Students must complete a minimum of 60 credits beyond the master's degree in order to receive the PhD. Of these, 48 credits are in coursework, with a grade point average of at least 3.0, and 12 credits are in dissertation research. Following completion of the core curriculum, students must pass a written comprehensive examination to enter candidacy. Candidates for the PhD degree must maintain continuous enrollment, successfully defend a dissertation proposal within three years of passing the comprehensive exam, and complete the dissertation no later than seven years after enrolling in the program (nine years for part-time students).
The core curriculum for the doctoral program consists of 12 required courses and four electives. Although most of the courses are taken within the Silver School of Social Work, two of the electives must be taken outside of the School. Full-time students enroll in four courses in the fall and spring semesters for two years, while part-time students enroll in two courses each fall and spring for four years. Within six months of completing coursework students must submit a Comprehensive Integrative Paper, which serves as the comprehensive examination. After passing this examination students may select a dissertation committee and begin work on developing a dissertation proposal. Before they can start collecting data students must successfully defend the proposal to their committee and have it approved by the University Committee on Activities Involving Human Subjects. As a final step, students must successfully defend the dissertation to their committee.
All students are required to complete 48 credits of coursework according to the following schedule:
Within six months of completing coursework, students must take an exam to move them forward in the program. Successful completation of this exam, the Comprehensive Integrative Paper (CIP), advances students to candidacy for the doctoral degree and allows them to begin working on their dissertation proposal.