yale political science phd requirements

• Mission, Facts and Figures
• Deans, Chairs and Staff
• Leadership Council
• Dean in the News
• Get Involved
• DEIB Mission
• Message from DEIB Associate Dean
• News and Media
• Reading Lists
• The Yale and Slavery Research Project
• Photo Gallery
• Winslow Medal
• Coat of Arms & Mace
• $50 Million Challenge
• For Pandemic Prevention and Global Health
• For Understanding the Health Impacts of Climate Change
• For Health Equity and Justice
• For Powering Health Solutions through Data Science
• For Future Leaders
• For Faculty Leaders
• For Transformational Efforts
• An abiding love for Yale turns into a lasting gift – in 15 minutes
• Endowed Professorship Created at Critical Time for Yale School of Public Health
• Brotherly encouragement spurs gift to support students
• Prestipino creates opportunities for YSPH students, now and later
• Alumna gives back to the school that “opened doors” in male-dominated field
• For Public Health, a Broad Mission and a Way to Amplify Impact
• Couple Endows Scholarship to Put Dreams in Reach for YSPH Students
• A Match Made at YSPH
• A HAPPY Meeting of Public Health and the Arts
• Generous Gift Bolsters Diversity & Inclusion
• Alumni Donations Aid Record Number of YSPH Students
• YSPH’s Rapid Response Fund Needs Donations – Rapidly
• Podiatric Medicine and Orthopedics as Public Health Prevention
• Investing in Future Public Health Leaders
• Support for Veterans and Midcareer Students
• Donor Eases Burden for Policy Students
• A Personal Inspiration for Support of Cancer Research
• Reducing the Burden of Student Debt
• Learning About Global Health Through Global Travel
• A Meeting in Dubai, and a Donation to the School
• Rapid Response Fund
• Planned Giving
• Testimonials
• Faculty, Postdoc Jobs
• For the Media
• Issues List
• PDF Issues for Download
• Editorial Style Guide
• Social Media
• Accreditation
• Faculty Directory by Name
• Career Achievement Awards
• Annual Research Awards
• Teaching Spotlights
• Biostatistics
• Chronic Disease Epidemiology
• Climate Change and Health Concentration
• Environmental Health Sciences
• Epidemiology of Microbial Diseases
• Global Health
• Health Policy and Management
• Maternal and Child Health Promotion Track
• Public Health Modeling Concentration
• Regulatory Affairs Track
• Social & Behavioral Sciences
• U.S. Health Justice Concentration
• Events and Contact
• What Does it Take to be a Successful YSPH Student?
• How to Apply and FAQs
• Incoming Student Gateway
• Traveling to Yale
• Meet Students and Alumni
• Past Internship Spotlights
• YSPH in Video
• Student-run Organizations
• MS and PhD Student Leaders
• Staff Spotlights
• Life in New Haven
• Libraries at Yale
• The MPH Internship Experience
• Practicum Course Offerings
• Summer Funding and Fellowships
• Downs Fellowship Committee
• Stolwijk Fellowship
• Climate Change and Health
• Career Management Center
• What You Can Do with a Yale MPH
• MPH Career Outcomes
• MS Career Outcomes
• PhD Career Outcomes
• Tuition and Expenses
• External Funding and Scholarships
• External Fellowships for PhD Candidates
• Alumni Spotlights
• Bulldog Perks
• Stay Involved
• Board of Directors
• Emerging Majority Affairs Committee
• Award Nomination Form
• Board Nomination Form
• Alumni Engagement Plus
• Mentorship Program
• The Mentoring Process
• For Mentors
• For Students
• Recent Graduate Program
• Transcript and Verification Requests
• Applied Practice and Student Research
• Competencies and Career Paths
• Applied Practice and Internships
• Student Research
• Seminar and Events
• Competencies and Career paths
• Why the YSPH Executive MPH
• Message from the Program Director
• Two-year Hybrid MPH Schedule
• The Faculty
• Student Profiles
• Newsletter Articles
• Approved Electives
• Physicians Associates Program
• Joint Degrees with International Partners
• MS in Biostatistics Standard Pathway
• MS Implementation and Prevention Science Methods Pathway
• MS Data Sciences Pathway
• Internships and Student Research
• Competencies
• Degree Requirements - Quantitative Specialization
• Degree Requirements - Clinical Specialization
• Degree Requirements- PhD Biostatistics Standard Pathway
• Degree Requirements- PhD Biostatistics Implementation and Prevention Science Methods Pathway
• Meet PhD Students in Biostatistics
• Meet PhD Students in CDE
• Degree Requirements and Timeline
• Meet PhD Students in EHS
• Meet PhD Students in EMD
• Meet PhD Students in HPM

Degree Requirements - PhD in Social and Behavioral Sciences

• Degree Requirements - PhD SBS Program Maternal and Child Health Promotion
• Meet PhD Students in SBS
• Differences between MPH and MS degrees
• Academic Calendar
• Translational Alcohol Research Program
• Molecular Virology/Epidemiology Training Program (MoVE-Kaz)
• For Public Health Practitioners and Workforce Development
• Course Description
• Instructors
• Registration
• Coursera Offerings
• Non-degree Students
• International Initiatives & Partnerships
• NIH-funded Summer Research Experience in Environmental Health (SREEH)
• Summer International Program in Environmental Health Sciences (SIPEHS)
• 2022 Student Awards
• APHA Annual Meeting & Expo
• National Public Health Week (NPHW)
• Leaders in Public Health
• The Role of Data in Public Health Equity & Innovation Conference
• Innovating for the Public Good
• Practice- and community-based research and initiatives
• Practice and community-based research and initiatives
• Activist in Residence Program
• Publications
• Health Care Systems and Policy
• Heart Disease and Stroke
• SalivaDirect™
• COVID Net- Emerging Infections Program
• Panels, Seminars and Workshops (Recordings)
• Public Health Modeling Unit Projects
• Rapid Response Fund Projects
• HIV-AIDS-TB
• The Lancet 2023 Series on Breastfeeding
• 'Omics
• News in Biostatistics
• Biostatistics Overview
• Seminars and Events
• Seminar Recordings
• Statistical Genetics/Genomics, Spatial Statistics and Modeling
• Causal Inference, Observational Studies and Implementation Science Methodology
• Health Informatics, Data Science and Reproducibility
• Clinical Trials and Outcomes
• Machine Learning and High Dimensional Data Analysis
• News in CDE
• Nutrition, Diabetes, Obesity
• Maternal and Child Health
• Outcomes Research
• Health Disparities
• Women's Health
• News in EHS
• EHS Seminar Recordings
• Climate change and energy impacts on health
• Developmental origins of health and disease
• Environmental justice and health disparities
• Enviromental related health outcomes
• Green chemistry solutions
• Novel approaches to assess environmental exposures and early markers of effect
• 1,4 Dioxane
• Reproducibility
• Tissue Imaging Mass Spectrometry
• Alcohol and Cancer
• Olive Oil and Health
• News in EMD
• Antimicrobial Resistance
• Applied Public Health and Implementation Science
• Emerging Infections and Climate Change
• Global Health/Tropical Diseases
• HIV and Sexually Transmitted Infections
• Marginalized Population Health & Equity
• Pathogen Genomics, Diagnostics, and Molecular Epidemiology
• Vector-borne and Zoonotic Diseases
• Disease Areas
• EMD Research Day
• News in HPM
• Health Systems Reform
• Quality, Efficiency and Equity of Healthcare
• Substance Abuse and Mental Health
• Modeling: Policy, Operations and Disease
• Pharmaceuticals, Vaccines and Medical Devices
• Health and Wellbeing
• News in SBS
• Aging Health
• Community Engagement
• Health Equity
• Mental Health
• Reproductive Health
• Sexuality and Health
• Nutrition, Exercise
• Stigma Prevention
• Community Partners
• For Public Health Practitioners
• Reports and Publications
• Fellows Stipend Application
• Agency Application
• Past Fellows
• PHFP in the News
• Frequently Asked Questions
• International Activity
• Research Publications
• Grant Listings
• Modeling Analyses
• 3 Essential Questions Series

INFORMATION FOR

• Prospective Students
• Current Students

2023-24 Matriculation

All courses are 1 unit unless otherwise noted.

The PhD degree requires a total of 15-course units. Course substitutions must be identified, and approved by the student’s advisor and DGS.

PhD Required Courses (5 course units)

• EPH 508 Foundations of Epidemiology and Public Health
• EPH 600 Research Ethics and Responsibilities - 0 units
• EPH 608 Frontiers in Public Health (not offered in 2023-24)*
• SBS 580 Qualitative Research Methods in Public Health
• SBS 610 Applied Area Readings for Qualifying Examinations
• SBS 699 Advanced Topics in Social and Behavioral Sciences

One of the following (1 unit):

• SBS 574 Developing a Health Promotion and Disease Prevention Intervention
• SBS 541 Community Health Program Evaluation
• SBS 593 Community-Based Participatory Research in Public Health

One of the following (1 unit:)

• CDE 617 Developing a Research Proposal OR EMD 625 How to Develop, Write, and Evaluate an NIH Proposal

PhD Electives in Methods or Statistics (3 course units)

In consultation with their dissertation adviser, students choose three advanced-level (600 or above) statistics or methods courses from Biostatistics, Psychology, Political Science, Sociology, Anthropology, or Statistics and Data Science (S&DS 563, Multivariate Statistical Methods for the Social Sciences; CDE 516, Principles of Epidemiology II; and CDE 634 Advanced Applied Analytic Methods in Epidemiology and Public Health, also qualify as statistics or methods courses)

PhD Electives (5 course units)

Chosen in consultation with the student’s advisor.

*Students entering the program with an MPH or relevant graduate degree may be exempt from this requirement.

Rev. 07/06/2023

Recent Dissertation Projects

• Role of Ageism in Elder Abuse - A Socioecological Approach
• Developing E-Covery: An App-Based Intervention to Support Recovery From Co-Occuring Alcohol Use and Opioid Use
• Developing, Implementing, and Pilot Testing an Informed Decision Aid for Opioid Agonist Therapies for Prisoners in Ukraine
• Gentrification, Displacement and Health: Moving from Risks to Solutions
• Intervention to Overcome Mental Health Disparities in Criminal Justice-Involved Transgender Women
• Elucidating Pathways Between Structural Stigma and Adverse Birth Outcomes
• The Impact of Intimate Partner Violence on Women's Engagement in the PrEP Care Continuum

Gregory A. Huber

Forst Family Professor of Political Science, Department of Political Science , Yale University

Contact and other information is available on my homepage .

Professional Development Material for Graduate Students

Graduate school is designed to be a temporary condition. As such, much of the expertise students develop to navigate through the PhD program and onto the job market is lost, because those who know more leave. This pattern, which I now realize affected my own time in graduate school, has become more apparent to me from serving both as an advisor to individual students and as the department's director of graduate studies (DGS).

How to sign up for online journal content alerts (PDF) . Keeping track of current research is an important part of being an active scholar. This document provides a list of online journal announcement services and detailed instructions for how to sign up to receive them. (If you notice any errors or details that are out of date, please let me know.)

A year-by-year checklist for navigating the (Yale) PhD program in Political Science (PDF) . This is a set of checklists that I developed for PhD students while I was DGS. The key idea is to provide students at the beginning of the PhD program with a list of programmatic requirements and general expectations for each year in the PhD program, as well as potential trouble spots to avoid. Providing all of this material "up front" allows students to understand the changing expectations as they progress from students to researchers. The specific requirements are particular to Yale, but the general structure and advice are portable. (If you happen to develop something from these, please let me know and I'll post other versions.)

How to present your work at academic conferences (PDF) . Presenting work at an academic conference is a key way scholars share their work with others. It is also great practice for a future job talk. This presentation covers the nuts and bolts of distilling your work into a 12-15 minute talk, delivered as a 12 minute talk with the 7 slides I think most people can describe effectively in that amount of time.

Preparing for the future Political Science job market (PDF) . This is a forward-looking presentation that is designed to give students a sense of how the academic job market, as well as the tenure system, work. In keeping with the general "know what's coming" theme, it is designed to allow students to understand what is coming later so they can adapt optimally now.

A checklist for the academic job market (PDF) . Another checklist, also developed while I was DGS, that gives students a realistic set of deadlines and things they need to do, beginning the June before they go on the fall job market.

How to give a job talk (PDF) . This is a talk I've given numerous times over the last 15 years about how to approach the "job visit," which encompasses both the formal job talk and all that comes before and after.

Advice on being a mentor (PDF) . Congratulations! You've completed the Ph.D. and now with those fetching robes (and wonderful hats) you are supposed to be wise. Others may even ask you for advice. These are edited remarks about how to be a mentor that I made at Yale's 2014 Graduate School Commencement Convocation upon receipt of the Graduate School's 2014 Graduate Mentor Award in the Social Sciences. I think some of what I said is funny.

Yale Daily News

Political science, Yale’s second-most popular major, adds requirements and new thesis track

The department will add methodology and intermediate lecture requirements as well as an honors thesis track, with changes going into effect starting with the class of 2026.

Staff Reporters

Zoe Berg, Photo Editor

The political science major is adding several requirements that the department says will equip students with greater depth of knowledge in the field. 

The major’s changes will go into effect for the class of 2026 and will not affect any current Yale College classes. The core major will remain 12 courses but will now include three additional requirements: an introductory course, a methodologies course and an intermediate lecture. This scaffolding will help students develop a deeper understanding of the field, according to director of undergraduate studies David Simon. The department will also establish a two-tiered senior essay system that allows seniors to choose between a standard seminar-style essay and a more comprehensive “honors” track with more advising resources.

“We emphasize[d] making sure that there [was] a certain breadth of what students took, but we didn’t have much to ensure that students got the kind of depth of knowledge that a major sort of implies,” Simon said. “We’re trying to have a little more control over the trajectory of the student that comes [into the major] and the student who comes out the other side.”

These changes were approved at a December Yale College faculty meeting and will go into effect next year for students in the incoming class of 2026. Declared and prospective majors graduating in 2025 and earlier will continue to use the department’s current major roadmap . 

Around eight percent of undergraduates major in political science, making it Yale College’s second-most popular major, after economics. Faculty are pleased with the major’s historic popularity, Simon said, but want to lay out a more consciously designed framework for students to work through. The major will continue to have no prerequisites or specific mandatory courses. 

Laying the tracks

The first of the planned changes, the introductory course requirement, will require students to take at least two of the department’s five introductory courses, each of which focuses on one of the department’s five subfields: international relations, American government, political philosophy, comparative politics and methodology and formal theory. 

Previously, students were not required to take any of the department’s introductory courses, though they were asked to take two courses, which could include introductory courses, in each of any three of the department’s five subfields. Originally, the department considered establishing an “Introduction to Political Science” course, but scrapped the plan after receiving negative student input. 

The fifth subfield is currently known as analytical political theory but will take on the new name “methodology and formal theory” as part of the major’s redesign. Courses in this subfield include quantitative courses like “ YData: An Introduction to Data Science ,” as well as qualitative classes such as “ Strategic Models of Politics ” and “ Mixed Methods Research .” Students in the major will be required to take one course in the methodology and formal theory subfield. 

“In Political Science, as in some other social science disciplines, there is more use of quantitative and formal methods now than in the past, so the department has decided to add a course requirement there as well, so that their students can access this kind of literature more easily, as well as understand its strengths and weaknesses,” Divisional Dean of Social Science Steven Wilkinson wrote in an email.

Students in the major will also be required to complete an intermediate lecture course. Around 20 courses, mostly higher-numbered courses taught by core political science faculty, will fulfill this requirement, including “ The Politics of American Public Policy ” and “ Game Theory and Political Science .”

Overall, Simon said, having all students take core introductory and methodological courses will better prepare them for upper-level seminars, many of which presume a baseline of methodological knowledge. Those seminars, he added, may in turn be able to add more advanced and engaging content to their syllabi.

These additional requirements may make double-majoring in political science more challenging, especially for those adding the major in their junior or senior years. Roughly 15 percent of political science majors are double majors, though Simon said that fewer than 10 students typically add the major during their senior years.

Thesis track

Seniors graduating in 2026 and beyond will be able to choose an “honors” thesis track, pursuing a more intensive thesis topic that may require additional advising resources. These students will be able to write one- or two-semester theses in either a seminar or directed reading course. The track would be an incentive and encouragement, Simon said, for students to pursue a particularly special project. 

Non-honors essays, on the other hand, will only be written within a semester-long seminar, and the determination of whether that essay meets the department’s standard will be made by that seminar’s instructor. Currently, all senior essays are evaluated by a second reading, but this new change allows departmental advising resources to be more concentrated on honors students. 

Currently, to graduate with distinction in the political science major, students have to receive an A or A- in three-fourths of classes counting towards their major. Now, students will instead complete an honors thesis as a way to graduate with distinction.

“The bar [for receiving honors] is a little bit higher, but we don’t think that it’s anything punitive,” Simon told the News. “We think of it as a response to where there is kind of a demand for a more rigorous experience. In some sense, we are just recognizing what students are already doing, pursuing a sort of project that’s really a special endeavor.”

The move comes in response to a wider shift away from the University-wide distinction standards , allowing each department to instead design its own honors system, according to Simon.

Student input

The News spoke to five current political science majors, four of whom praised the changes. Theo Haaks ’24, a member of the department’s undergraduate advisory committee who met with Simon to make suggestions about the changes, said that he likes the additional scaffolding, and he noted that many students in the major naturally fulfill the new requirements over the course of their four years.

“The goal of the committee was to make sure we are building up the major so that people who want to get a lot out of it can do so,” Haaks said. “This might make people get a little out of their comfort zone, and reinforce a sense of structure and rigor, which I think is important for a college major.”

Haaks further noted that political science is seen by some peers as a less rigorous major, and said that these changes may improve the major’s reputation.

Political science major Diba Ghaed ’24 agreed, saying that while she appreciates the “current flexibility” of the major, she also thinks there is value in adding more structure.

“I think having a bit more structure in the major would be great to make sure that students are hitting target areas and getting a well-rounded political science education,” Ghaed said. “I think a methods class requirement is a great addition to the major; I took a political science and statistics class and thought it was really useful.” 

Matthew Pecoraro ’22, who is studying political science and is also in the combined bachelor’s and master’s program in chemistry, was less keen on the additional requirements. 

He had originally intended to pursue only chemistry, though he was interested in American government and had taken some courses in that area, and ultimately was able to double-major due to the flexibility of the current political science major.

“I really didn’t intend to be a political science double major until the start of my senior year,” said Pecoraro. “I’m generally against the changes just because someone like me wouldn’t be able to waltz into the second major if it was more rigid. Right now, one of the good things is that it’s very flexible. Now I just have to fulfill the senior requirement, and that’s it.”

But Simon expressed confidence about the major’s enduring attraction. 

“Political science will continue to be a popular major for students because it will both offer a wide range of topical and intellectually engaging classes, and now with the roadmap have more guidance in how to think like a political scientist,” Simon said. 

The political science department is located in Rosenkranz Hall.

Open Yale Courses

You are here, political science.

Yale has been home to some of the world’s foremost political scientists and the current faculty includes diverse practitioners of all the major methodologies of political science. The undergraduate program offers a range of courses including American government, comparative government, international relations, analytical political theory, and political philosophy. The graduate program trains professional political scientists for careers in research and teaching, government, international organizations, business, and other callings outside the academic world. Learn more at http://www.yale.edu/polisci

• Application Fees & Fee Waivers
• PhD/Master's Application Process

The application fee for all degree-seeking applicants is US $105.00. Application fees are non-refundable.

Please pay this fee immediately upon submitting your application through the application platform. The fee must be paid, or a fee waiver must be granted, before your application will be reviewed. If you fail to pay the application fee or to obtain a fee waiver, your application will be cancelled.  

Acceptable Forms of  Payment

• Visa, Mastercard, Discover and American Express are the only accepted means of payment. 
• Debit cards and credit card debit authorizations are not accepted.
• Wire transfers (such as SWIFT or Fedwire) are not accepted.

Troubleshooting

If you experience an issue or error submitting payment, please confirm that you have used either a Visa, Mastercard, Discover, or American Express card and that you entered the:

• correct card number
• correct expiration date and date format
• correct security code (found on the back of your credit card)

If that does not resolve your issue, please check with your credit card company to make sure that you have not exceeded your credit line and that no holds are on your account. You may also try using a different card.

Fee Waivers

Some PhD or Master's applicants may be eligible for a fee waiver. The eligibility requirements and process to request a waiver are below. Note: fee waiver requests are submitted separately from the application for admission and usually take 2-3 business days to process. Please plan to submit your fee waiver request in well advance of your application deadline whenever possible. The final deadline to submit a fee waiver request is January 2.

Fee Waiver Eligibility 

You must be applying for a PhD or Master's degree. Non-degree applicants are not eligible for fee waivers. US citizens, permanent residents, and non-US citizens are all eligible to request a fee waiver.

Fee waivers may be granted on the basis of:

• participation in a special program, event, fellowship, or status (see below)
• documented financial hardship

Special Program, Event, Fellowship, or Status

If you are a member of one of the groups listed here, please provide documentation of your participation/affiliation and dates of participation on your fee waiver request form.

• AfroTech Conference
• American Indian Science and Engineering Society (AISES)
• American Physical Society Division of Nuclear Physics Conference Experience for Undergraduates (APS DNP CEU)
• American Political Science Association - Diversity Fellowship Program/Minority Fellowship Program
• American Political Science Association - Minority Student Recruitment Program
• American Political Science Association - Ralph Bunche Summer Institute (RBSI)
• Annual Biomedical Research Conference for Minority Students (ABRCMS)
• Black in AI
• BP-Endure Program
• Building Infrastructure Leading to Diversity (BUILD) Initiative
• Central American-Caribbean Bridge in Astrophysics Program
• Científico Latino Graduate School Mentorship Program (GSMI)
• Collegiate Science and Technology Entry Program (CSTEP)
• COMPASS Workshop in Philosophy
• Conference for Undergraduate Women in Physics
• Emerging Researchers National (ERN) Conference
• Gates Millennium Scholars
• GEM Fellow/National Consortium for Graduate Degrees for Minorities in Engineering and Science
• Grace Hopper Celebration Attendees (vGHC)
• Henry Roe Cloud Dissertation Fellowship
• Institute for Recruitment of Teachers (IRT)
• Jack Kent Cooke Scholars
• Laureates & Leaders (MIT)
• Leadership Alliance
• LEDA Scholars
• Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation (LSAMP)
• McNair Fellowship
• Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellowship Program (MMUF)
• Meyerhoff Scholars Program - University of Maryland, Baltimore County
• Minority Access to Research Centers (MARC)
• Minority Biomedical Research Support Program (MBRS) / Research Initiative for Scientific Enhancement (RISE)
• National Organization for the Professional Advancement of Black Chemists and Chemical Engineers (NOBCChe)
• National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE)
• National Society of Black Physicists (NSBP)
• National Society of Hispanic Physicists (NSHP)
• NSF CSGrad4uS Fellows
• NSF REU Site (at Yale University): Interdisciplinary Research Training Across Biology, Physics, and Engineering
• Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education (ORISE)
• Out in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (oSTEM)
• Peace Corps
• Philosophy in an Inclusive Key Summer Institute (PIKSI)
• Pickering Foreign Affairs Fellowship/Rangel Program
• Pittsburgh Summer Program 1 in Philosophy
• Public Policy & International Affairs (PPIA)
• QuestBridge Scholars
• Richard Tapia Celebration of Diversity in Computing Conference (TAPIA)
• Rutgers Summer Institute for Diversity in Philosophy
• Sally Casanova Scholars Program
• Sarah Pettit Fellowship
• Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers (SHPE)
• Society of Women Engineers (SWE)
• Summer Immersion Program in Philosophy at Brown University (SIPP)
• Summer Program for Women in Philosophy (SPWP) at UCSD
• The National Name Exchange
• The PhD Project
• The Sadie Collective
• The Women+ of Color Project
• US Federal Pell Grant Recipient
• US Veterans with Honorable Discharge or Active Duty in US Armed Forces
• Yale Bouchet Graduate School Bootcamp (2019 or 2020)
• Yale Ciencia Initiative
• Yale Diversity Preview Days Attendee
• Yale Office for Graduate Student Development and Diversity (OGSDD) 
• Yale Psychology Sneak Peek

Documented Financial Hardship

If the application fee presents a financial hardship for you, you may request an application fee waiver by following the instructions below. The Fee Waiver Request Form will ask for detailed financial information and documentation to support your request. Acceptable documentation may include one or more of the following:

• a letter from your undergraduate university financial aid officer
• a statement of liabilities, including prior education loans
• a statement describing your economic circumstances, including income and assets

How to Request a Fee Waiver

Please follow the instructions below to submit a fee waiver request. A request for a fee waiver should be submitted in well in advance of the application deadline for your program and is separate from your application for admission.

• Create an application account by starting your PhD or Master's application.
• Complete the Fee Waiver Request Form (now closed for 2023-2024 application cycle). Note: If you started your PhD/Master's application very recently, it may take a few minutes for the system to register your new application and grant you access to the Fee Waiver Request Form.
• Submit the Fee Waiver Request Form well in advance of your application deadline. The Fee Waiver Request form will not be available after January 2.
• Once you have submitted your fee waiver request, you will receive an email within 2-3 business days indicating whether you have been granted a waiver. If you are not granted a fee waiver, you will need to pay the application fee when you submit your application. 

Do not submit your application fee until your fee waiver request has been processed and you have received a reply. Paid application fees will not be refunded.

• Skip to Content
• Catalog Home
• Institution Home

Yale College Programs of Study 2024–2025

• Yale University Publications /
• Yale College Programs of Study /
• Subjects of Instruction /

Ethics, Politics, and Economics

Current edition: ycps archive . click to change..

• Summary of Requirements

Director of undergraduate studies:   Sarah Khan , 31 Hillhouse Ave.; epe.yale.edu

The major in Ethics, Politics, and Economics joins the analytic rigor of the social sciences and the enduring normative questions of philosophy to promote an integrative and critical understanding of the institutions, practices, and policies that shape the contemporary world.

Introductory Requirements

Students must successfully complete eight introductory courses before they can declare as an EP&E major. Students are very strongly encouraged to complete these introductory courses before the beginning of their fifth semester, because of the demands of the overall EP&E course load and the related need to demonstrate ability to complete the major.

After completion of introductory requirements, students may declare the EP&E major, following the process outlined on the EP&E website.

Introductory courses required to declare the Ethics, Politics, and Economics major include the following:

1. The Ethics course PHIL 175 or Directed Studies *

2. A course in Other Perspectives, from disciplines such as Anthropology; Ethnicity, Race, and Migration; History; Sociology; Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies; or Directed Studies *

3. A course in Political Philosophy, choosing from PHIL 178 , PLSC 108 , 114 , 118 , 119 , or Directed Studies *

* Students completing two full terms of Directed Studies fulfill the first three introductory requirements.

4. A Political Science introductory course in one of the following Political Science subfields: international relations ( PLSC 111 ), comparative politics ( PLSC 116 ), or American politics ( PLSC 113 )

5. A course in Introduction to Microeconomics, choosing from  ECON 108 ,  ECON 110 or ECON 115

6. A course in Introduction to Macroeconomics, choosing from  ECON 111 or ECON 116

7. A course in Econometrics, choosing from ECON 117 , 123 , 135 , GLBL 121 , S&DS 230 , or S&DS 238

8. A course in Game Theory, choosing from EP&E 220 , 231 , 295 , 297 , or ECON 159

Major REQUIREMENTS

Students must take fifteen term courses including eight introductory requirements; Intermediate Microeconomics ( ECON 121 or 125 ); three core seminars with one selected from the Classics series of EP&E courses ( EP&E 212 , 213 , 214 , 215 , 216 , or 217 ) and the remaining two seminars selected from two of the three core areas of the major (Ethics, Politics, Economics); and three courses in the chosen area of concentration (which includes the senior requirement).

Intermediate Microeconomics  Students must take ECON 121 or ECON 125 .

Core courses  The major requires that students take three core courses: one course selected from  EP&E 212 , 213 , 214 , 215 , 216 , or 217 and two additional core courses from the major’s three core areas (Ethics, Politics, Economics), one of which must be an advanced seminar anchored in at least two of the major’s three core areas of ethics, politics, or economics. The approved core courses, specified annually, can be found on a list of approved EP&E core courses on the EP&E website and by searching Yale Course Search for attributes: YC EP&E Ethics Core ; YC EP&E Politics Core ; YC EP&E Economics Core .

Areas of Concentration  Each student defines an area of concentration with review by the DUS by the end of their junior year. The concentration enables students to frame an important problem and shape a systematic course of inquiry, employing analytical methods and substantive theories drawn from the three fields. For many students, the concentration treats a contemporary problem with a substantial policy dimension (domestic or international), but some students may wish to emphasize philosophical and methodological issues. The area of concentration culminates in the senior essay. 

Areas of concentration must consist of three courses appropriate to the theme, including the seminar or independent study course in which the senior essay is written (see “Senior Requirement” below.) At most, one of these three courses may be a lecture course. In designing the area of concentration, students are encouraged to include seminars from other departments and programs (see “graduate work” below.) Students are encouraged to include a seminar or a lecture that covers advanced research design and/or data analysis when the area of concentration requires it.

The following are examples of possible areas of concentration: distributive justice, government regulation of market economies, environmental policy, philosophy of law, gender relations, democracy and multiculturalism, contemporary approaches to public policy, war and coercion, war crimes and crimes against humanity, medical ethics, international political economy, philosophy of the social sciences, social theory and ethics, cultural analysis and political thought, and civil society and its normative implications. However, students may wish to frame their own area of concentration more precisely.

Credit/D/Fail  Students admitted to the major may take one of their Ethics, Politics, and Economics courses Credit/D/Fail, excluding the seminar in which the senior essay is written. Such courses count as non-A grades in calculations for Distinction in the Major.

Searchable attributes   YC EP&E Ethics Core ; YC EP&E Politics Core ;  YC EP&E Economics Core

Senior Requirement

A senior essay is required for the major and should constitute the intellectual culmination of the student's work in Ethics, Politics, and Economics. The essay should fall within the student’s area of concentration. Students may enroll in EP&E 491 to write a term-long essay; or in EP&E 492 and EP&E 493 to write a year-long essay. They must secure the approval of a faculty member who will serve as advisor for the essay. Alternatively, students may write their essay within a relevant seminar, with the consent of the seminar instructor to serve as the essay advisor, and approval of the DUS.

The senior essay reflects more extensive research than an ordinary Yale College seminar paper and employs a method of research appropriate to its topic. Some papers might be written entirely from library sources; others may employ field interviews and direct observation; still others may require statistical or econometric analysis. The student should consult frequently with the seminar instructor or adviser, offering partial and preliminary drafts for criticism. Students are encouraged to incorporate analysis using the tools of all three of the major’s fields.

Senior essays written in the fall term are due in early December. Senior essays written in the spring term and yearlong essays are due in mid-April. One-term essays are normally expected to be 40–50 pages in length; yearlong essays are normally expected to be 80–100 pages in length.

Graduate work 

Some graduate and professional school courses are open to qualified undergraduates and may be of interest to EP&E majors, especially as potential concentration courses (e.g., courses in the Schools of Nursing, Forestry and Environmental Studies, Management, and Public Health). Permission to enroll is required from the instructor as well as the appropriate representative of the graduate or professional program. EP&E requires that graduate and professional school courses carry one, full Yale College course credit, and it is important to note that not all such courses yield a full course credit in Yale College. See Academic Regulations, section L, Special Academic Arrangements , “Courses in the Yale Graduate and Professional Schools.”

summary of major requirements

Introductory requirements  8 introductory courses as indicated

Number of courses  15 (including intro and senior requirement)

Specific courses required   ECON 121  or ECON 125  

Distribution of courses  3 core seminars (one of which is EP&E 212 , 213 , 214 , 215 , 216 , or 217 ) and 2 from the 3 core areas, one of which must be an advanced seminar; 3 concentration courses including the senior requirement course

Senior requirement  Senior essay in area of concentration (in an advanced seminar or in  EP&E 491 or in  EP&E 492  and EP&E 493 )

15 courses (15 credits) required including intro courses and senior requirement

• 8 introductory courses, detailed on Overview page
• ECON 121 or ECON 125
• 1 from the Classics series of EP&E ( EP&E 212 , EP&E 213 , EP&E 214 , EP&E 215 , EP&E 216 or EP&E 217 )
• 2 from 2 of the 3 core areas (Ethics, Politics, Economics), one of which must be an advanced seminar
• Senior requirement is an essay in area of concentration (in EP&E 491 , or EP&E 492 and EP&E 493 , or relevant seminar)

Courses prerequisite to registering as an Ethics, Politics, and Economics major include one course from each of the following categories:

1.  The  Ethics course, either PHIL 175 or Directed Studies*

2.   A course in Other Perspectives, from disciplines such as   Anthropology; Ethnicity, Race, and Migration; History; Sociology; Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies; or Directed Studies*

3.  A course in  Political Philosophy, choosing from PHIL 178 , PLSC 108 ,  PLSC 114 , PLSC 118 , PLSC 119 , or Directed Studies*

*Students completing two terms of Directed Studies fulfill the first three prerequisite requirements.

4. A Political Science introductory course in one of the following Political Science subfields: international relations ( PLSC 111 ), comparative politics ( PLSC 116 ), or American politics ( PLSC 113 )

5. ECON 108 , ECON 110 or ECON 115

6.   ECON 111 or ECON 116

7.   Econometrics, one of ECON 117 , 123 , 135 , GLBL 121 , S&DS 230 , or S&DS 238

8.   Game Theory, one of EP&E 220 , 231 , 295 , 297 , or ECON 159

Further information can be found on the program website .

FACULTY ASSOCIATED WITH THE PROGRAM OF ETHICS, POLITICS, AND ECONOMICS

Director:  Ana de la O (Political Science)

Professors  David Cameron ( Political Science ), Stephen Darwall ( Philosophy ), Bryan Garsten ( Political Science ), Jacob Hacker ( Political Science ), Shelly Kagan ( Philosophy ), Giovanni Maggi ( Economics ), William Nordhaus ( Economics ), John Roemer ( Political Science ), Ian Shapiro ( Political Science ), Jason Stanley ( Philosophy ), Peter Swenson ( Political Science ), Steven Wilkinson ( Political Science )

Lecturers  Greg o ry C o llins, Elaine Dezenski ( Global Studies ), Kevin Elliott, Michael Fotos (Political Science), Karen Goodrow ( Political Science ), Robin Landis, Stephen Latham ( Political Science ), Mordechai Levy-Eichel  (Political Science), Max Lewis, Daniel Schillinger, Ximena Benavi de s Reverditt o

See  visual roadmap  of the requirements.

Print Options

Send Page to Printer

Print this page.

Download Page (PDF)

The PDF will include all information unique to this page.

Download Overview (PDF)

The PDF will include content on the Overview tab only.

Download 2023-24 YCPS PDF

All pages in YCPS Catalog.

Department of Political Science

Poynter Fellowship in Journalism: “Media Matters: Aging and the Press”

The Poynter Fellowship in Journalism presents

Paula Span, Columbia Graduate School of Journalism: 

“Media Matters: Aging and the Press.”

Paula Span is a veteran journalist. Formerly a longtime Washington Post reporter, she has written the New Old Age column, about aging and caregiving, for the New York Times since 2009. In 2017, she added a second Times column, Generation Grandparent, and has adapted those essays for the audiobook “The Bubbe Diaries,” released by Audible in 2021. She is currently at work on a book about octogenarians, tentatively titled “The Ninth Decade,” to be published in 2026 by Penguin Random House.

An alumna of the alternative press and Boston University, she is the author of “When the Time Comes: Families with Aging Parents Share Their Struggles and Solutions,” published by Hachette in 2009. Her freelance articles have appeared in dozens of newspapers and magazines, including the Philadelphia Inquirer, the Wall Street Journal, the Boston Globe, Philadelphia Magazine, New York Magazine, the Washingtonian, Glamour, Redbook, Esquire, Smithsonian and others.

Since 1999, she has helped prepare the next generation of journalists at the Columbia Graduate School of Journalism.

Zoom Session .   RSVP to dana.limone@yale.edu