Sociology, PhD

Admission Requirements

Application Website

Applicants should specify on the application which degree program they wish to enter. Applicants seeking a Ph.D. degree should apply directly for acceptance to the Ph.D. program. (Applicants need not have an M.A. degree to apply to the Ph.D. program.) For admission to graduate study in sociology, the following, in addition to the minimum Graduate School requirements, are normally required:

A. A bachelor’s degree or its equivalent, as attested to by transcripts of previous academic work.

B. Undergraduate statistics course.

C. Undergraduate grade point average of 3.0 or above.

D. If your native or primary language is not English, English proficiency must be established based on the results of the TOEFL or IELTS exam. Language exams are not required for international students who have a degree from an institution where the primary instruction was in English.

E. Three strong recommendations from former instructors.

F. Acceptance by both the Department and the Graduate School.

Degree Requirements

In addition to the minimum Graduate School requirements, the following are required:

Residence

Minimum residence is one year of full-time study. Students may be admitted to the Ph.D. program on a part-time basis, but these arrangements usually require the student to appear on campus during certain periods of the normal working day. Full-time study entails 9 graduate credit hours per semester.

Courses

Course requirements for a Ph.D. in sociology include seven designated courses: two in sociological theory (SOC 505  and SOC 506  , three in statistics and methods (SOC 501 , SOC 502 , SOC 504 ), one in global sociology (SOC 512 ), and one additional methods course chosen by the student. In addition to these core courses, students complete 8 electives. Two of the eight electives may be taken outside the department, upon written approval from the department’s Graduate Program Director.

MA Degree

A student is awarded the M.A. degree  as a sign of progress toward the Ph.D.

Professional Competence Requirement

A student proceeds to the second half of doctoral work after the submission of two papers written under faculty supervision. These should normally be completed by the end of the third academic year, and each of the two papers is designed to allow students to demonstrate a different competence. Each paper should be more substantial than a seminar paper and less substantial than an M.A. thesis. Two different substantive areas must be represented in the papers. The two papers are designed to demonstrate competence in the kinds of skills that students will need in the profession of sociology. One of these papers must be a theoretical/ empirical paper and the second can be either another theoretical/empirical paper, an analytical review of the literature, or an analytical review of the literature embedded in a grant proposal. In other words, one paper must be theoretical/empirical and the second may be chosen from among the three possible kinds of papers described below.

1. Mandatory Theoretical/Empirical Paper: Most sociological articles use empirical data to answer theoretical questions. Such questions often arise from previous research. They can also be the result of juxtaposing two or more theories, or finding that a theory could use further development or clarification on a point and then showing how the proposed development or clarification better explains some specific aspect or aspects of social reality. The empirical data explained or clarified by the theory or theories can take many forms. It can be the product of ethnographies, comparative and/or historical research, social surveys, small group or experimental laboratory research, content analyses, etc. The important point is to combine theory and empirical research.
2. Analytical review of the literature: This paper is to be an assessment of the state of the art in some substantive area of sociology. This paper can take various forms. One possibility is a review essay. Examples of this form can be found in the Annual Review of Sociology, the Psychological Bulletin, or the Journal of Economic Literature. A second approach could be a review of a field that could serve as the substantive underpinning for a graduate seminar.
3. Analytical review of the literature embedded in a grant proposal: This paper takes the form of a major grant proposal. It should normally include a review of relevant literature, statements of the theoretical framework being used, the hypotheses to be tested, and the methodology to be employed in the project. The proposal does not have to be submitted to a funding agency, but all the materials required by a particular agency or foundation must be completed. In addition, the project must receive IRB approval if human subjects are involved. This proposal must also be of substantial size. A very short proposal of just a few pages is not adequate even if that is acceptable to a particular agency.

Upon successful completion of the above requirements, the student may proceed to the advanced stage of his or her doctoral work.

Teaching Requirement

Graduate training includes supervised teaching experience. In the fall semester of their second year, students enroll in a teaching practicum to prepare them to teach their own course, under supervision, the following summer or in the Fall semester of their third year.

Preliminary Examination

This takes the form of an oral examination in the student’s specialty area to be given only after all the above requirements have been met. It is designed to appraise the depth of knowledge in the broad area from which the student has selected a dissertation topic. The content of this area is to be defined individually for each student. It consists of a generally recognized, broad subfield and must deal with related materials from other subfields.

Advancement to Candidacy

The department’s recommendation that a student be advanced to candidacy for the Ph.D. is based on passing the preliminary examination and approval of a dissertation proposal.

Doctoral Dissertation

This must be an independent piece of research and scholarship representing an original contribution, the results of which are worthy of publication. Upon oral defense and acceptance of the dissertation, the department will recommend to the dean of the Graduate School that thestudent be awarded the Ph.D. degree.

The progress of every student will be evaluated by the department at the end of every year of graduate study. Those whose performance and ability are clearly below the standard established by the department for the Ph.D. may be asked to withdraw. If more than seven years have elapsed since the student completed 24 hours of graduate courses in the department, the student’s Ph.D. candidacy will lapse. After the first year, a progressively larger proportion of a student’s time will be spent as a participant in research activities, under the supervision of faculty members. Ordinarily, a student with adequate preparation and involved in full-time study should be able to earn a Ph.D. within five to six years from the start of graduate work. Students who arrive with an M.A. degree in sociology or with three semesters of work in the discipline will be expected to complete some of the requirements above more quickly than indicated.