Curriculum Requirements
To receive their Ph.D., students must complete the required core course curriculum and electives, the First Exam, the Second Exam (Orals), proficiency in a foreign language, dissertation research, a dissertation proposal, and the dissertation.
Language Requirement
Before being advanced to candidacy, students are required to demonstrate their ability to read scholarly work in a major foreign language. This requirement can be met in one of two ways:
- A written examination offered by the Sociology program in French, German, or Spanish.
- An intensive language course offered in the GC Language Reading Program.
Learn more about language requirements in the Student Handbook »
Examination Requirements
First Examination
A student pass the first exam after they have accumulated 45 credits, have completed five required courses with an average grade of B or better and have passed the two-semester writing seminar course.
Second Examination (Orals)
The second exam in sociology (known as the orals) requires doctoral students to develop a broad grounding in several fields within sociology. The exam evaluates students for teaching-level competency in at least three separate areas of sociology, and for understanding of the relationships between a chosen field of interest and other areas of the discipline.
The Second exam is scheduled by the student and their orals committee.
Learn more about examinations in the Student Handbook »
Dissertation Requirement
The single most important project one accomplishes in graduate school is the dissertation, for it is this original study that defines one as a scholar in the early years of a career. Thus the other requirements of the program are geared to preparing the student for dissertation research and writing.
Students should plan to develop a dissertation proposal after passing the Second Exam, and must complete both a written dissertation and an oral defense.