Graduate Program

Welcome to the graduate program offered by the Office of Population Research.

Our training program includes students who specialize in Population Studies using a wide variety of perspectives and as part of different degrees. Prior undergraduate training in demography is not required and students come from very different backgrounds. Our program is highly selective. We look for individuals with a passion for learning and producing high-quality research.

Demography fosters interdisciplinary research. The diversity of academic fields of OPR faculty, which spawn the disciplines of Sociology, Evolutionary Biology, Politics, Psychology and Economics, is a witness to that fact. This also means that students have access to innovative research by leading academics in each of these fields. As a matter of fact, most students are already involved early in the program in faculty-led research projects that span from ethnographic to big data analysis. OPR offers strong formal training through regular courses in population topics and formal demographic methods, and mini courses tailored to the needs of students. In addition, students take advantage of the wealth of graduate classes that Princeton University offers. Some students take separate graduate certificates in topics such as Machine Learning.

Students and faculty participate in the weekly Demography seminar that exposes students to speakers from a wide range of fields but with a common interest in demographic analysis. The seminar is a weekly get-together opportunity for all the OPR community that provides the opportunity for interaction. Students are encouraged to meet with the speakers before or after the seminar. As part of their professional training, we expect and support students’ attendance at the Population Association of America meeting starting in their first year at Princeton and urge them to submit and present their research at other major field conferences throughout the program years.

OPR offers excellent support to students’ research with dedicated librarians, statistical consultants and support for grant processing. The majority of students and faculty are hosted in a relatively compact space, making OPR feel like a large family that will welcome you from the very moment you will start your graduate school adventure.

Patrick T. Sharkey, Acting Director of Graduate Studies