Admission requirements

Master’s degree:

Admission to any Master's degree requires completion of an acceptable Bachelor's degree or recognized equivalent from an academic institution recognized by the University of Victoria.

• All applicants must have earned the equivalent of a "B" average over the last two years (or equivalent of 30 UVic units) of their degree to be considered.
• Practica, non-graded (pass-fail) courses, credit granted on the basis of life or work experience, or credit earned at institutions not recognized by the University will not be used in determining an applicant's grade point average or units completed.
• Any courses used in the calculation of the entering average cannot be used as credit toward a graduate degree program.
• Many academic departments require a higher average for admission to a Master's Degree.

PhD degree:

Admission to a Doctoral program requires completion of an acceptable Master's degree or recognized equivalent to those offered in Canada.

Students with a first class average on the last two years of a bachelor's degree may be considered.

The department requires a minimum grade average of:

Master's: B+ in final two years of undergraduate degree
PhD: A- in all Political Science graduate courses

All graduate program applicants must submit:

• Statement of intent
• A writing sample in English
• Two letters of reference

TOEFL Requirement for non-English speakers only: The minimum acceptable TOEFL score is 600 on the paper based test. For the Internet based TOEFL (IBT), we require a minimum of 100 with the following minimum section requirements: Listening 20; Speaking 20; Reading 20; Writing 20. Individual departments may set a higher standard.
IELTS: An overall score of at least Band 6.5 with no score of less than 6.0 on each academic component of the IELTS.

MA degree:

Statement of intent: Applicants for the MA program must submit a 1-2 page Statement of Intent which includes:

• Provide a brief summary of the student's prior education and experience (emphasizing any matter that is not evident from the student's official academic transcript, or that might be pertinent to consideration for a teaching or research assistantship);
• Indicate clearly the field or fields of political science in which the student hopes to specialize;
• Discuss one or two possible thesis topics, and;
• Relate the application to the student's long-term goals.

Writing sample: Candidates should be aware that the Admissions Committee will be referring to this statement as an indicator of the student's ability. (Please supply translation into English, as appropriate.)

PhD degree:

Statement of intent: Applicants for the PhD program must provide a 2-5 page Statement of Intent which summarizes:

• The candidate's previous education and experience
• Details specific research and dissertation interests
• Relates those interests to one (or more) of the Department's areas of specialization
• Proposes a suitable supervisor
• Explains how the proposed research relates to long-term goals

Writing sample: All candidates for the PhD program must provide a copy of a recently written academic paper. This academic paper should be of a character that enables the Admissions Committee to judge the candidate's ability to perform research in the indicated field.

Questions?

Contact Rachel Richmond, Graduate Secretary or Dr. Feng Xu, Graduate Director.