Students select several faculty members to discuss research questions and supervise the Ph.D. Working with this committee, they develop a dissertation proposal and begin research. Frequently, they also join faculty and fellow graduate students in advanced workshops, which meet throughout the year to consider new research. This active involvement for advanced graduate students is another of Chicago's strengths. Advanced students can shape their own research programs and have regular opportunities to discuss and present their ideas. Requirements o meet these varied student needs, the graduate program in political science offers rigorous training without a rigidly structured curriculum.
Courses reflect current faculty research and their sense of what is theoretically significant.
There are no compulsory courses, although we encourage students to take concentration courses that provide overviews of the respective subfields and methodology courses appropriate to their research interests. In comparative politics, for example, students can take a variety of courses on specific countries or regions, each raising basic issues for comparative study. In quantitative methods, where a carefully structured program is particularly valuable, the department has developed an optional sequence preparing students for empirical research. Students can best engage the compelling questions by taking courses that reflect on-going faculty interests. In the autumn and winter of the first year, students are required to take three courses per quarter.