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Political Science Rankings: Indicate Your Priorities

Listed below are characteristics that capture some of the ways that graduate programs differ from one another. Tell us which characteristics are important to you, and we will rank programs based on your priorities.

→ Search Political Science master's and doctoral programs by location, specialty, tuition, and more.

Tell us how important the items below are to you.

You can leave items blank if they are not relevant to you.
The scale ranges from 1 (slightly important) to 5 (extremely important).
Items with importance of 0 will be displayed but will not affect your ranking.
For some items (e.g., number of students) you can indicate that you prefer larger or smaller values.

Clear all priorities

Indicate the items most important to you. You may leave items blank.

Educational Quality and Outcomes

	Time to Degree: The time required to earn a doctorate is short. ? A short time to degree can mean lower expenses for you and less time away from employment.
	Placement Rate: At graduation, most doctorate recipients have either a job or a postdoctoral position. ? High placement rates may mean that a department does a good job of helping students find jobs or that its graduates are perceived as more employable.
	Postdoc Placement: The percentage of doctorate recipients with definite postgraduation plans who have a postdoctoral position is ? Postdoctoral positions are typically one- to three-year positions in which a recent doctorate recipient obtains additional training in preparation for independent research. Postdoctoral positions pay modest stipends.
	Education Placement: The percentage of doctorate recipients with definite postgraduation plans who have a (nonpostdoctoral) position at an educational institution is ? If your ultimate goal is to obtain a position at an educational institution, you might want to consider a program whose graduates find such employment.
	Educational Effectiveness: Faculty at other institutions perceive the program to be effective in educating researchers. ? In 1993, the National Research Council asked faculty members to rate the educational effectiveness of doctoral programs at other universities on a scale of 0 ("Not Effective") to 5 ("Extremely Effective"). (Note that the resulting effectiveness ratings were found to be almost perfectly correlated (r=0.99) with ratings of "faculty quality," which suggests that the ratings may simply reflect the overall reputation of a program rather than any specific educational achievements.)

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Faculty Reputation and Activity

	Publications: The average number of publications per faculty member is high. ? Publications are an indication of the amount of research faculty members are doing.
	Citations: The average number of citations per faculty member is high. ? Citations are often used as a very rough measure of the quality of research. Important papers tend to be widely cited.
	Faculty Quality: Faculty at other institutions perceive the scholarly quality of program faculty to be high. ? In 1993, the National Research Council asked faculty members to rate the quality of faculty members at other universities on a scale of 0 ("Not sufficient for doctoral education") to 5 ("Distinguished").

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Tuition and Expenses

	Low cost per year: The cost per year for an student living is low. Assume tuition remission. ? State-funded universities often charge lower rates for students who are considered residents of the state. If you are from out of state, it may take some time to become a resident. Check with the institution about residency requirements. On-campus housing is not always available to graduate students. Students often do not pay the full amount of tuition. For example, teaching and research assistantships often cover most or all of a graduate student’s tuition. Tuition remission refers to the amount that tuition is discounted. No remission means that you pay full tuition, and full remission means that you pay no tuition. Median remission means that you receive the median level of remission reported by 2000-2004 doctorate recipients from the program.
	In-State Tuition: Graduate tuition for in-state students is low. ? State-funded universities often charge lower rates for students who are considered residents of the state. If you are from out of state, it may take some time to become a resident. Check with the institution about residency requirements.
	Out-of-State Tuition: Graduate tuition for out-of-state students is low. ? State-funded universities often charge lower rates for students who are considered residents of the state. If you are from out of state, it may take some time to become a resident. Check with the institution about residency requirements.
	Living Expenses: Living expenses are low.
	Tuition Remission: Students pay a low fraction of total tuition. ? Students often do not pay the full amount of tuition. For example, teaching and research assistantships often cover most or all of a graduate student’s tuition.
	Debt: Doctorate recipients report low amounts of graduate school debt.

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Funding and Student Support

	Support: A large percentage of doctorate recipients were supported by a fellowship or assistantship. ? Fellowships are typically competitive awards that pay for tuition and provide a modest stipend. Fellowship recipients do not usually have to work for their stipends, so they have more time for study and research. Teaching assistantships typically pay for some portion of tuition and provide a modest stipend. Recipients have teaching responsibilities ranging from grading papers and conducting labs to teaching an entire course independently.
	Fellowships: The percentage of doctorate recipients who were supported primarily by fellowships is ? Fellowships are typically competitive awards that pay for tuition and provide a modest stipend. Fellowship recipients do not usually have to work for their stipends, so they have more time for study and research.
	Teaching Assistantships: The percentage of doctorate recipients who were supported primarily by teaching assistantships is ? Teaching assistantships typically pay for some portion of tuition and provide a modest stipend. Recipients have teaching responsibilities ranging from grading papers and conducting labs to teaching an entire course independently.
	Grants: The average number of grants per faculty member is high. ? The number of grants is an indicator of the amount of money available for supporting students. A larger number of grants per faculty member may mean that more research assistantships are available.

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Student Demographics

	Women: The percentage of doctoral degrees awarded to women is large.
	Underrepresented Minorities: The percentage of doctoral degrees awarded to underrepresented minorities is large. ? The category "underrepresented minorities" consists of US citizens who identify themselves as American Indian / Alaska Native, Black / African-American, and/or Hispanic / Latino.
	Foreign Students: The percentage of doctoral degrees awarded to non-US citizens with temporary visas is ? Programs with larger numbers of foreign students may be better equipped to meet any special needs they may have.
	Part-time Students: The percentage of part-time graduate students is ? If you want to pursue graduate studies part-time, you might want a program with a critical mass of other part-time students. Not all doctoral programs accept part-time students.

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Program Size

	Doctorates per Year: The number of doctoral degrees awarded per year is ? The number of doctoral degrees awarded per year is a rough indication of program size. Keep in mind that some programs may accept a large number of graduate students, few of whom ultimately receive a doctorate. Some people may prefer large programs that offer a wide range of research opportunities. Others may prefer small programs in which students may receive more individual attention from the faculty.
	Faculty: Faculty size is ? A large faculty suggests a large program that offers a wide range of course offerings and research opportunities. A small faculty suggests a small program in which students may receive more individual attention from the faculty. The student/faculty ratio is probably a better indication of the amount of individual attention given to students than the absolute size of the faculty.
	Student-Faculty Ratio: The ratio of graduate students to faculty members is ? If the ratio of students to faculty is low, that may mean that students receive more individual attention from the faculty.

Undergraduate Selectivity

	Acceptance Rate: The institution accepts a small percentage of applicants to its undergraduate programs. ? In the absence of other information, undergraduate selectivity can serve as a rough predictor of the selectivity of a graduate program. It is not a perfect predictor, however. Institutions that are less selective in admitting undergraduates may nonetheless have very selective graduate programs in some fields, and graduate programs at highly selective undergraduate institutions may be less selective in some fields. If you think that you are likely to have a teaching assistantship, undergraduate selectivity will give you some idea of the caliber of students you would have in the classes you teach.
	Math SAT: Undergraduates at the institution have high scores on the mathematics section of the SAT. ? The Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) is commonly required as part of the undergraduate application process. The math and verbal sections of the SAT are each scored on a scale of 200 to 800. Learn more.
	Verbal SAT: Undergraduates at the institution have high scores on the verbal section of the SAT. ? The Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) is commonly required as part of the undergraduate application process. The math and verbal sections of the SAT are each scored on a scale of 200 to 800. Learn more.

Missing Data

Program data are not always available. How should missing values be handled?

Use averages — Replace missing values with values based on the average for all programs in the field. ?
Skip and reweight — Skip items with missing values and redistribute their weights to the available values. ?
Do not rank — Leave programs with missing values out of the ranking. Unranked programs will be listed separately. ?

The graduate school rankings on phds.org have been made possible by grants from The Alfred P. Sloan Foundation and The Burroughs Wellcome Fund. The Center for Science and the Media served as the fiscal sponsor for the project.

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Political Science Rankings: Indicate Your Priorities

Tell us how important the items below are to you.

Sample Priorities

Educational Quality and Outcomes

Faculty Reputation and Activity

Tuition and Expenses

Funding and Student Support

Student Demographics

Program Size

Undergraduate Selectivity

Missing Data