Admissions Process and Criteria

For admissions information and to apply online, please visit SEAS Graduate Admissions.

Program Requirements

The program is divided into two stages. The first comprises a study of related fields of learning that support the general area of research focus and culminates in the qualifying examination. The second, composed of original research and the presentation of findings in a written dissertation, culminates in the final examination.

Students admitted to doctoral study are encouraged to undertake one year of full-time study on campus. In general, the advisor will require the student to register for a minimum of 6 credit hours of course work in every fall and spring semester.

Upon admission to the first stage of the program, the student will meet with their assigned advisor to structure their programs of study. Programs of study will include a focus area selected from the table above. A minimum of 30 credit hours in a formal program at the graduate level beyond master's study or, for students without master's degrees, a minimum of 54 credit hours in a formal program at the graduate level beyond the baccalaureate, is required. In addition, all doctoral students take a minimum of 24 hours of dissertation research once they have been admitted to candidacy.

The following courses are prerequisites and are required in addition to the credit hours discussed above: Math 31, 32, and APSC 115. Students who do not have a master's degree will be required to take the following courses: EMSE 212, EMSE 260, EMSE 269, EMSE 283. Students with a master's degree may also take EMSE 212, EMSE 260, EMSE 269, EMSE 283 for doctoral credit, however they are not recommended and are subject to approval by the department chair. All doctoral students are required to take EMSE 216 and EMSE 271. It is recommended that students register for EMSE 216 in their last year of course work. In addition, students must select one quantitative method course from the following list: EMSE 208, EMSE 254, EMSE 273.

If a doctoral student receives two grades of F or three grades below B, graduate study is terminated and further enrollment prohibited. Courses in which the student earns grades below B, are not included in the total credit-hour requirement for the degree. Students who receive any grade below B, are required to review their programs of study with their advisors. Students must maintain a GPA of 3.5 in their program of study (all courses on the Form 1).

Qualifying Examination

The Qualifying Examination is the principal means of determining whether a student will qualify as a candidate for the doctoral degree and progress to the second stage of the program. Its purpose is to ascertain that the student's background and intellectual development are adequate to support doctoral research in the central field.

The Qualifying Examination consists of 2 parts: Quantitative Methods Exam and Focus Area Exam.
The Quantitative Methods Exam is a 3 hour written exam offered the last week in September and the last week in January. Students should apply to take this exam before the end of the preceeding Semester. The Quantitative Methods Exam consists of a 1 hour exam covering EMSE 271 and a 1 hour exam covering either EMSE 208, EMSE 254 or EMSE 273. Students should fill out the DQE checklist and either fax or email it to the department, to the attention of Ms. Michelle Mazzuchi.

The Focus Area Exam will be both a written and oral exam. Students will take this exam the first semester following the completion of their coursework. Students should register for EMSE 399 for the semester in which they will be taking the exam. Students will be required to complete a 10 page literature review on a topic in their focus area. They will have two weeks to complete the review. At the end of the two weeks they will be required to submit the review to a committee of three faculty members (the advisor, one faculty member appointed by the chair, and one additional faculty member). The student, along with their faculty advisor, will then schedule their oral exam. Oral exams will be approximately one hour long.

At the discretion of the committee a student who fails any part of the qualifying examination may be given a second opportunity to qualify for candidacy. Usually, the entire examination must be retaken. Students who fail to qualify for candidacy in a doctoral program of the School will be considered to have failed on a school-wide basis and will not be admitted to further doctoral study within the School.

After successful completion of the DQE, the candidate's advisor will present the academic record of the candidate and request the formation of a research committee. The Department will vote on (provisional) admission to candidacy and the research committee. Once the student is admitted to candidacy for the degree, he/she begins specialized study and research under the supervision of their research committee. At this point the research committee will remain fixed unless a change is formally requested and approved.

Post-Graduate Survey

The Survey of Earned Doctorates (SED) is an ongoing survey sponsored by the National Science Foundation, the National Institutes of Health, the US Department of Education, the National Endowment for the Humanities, the US Department of Agriculture and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. The survey helps these and many other agencies and entities assess the availability of highly educated personnel. The survey gathers data from all research doctorate graduates each year on their educational history, sources of support and post-graduation plans. The completed survey responses become part of the Doctorate Records File (DRF), a nearly complete data bank on doctorate recipients from 1920 to the present and the major source of doctoral data at the national level. The profiles of doctorate recipients that emerge from these data assist policymakers at the federal, state, local and university levels.

The information provided on the survey questionnaire remains confidential and is safeguarded in accordance with the Privacy Act of 1974, as amended. The survey data are reported only in aggregate form or in a manner that does not identify information about any individual.

To complete the Survey of Earned Doctorates, go to http://survey.norc.uchicago.edu/doctorate
and follow the instructions.  Once you complete the questionnaire via the web you can have a confirmation email sent directly to your university to show that you have completed the survey or you can print a certificate that you can turn in to your university

If you have any difficulties or questions please contact us by email at 4800-sed@norc.uchicago.edu or by phone 1-800-248-8649.