Sociology, PhD

PhD Requirements

Post-master’s students are required to successfully complete 36 credits, complete their dissertation, and successfully defend their dissertation. Students who apply for admission to the PhD program without an MA from a nationally accredited college or university or its international equivalent must first complete requirements for UMass Boston’s 30-36 credit MA degree in applied sociology.

Please note: Courses taken to fulfill MA requirements may not be counted toward completion of the additional PhD program requirements. MA students must take the comprehensive exam and receive a passing grade in order to be admitted to the PhD program.

Required Courses (12 credits):

• SOCIOL 652 Advanced Quantitative Methods
• SOCIOL 607 Contemporary Sociological Theory
• SOCIOL 609L Qualitative Methods and Field Research *

• *If this course was taken to fulfill MA requirements, then an additional methods course is required.

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  One additional course emphasizing theory:*

• SOCIOL 601 Complex Organizations
• SOCIOL 606 Social Semiotics and Cultural Analysis
• SOCIOL 620 Social Problems
• SOCIOL 682 Sociology of Health and Illness
• SOCIOL 690 Classic and Contemporary Views of the Nature of Crime

• *Courses taken to meet concentration requirements cannot be used also to satisfy the theory requirement.

2 Courses from a Substantive Concentration (6 credits):

Elective Courses (select 1) (3 credits)*

• SOCIOL 600 Foundations of Applied Sociology
• SOCIOL 601 Complex Organizations
• SOCIOL 610 Teaching Sociology: Theory & Practice
• SOCIOL 620 Social Problems
• SOCIOL 642 Issues in Contemporary Social Policy
• SOCIOL 655 Evaluation Research
• SOCIOL 660 Fundamentals of Survey Methodology
• SOCIOL 661 Designing and Evaluating Survey Questions
• SOCIOL 662 Applied Survey Sampling - Design and Analysis
• SOCIOL 668 The Life Course Paradigm

• *All courses outside of a student’s concentration and required courses may be electives.

Dissertation Seminar and Candidacy

All students must take and receive passing grades in both a Theory/Methods Comprehensive Exam and a Substantive Area Comprehensive Exam prior to advancing to PhD candidacy.

Admission Requirements

Applicants for the 36-credit post-MA PhD program must have an MA degree in sociology or a related field from a nationally accredited college or university or its international equivalent. Note: Students who apply for admission to the PhD program without an MA from a nationally accredited college or university or its international equivalent must first complete requirements for UMass Boston’s 30-36 credit MA degree in applied sociology. The review committee will admit applicants with degrees in other disciplines at their discretion. The program directors will review coursework from other graduate programs on a case-by-case basis to determine transferability of credits.

Preference will be given to all applicants whose transcripts show completion of these courses with a minimum undergraduate GPA of 3.25 and graduate GPA of 3.50, taken within the past seven years. Applicants are required to submit GRE Verbal and Quantitative scores to be considered for admission. Admission standards are similar for those who have not yet completed an MA degree.

Applicants should submit a completed application and related materials by January 31.

A completed application package includes these materials:

• Completed application form and required fee
• Official transcripts for all undergraduate and/or graduate programs attended
• GRE general test scores and, when applicable, TOEFL scores
• Three letters of recommendation from persons with whom the applicant has had extensive academic and/or professional contact

PhD applicants must submit an essay of no more than 1,500 words addressing the following:

• Specific interest in a PhD in sociology and rationale for pursuing the PhD
• Current major research and interests in the field of sociology
• Description of professional post-PhD goals
• Academic writing sample