Students generally take from one to three years to complete the dissertation. Students are required to pass qualifying examinations in the major field and one minor field. Students are expected to complete the equivalent of four or five seminars in preparation for the qualifying exam in the major field and three seminars in preparation for the qualifying exam in the minor field. Completion of two seminars in the minor non-examination field is expected. Each field specifies which seminars are needed to meet its requirements.
Students are responsible to ensure that all field requirements are met.
Core Requirements Core requirements ensure that students develop an appreciation for the broad scope and methodologies of political science as a discipline of study. In special cases a requirement may be waived, but only with the approval of the Graduate Coordinator and the unanimous support of the student's supervisory committee. The Political Science graduate programs have no general language requirement, but students should recognize that language may be an important, and sometimes indispensable, tool in their present or future research. M.A. students are expected to acquire reading skills necessary to understand published research in their area of interest. To meet these objectives, a student's supervisory committee may require the student to take additional work in a foreign langugage when this is necessary for their program of study and research.