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Course selection

Politics concentrators select from among approximately 50 Politics courses each year.

In order to ensure that our students gain a broad and deep understanding of political analysis, the Department sets distribution requirements that govern course selection.  Those rules are detailed in the four sections below: departmental courses, field selection, cognates, and graduate courses.

Departmental courses ("departmentals")

By the end of the senior year, all students in the Department must complete, in addition to prerequisites, no fewer than eight departmental courses, of which two may be cognates. Note that the University sets a maximum of 12 courses (plus independent work) in a given department. Additional courses in the department may be taken, however, but will not count towards the 31-course minimum required for graduation.

Additional Notes:

• Students may include one or more 200-level courses among their departmentals, but only if the course is the first or second they have taken in that field.

• No courses taken as prerequisites will be counted as departmentals. All departmentals must be graded courses.

• Normally, students must take at least five departmentals at the 300-level or above.

• With the approval of the Director of Undergraduate Studies, a graduate seminar may be accepted as a departmental.

• Students must attain an overall average of C or higher in the eight or more graded courses that count as departmentals and a passing grade in at least eight of the courses that count as departmentals.

Field selection

Upon entering the department, students designate a primary field (American politics, comparative politics, international relations, or political theory). Senior theses are normally written on a topic within the primary field, and senior comprehensive examinations test knowledge in a concentrator’s primary field. The following policies apply to field selection in Politics:

• Concentrators must take at least three courses in their primary field, one of which will normally be a 200-level course.

• In addition, at least two courses must be taken in a second field, and at least one must be taken in a third field.  Five areas of study are eligible for designation as secondary or tertiary field: American, Comparative, International Relations, Political Theory, and Methods.

• A course taken to fulfill the Analytic Requirement cannot also be counted towards a field distribution requirement.

• Prerequisites may be used to satisfy field distribution requirements.

• Some courses are listed in more than one field, but no course may be simultaneously counted toward more than one field.

• The primary field may be changed at any time before the end of the first semester of the junior year.

  • Cognates

Students in the Department are encouraged to take cognates when such courses are not at the introductory level and have substantial political content. Students can find relevant cognates in many neighboring departments, including (but not limited to) Anthropology, Economics, History, Philosophy, Psychology, Sociology, and the Woodrow Wilson School.

The following departmental policies apply to cognates:

• The Department will maintain a list of up to two cognates for an individual student.

• Cognates must be approved before or during the semester in which they are taken, and no later than the last Friday of classes by either the Director of Undergraduate Studies or the relevant Politics Academic Advisor.

• Approved cognates will be used in the departmental Honors calculation.

• Cognates cannot be used to satisfy field distribution requirements.

• Concentrators may submit a written proposal to the Director of Undergraduate Studies by the end of the junior year requesting that three cognates be counted. The proposal must demonstrate how the three cognates relate to one another and form a coherent interdisciplinary program.


NOTE: To seek approval for a cognate, you must complete this form and submit it via email to your Politics Academic Advisor prior to or during the semester in which you intend to take the course(s).  It is imperative that you also attach a current syllabus.  Your advisor will inform you via email of their decision after careful consideration.


Graduate courses

Well-prepared undergraduates may take graduate seminars for full University and departmental credit. To enroll in a graduate seminar the student must have the approval of the Director of Undergraduate Studies and the instructor in charge of the seminar.