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Graduate Admissions Requirements

The deadline for application, and to be considered for assistantships or fellowships, is January 7.

The graduate application process has two steps: you must first submit the online application to the Graduate College and pay the application fee. Application fee waiver information is available here. Once you have submitted your application, you will receive an email instructing you on how to upload your supporting documents and submit letters of recommendation. Supplemental material can and should be uploaded from your Admissions Profile in MyUI. You can only access MyUI AFTER you have submitted your application.

Other normal admission requirements and materials include:

1. Bachelor's degree at an accredited university.
2. Transcripts from all previous universities (unofficial is fine.)
3. Undergraduate grade point average of at least 3.3 on a four point scale (or its equivalent for foreign applicants).
4. Three letters of recommendation from persons who can comment upon the applicant's academic ability and motivation.
5. Statement of Purpose (no more than 500 words). See FAQ for more guidance.
6. CV/resume
7. Writing sample (strongly recommended)

Additional considerations:

• Foreign students whose native language is not English must achieve a TOEFL iBT score of at least 100 or an IELTS score of 7 with no subscore lower than 6.
• For applicants who have done graduate work elsewhere, we require a graduate grade point average of at least 3.5.
• Due to the structure of our curriculum, new doctoral students must enter the program at the beginning of the fall term.

Positions available in this program are limited. And while our program features rigorous training, those not having majored in political science or not being acquainted with quantitative research methods are not necessarily at a disadvantage.

GRE Exam Code

Providing GRE scores is optional.

• 6681 - University of Iowa

Cost of Attendance

Admitted students are typically offered funding in the form of assistantships: more information can be found on the Graduate Admissions website in Financial Awards.