Our graduate students have been very successful in securing positions at leading universities such as Princeton, Harvard, Yale, etc. and research organizations. The Placement History list indicates the current and original placements of students that obtained a PhD in political science from UCSD. View Placement History (PDF).
Comparable and transparent data on placement from other graduate programs. (Forthcoming).
UC San Diego has ranked 24th out of 438 institutions in Washington Monthly's 2024 national university college rankings.
UCSD Graduate School (Political Science) ranked 8th in 2025.
UCSD ranked 21st out of 2,250 universities around the world.
Our Ph.D. program in Political Science is designed to break down barriers and build bridges across the subfields and give all of our students a broad command of the discipline as a whole, regardless of their area of specialization.
Director of Graduate Studies
Claire Adida
cadida@ucsd.edu
SSB 389
Placement Director
Gareth Nellis
gnellis@ucsd.edu
SSB 350
Student Affairs Manager
Ethel Lu
erlu@ucsd.edu
Graduate Coordinator
Katie Smith
kas008@ucsd.edu