<p>Many US schools offer free tuition to Ph.D. students; it isn’t just the Ivies. Some will offer funding to top candidates but not the others.</p>
<p>After looking at your other posts…</p>
<p>I don’t know of any US schools that offer a MPhil. We usually have MA/MS degrees. (None of that automatic MA after a certain number of years like Oxbridge here.) </p>
<p>Four points: (1) most US Ph.D. programs in poli sci require knowledge of two foreign languages to an intermediate level before you can get the actual Ph.D. You may already have that, but it’s the biggest stumbling block for many Americans. (Some of my offspring’s friends get D.Phil.s in the UK for this reason.) (2) Few top schools have the bifurcated master’s/doctor degree system of admissions like Oxbridge. By that I mean, MOST candidates who are accepted into American Ph.D. programs do not already have a master’s degree.(My understanding is that at Oxbridge most people enroll in MPhil programs and then apply to continue for a D.Phil. while enrolled. ) Most master’s programs that do exist at Yale are “terminal;” you aren’t expected to go on to a Ph.D. (3) Many US Ph.D. programs weed out students along the way. If you get weeded out, you often end up with a MA. If you don’t, you usually just get a Ph.D.(4) In the US, a poli sci Ph.D. now takes on average about 6 years to complete.</p>