An undergraduate student of the Institute who is enrolled as a candidate for the SB degree may apply to the Department of Political Science as a candidate for the SM degree. Students must register as graduate students for at least one regular academic term (not the summer session) to be recommended for the simultaneous award of the bachelor's and master's degrees. The thesis submitted for the SM degree is also accepted by the department in fulfillment of the undergraduate thesis requirement.
Students wishing to pursue this academic program must apply for graduate admission by December 31, 2009.
The Department recommends that a student interested in this program apply during their junior year. The Department will make every effort to notify applicants of its decision by the end of February.
A student admitted to this program must still register for 17.THT Thesis Research and Reading Seminar during the Fall term of senior year to fulfill the CI-M requirement. Upon acceptance to the SM program, a student may request to transfer graduate subjects completed as an undergraduate to fulfill the graduate subject requirement of the SM degree. (Students may not double count units.) Permission to transfer subjects must be obtained from the Dean of the Graduate School .
Each student must have completed at least 240 units as an undergraduate upon applying to the program. The minimum number of subjects required for the SM degree is six graduate subjects, at least four of which must be in political science at MIT. The other two subjects may be completed in other MIT Departments or through cross-registration at Harvard.
At the graduate level, students must have completed at least 66 units of graduate work, of which 42 units shall be “H” level subjects. A student will be required to write one supervised thesis and will receive one degree (SB/SM).
To apply to the program students need to submit the following:
1. Graduate Record Examination score
2. Writing sample
3. Three letters of recommendation from faculty members
4. Personal statement
5. MIT transcript or grade report
For more information about the graduate program please the graduate section of this website, or contact Susan Twarog at 617-253-8336, twarog@mit.edu.
Applications can be submitted online or can be picked up at the Graduate Admissions Office in room 3-103.