Each year, we enroll a small cohort of four or five new students into the UW Evans School Ph.D. program with the expectation that it will take students four to six years to complete their degree. All admitted Ph.D. students will be provided with a funding offer at time of their acceptance. The financial support package includes tuition, stipend, and health insurance along with part-time employment as a research or teaching assistant.
Application Timeline
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December 15, 2026
Application Deadline
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February 2027
Notification
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April 15, 2027
Deadline to Convey Decision
Preparing Your Application
We welcome and encourage applicants from all areas of the world and actively promote a diverse student body comprised of different ethnic, socioeconomic, cultural, academic and personal backgrounds.
Application Fee of $90 (U.S.)
The graduate school offers an application fee waiver for those who qualify.
Resume
Include relevant academic, professional, volunteer, or military experience; academic and/or professional honors, prizes, or scholarships; leadership positions and professional affiliations.
Writing Sample
A sole-authored piece of work showing your analytic and writing capacity. The sample should be cut down to 30 pages or fewer if taken from a longer document.
Statement of Purpose
Describe in 750 words or less:
- Yourself and your experience in the context of your decision to pursue the Ph.D. in public policy and management.
- Your expectations of the Ph.D. program in furthering your career objectives.
- Your research interests and how you see them matching the strengths of the Evans School.
- Your academic background, research, professional, and other experiences as well as any other factors relevant to your interest in public policy and management.
Unofficial Transcripts
From each college or university you have attended. Upon acceptance into the program, students will be asked to send an official copy of their transcript to the UW Graduate School office for degree verification purposes.
Admitted students will be required to complete a college-level course in calculus before enrolling in the Ph.D. program. The application asks about your prior calculus coursework. If you haven’t previously taken calculus, you can briefly detail (in two sentences or fewer) your plan to do so if admitted into the program.Three Letters of Recommendation
To be submitted electronically by your references. At least two of the letters should be from faculty familiar with your academic work, and all three should address your capacity for pursuing an advanced research degree. You may designate up to five recommenders in the application system, but only three letters are required for your application to be complete.
GRE Scores or Quantitative/Analytic Resume
Applicants must submit either official GRE scores or detailed information about academic and professional experience with quantitative and analytic work.
Applicants who choose to submit GRE scores need to have official scores sent from ETS. GMAT scores can be submitted in place of the GRE, but the GRE is preferred. Scores should be sent to the University of Washington (institution code: 4854). We highly recommend submitting official GRE scores if you have not previously completed coursework in advanced math or statistics, or if your coursework in these areas is more than 10 years old.
TOEFL Scores or Other Demonstration of English Language Proficiency
For applicants whose native language is not English. See the full list of ways to establish English language proficiency. The Evans School does not accept IELTS or Duolingo scores as a measure of English language proficiency.
Identify Potential Ph.D. Adivsors
A research proposal is not required for the application, but we ask applicants review the list of potential Ph.D. advisors and identify 2-3 whose research aligns with your interests. You may include a one or two sentence explanation for each faculty member about why you have selected them.
Use of Artificial Intelligence
Applicants are expected to create and submit accurate and original application materials by the deadlines without the assistance of Artificial Intelligence (AI) content generators, such as ChatGPT, except for minor editorial assistance. Issues of dishonesty may result in denial of admission, rescinding an offer of admission, and/or revoking funding/scholarship.
Frequently Asked Questions
We offer all students admitted into our doctoral program five years of academic-year funding through a mix of research and teaching assistantships at the Evans School. Academic-year funding consists of a tuition waiver, a monthly stipend of approximately $2,300-2,600 during the 9-months of the academic year, and health insurance year-round. Research and teaching assistantships have a 20 hour a week work obligation. Students are assigned to a research assistantship with an Evans School faculty member in their first year in the program, and then complete a mix of research and teaching assistantships in subsequent quarters. On average, Evans School doctoral students serve as teaching assistants for six quarters while in the program.
Yes. If you haven’t previously taken a college-level course in calculus, you can detail your plan to do so if admitted into the program in your application. However, having previously taken a course in calculus can make your application more competitive.
The GRE is not required and there is no minimum GRE score. Applicants who choose not to submit GRE scores will be asked to provide information on the application form about their past academic and professional experiences that prepare them for quantitative and analytic work in the PhD program. We review applications holistically, taking into account your prior coursework and grades, your letters of recommendation, your research experience and writing sample, your personal statement, and your test scores or quantitative/analytic resume. We are looking for evidence of quantitative and analytic preparation and aptitude. We recommend that applicants submit official GRE scores if they have not had prior coursework in economics, statistics, quantitative methods, or other quantitative subjects.
If you will have a bachelor’s or master’s degree from a U.S. institution by the time you would start in the program, you do not need to submit TOEFL scores as part of your application.
If you have a bachelor’s or master’s degree from an institution in Australia, the Bahamas, Canada, Ireland, Jamaica, Kenya, New Zealand, Singapore, South Africa, Trinidad and Tobago, or the United Kingdom and where English is the medium of instruction, you do not need to submit a TOEFL score. Please see the UW Graduate School English Language Proficiency Requirements for a full list of options for demonstrating English proficiency.
Our Ph.D. program is an academic degree program designed to prepare graduates for careers as tenure-track academics or senior researchers at think tanks or NGO’s. The curriculum of the program focuses on research skill development and professional development within the academic field. For that reason, the curriculum of our Ph.D. program differs in its focus from MPA/MPP programs, and an MPA/MPP is not equivalent to the first two years of doctoral coursework. Students in our doctoral program earn a Master of Science in public policy and management degree upon completion of their first two years of coursework and their Major Area Paper (the literature review of the dissertation proposal).