Time Targets
Year One
September
- Select courses, including (usually) Core Course(s) in Field 1 and/or Field 2
- Agree on program/course requirements with Graduate Director
- Check in with designated Advisor
October
- Submit fellowship applications (OGS, SSHRC, etc.)
January to August
- Explore ideas for thesis in a general way and candidates for thesis committee. Meet with potential supervisors
May or August
Year Two
September
- Select courses to complete PhD course requirements
October
- Submit fellowship applications
- Explore additional funding sources for later stages/field work (if applicable)
October to December
- Select thesis supervisor and committee members additional to supervisor (if not already done)
January to April
- Work towards thesis proposal (for many, this is in conjunction with Dissertation Research Workshop, taken in close consultation with thesis supervisor)Satisfy language requirement(s)
May to August
- Work on thesis proposal
- Work on ethics review, if applicable
- Consider, if possible and applicable, preliminary field work
- Complete Field Exam(s)
Year Three
September
- Meet with your dissertation supervisor and register for POL2812
October to December
- Finalize supervisory committee
- Ensure that ethical review (if applicable) is prepared
- Complete a draft of thesis proposal
January to May
- Finalize thesis proposal
- Ensure all non-thesis requirements satisfied, if not already (absolute deadline for such requirements is end of year three)
- Begin thesis work, including fieldwork, if applicable
Years Four and Five
Continuous
October
- Submit fellowship applications
August 24, 2023
Congratulations to alumna Meaghan Williams, a recipient of the 2022-23 Governor General’s Gold Medal for Academic Excellence, the highest academic honour available to graduate students in Canada. Awarded annually by the Office of the...
June 14, 2021
Great news from the Canadian Political Science Association, which held its annual awards ceremony (online) over the weekend of June 12 & 13: Professor Stefan Rencken’s book "Private Governance and Public...
April 22, 2021
Congratulations to two political science alumni now teaching at U of T who have both won Superior Teaching Awards! Igor Shoikhedbrod and Khalid Ahmed will be celebrated on May 5th at...
August 6, 2020
Q&A with 2020 Vanier Scholar Yojana Miraya Oscco Congratulations to PhD student Yojana Miraya Oscco who has won a prestigious Vanier Canada Graduate Scholarship (SSHRC). Launched in 2008, the program enables...
April 30, 2020
Congratulations to our graduate student Kevin Edmonds who has won New College's June Larkin Award for Pedagogical Development. A PhD candidate specializing in Caribbean political economy, histories of alternative/illicit development, foreign intervention and...