CTE website. This is the only secondary field that requires a separate application.
Citizenship & Immigration
UCI has amassed a large cohort of scholars who examine the causes, consequences, politics,
and normative implications of citizenship. Our political scientists employ a range
of theoretical and methodological approaches, including normative and ethical considerations
(Mary McThomas), and bring substantial regional expertise, including the United States
and Western Europe (Sara Goodman) to South Asia (Kamal Sadiq) and China (Samantha
Vortherms). Complementary to these questions of inclusion and exclusion are the politics
of ethnic identity (Jeff Kopstein, Constantine Manda). Graduate students have the
unique experience to receive research training and participation in data collection
in our National Science Foundation-supported projects, including the Citizenship Lab.
Political Economy
Political economy examines the relationship between the economy, society, and political
interests. At UCI, the department has several scholars that study these intersections
in both developed and developing contexts, taking theoretical and empirical approaches
to subjects that range from individual behavior and financial institutions to global
markets and supply chains. PE scholars combine a variety of methods, including formal
theory, quantitative methods, and interpretivist methods. Our faculty study both domestic
(Marek Kaminski, Constantine Manda, Pamela Nwakanma, Samantha Vortherms) and international
(Erin Lockwood, Etel Solingen) institutions. Cross-listings with the Economics Department
bring additional depth to this area of speciality.
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