Prospective PhD Students

  • You do not need to contact me or any Georgetown faculty in advance of applying to the PhD program. Unlike some other academic fields, we do not have an admissions system in which individual advisors choose to accept students who will work with them; we have a central admissions committee that reads all the applications and makes decisions. Contacting faculty in advance does not affect your admission probability. I am generally unable to meet with applicants before they are admitted, both for equity reasons and due to time limitations. 
  • I am currently available to advise PhD students and serve on dissertation committees. I can serve as the dissertation advisor (in other words, the dissertation committee chair) for dissertations looking at some aspect of public opinion, survey research and/or elections. And I can serve on the dissertation committee of students working in any area of American politics. Decisions about your dissertation committee membership will not be made when you start the program. Instead, each student will come to an agreement with faculty members to serve on their committee, normally in their second or third year of the PhD program.
  • The Government Department’s admissions page provides more information on the application process.

Advising UndergradUate Honors Theses

  • If you are writing an honors thesis in the Department of Government, you can ask me to serve as your advisor. Please email me by the end of September of your senior year. I will only advise one honors thesis student per academic year, and I prioritize students who have previously taken a class with me. However, I can serve as the second reader for additional theses if I am unable to serve as your advisor.

I Do Not Advise MPP Theses

  • The McCourt School has certain professors who advise MPP theses. If you are writing a thesis, you enroll in the MPP thesis as a class in your second year. That instructor is your thesis advisor. As I do not teach that class, I cannot serve as your MPP thesis advisor. However, if you visit me during my office hours, I am happy to discuss your thesis plans and progress at that time if your thesis topic overlaps with my areas of expertise.