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Admissions Requirements

The general prerequisite for admission to graduate study is a Bachelor of Arts degree or equivalent. A student is not required to have an undergraduate major in political science but normally will have had at least nine semester hours of course work in political science. Ordinarily, we do not accept terminal Master students. Applicants who do not wish to continue to the Ph.D. may want to explore the Masters in Public Administration and the TransAtlantic Masters Program.

The Graduate Record Examination (GRE) is optional.  You may submit your GRE scores if you wish, but this is not a requirement.  Applicants from non-English-speaking countries also must submit results of the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) unless they have a degree from a university in the US. Students should take these tests early enough to enable them to submit official reports of scores with their applications. Decisions on admission of applicants may be withheld until test scores are provided.

How to Apply

Instructions on how to apply can be found at the UNC Graduate School’s website. Applications for admission should be submitted through UNC’s Online Application. It is not necessary to send any material directly to the department.

The deadline for applying to the Ph.D. program for Political Science is December 13, 2022 Please note that students are admitted only for the fall.

If you have any questions, please contact our Graduate Student Coordinator, Kalisha-Lourdy A. Lazare, by email at Kalishal@ad.unc.edu.