Graduate Student Handbook

II. ADMISSION TO THE DEPARTMENT

Applicants are admitted to the Ph.D. program for entry in the fall semester. The admission process is highly competitive. Consult the Sociology Department webpage for application deadlines. Members of the Graduate Admissions Committee, made up of tenured and tenure-track faculty and chaired by the Graduate Program Director (GPD), evaluate all applications. Funding and admission decisions are based on undergraduate grades, letters of recommendation, a writing sample, research experience, a demonstration of basic college-level competence in math or statistics, and, most importantly, a personal statement that outlines the applicant’s research goals. GRE scores are no longer required but may nevertheless still be submitted.

International students without a four-year Bachelor’s degree from a U.S. institution or other higher education institutions where English is the language of instruction, MUST submit scores from the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) exam or, otherwise demonstrate English language proficiency.

Students who have a Master’s degree should also submit evidence of their performance in their Master’s program. If admitted, they may apply to have some of their M.A. coursework transferred toward the Ph.D. requirements. All requests to transfer courses are evaluated by the Graduate Program Director in consultation with relevant department faculty members. There are limits on how many credits may be transferred, as described later in this handbook. The Master’s thesis from a previous institution is not transferable. That is, it cannot be accepted as Qualifying Paper #1 (QP1) in our program. However, contingent on faculty approval and guidance, a project with demonstrated excellence can potentially be developed into a QP1 acceptable for our program but will likely still require substantial revision. More details are included below.

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