transition from econ to political science

[jhyde]

Hi all,

I am a person with a background in economics, but I have been gaining recently an interest in political science. I was wondering if it would be possible to transition from economics to political science and apply to political science PhD programs. My main interests lie in political economy, political theory, and political methodology.
I've listed my credentials below.

- BA in economics from top5 US econ school (gpa: 3.8, in major 3.9)
- currently working as an RA at economics research institution
- all my letter writers will be economists

As an undergrad, I mostly took econ and math courses (math piling up to multivariable calc, linear algebra, and analysis)
Although not a liberal arts college, the university had a strong focus on liberal arts education, so I took 1yr each of Humanities and Social Sciences courses. (but average grade on those courses were B+, which dragged down my cumulative gpa despite good grades in the major..)

So given the situation, will my CV be competitive in top10-15 poli sci PhD programs? Any advice/comments are welcome and appreciated.

Also, can anyone recommend PhD programs that have strong political economy group? I see that schools like MIT and Yale list Political Economy as one of their main fields and Harvard Kennedy School has a separate PhD program in PEG (Political Economy and Government)..

Thanks.

[Ganzi]

I think you have a good profile and would get into the top schools you apply to. Also remember that fit really matters so you would have to look through the programs you are applying to and make sure they have professors that are interested in the research areas as you are. 

I also transitioned from Econ to Political science. The professors I interviewed with seemed to think I would find my Econ background advantageous since I already had a masters in Econ and as such took a full year of econometrics and other stats classes. The methods classes in my school are pretty much econometrics classes right down to using the same texts I used in the masters program! I think most programs would let you take classes from the Econ department as well if you choose to do so to satisfy some of your electives so your background is not something you should worry about. 

[terefere]

Definitely, having an econ background gives you an advantage. Myself I have an econ background and will be entering a top 10 political science program next fall. One thing to consider is to think how to credibly demonstrate your interest in political science - perhaps through research, past coursework, letters writers, and of course, in your personal statement.

Some programs to consider are Princeton, Harvard, Duke, NYU, WUSTL, Columbia, maybe UCLA.

Edited April 24, 2016 by terefere