Program Requirements
Complete at least 60 credits from 13 or more courses including two core courses, one skills course, one ethics course, one School for the Environment seminar, 18 credits of dissertation research, and 25 to 26 credits of electives.
Doctoral candidacy: Completion of written & oral qualifying exams by the end of the sixth semester. If the presentation and successful defense of the dissertation do not take place within five years of admission to candidacy, the candidate must repeat the comprehensive examination.
Dissertation: Compose and defense a dissertation based on original research.
En Route Master’s Degree: Students may, with the approval of the program director, apply to receive an MS degree en route to the PhD. To qualify, students must complete the core course requirements and comprehensive examinations.
Minimum grade: No courses with grade below B can be applied to the program. Students who earn B- in two courses will be considered no longer in good standing and may be dismissed from the program. Students who receive a grade below C in any graduate course will be dismissed from the program.
Grading basis: Courses must be taken graded unless the course is only offered on a satisfactory/unsatisfactory basis.
GPA: A minimum GPA of 3.0 is required from all courses applied toward the program.
Residency: Graduate course credits earned at another institution, as a non-degree student, or in another department may only be applied to the program with approval from the dissertation committee and graduate program director.
Course level: No more than one course taken at UMass Boston at the 300/400-level may be applied toward the program with approval of the thesis/project advisor and graduate program director.
Statute of limitations: Eight years.
