A: Applications are accepted beginning in September. The last day that we will accept an application is December 15. The Admissions Committee reviews applications in January with the goal of having decisions made by the first week of February. Everyone is notified via e-mail.

A: The University of Michigan has made a commitment to create a diverse intellectual community. As a result, the Department of Political Science has no strict cutoffs for either GPA or GRE scores. We are looking for intelligent and motivated scholars. We tend to admit students with good grades in challenging courses, who have solid test scores and the ability to do both qualitative and quantitative research.

A: The Department usually received between 320-375 applications for the graduate program each year. We generally admit between 5-10% of those who apply.

For the current admission season (admission for Fall 2011), we received 362 applications for the graduate program. Of those, 18 were accepted.

A: No. The Department accepts students to start in the fall term only.

A: No. The Department only admits students for doctoral study. Students who are admitted to the doctoral program may receive a master's degree from us as part of their doctoral study.

A: Yes! All applicants who are admitted to the graduate program will receive a 5-year funding package. This package will include a mix of fellowship and teaching. The minimum package will include a fellowship in year one and graduate student assistantships (teaching assistant, research assistant, etc.) in the following years. This should be regarded as the minimum package; many of our students are successful in securing fellowships in the later years of the program.

Both fellowships and graduate student assistantships include a stipend (or salary), a full tuition waiver, and health insurance.