Some Political Science Ph.D.students may desire to earn a joint degree. Political Science has a formal arrangement for a joint degree in Political Communication with the Annenberg School; and some students have worked out joint degrees with Criminology. Students must seek separate admission to each of these programs and Political Science, and the terms of the arrangement differ depending on the partner program or school.
For a joint degree in Political Communication, students take two sets of exams: one exam in their primary field in political science, and one in the Annenberg School. The Annenberg exam serves as an exam in “Political Communication” for the purpose of the Political Science Department‘s qualifying exam requirement. No other thematic field exams are permitted. Some courses in these fields may be used to satisfy the requirements for a third field in the Political Science Ph.D. program. Applicants who have such interests should indicate this on their application to the Political Science Ph.D. program, but must be accepted separately into both.
For more information about Penn’s Annenberg School of Communication or the Criminology Graduate Group, please visit their websites.