For the M.A. Degree
In order to qualify for the Master of Arts degree, students must meet the following requirements.
Residence requirement:
In addition to registering for individual courses, students in the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences are required to register for Residence at the University. In all Ph.D. programs and most M.A. programs, this is typically done by registering for Residence Units during the academic year, which provide the basis for tuition charges.
Two Residence Units are required for the free-standing Master of Arts degree.
Consult the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences Bulletin for further detail on residence requirements.
Course requirements:
Students in the MAO program (within one academic year) must take a minimum of six (6) political science courses for Examination credit (for a letter grade), including:
- two colloquia or seminars (8000- or 9000-level courses);
- two courses, normally in one of the four subfields of political science (i.e., American politics, comparative politics, international relations, and political theory);
- two additional courses, normally in a second subfield of political science.
All six courses must be taken for a letter grade. One of the two sets of courses in the non-colloquium section of the requirement must be completed with an average grade of B+ or better.
Research tool requirement:
For the M.A. degree, the department requires command of one research tool, selected from the following list:
- a reading knowledge of a foreign language, demonstrated by successfully passing the proficiency exam offered by most language department, or by placing out of the 4th year on the placement exam offered in a few departments (e.g., East Asian languages);
- an approved two-course sequence in quantitative analysis with an average grade of B or better;
- an approved two-course sequence in formal modeling with an average grade of B or better;
- a comparable level of proficiency in a comparable research tool, approved in writing by the MAO Program Advisor or DGS upon recommendation of the student’s advisor.
Two-course sequences that fulfill the “Research Tool” requirements are:
Quantitative Analysis:
- W4910 and W4911
- W4910 and W4912
- W4910 and W4209
- W4912 and W4291
Formal modeling:
For students in the MAO program, the following sequence will also fulfill the research tool requirement:
Languages used to fulfill the requirement are to be chosen in consultation with the adviser from among those encompassing a significant literature in political science, including French, Spanish, German, Russian, Chinese, Japanese, Arabic, and Italian. Certain other languages necessary for the student’s research interests may, upon approval by the student’s advisor and the MAO Program Advisor or DGS, be offered as a foreign language. English may not be offered as a foreign language.
