The Ph.D. program prepares students for careers as professors, researchers, and public servants in the fields of Urban Policy and Administration and Urban Planning and Development.

Students are required to complete 48 credit hours of study. This requires a sequence of core courses consisting of 18 credit hours. Students must complete 18 credit hours in an area of specialization including three required courses. Two field specializations are offered: Urban Planning and Development and Urban Policy and Administration. Twelve credit hours of dissertation research are also required. Students must pass qualifying examinations on the core and specialty area before commencing formal dissertation work. Students should consult the Program Guidelines for details.

Admission Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree with at least a 3.0 GPA (on 4.0 scale);
• Master's degree in an appropriate field with at least a 3.5 GPA (on a 4.0 scale);
• GRE score of at least 500 Verbal, 500 Quantitative, and 4.5 Analytical.
• TOEFL: Those applicants whose native language is not English and who do not hold a degree from a university where the language of instruction is English must also submit scores from the Test of English as a Foreign Language, with a minimum score of 210 on the computer-based test.

Applications must include:

• transcripts from all institutions attended;
• supplemental application (available from School web site);
• at least two letters of recommendation (preferably from professors knowledgeable about your potential to perform doctoral level work).

Part-time Students:

The program gives preference to applicants who intend to study full-time and who can be supported with financial aid (a Graduate Research Assistantship or a Fellowship). A few part-time students may be admitted if they can demonstrate they have flexible schedules and can attend daytime courses and fully participate in school functions. The Graduate School requires every Ph.D. student to complete at least one year of full-time study.

Admission Deadlines:

Fall Admissions July 15

January 31 to be considered for a University Fellowship

March 1 to be considered for a Graduate Assistantship

Spring Admissions November 15

Academic Policies

Waivers And Prerequisites

Students who have recently and satisfactorily completed equivalent courses elsewhere may request that up to nine hours of course work count towards their 48 hours of required Ph.D. study. Students who are not prepared for advanced study or do not hold the prerequisites for a particular course will be required to complete remedial work. Such courses do not count toward degree credit.

Satisfactory Progress

Students who fall below a 3.0 GPA or fail to receive grades of "B" or higher in their course work are subject to dismissal from the program. No probationary period is provided for students failing core courses. The Admissions and Review committee will review performance of students each semester to ensure students are making satisfactory progress.

Comprehensive Exams

To qualify for Ph.D. candidacy, students must satisfactorily complete (1) the core examination and (2) a field examination. Each student must sit for the core examination as soon as it is offered after the student completes all core courses. Students sit for the field exam after having completed core and elective courses (36 credits). Students must pass the core exam before proceeding to the field exam. Students must sit for exams as soon as they are eligible to take the exam. Examinations are held in May each year. Examinations always have a written component and may also include an oral component. Consult with the chair of the relevant examination committee for details about a particular exam.

Qualifying exams are graded on a Pass/Fail basis. The written examinations are evaluated independently and anonymously by each examiner. Examining committees ordinarily meet as a group before determining a final grade. Examining committee chairs forward grades to the Program Director who officially notifies students of their results.

Should a student not achieve a Pass on an exam, he or she must take the exam again when offered the following year. The examining committee may specify additional work to be completed before sitting for a subsequent exam. Students will not have more than two opportunities to sit for and satisfactorily complete each qualifying exam. Failure to retake the exam or failing to pass the exam on the second effort will result in dismissal from the Ph.D. program. Students may change field specializations for the second exam as long as they take the field exam within one year of the first effort. In this case, the student will only have one opportunity to pass the exam. Failure to pass a core or field exam may result in a student losing his or her graduate assistantship.

The Ph.D. in Urban and Public Affairs consists of 48 credit hours of study including 18 hours of core courses, 18 hours in a field specialization, and 12 hours of dissertation research.

Students with no prior study of statistics are required to take PADM 601/PLAN 602 Statistics for Public Affairs and SOC 510 Computerized Data Analysis prior to enrolling in SOC 610. Students with previous study of basic statistics, but no experience with statistical software, are required to take SOC 510 prior to enrolling in SOC 610. Students with no prior study in economics are recommended to take an introductory course in that subject, such as PLAN 500 Foundations of Economics. These courses do not count toward the 48-semester-hour requirement.