Prospective Students

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At Western, we are committed to providing our students with the resources needed for them to have the best student experience possible both inside and outside the classroom. To learn more about London visit yourlondoncalling.ca.

 

Career and Professional Development Services

The Department is committed to ensuring that there is a robust and comprehensive approach to the professional development of both MA and PhD students. Normally, a number of graduate seminars are offered throughout the academic year covering the following topics - Research Proposal Writing, Applying for External Scholarships, Ethics Review, CVs and Cover Letters, Publishing, Applying for Academic jobs.

1. Own Your Future 

Western's doctoral professional development program is offered by the School of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies in collaboration with various units across campus. Doctoral students learn to assess their skill proficiency and communicate this skill proficiency to employers. Sessions include Career Engagement, Intercultural & Social Fluency, Communication & Relationship Building, Thriving, Leadership and Teaching & Learning. These workshops support you in your doctoral studies and enable you to be career-ready. Own Your Future is self-directed - you participate as much or as little as you want and it is supported by a confidential Power Skills Assessment. Relaxing and meaningful, developed and delivered by expert Faculty.

2. Graduate Student Professional Development Activities Calendar

Everything from how to publish to how to mentor. A calendar of events amalgamating graduate student professional development activities within the Faculty of Social Science including departments and grad student associations. Open to all graduate students in the faculty.

3. Job Placement Services 

We are committed to the professional success of our graduate students and help them secure jobs after graduation. In addition to excellent academic training in political science, the department offers our students institutional support in finding jobs relevant to their degrees. Throughout the program and in parallel to the coursework, we offer a series of sessions and seminars in which students develop skills for the job market that increase their chances of securing employment related to political science. Topics include: keys to success at job interviews; research grant applications; the art of publishing your article; academic conference presentations; and the winning CV.

The department has a Director of Placement, an experienced faculty member who supervises this program, coordinates the workshops, provides person mentoring and reviews each job application.  The Director of Placement will organize a practice job talk for every student who is invited to a job interview.  The practice talk will be open to all members of the department and fellow graduate students and provide you with opportunity to receive constructive feedback and go to the interview prepared and confident.  

4. Department Hosted Career Development Workshops

As part of the Department's commitment to the professional success of our graduate students, our faculty members host career development workshops throughout the academic year. Please see below for a list of workshops held between 2020-2021.

  • First Impressions: The CV (Facilitator: Dr. Dimitrov) - Nov 6th @ 2pm
  • Academic Job Applications: Getting an Interview (Facilitators: Drs. Turgeon & Dimitrov) - Dec 4th @ 4pm
  • The Job Interview: Keys to Success (Facilitator: Drs. Lebo & Dimitrov) - Dec 11th @ 2pm
  • Applying for Research Grants (Facilitators: Drs. Stephenson & Dimitrov) - Jan 15th @ 2pm
  • Academic Conference Participation (Facilitators: Drs. Harmes & Dimitrov) - Feb 12th @ 2pm
  • The Art of Publishing (Facilitators: Drs. Taylor & Dimitrov) - Mar 12th @ 2pm
 

Academic Services

Collage of images - student typing on keyboard, library bookshelves, group collaboration

1. Software for Students

Did you know that you have access to a lot of software as a student at Western? Some is available for free, some can be purchased for a low annual fee, and most of it is installed on public computers in Social Science. There is a list of pre-installed software locations and titles online. Click here for a list of software that you can get for your own computers.

2. Grad Collaboration Meeting Rooms 

Three Grad Collaborative Meeting Rooms are available 24/7 through a booking system. They are located in SSC 4095, 4096 and 4097. A collaborative room can be booked by graduate students enrolled in FSS graduate programs (course and thesis-based). Rooms are available 24/7. The Faculty of Social Science Graduate Student collaborative meeting spaces are ideal for study groups preparing group presentations, assignments, and reciting presentations. All areas are AODA compliant. Each room is equipped with whiteboard, LCD screen and a computer which is connected to the SSC Network. Graduate students can connect their own laptop with available cables.

For details on how to book a grad collaboration room, please click here.

*Please note that these rooms are reserved for Social Science graduate students. Rooms can be booked for a maximum two-hour time slot per day per group. Rooms can only be booked a maximum of two weeks in advance.*

Terms of Use: 

  • Conversation volume only - no excessive noise
  • Only lidded drinks allowed - no food
  • Keep it clean - remove all garbage after use
  • The person booking the room is responsible for any damages or stolen items
  • Social Science is not responsible for items left in the room
  • Rooms not claimed within 10 minutes of the booked time become available

3. Western Libraries

Western Libraries offers extensive resources to graduate students, with an online catalogue service to search for electronic books, journals, bibliographic databases and expert staff to help students in their research. Western Libraries collections are strong in all areas of political science and are particularly deep in the Department's PhD fields of political theory, Canadian politics, comparative politics and local government. Check out the Research Support webpage, which contains many useful services and resources to assist students with their studies at Western. Helpful information for international and exchange students can be found here. "How Do I Find Dissertations" is a helpful resource found at the Western Libraries webpage to locate many dissertations conferred at Western and also published at other universities. For assistance, contact Courtney Waugh, Western Libraries, WLM1J.

D.B. Weldon Group Study Rooms: Please note that a limited number of individual research/study spaces are available to PhD candidates.

 

Additional Resources

1. Health Services

SOGS Supplemental Health Services

Self-Care - Make your Mental Health a Priority/Counselling/Emergency Contacts

2. Housing Services

There are many on-campus housing options available to graduate students.  For more information on on-campus housing please visit the University Housing Service website.

For students wishing to live off campus, Western provides an Off-Campus Housing Service, where listings of available housing throughout London are maintained.  Our in-person service operates on a self-serve basis.  Located in Elgin Hall, you'll have free access to phones and city maps, and computers are available to conduct personalized searches based on categories such as rental price, location, and housing type.

3. Information Services

4. Graduate Student Organizations

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