Graduate Application FAQ

Please fill out this online application. 

• For US citizens – A writing sample, personal statement, three letters of recommendation, official GRE scores*, official transcripts**
• For international applicants/non-US citizens – A writing sample, personal statement, three letters of recommendation, official GRE scores*, official transcripts**, and official TOEFL scores***

*GRE scores are an optional part of the application.  If you do choose to submit your scores, you should upload the unofficial scores to the application and then, have ETS send them directly to the department.

**At the time of the application, you will need to upload unofficial copies of your transcripts to the application. If you accept an offer of admission from us, then official transcripts must be submitted directly from the degree-granting institution.

***TOEFL scores should be uploaded to the application and then, official scores must be submitted to the department.

We have no required minimum GPA or GRE for admission. These factors are important, and they will be taken into account. On the other hand, they will be considered in combination with all other aspects of your application materials. Other factors that will be seriously considered include personal statements that illustrate the applicant's understanding of what graduate work in political science entails and that make the case for why the applicant's interests and the strengths of the department at WashU are particularly compatible. Strong, detailed letters of recommendation that also illustrate these points are particularly useful to the admissions committee. We currently offer admission to approximately 10% of our applicant pool.

No. We do not offer terminal MAs in Political Science. However, you can receive your MA (without thesis) en route to your PhD, after being admitted to the program.

No. Applicants’ files are reviewed as a whole.

For applicants admitted for the 2019-2020 academic year, the average GRE scores and GPA were as follows:

• Verbal: 165
• Quantitative: 164
• Analytic Writing: 5.0
• GPA: 3.77

The school code is 6929 and the department code is 1902.

No. The General GRE is the only GRE that is required for your application.

We take the ability to write and speak in English as a very important determinant of admission. It is the responsibility of the applicant to provide us with materials to evaluate their language skills. A TOEFL score is a good and effective way to provide us with the necessary information. For international students with an undergraduate or graduate degree from a university in the United States, we generally have enough information about their language skills without a TOEFL. Other applicants can be disadvantaged without TOEFL scores. All international students, regardless of their country of origin, need to take an oral language test administered by the English Language Programs at Washington University if and when they are admitted to the program.

At the time of the application, you will need to upload unofficial copies of your transcripts to the application. If you accept an offer of admission from us, then official transcripts must be submitted directly from the degree-granting institution.

The Office of Graduate Studies in Arts & Sciences
Attention: Admissions
1 Brookings Drive, Campus Box 1187
Cupples II, Suite 204
St. Louis, MO 63130

If your institution issues electronic transcripts through a secure credentialing service (e.g. CertiFile, Parchment, Safe-Script), the electronic notification should be sent to: ArtSciGrads@wustl.edu. 

If your coursework is reflected on the transcript from your home academic institution, sending additional transcripts from study abroad/AP credit/summer courses is not required. However, you can upload these to your application if you feel they are beneficial.

No. Your writing sample should be a good example of your writing ability and academic work. There is no page count requirement.

Yes. Please note, however, that we receive a high volume of applications, and you should submit only your strongest work in order to ensure the application committee has a good sense of your abilities.

Three letters of recommendation should be submitted with each application. The three recommenders should be able to answer a short survey on your academic and intellectual abilities, as well as write a letter of recommendation in support of your application.

You will enter all contact information for your recommenders, including their email addresses. Once you enter the information and save it, the application system will send an automated email with a link to upload a letter to the email address you provided. Please double-check that you have entered the correct email address for each recommender.

Like every part of the application, you can check the submission status by logging into your application and viewing the recommendation page. If a letter has been submitted, a date of submission will be listed.

We will not accept any mailed letters of recommendation. All letters should be uploaded via the link provided in the email.

If you need any changes made to the recommenders page, you should email polisci@wustl.edu. Please note that you should only contact us if the change affects the submission of recommendations (i.e., not if you accidentally selected the wrong “relationship” or inverted the first and last names).

Applications are usually opened in September for applications for the following fall semester.

Applications for the political science program are due on December 15, regardless of the day of the week on which it falls.

This varies based on the number of applications we receive, but our goal is to notify applicants of admission decisions by the first week in February.

We normally notify applicants by an email sent to the email address you provide on your application.