Doctoral Degree Requirements
Coursework
The residence requirement for the Ph.D. is the equivalent of three years of full-time study past the Bachelor's degree, i.e., 24 tuition units. At least two semesters beyond the Master's degree must be spent exclusively in full-time study at Brown University. Students who have completed graduate work while in graduate residence at another institution and not used courses in fulfillment of the requirements of a Ph.D. degree may, on petition to the Graduate Committee, and with the approval of the Registrar, transfer credit equivalent to eight (8) tuition units in partial fulfillment of the residence requirement at Brown.
A Masters thesis is required of all Ph.D. students. Students who enter with a B.A. or B.S. degree will have completed the Masters thesis as part of their M.A. work at Brown. Students who enter with a M.A. degree, but no thesis, follow the same procedures and timetable for the thesis as listed under the Masters Degree. If a student wrote a Masters thesis (or its equivalent) in sociology or in a closely-related field at another university, the student may request that the department review the thesis as a substitute for the requirement of a Masters thesis. The student should submit the thesis to the Chair of the Graduate Committee who will assign faculty members to review and evaluate the thesis and who will make a recommendation to the department. An evaluation and decision to accept a Master's thesis written elsewhere to fulfill the requirement in the department will be prepared in writing and placed in the student's file. This process should be completed by the end of the first semester of residence at Brown.
Students preparing for the Ph.D. degree design their own program of studies in consultation with faculty. The requirements for coursework for the Ph.D. are designed to provide the student a balanced program in theory, statistics, and methods, and breadth across three areas of specialization. Theory, methods, and statistics requirements must be taken for letter grades rather than S/NC.
The required core courses in theory, methods, and statistics are listed under the "First year of graduate study." They include: Classic Sociological Theory (SOC 2040), Contemporary Sociological Theory (SOC 2050), Fields and Methods of Sociological Research (SOC 2430), Qualitative Methods and Field Work (SOC 2210), Multivariate Analysis (SOC 2010), and Advanced Regression Models (SOC 2020).
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