M.A. program overview

M.A. students are advised by two members of the department's faculty: the Director of the M.A. program and another faculty member from the student's research area of interest. Students may consult both advisers for academic planning and support but still must see the M.A. director for guidance regarding departmental requirements and regulations.

Registration in the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences is a two-part process that consists of 1) registering for courses and 2) registering for a residence category. All students must complete both parts of the registration process.

• Students must register in each fall and spring semester until all degree requirements have been completed or until the time-to-degree limit has been reached.
• The M.A. in political science requires the completion of two Residence Units. Students are expected to complete all requirements in two consecutive semesters of study.
• Enrollment is the completion of the registration process and affords the full rights and privileges of student status.

Students are permitted to cross-register for a course outside the department and GSAS. To do so, please submit the course substitution approval form. Once you receive approval, you may proceed with registration.

Eligible schools and departments for cross-registration include:

Graduate courses at Columbia’s (IN-PERSON COURSES ONLY):

• SIPA
• Law school
• Journalism school

All graduate-level courses in the following GSAS departments (IN-PERSON COURSES ONLY):

• Economics
• Psychology
• Philosophy
• Sociology
• Anthropology
• History
• Statistics
• Computer Science
• Institute for the Study of Human Rights
• QMSS (Quantitative Methods in the Social Sciences)
   

Note: No language courses can be used for credit.

Cross-registration for the law school

1. Select law courses from the Columbia law school course guide or the Columbia University directory of classes.

2. Fill out the cross-registration request form for fall 2025, open from Thursday, September 4 at 8:00 a.m. - Friday, September 5 at 8:00 a.m. EDT.

The request form will require you to attach email approval from the instructor. Requests without approval will not be processed.

Registration services will notify you of the outcome of your request during the decision notification period. If approved, you will be registered for the course at the Law School and provided with proof of registration. This proof must then be submitted to your home school to finalize your university registration.

More information about law school registration can be found here.

Note: If the course does not appear in SSOL by the start of the term, please contact [email protected] to ensure your registration is properly recorded.

Students approved for cross-registration in Law School courses will receive access to LawNet and the course webpage, typically within two business days of registration.

Cross-registration for SIPA

Non-SIPA students can register for SIPA courses during the second week of the semester.

Courses not listed below are generally open for cross-registration, though some may have prerequisites or restrictions.

Students must register for SIPA courses or join a waitlist through Vergil.

More information about SIPA registration can be found here.

M.A. Requirements Checklist

Students should complete the online checklist form available on the M.A. resources page. The PDF version is provided for reference only.

Students in the M.A. program must complete (within one academic year) a minimum of eight graduate-level political science courses for a total of at least 30 points, including:

• The M.A. Proseminar (POLS GR5000)
• Two political science colloquia or seminars (8000- or 9000-level courses) or, with prior approval of the Director of the M.A. program, other graduate political science courses that include the requirement of writing a research paper (approximately longer than 15 pages)
• Five electives: two elective courses must be taken within the political science department (courses listed as POLS or cross-listed) and three may be taken outside the department in related fields with prior approval of the Director of the M.A. program; fill out a petition form to be sent to the Director of the M.A. program and Graduate Program Coordinator)
• Completion of the Capstone Project
• Two residence units

Students should complete the online checklist form available in the M.A. forms library.

Grade requirements:

• Up to two elective courses not applied toward the research tool requirement can be completed with a grade of P or R.
• Courses applied toward the colloquia requirement and the Proseminar must be completed for a letter grade.
• To maintain good academic standing and be eligible to receive the degree, students must maintain a minimum GPA of 3.0.

The M.A. Proseminar (POLS GR5000) introduces students to the main subfields of the discipline by presenting perspectives on key topics in political science. Cutting-edge research conducted by department faculty (and faculty at other universities) is at the center of the course. Students have opportunities to interact and ask questions directly to the authors and to discuss relevant topics with their peers.

Scholarship discussed in prior academic years:

Aytaç, S. Erdem, and Susan C. Stokes. Why Bother?: Rethinking Participation in Elections and Protests. Cambridge University Press, 2019.

Berman, Sheri. Democracy and Dictatorship in Europe: From the Ancien Régime to the Present Day. Oxford University Press, 2019.

Boucher, Anna K., and Justin Gest. Crossroads: Comparative Immigration Regimes in a World of Demographic Change. Cambridge University Press, 2018.

Calvo, Ernesto, and Maria Victoria Murillo. Non-policy Politics: Richer Voters, Poorer Voters, and the Diversification of Electoral Strategies. Cambridge University Press, 2019.

Carnegie, Allison. Power Plays: How International Institutions Reshape Coercive Diplomacy. Cambridge University Press, 2015.

Corstange, Daniel. The Price of a Vote in the Middle East: Clientelism and Communal Politics in Lebanon and Yemen. Cambridge University Press, 2016.

Daly, Sarah Zukerman. Organized Violence after Civil War: The Geography of Recruitment in Latin America. Cambridge University Press, 2016.

Dancygier, Rafaela M. Dilemmas of Inclusion: Muslims in European Politics. Princeton University Press, 2017.

Hertel-Fernandez, Alexander. Politics at Work: How Companies Turn Their Workers into Lobbyists. Oxford University Press, 2018.

Levitsky, Steven, and Daniel Ziblatt, How Democracies Die. Crown, 2018.

McClendon, Gwyneth H. Envy in Politics. Princeton University Press, 2018.

McClendon, Gwyneth H., and Rachel Beatty Riedl. From Pews to Politics: Religious Sermons and Political Participation in Africa. Cambridge University Press, 2019.

Pan, Jennifer. Welfare for Autocrats: How Social Assistance in China Cares for Its Rulers. Oxford University Press, USA, 2020.

Peters, Margaret E. Trading Barriers: Immigration and the Remaking of Globalization. Princeton University Press, 2017.

Putnam, Tonya L. Courts without Borders: Law, Politics, and U.S. Extraterritoriality. Cambridge University Press,2016.

Urbinati, Nadia. Democracy Disfigured. Harvard University Press, 2014.Enos, Ryan D. The space between us: Social geography and politics. Cambridge University Press, 2017.

Urbinati, Nadia. Me The People: How Populism Transforms Democracy. Harvard University Press 2019.

Yarhi-Milo, Keren. Who Fights for Reputation: the Psychology of Leaders in International Conflict. Vol. 156. Princeton University Press, 2018.

As the field of political science has become increasingly quantitative, we strongly encourage students to pursue a sequence in quantitative methods. This training not only strengthens their ability to critically engage with contemporary political science scholarship but also prepares them to navigate the complexities of today’s media and political landscape.

In keeping with this emphasis, the department does not offer courses in purely qualitative methods. However, such courses may be available through other social science departments.

For the M.A. degree, students must demonstrate command of one research tool selected from the following list:

• A reading knowledge of a foreign language, demonstrated by passing the proficiency exam offered by the relevant language department, or by placing out of the fourth year on the placement exam offered in departments that do not offer a proficiency exam (for example, the Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures). Native speakers of a language other than English may offer their native language to satisfy this requirement.
• An approved two-course sequence in quantitative analysis
• An approved two-course sequence in formal modeling
• One course in qualitative methodology in combination with any one of the above quantitative or formal modeling courses numbered 4710 or higher
• A comparable level of proficiency in a comparable research tool, approved in writing by the M.A. Program Director upon recommendation of the student’s adviser

Courses taken to fulfill the research tool requirement can count toward the eight courses required for the degree.

Two-course sequences for the research tool

Quantitative analysis

• POLS GU4710 and GU4712 (Principles of Quantitative Political Research 1 and Principles of Quantitative Political Research 2)
• POLS GU4710 and GU4720 (Principles of Quantitative Political Research 1 and Quantitative Methods 1: Applied Regression and Causal Inference)
• POLS GU4710 and GU4730 (Principles of Quantitative Political Research 1 and Game Theory and Political Theory)
• POLS GU4720 and GU4722 (Quantitative Methods 1: Applied Regression and Causal Inference and Quantitative Methods 2: Mathematical Foundations of Statistics and Causal Inference)
• POLS GU4708 (Investigating Political Phenomena: Experimental Research) and any quantitative Political Science course numbered above 4710
• POLS GU4762 (Politics in the Lab) and any quantitative Political Science course numbered above 4710
• POLS GU4762 and POLS GU4708 or POLS GU4724 (Politics in the Lab and Investigating Political Phenomena: Experimental Research or Quantitative Methods 3: Experimental Methods)
• POLS GU4764 (Design & Analysis of Sample Surveys) and any quantitative Political Science course numbered above 4710
• POLS GU4724 (Quantitative Methods 3: Experimental Methods and any quantitative Political Science course numbered above 4710

Formal modeling

• POLS GU4730 and GU4732 (Game Theory and Political Theory and Research Topics in Game Theory)
• POLS GU4730 (Game Theory and Political Theory) and ECON GR6492 (Games in the Lab)
• POLS GU4700 and GU4730 (Mathematics and Statistics for Political Science and Game Theory and Political Theory)

Qualitative methodology

A qualitative methodology course may be combined with any quantitative or formal modeling course numbered 4710 or higher:

• POLS GU4702 (Methods of Inquiry and Research Design)
• POLS GR4780 (Qualitative & Interpretative Methods in Political Science)
• SOCI GR6049 (Historical Approaches in the Social Sciences)
• SOCI GR6091 (Historical Method & Documentary Analysis)
• Or an alternative approved by the M.A. Director

Foreign language

Languages used to fulfill the requirement are to be chosen in consultation with the adviser from among those encompassing a significant literature in political science, including Arabic, Chinese, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Russian, and Spanish. Certain other languages necessary for the student’s research interests may, upon approval by the student’s adviser and the M.A. Program Director, be offered as a foreign language. English may not be offered as a foreign language.

The program is committed to training students to produce and critically consume exceptional political science research, whether in academia or outside it. Students will produce a capstone paper to showcase the research skills and rigor they have acquired in the program.

During the academic year, students are required to write academic papers ranging from 15 to 20 pages long for certain courses. Students will choose one of these papers written in the Fall semester as their designated capstone paper and continue working on it and refining it through the Spring semester with the help of faculty and the capstone supervisor.

At the end of the spring semester, each student will present their research to faculty and classmates as a poster in an end-of-the-year celebration event.

You can find additional details about the Capstone Program here.

The free-standing M.A. degree is awarded in May. 

Students must submit an application for the M.A. degree to the university registrar according to the deadline set for the May degree conferral date. 

To receive the degree, students in all M.A. programs are required to hold a cumulative grade point average of at least 3.0, and to complete all coursework and receive letter grades replacing all marks of Incomplete (IN) or Credit Pending (CP), whether or not the course is required for the degree.

Deadlines, forms, and instructions for submitting the degree application may be found on the registrar's website.

GSAS Compass helps doctoral and master’s students in the Arts and Sciences to identify, work toward, and achieve their post-graduation career goals.

GSAS Compass offers a variety of career development services tailored to master’s and doctoral students, including career development workshops, employer events, networking opportunities, and one-on-one advising. For current programming, students may follow Columbia GSAS on Twitter and LinkedIn.