Best Political Science Master’s Programs for 2027

Ohio University's 32-credit MA is designed for a full-time year of study. You finish with an article-length research paper or an Applied Politics Project, with a thesis reserved for exceptional cases. Faculty supervise each option. Courses span American government, comparative politics, international relations, political theory, and politics and law. Approved internships can count among electives. The applied project gives you a policy-oriented alternative to writing a conventional academic research paper.

Florida State's MAAPP is a professional Master of Science focused on campaigns, lobbying, legislative affairs, fundraising and political communication. Its 36-credit non-thesis curriculum divides into 24 coursework credits and a 12-credit practicum. You'll cover political management, communications, campaigns and policy or research in the core. The practicum combines work with a paper and starts after your first semester. You can complete its credits in one semester or across two consecutive semesters, making the placement's schedule part of planning the degree.

At the CUNY Graduate Center, the political science MA culminates in a thesis supported by a dedicated tutorial. You concentrate in one of five subfields and take a course in a second, while completing at least two advanced 800-level courses. The research-tool requirement can be met through quantitative methods, qualitative methods, another approved method, or a foreign language. A substantially revised seminar paper can become the thesis, connecting your coursework directly to the final project.

Georgia State's MA includes six credits of experiential learning, which may take the form of an internship, consulting project, or study abroad. The general, American politics, and international and comparative politics concentrations share a 30-credit structure. You can choose additional methods coursework, including an advanced methods track, and finish with a research project or approved thesis substitution. Coursework can combine online master's classes with in-person doctoral seminars, depending on the plan you develop.

Florida Atlantic admits political science MA students to the non-thesis route first. After completing between nine and fifteen graduate credits, you can apply to switch to a thesis with departmental approval. Both routes share Research Design and seminars in American government and comparative political processes. The 30-credit degree then uses either additional seminars or six thesis credits to complete the plan. You'll take Research Design in your first semester or its first offering after admission, putting that course early in your graduate research preparation.

Arizona State's political science MA starts with Empirical Political Inquiry and a focus-area course. Most students also take Polimetrics I, while political theory students take another focus-area course instead. The 30-credit degree ends in a thesis with an oral defense or a written capstone paper. The department identifies research strengths in ethnoreligious dynamics, women and politics, political violence, human rights, and Latino politics, which can help you narrow the faculty expertise relevant to your project.

Nebraska–Lincoln distinguishes a 36-credit thesis MA from a 30-credit terminal, non-thesis option. Both require Scope and Methods and Research Methods, but the thesis route adds a broader set of core and research seminars. Political Psychology and Biopolitics is one of the named areas, alongside American politics, public policy, comparative politics, international relations, and theory. Choose the route according to the research project you want to complete, not simply the difference in total credits.

Wyoming offers two political science MA endings: a faculty-supervised research thesis or a culminating paper. You build a plan across areas such as American politics, public law, comparative politics, and political theory. The department describes faculty interests in human security, international organizations, political culture, and democratic citizenship. Its published thesis examples include European integration and peace in Bosnia, illustrating how regional questions can become a focused graduate research project rather than a broad survey of world affairs.

Nebraska Omaha's political science MS is available online and on campus. All students begin without a thesis, although you can petition for the thesis route after fifteen credits. The non-thesis exit assessment asks you to bring together at least three political science subfields in one written response. Research methods and core seminars form the base of the 30-credit degree, with further choices including constitutional law, leadership, foreign policy and national security.

San Diego State's political science MA gives you a choice between a thesis and written and oral examinations in two fields. The shared core includes research design, international relations, political theory, and a choice of public policy or comparative systems. Electives can draw on other departments with graduate-adviser approval. You can also work toward the Global Politics or Public Policy advanced certificate while completing the MA, using the certificate coursework toward the degree. Plan that overlap with the adviser when selecting seminars.

Sam Houston State's current political science MA is a 30-credit online program built around four overview courses and a capstone. You'll study Scope and Methods, American Politics, Comparative Politics, and International Relations, then choose five additional graduate electives. With advisor approval, some electives can form an informal concentration outside the department. This gives the degree a common disciplinary foundation while preserving half of its coursework for the topics you want to study more closely.

North Texas offers a 30-credit, campus-based political science MA with study in American government and public law, comparative politics, international relations, or political theory. Its course list includes Quantitative Political Research Methods and proseminars in American political behavior and comparative government. The department encourages early faculty research collaboration and conference presentations. If you want research experience alongside seminars, examine the faculty's current projects when choosing the areas you'll emphasize in your degree.

CU Denver offers three ways to finish its 33-credit political science MA: a thesis, a project or portfolio, or extended coursework with an oral portfolio defense. State of the Discipline and Research Methods in Political Science form the core. Your electives must cover American politics, comparative politics or international relations, and political theory. Students can also take courses from the New Directions program, whose topics include local social movements, nonprofit management and labor organizing.

UCF's political science MA pairs Conduct of Political Inquiry with Quantitative Methods in Political Research, then adds seminars in at least two substantive fields. Both completion routes require a written comprehensive examination. For the thesis, you'll form a committee, defend a proposal and complete an oral defense. The non-thesis route adds coursework but still requires an article-length research paper and a presentation at a public academic forum. Your choice therefore changes the research format and supervision as well as the course schedule.

Texas State's political science MA offers a thesis route and a coursework route ending in a written examination. Optional fields let you emphasize American politics, comparative politics, international relations, or political theory. The published courses range from Texas Politics and Congress and the Legislative Process to Social Contract Theory and the International Politics of Nuclear Weapons. Up to nine credits may come from related fields with approval, allowing a focused interdisciplinary addition to the degree.

Southern Miss places graduate research in a setting where students present work at a weekly school colloquium. The political science MA studies the relationships among government, culture, and economics from domestic and international perspectives, with research-methods training throughout the field. The university also offers a joint route combining political science with library and information science. That option is worth examining if your interests connect political research with the organization and use of information.

Memphis requires political science MA students to study two subfields and complete a common sequence in research methods, Political Statistics, and Political Theory. A thesis leads to a 33-credit plan. The non-thesis plan requires 36 credits. Approved internships can account for up to six credits, but most coursework must be advanced graduate study. You'll need a B or better in the three required courses, making the methods and theory sequence a substantive progression requirement.

Texas Tech gives political science MA students a substantial methods sequence covering data management, research design, data analysis, and advanced quantitative methods. Proseminars introduce American politics, comparative politics, and international relations. You then choose a thesis route or comprehensive exams, with both plans requiring 36 credits. The exam route includes a major and minor field, while the thesis route concentrates additional coursework in a major field and develops a defended research project.

Cal State LA schedules its political science master's classes in the evening for students balancing graduate study with work. The core includes American political behavior, political theory, comparative politics, and jurisprudence, plus an international political economy or international relations seminar. You'll then concentrate in American Politics, Political Theory, or Global Politics. The final requirement is a comprehensive examination or an approved thesis. A thesis requires permission from the thesis chair, graduate adviser, and department chair; approved thesis credit can replace a concentration course.

New Mexico State's 36-credit political science MA allows a thesis, special research, or an approved internship as its six-credit culminating component. Both routes require an oral examination, and the non-thesis route also includes a written exam. You choose research methods or qualitative methods and take seminars across three substantive fields. The program identifies Latin American and international affairs as possible emphases, with a Security Studies graduate minor available for a further specialty.