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QS World University Rankings by Subject 2024: Philosophy

Discover which universities around the world are the best for philosophy with the QS World University Rankings by Subject 2024.

New York University (NYU) is ranked as the best university in the world for studying philosophy for another year, thanks to a perfect score for academic reputation.

The best university for employer reputation this year is Harvard University, which has overall dropped one place to rank seventh. 

Harvard and NYU are two of four US universities in the top 10, with the UK the next best-represented study destination with three institutions. 

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Published on: 10 April 2024

† Corrections to university performance may be made after publication. You can view the release version and a summary of any edits  here .

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As a PhD student in the Harvard philosophy program, you’ll have the opportunity to develop your ideas, knowledge, and abilities. You'll work with other doctoral students, our faculty, and visiting scholars, all in a stimulating and supportive environment. The program has strengths across a broad range of topics and areas, so you'll be able to pursue your interests wherever they may lead, especially in moral and political philosophy, aesthetics, epistemology, metaphysics, philosophy of logic, philosophy of language, the history of analytic philosophy, ancient philosophy, Immanuel Kant, and 19th and 20th century European philosophy. 

Incoming cohorts consist of five to eight students per year. You will have substantial access to our renowned faculty and all the resources that Harvard makes available. This relatively small size also gives students a sense of intellectual community.

The curriculum is structured to help you make your way towards a dissertation: graduate-level coursework, a second-year research paper, a prospectus to help you identify a dissertation topic, and then the dissertation itself. Recent dissertations in the department have addressed a broad range of topics: Aristotle, Kant, Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, and Jean-Jacques Rousseau; contemporary moral and political philosophy; metaphysics; epistemology; and logic.

In addition to your research, you will also have the opportunity to develop your teaching skills in many different settings across the University.

You can find graduates of the PhD program in many universities. Recent graduates have gone on to tenure track positions at Yale University, Princeton University, Brown University, Northwestern University, Boston University, University of California, Berkeley, Stanford University, Washington University, and the University of Rochester. Other graduates have gone on to diverse careers in, among others, the arts, law, secondary education, and technology.

In addition to the standard PhD in philosophy, the department offers a PhD in classical philosophy in collaboration with the Department of the Classics and a coordinated JD/PhD program in conjunction with Harvard Law School. The department also offers a track in Indian Philosophy (administered jointly by Philosophy and South East Asian Studies.

Additional information on the graduate program is available from the Department of Philosophy and requirements for the degree are detailed in Policies .

Areas of Study

Philosophy | Classical Philosophy | Indian Philosophy 

For information please consult the Department webpage on the  graduate program overview .

Admissions Requirements

Please review the admissions requirements and other information before applying. You can find degree program specific admissions requirements below and access additional guidance on applying from the Department of Philosophy .

Academic Background

Applicants to the program in Philosophy are required to have a strong undergraduate background in philosophy (or its equivalent), indicating that they have a good grounding in the history of philosophy, as well as familiarity with contemporary work in ethics, epistemology and metaphysics, and logic.

Personal Statement

Standardized tests.

GRE General: Optional GRE Subject: Optional

Writing Sample

A writing sample is required as part of the application and should be between 12 to 30 pages long. The sample must address a substantial philosophical problem, whether it is an evaluation or presentation of an argument, or a serious attempt to interpret a difficult text. The upload of the writing sample should be formatted for 8.5-inch x 11-inch paper, 1-inch margins, with double-spaced text in a common 12-point font, such as Times New Roman.

Applicants seeking admission to the coordinated JD/PhD program must apply to and be separately admitted to Harvard Law School and the Department of Philosophy.

Theses and Dissertations

Theses & Dissertations for Philosophy

See list of Philosophy faculty

APPLICATION DEADLINE

Questions about the program.

Doctor of Philosophy

The PhD programs advance scientific discovery by training and supporting students doing in-depth research that solves the world’s biggest public health challenges. At the forefront of efforts to benefit the health of people worldwide, the School offers students the opportunity to join in shaping new ideas in public health and implementing them effectively. PhD students benefit from collaborations across public health disciplines and a broad range of academic fields through connections with other Harvard faculties.

All PhD students conduct research through a dissertation, in addition to other avenues of discovery. All PhD programs at Harvard University are administered by the Harvard Graduate School of Arts and Sciences (GSAS), and applications are processed through the GSAS online application system . Choose from one of four PhD programs offered collaboratively between Harvard Chan School and GSAS.

• Abbreviation : PhD
• Degree format : On campus  
• Time commitment : Full-time  
• Average program length : Varies between 4 to 7 years based on program

When applying to the PhD, applicants must choose one of the following specialized fields of study. Eligibility requirements vary by program and field of study.  

• Biological Sciences in Public Health
• Biostatistics
• Health Policy
• Environmental health
• Epidemiology
• Global health and population
• Social and behavioral sciences

Career outcomes vary based on field of study and research, but in general, PhD graduates will be prepared for a career in academia, health policy, government agencies, consulting, the pharmaceutical or biomedical industry, and generally improving lives through qualitative and quantitative research.

Admission information

Like all PhD (doctor of philosophy) programs at the School—and the University—the PhD in health policy is offered under the aegis of the Harvard Graduate School of Arts and Sciences (GSAS). Applications are processed through the GSAS online application system located at gsas.harvard.edu/admissions/apply .

The Graduate Program in Philosophy

Graduate Degree

Stanford's graduate program in Philosophy is by any measure among the world's best. We attract  excellent students , we provide them ample access to  leading scholars  for instruction and advice, and we turn out accomplished philosophers ready to compete for the best jobs in a very tight job market. We offer both MA and PhD degrees.

Doctoral Program

Masters Program

Our  graduate students  are part of a vigorous philosophical community.

Our tradition is to treat and regard our graduate students as much like colleagues as like students. Faculty and graduate students participate in workshops, in reading groups, in colloquium discussions and in nearly all department life on an equal basis. The Department covers the cost of graduate student participation in lunches and dinners with visiting speakers. Our graduate students participate in the running of the department. Two graduate students serve as representatives at department meetings, a graduate student serves on the Graduate Studies Committee, and graduate students also serve on faculty hiring committees. Graduate students are essential to our efforts to recruit new graduate students each year.

Graduate students have a lively society of their own, the Hume Society that is responsible for a range of both intellectual and social events.

Graduate students take a mixture of courses and seminars both in our department in other departments. They also regularly take directed reading courses or independent study courses when special needs are not met by scheduled courses or when students are working directly on their dissertations.

Our  calendar  is packed with a range of philosophical events. We have a regular  Colloquia series  with visiting speakers on Friday afternoons. Our Colloquia are followed by receptions for the speakers hosted by the graduate students followed by dinner with the speaker. In addition to the regular colloquia series, every year we host the  Immanuel Kant Lectures . Our graduate students, along with other local graduate students,  organize the  Berkeley/Stanford/Davis Conference  where every year graduate students have the opportunity to present papers to an even larger philosophical community.

Many more informal reading and research groups,  including the Social Ethics and Normative Theory Workshop, the Global Justice and Political Theory Workshop, and the  Logical Methods in the Humanities Workshop , existing within the department and the university and are able to invite speakers from all across the world.

The affiliated  Center for Ethics in Society  hosts many different events including the annual lectures such as   Tanner Lectures in Human Values , the   Wesson Lectures on democratic theory and practice , and the  Arrow Lecture Series on Ethics and Leadership , in addition to a vast range of other  conferences, lectures and workshops  on ethics and political philosophy.

The  Center for the Explanation of Consciousness  (CEC) is a research initiative at  Center for Study of Language and Information  which is devoted to studying materialistic explanations of consciousness. The CEC hosts talks and symposia from a variety of viewpoints exploring the nature of conscious experience. They also sponsor reading groups during the term, led by faculty and graduate students.

Philosophy PhD

The Graduate Program in Philosophy at Berkeley offers a first-rate faculty, a stimulating and friendly community of graduate students, and the resources of one of the world's finest research universities.

Two features distinguish our profile from that of other leading graduate programs in philosophy:

• The department has strengths in all the main areas of philosophy, including epistemology, philosophy of mind, metaphysics, philosophy of language, logic, ethics, the history of philosophy, and philosophy of science. We aim at diversity and breadth of coverage, rather than concentration on one or two areas of philosophical activity.
• Second, the program at Berkeley is structured to give students a high degree of independence in tailoring their studies to their interests.

Those wishing to pursue graduate studies in philosophy can choose among several routes to a PhD at Berkeley:

• The Philosophy Department's graduate program leads to a PhD in Philosophy.
• Students with strong interests in Ancient Philosophy may want to take advantage of a special ancient concentration within the philosophy program.
• Students with strong interests in the History and Philosophy of Science may want to explore the special HPS concentration within the philosophy program.
• Students with strong interests in formal logic may pursue them in the Philosophy Department, in the Mathematics Department , or in Berkeley's interdisciplinary program leading to a PhD in Logic and the Methodology of Science , to which the Philosophy Department has close ties.

Contact Info

[email protected]

314 Philosophy Hall #2390

Berkeley, CA 94720-2390

At a Glance

Department(s)

Admit Term(s)

Application Deadline

January 6, 2025

Degree Type(s)

Doctoral / PhD

Degree Awarded

GRE Requirements

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Program Overview

The Department of Philosophy offers programs covering a wide range of fields in philosophy. The department’s graduate program is primarily a PhD program. In addition to the standard PhD in Philosophy, the department offers a PhD in Classical Philosophy in collaboration with the Department of the Classics, a PhD in Indian Philosophy in collaboration with the Department of South Asian Studies, and a joint JD/PhD program in conjunction with the Harvard Law School. Below you will find a list of the requirements for each program. The department does not admit applicants who wish to study only for the master’s (AM) degree. The AM may be taken as a step toward the PhD after a minimum of two terms in residence.

PhD in Philosophy

Graduate advising.

The department’s arrangement for advising students is structured to correspond to four stages of a student’s progress toward the PhD. These stages include the first year, the second-year paper, reading and research toward a dissertation topic, and work on the dissertation.

• The director of graduate studies is assigned as an advisor to all first-year students and continues to meet with all students at the beginning of each term and sign their study cards throughout their time in the program. Their advising role is particularly important during the coursework stage (generally through the second year), because they have principal responsibility for monitoring the student’s progress toward fulfilling the general requirements for the degree: the preliminary requirement, and the distribution requirement. In addition, each first-year student is assigned an informal faculty advisor.
• At the end of the first year, students should arrange with a member of the faculty to supervise the student’s second-year paper. That faculty member will be the student’s advisor during the second year. If necessary, the director of graduate studies is available to assist a student in finding a suitable faculty member.
• At the beginning of the third year, after the second year paper is completed, a student arranges for a faculty member to be their advisor during the process of exploring areas for a possible dissertation and formulating a topic and a prospectus. This advisor may be the same person as the second-year paper advisor but need not be. Normally, a student will continue with this advisor until the topical examination, but change is possible by arrangement among the parties involved.
• When a prospectus is well along, the student should discuss the formation of a dissertation committee with the advisor, the director of graduate studies, and possible committee members.  Normally, this committee has three members, two of whom must be Harvard faculty as members; however, the committee may consist of only two members at the time of the topical examination.  Committees may have a fourth member, who may be, with permission of the DGS, a faculty member in another Harvard department or at another institution. This committee conducts the topical examination and, after a successful topical, will continue supervising the student’s work on the dissertation. Normally it conducts the dissertation defense when the dissertation is completed.
• During work on the dissertation, change is possible by arrangement with the parties involved and with the approval of the director of graduate studies. At this stage, one member of the committee will be designated as the student’s advisor. The significance of this will vary as the supervision of dissertations is more collective in philosophy, for example, than in many other fields. In some cases, the advisor will be the principal supervisor, in others the role of the committee members will be close to equal and the choice of one advisor is a matter of convenience.

Preliminary Requirement

Candidates must pass at least twelve approved philosophy courses or seminars. The norm is that these course are completed during the first four terms in the department. Courses numbered 301 or above do not count toward this preliminary requirement, save that the two required terms of Philosophy 300, the First Year Colloquium, may be counted as two of the twelve. Independent Studies (Philosophy 305) may also be used to satisfy distribution requirements but not the preliminary requirement with the prior approval of the DGS. For a letter-graded course philosophy course to be considered satisfactory, the candidate’s grade in the course must be B or higher.  The average grade for all letter-graded philosophy courses taken during the candidate’s time in the program must be at least B+.

Courses taken to meet the preliminary requirement must be approved in advance by the department’s director of graduate studies. Students must take and complete Philosophy 300a plus two letter-graded courses or seminars during their first term and Philosophy 300b plus three letter-graded courses or seminars more in their second term, thus completing five letter-graded courses during the first two terms of residence.

These courses, like the rest of the twelve, should be among those designated “For Undergraduates and Graduates” or “Primarily for Graduates” in the course catalogue. At least ten of the courses must be taught by members of the Department of Philosophy (including visiting and emeritus members). This requirement can be modified for students specializing in Classical or Indian Philosophy.

All graduate students must complete two semesters of the Pedagogy seminar, Philosophy 315hf. Normally this is done during a student's third year in the program, when students begin functioning as teaching fellows. Exceptions to taking 315hf in the third year must be approved in advance by the DGS.

Students who have done graduate work elsewhere may petition the DGS to obtain credit for up to three courses, which may be counted toward the preliminary requirement. If they are in philosophy (as would normally be the case), such courses will be regarded as equivalent to those taught by members of the department.

Distribution Requirement

This requirement, intended to ensure a broad background in philosophy, is met by completing eight distribution units of work, normally before the beginning of the fourth year of graduate study. A distribution unit may be fulfilled (i) by completing an approved course or seminar (which may also be counted toward the preliminary requirement), or (ii) by writing a paper under the guidance of a faculty member, with the approval of the director of graduate studies. In the latter case the work does not count toward the preliminary requirement.

The units are to be distributed as follows:

• Contemporary Theoretical Philosophy: Three units in core areas of twentieth- and twenty-first century metaphysics, epistemology, philosophy of science, philosophy of mind, philosophy of language, philosophy of mathematics, and the like.
• Practical Philosophy: Two units in contemporary or historical ethics, political philosophy, aesthetics, and the like.
• History of Philosophy: The distribution requirement in history is intended to assure that students have knowledge of the philosophical tradition out of which contemporary Anglo-American philosophy has grown, as well as an ability to work though texts whose philosophical presuppositions are different enough from those of contemporary Anglo-American philosophy that careful historical and philosophical analysis is required to bring them to light.

Three sorts of courses satisfy the requirement:   A. Courses in ancient Greek, Roman, or medieval philosophy.   B. Courses in early modern European philosophy up to and including Kant.   C. Courses on the foundations of philosophical traditions other than contemporary Anglo-American philosophy. These might include courses on traditional South Asian or East Asian philosophy, 19th century Continental European philosophy, early 20th century work of Heidegger, and so on.   A student must take three history courses to satisfy the requirement; at most one of these may be in practical philosophy. Save in the most exceptional circumstances (and with the approval of the DGS), at least one of these courses must be of category A and at least one must be of category B. Students should verify (with the DGS) in advance of taking a course to satisfy the requirement that the course will in fact satisfy it.

The First-Year Colloquium (Philosophy 300a and 300b) may not be used to fulfill any part of the distribution requirement. Philosophy 299hf, the second-year paper, may be used to fulfill a distribution requirement.

Logic Requirement

Candidates for the Ph.D. are expected to have mastered the fundamentals of logic and to have an understanding of the elements of logic’s metatheory. Normally, this requirement is satisfied by successfully completing one of the Department’s 100-level courses in logic: 140 (Introduction to Mathematical Logic), 144 (Logic and Philosophy), or 145 (Modal Logic). It can also be satisfied by taking an appropriate mathematics course (for example, Mathematics 143, 144a, or 145b). The requirement may also be satisfied by an examination set by the DGS in consultation with appropriate Department members or by serving as a TF in a Department logic course.

Second-Year Paper

Students are required at the end of their second year in residence to submit a paper whose length is between 7,500 and 12,000 words including footnotes.

The expectation is not that the second-year paper should constitute a kind of Master’s Thesis; a better model is that of a journal article: i.e., an essay that sets out a focused philosophical problem, articulates its significance, and makes a significant contribution rather than a mere intervention. Given this goal, the second-year paper may under no circumstances be over 12,000 words, and generally will be significantly shorter. Students must annotate the paper with an accurate word count.

By the end of the first year, students need to have a faculty advisor who will supervise the second year paper. Together the advisor and advisee will write a plan of study for the summer and the first term of the second year, and submit it to the DGS. This plan of study will specify a schedule for submitting work and receiving feedback, and will also specify a benchmark to be met before the beginning of the second semester.

A preliminary draft of the second-year paper is to be submitted by the end of the spring vacation of the second semester, and a final draft is due by June 1st. Under extraordinary circumstances and with the written approval of both advisor and the DGS, the final version of the paper may be submitted after June 1st, but no later than August 1st.

Once the second-year paper is submitted to the advisor, the advisor forwards the paper to the DGS, who selects a faculty member to act as the paper’s reader. The author, advisor, and reader meet in a timely manner to discuss the paper, after which the examiner in consultation with the advisor awards the paper a grade. This grade will be recorded as the student’s grade for their two semesters of 299hf.

Normally, a student is not allowed to participate in a dissertation workshop until they have submitted their second-year paper.

The Third Year

In a successful third year, graduate students do two things: they acquire pedagogical skills and confidence as teachers; they make enough progress on isolating a dissertation topic that they are able, at the end of that year or by the end of the first term of the fourth year, to write a prospectus and have a successful topical exam.

Normally, at the end of a student's second year, the student's 2YP advisor and the DGS consult and then assign a pre-prospective advisor to the student. The pre-prospectus advisor need not, and often will not, be someone who specializes in the area in which a student expects to write a dissertation. Rather, the advisor is someone with whom the student is comfortable discussing philosophy and who can advise about directions of research. In many cases the pre-prospectus advisor may be the 2YP advisor, since the student has formed a working relationship with that faculty member.

The student and pre-prospectus advisor should meet before the end of spring exams. The meeting's purpose is to discuss the student's general area(s) of interest for a dissertation and, if the student is ready, to devise a tentative list of articles or books which the student will read and reflect on over the next twelve months.

G3s meet with their pre-prospectus advisor in the first days of the fall term. The aim of this meeting is to give the student a manageable set of concrete tasks to complete toward settling on a prospectus topic. In this meeting, advisor and student should decide on: a collection of at least six articles or book chapters to discuss at meetings; a schedule for meetings during the fall (the norm being a meeting roughly every two weeks); the written work the student commits to doing in advance of each meeting. This work need not be elaborate --it might, for example, be a few pages of critical summary and discussion of the reading for the meeting.

Until a successful defense of a prospectus, students register of that section of Philosophy 333 associated with their pre-prospectus advisor.

The norm is that in the fall term of year 3 students do research in the area in which they expect to write so that they can fashion a fairly specific topic for the prospectus; spring term is then devoted to writing a prospectus. Students normally aim at having a prospectus and a topical before the beginning of classes in the fourth year; the expectation is that students have done a topical by the end of the first term of their fourth year.

Students who have completed their second year paper are required to enroll each term in one of the two dissertation workshops, Philosophy 311, Workshop in Moral and Political Philosophy or Philosophy 312, Workshop in Metaphysics and Epistemology. In an academic year in which a student is actively seeking post Ph.D. employment, they are not required to enroll in a workshop.

This a requirement for the Ph.D.; it is only in unusual personal circumstances that students may fail to enroll in a workshop. Permission not to enroll in a Workshop must be granted by the director of graduate studies. G3s are not required to present more than once a year in a workshop, and it is understood that their presentations may consist of such things as (constrained) literature reviews, overviews of the particular area in a sub-discipline, or drafts or presentations of a prospectus.

Prospectus and Topical Examination

When the prospectus is complete, a candidate must pass an oral topical examination on the prospectus. The examining committee consists of at least two Philosophy Department faculty members. If the topical examination is not passed, it must be taken again and passed by the beginning of the winter recess in the year immediately following. Normally students have a successful topical by the end of their fourth year in the program.

Requirements for a prospectus are set by a student's dissertation committee and may vary with committee membership. That said, in many cases a good default model for a prospectus will simply be a list of clear, straightforward answers to the following five questions: (1) What question(s) do you intend your dissertation to answer? (2) Why do you consider these questions to be important? (3) What is a good summary of what you consider to be the most important contributions to these questions in the literature? (4) Why, in your view, do these contributions leave more work to be done? (5) What is your tentative plan of attack (including a list of sources you anticipate using)? Think of your answers to these questions as building a case for why your dissertation project needs to be done , along with a sketch of how you in particular plan to do it. Finally, limit yourself to about 5000 words.

Although called an examination, a topical (which is approximately ninety minutes in length) is in fact a conference on the dissertation topic, not an occasion on which the candidate is expected to produce a complete outline of arguments and conclusions. The conference is intended to determine the acceptability of the topic on which the candidate wishes to write a dissertation, the candidate’s fitness to undertake such a dissertation, and the candidate’s command of relevant issues in related areas of philosophy. A dissertation on the proposed topic may be submitted only if the topical examination is passed.

Application to take the topical examination must be made to the director of graduate studies at least two weeks in advance. At the same time, the candidate must submit copies of a dissertation prospectus to the director of graduate studies and members of the student’s prospective committee.

Financial Support, Travel and Research Funding, and Teaching

Beyond tuition remission, Ph.D. students receive the following financial support from the Graduate School.

· A stipend for their first two years. During this period, students do not teach.

· Financial support via guaranteed teaching in the third and fourth year . During this period, students are hired as teaching fellows; the normal workload for a teaching fellow is two sections a term.

· A dissertation completion fellowship. This includes a full stipend for one academic year.

In addition, various university fellowships (for example: Term Time and Merit Fellowships, Fellowships at the Safra Center) are available on a competitive basis.

The Department also grants each Philosophy graduate student one academic term of stipend support through Philosophy Department Fellowships and also a total of $5500 in fellowships for professional development. For details see: Funding | Department of Philosophy (harvard.edu)

Dissertation and Dissertation Defense

Once the topical exam is passed, the examining committee (which must consist of at least two faculty members of the Philosophy Department) normally becomes the dissertation advisory committee.  One member of the committee is the dissertation’s primary advisor (aka, the dissertation director).  It is expected that a student will have a committee of at least three members within a few months of the defense; the committee must have three members at the time of the defense.  It is possible, with the approval of the primary advisor and the DGS, to add a faculty member from another institution.  Normally a dissertation committee has no more than four members; larger committees must be approved by primary advisor and the DGS.

The primary advisor has primary responsibility for supervision for the dissertation.  The norm is that the student and the dissertation committee set out in advance how often students will meet with and receive feedback from advisors.  The expectation is that the committee and the student will meet as a body once a term to discuss progress on the dissertation.

At least three months before a final defense of the dissertation can be scheduled, the candidate must submit a draft of the dissertation or at least a substantial part of it to the committee.  Until this is done, a defense of the dissertation cannot be scheduled.  Assuming the committee approves scheduling a defense, the candidate completes a draft and circulates it to the committee. While it is a matter for the committee and the candidate to decide, the expectation is that the complete draft of the dissertation which will be defended will be circulated to the committee at least three weeks before the date of the defense . 

Dissertation defenses are public, and may be attended both by department members and other interested parties.  They are normally two hours in length, and normally begin with a brief summary by the candidate of what the candidate has accomplished in the dissertation, followed by a conversation between the candidate and the committee.  The purpose of this conversation is not so much to test the range and detail of the candidate’s knowledge as to judge the candidate’s skill in presenting and discussing matters considered in the dissertation as well as the candidate’s ability to meet friendly but searching criticism.

PhD in Classical Philosophy

The departments of the Classics and Philosophy collaborate in an interdisciplinary PhD program in Classical Philosophy for students registered in either department. Candidates whose major field is philosophy are expected to take the Proseminar for graduate students in the classics, as well as attend seminars or other courses in classics relevant to their interests. With the approval of the director of graduate studies, students in the Classical Philosophy program may be permitted to count an appropriate course in ancient philosophy toward the distribution requirement in metaphysics and epistemology and one (in addition to the one already required) toward the requirement in history of philosophy.

Language requirements:

Candidates who plan to write a dissertation in Classical Philosophy are expected to have learned at least one of the classical languages (Greek or Latin) before they are admitted. Depending upon the level of fluency they have reached before entering the program, they may be asked to take additional language or reading courses. If they have not previously studied the second language, they will be required to reach the level of one year of college coursework. This can be done either by taking courses or by passing a language examination. In addition, candidates will be expected to have acquired a reading knowledge of German sufficient for reading scholarly literature and to pass a departmental examination on a suitably chosen text. The rules and procedures for the dissertation will, in general, be those established for candidates in philosophy.

PhD in Indian Philosophy

The departments of Philosophy and South Asian Studies collaborate in an interdisciplinary PhD program in Indian Philosophy for students registered in either department. Candidates whose major field is Philosophy are expected to take advanced language courses in South Asian studies and pass AM qualifying examinations. Candidates whose major field is South Asian studies are expected to fulfill the requirements of students in Philosophy, including distribution and logic requirements. With the approval of the director of graduate studies, students in Indian Philosophy may be permitted to count appropriate course in advanced Sanskrit or Tibetan toward the distribution requirement in metaphysics or epistemology and one toward the requirement in history of philosophy.

Language Requirements:

Candidates who plan to write a dissertation in Indian Philosophy are expected to have learned at least one of the relevant classical languages (Sanskrit or Tibetan) before they are admitted to the program. Depending upon the level of fluency they have reached before entering the program, they may be asked to take additional language or reading courses. In addition, candidates will be expected to satisfy the specific language requirements of their home department. The rules and procedures for the dissertation will, in general, be those established for candidates in Philosophy.

For more information please see the PhD in Indian Philosophy section .

JD/PhD in Philosophy and Law

A coordinated JD/PhD in Philosophy and Law is available. Students wishing to obtain the coordinated degrees must be admitted separately to both programs. Students admitted for the coordinated degrees must begin either with the first full year of law school or the first two years of philosophy; after that they may alternate terms as they choose. The program in Law may be completed in five terms. The requirements for philosophy are the same as for regular philosophy graduate students. For more information please see the JD/PhD Coordinated Program section .

The Master of Arts (AM) in Philosophy

The Department does not admit students for degrees other than the PhD. Students who have been admitted for the PhD and who have completed all course requirements for the degree may apply to be awarded an AM in Philosophy.

Harvard PhD students from programs (such as African and African-American Studies) which require PhD students to take courses required for an AM in another program are not required to take the first year colloquium required of Philosophy PhDs. (Students from these programs who wish to the take the colloquium must consult with the DGS.) Students from these programs who have completed 10 philosophy courses which satisfy the course requirements for a PhD and who have satisfied the distribution requirements for the PhD may apply to be awarded an AM in Philosophy.

A student who is pursuing an ad hoc degree administered in part by the Philosophy Department may petition to receive a Master of Arts degree in Philosophy. To receive this degree the student must have taken a total of 10 courses in Philosophy at the level of 100 or higher. At least two of these courses must satisfy the graduate distribution requirement in metaphysics and epistemology, two must satisfy the practical philosophy distribution requirement, two the history distribution requirement, and one must be a logic course. All must be passed with a grade of B or better. Students may receive this degree only when the Department has voted to support their petition.

Secondary Field in Philosophy

Much work in philosophy speaks directly to one or more disciplines which have Harvard PhD programs --literature, physics, statistics, science, mathematics, linguistics, and economics, to name a few. A secondary field in Philosophy gives students from other disciplines an opportunity to step back and look at the big picture in their discipline, putting students from discipline X in a position to do "philosophy of X" as part of doing X, thereby helping them both to understand their field more deeply and to open a path to developing it in innovative ways.

Graduate students may apply to the Philosophy Department to do a secondary field after their first term as a graduate student at Harvard. Secondary field students normally begin the secondary field in the second or third semester at Harvard, normally taking one or two courses a semester until they have completed the secondary field requirements.

Applicants should contact the Philosophy DGS before applying to do a secondary field in Philosophy. Applications must include: a brief statement explaining what the applicant hopes to achieve with the secondary field, including a brief summary of the applicant's background in philosophy; a copy of the undergraduate transcript (this can be a copy sent from the student's home department at Harvard) and a brief letter from a Harvard faculty member of the student's home department discussing how a secondary field in philosophy would contribute to the student's work in the home department.

To complete a secondary field in philosophy, a student completes four courses in philosophy at the 100 level or higher with a grade of B+ or better. One course must be in the area of one of the Department's PhD distribution requirements: moral and political philosophy; metaphysics and epistemology; logic; history of philosophy. A second course must be in another of these areas. At least one course must be a graduate seminar. In principle, an independent study with a member of the Department may be used to complete the secondary field. A capstone project is not required. Courses are counted towards satisfying the secondary field requirements only when approved to do so by the Philosophy DGS.

A student completing a secondary field in philosophy is assigned an advisor from the Philosophy Department, normally the DGS.

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Graduate Program

Wiley blackwell publishes new rankings: , uc san diego philosophy department ranks in top 20 philosophy programs in the u.s..

The Department of Philosophy at UC San Diego boasts a highly distinguished faculty and an excellent PhD program, with roughly 42 full-time students in residence , in

• Science Studies (along with History, Communications, and Sociology), and
• Cognitive Science (along with Cognitive Science).

The faculty engage in research throughout a broad range of traditional and interdisciplinary topics, with special strengths in

• moral and political philosophy (metaethics, political philosophy, philosophy of law)
• history of philosophy (ancient, early modern, Kant)
• philosophy of mind and language (perception, cognitive science) and
• philosophy of science (physics, biology, ecology).

We take seriously our obligation to help produce the next generation of researchers and teachers in philosophy. Prospective students are encouraged to look over the information on faculty research and publications included under Areas of Study .

The Setting

UC San Diego is a  nationally acclaimed research university  spread out over 1,200 of the most scenic acres in America, much of it on bluffs overlooking the Pacific Ocean. UC San Diego ranks as among the top 20 best universities in the world ( U.S. News & World Report , 2016 Academic Ranking of Wold Universities released by the Center for World-Class Universities at Shanghai Jiao Tong, and The Center for the World University Rankings). Graduate programs at UC San Diego continue to rank highly as noted in the 2016 “America’s Best Graduate Schools” guidebook. UC San Diego boasts an extraordinary array of Nobel laureates, MacArthur Fellows, and national academy members.

Diversity Statement

Our department seeks to do all it can to make philosophy an inclusive discipline. We understand the value that diversity brings to philosophical inquiry, and that the health of our profession depends on greater inclusion of under-represented groups. As a leading Ph.D. program, we play an important role in training and cultivating a diverse philosophical community. One of our most important goals is thus to recruit and sustain a diverse graduate student body .

To realize this goal, we

• encourage a full range of applicants with diverse backgrounds, for instance from two-year community colleges (especially in California), from colleges with traditionally underrepresented minorities, and from “non-elite” undergraduate institutions;
• provide financial support, academic assistance, and mentoring that reflects the diverse needs of a diverse population;
• strive for a curriculum that illustrates that a diverse group of philosophers have contributed in the past, and should contribute in the future to the richness of philosophy;
• continuously strive toward an environment of greater inclusion and respect through critical self-examination, paying due attention both to overt forms of prejudice or exclusion and to its subtler manifestations.

Graduate Class Size

In any given year, there are usually between 35 to 45 philosophy graduate students in residence, almost all of whom are full-time students.

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Staff contact.

Caroline Wells Graduate Program Coordinator Hours: Contact via email Email:  [email protected]

Faculty Contact

Kerry McKenzie Director of Graduate Studies Phone: (858) 534-2566 Email:  [email protected]

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Philosophy, PhD

The Penn Philosophy Department has a long and distinguished history. Philosophy has been taught at the University since 1755, and Penn was among the first universities in the country to offer the PhD degree in Philosophy, in 1882. The Department has always prized breadth, and its members are prepared to supervise advanced research in metaphysics and epistemology, philosophy of mind, philosophy of science, logic, philosophy of language, ethics, social and political philosophy, philosophy of law, and the history of philosophy.

The Ph.D. program includes course work, a teaching requirement, a preliminary examination, and the preparation and defense of a dissertation.   Required coursework includes two courses in contemporary epistemology and metaphysics (including philosophy of science, mind, language, and mathematics); two courses in value theory (ethics, political or legal philosophy, aesthetics); three courses in history of philosophy, and a logic requirement.

For more information: http://philosophy.sas.upenn.edu/graduate

View the University’s Academic Rules for PhD Programs .

Required Courses

The total course units required for graduation is 20.

Must include one course in ancient and one course in early modern through Kant.

One course unit must be a regularly offered Philosophy course.

The degree and major requirements displayed are intended as a guide for students entering in the Fall of 2024 and later. Students should consult with their academic program regarding final certifications and requirements for graduation.

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Department of Linguistics and Philosophy

Ph.d. program.

The program of studies leading to the doctorate in philosophy provides subjects and seminars in such traditional areas as logic, ethics, metaphysics, epistemology, philosophy of science, philosophy of language, philosophy of mind, aesthetics, social and political philosophy, and history of philosophy. Interest in philosophical problems arising from other disciplines, such as linguistics, psychology, mathematics and physics, is also encouraged.

Before beginning dissertation research, students are required to take two years of coursework, including a proseminar in contemporary philosophy that all students must complete in their first year of graduate study. Students are also required to pass general examinations and demonstrate competence in the following areas: value theory, logic and the history of philosophy.

Interdisciplinary study is encouraged, and candidates for the doctorate may take a minor in a field other than philosophy. There is no general language requirement for the doctorate, except in those cases in which competence in one or more foreign language is needed to carry on research for the dissertation.

Below is a detailed description of the philosophy Ph.D. program. For information about applying, see our admissions page ; we have also compiled data on placement , retention, and average completion times .

1. Your Advisor

When you join the Department you will be assigned a faculty advisor who will supervise your course of study. Your advisor must approve your program at the beginning of each term, and you should keep them abreast of your progress and problems. When forming a Fifth Term Paper committee the chair of your committee becomes your advisor. Similarly, when you form a dissertation committee.

Your teachers will write comments on your performance in subjects which you complete. These comments will be placed in your file in the Department office (your file is open to you), and they will be discussed at a meeting of the faculty at the end of each term. You should see your advisor at the end of each term to review your progress.

You may change your advisor at any time. Similarly you may change the composition of your fifth year paper and dissertation committees, as well as adjust the topics of those projects. To make a change first ask the relevant faculty if they are willing, then notify the Chair of the Committee on Graduate Students (COGS).

The current composition of COGS is: Brad Skow (Chief Cog), Kieran Setiya , and Roger White .

2. Requirements

2.1 overall course requirements.

Students must pass (with a grade of C or higher) at least 10 graduate subjects in philosophy (unless you earn a minor, in which case see section 4 below ). At least 7 must be subjects at MIT.

Students may petition COGS to use undergraduate subjects at MIT to satisfy the overall course requirement (except: in the case of an undergraduate logic subject more advanced than 24.241, no petition is needed).

Students must take at least 2 subjects in philosophy at MIT during each term of their first year, and at least 1 subject in philosophy at MIT during each term of their second year. Normally, students take 4 subjects during their second year.

2.2 Teaching Requirement

All graduate students must acquire some teaching experience. This requirement is normally satisfied by serving as a Teaching Assistant in an undergraduate subject in philosophy at MIT.

2.3 Logic Requirement

The logic requirement may be satisfied by doing one of the following:

(a) Pass the half-term subject Logic for Philosophers with a grade of B or better. (b) Audit Logic I and complete the work (Logic I may not be taken for graduate credit). (c) Pass Logic II, Modal Logic, or Theory of Models. Other advanced logic classes may also be used, with COGS approval. (d) Submit to COGS a syllabus from a logic class completed elsewhere, with a grade of B+ or better, showing it equivalent to Logic I.

Students should complete the logic requirement by the end of their fourth semester.

2.4 Distribution Requirement

2.4.1 proseminar.

All first-year students are required to complete the two-semester sequence 24.400-24.401, Proseminar in Philosophy. The first semester is an intensive seminar on the foundations of analytic philosophy from Frege to roughly 1960. The second semester is an intensive seminar on highlights of analytic philosophy from roughly 1960 to the present. The two-semester sequence counts as two subjects.

2.4.2 History of Philosophy

Students must complete two graduate subjects in the history of philosophy. For the purposes of this requirement, the history of philosophy means philosophers or philosophical schools that flourished before 1879.

A subject that spends a substantial part of, but not all of, its time on history counts toward this requirement provided the student’s term paper focuses on the history part. If there is doubt about whether a subject qualifies, consult COGS.

History subjects designed for a mixture of graduate and undergraduate students, like 100-level courses at Harvard, also count.

COGS permission is required in order to satisfy this requirement by taking two subjects on the same philosopher. (COGS will likely reject using two subjects on Descartes’ Meditations to fulfill the history requirement; COGS will likely approve using two subjects on Kant, one focused on ethics, the other on metaphysics and epistemology.)

Students wishing to fulfill this requirement by some other means should contact COGS.

2.4.3 Value Theory

Students must complete one graduate subject in ethics or political philosophy or aesthetics.

2.4.4 Dissertation Seminar

Students must complete the year-long dissertation seminar. Normally this is done in the third year. Students wishing to delay it until their fourth year may do so with permission of the instructor.

2.5 Fifth Term Paper Requirement

By the end of a student’s third term (usually fall of the second year) the student should select a paper topic for their Fifth Term Paper and form a committee to advise them on their work. The committee will consist of two faculty members (a supervisor and a second reader). The proposed topic and names of committee members should be submitted to COGS before the end-of-term meeting.

During the student’s fourth term, the student, in consultation with the committee, should assemble a reading list on the chosen topic. As a guideline, the reading list might consist of roughly twenty papers or the equivalent; the faculty recognizes that lengths of lists will vary. The final list must be approved by the committee and submitted to COGS by the end-of-term meeting.

During the fifth term, the student will write a polished paper on the chosen topic, roughly 25 pages long, in consultation with their committee. After submitting a final version of the paper that the committee deems satisfactory, the student will sit for an oral examination with the committee on both the paper and, more generally, the paper’s topic, as defined by the reading list.

The fifth term paper project is graded pass-fail. Students must pass the oral exam by the end-of-term meeting of their fifth term. After a student passes the exam their committee will write a report on the project to be given to the student and placed in the student’s file. Successfully completing this project constitutes passing the written and oral general examination requirements imposed by MIT’s Graduate School.

2.6 Petitions

A student may petition COGS to waive a requirement in light of their special circumstances.

3. Independent Studies

While in the normal case a student’s 10 graduate subjects will be seminars, students may also take an independent study with a faculty member. Students wishing to register for 24.891 or 24.892 must obtain permission from the Chief COG. After talking with the faculty member they wish to supervise their independent study, the student should write a proposal describing how often they will meet, how long the meetings will last, a tentative list of readings, and the amount of writing they will do. The Chief COG will approve an independent study only if the amount of work proposed equals or exceeds the usual amount of work in a seminar.

Students can minor in a field outside philosophy of their choosing (for example, linguistics, psychology, science technology and society, physics, feminist theory…). To earn a minor in field X a student must (i) pass 3 graduate subjects in field X, (ii) pass one graduate philosophy subject on a topic related to field X, and (iii) obtain COGS approval. (It is best to seek approval before all 4 subjects have been taken.) A student may receive no more than two minors; in the case of two minors, a single philosophy subject may (in rare cases) be used to satisfy clause (ii) for both minors.

Students who earn a minor need only pass 8, rather than 10, graduate philosophy subjects (7 must be taken at MIT). The subject used to satisfy (ii) counts as one of these 8.

Our faculty uses pluses and minuses, but the grades on your official transcript will be straight letter grades. Here are the meanings that MIT assigns to the grades:

A Exceptionally good performance, demonstrating a superior understanding of the subject matter, a foundation of extensive knowledge, and a skillful use of concepts and/or materials.

B Good performance, demonstrating capacity to use the appropriate concepts, a good understanding of the subject matter, and an ability to handle the problems and material encountered in the subject.

C Adequate performance, demonstrating an adequate understandingof the subject matter, an ability to handle relatively simpleproblems, and adequate preparation for moving on to more advanced work in the field.

D Minimally acceptable performance.

When the faculty determines the status of a student in the program, it does so on the basis of a review of the student’s total performance, which includes weighing the strengths and weaknesses of the student’s whole record. Thus it is in principle possible to redeem a weakness in one area by excellence in others.

An Incomplete (a grade of I) indicates that a minor part of the subject requirements has not been fulfilled and that a passing grade is to be expected when the work is completed. The grade I for the term remains permanently on the student’s record even when the subject is completed. In subjects in which the major work is a term paper, students may earn an I for the subject only if they submit a draft to the instructor(s) by midnight on the day before the end of term meeting. If a student does not hand in a draft by midnight on the day before the end of term meeting, the instructor is required to give the student an F. (The end of term meeting is shortly after the beginning of exam week.)

Any uncompleted incompletes on registration day of the following term will be converted to an F.

6. Ph.D. Thesis

A student is normally not allowed to begin work on a Ph.D. thesis until they have completed all of the requirements listed above. Students must complete all of those requirements by the end of their fifth term; exceptions will be made only after petition to COGS.

Once a student has completed the requirements listed above, there is the option of taking a terminal Master’s Degree instead of the Ph.D. This requires completing a Master’s thesis — students should consult COGS for more details.

The Ph.D. thesis is a substantial piece of original and independent research that displays mastery of an area of philosophy. A student may plan to write a sustained piece of work on one topic; they may instead plan to write three or more papers on connected topics. By the second month of the student’s sixth term they will submit to COGS a short (three to five pages) description of the projected thesis.

When the plan is approved, COGS will appoint a thesis committee consisting of a thesis supervisor and two additional readers, who shall be members of the philosophy faculty chosen by the student and willing to undertake the responsibility. The student will then meet with the members of the thesis committee for discussion of the material to be dealt with in the thesis. COGS approval is required if the student wants to include a non-MIT professor, or an MIT professor who is not on the philosophy faculty, on the committee. COGS approval is also required for a committee whose members include fewer than two MIT philosophy faculty (and this will be approved only in exceptional circumstances).

The student will meet regularly with their thesis supervisor throughout the writing of the thesis, and will provide all members of the thesis committee with written work by the end of each term. This requirement holds for nonresident as well as resident students.

The following rules govern completion of the thesis.

6.1 Final Term

The student will meet with their thesis committee during the first week of the term to assess the feasibility of completing the thesis during that term. The student and the committee will agree on a table of contents for the thesis, and on a schedule of dates for meeting the following requirements; a copy of the contents and the schedule should be given to COGS.

6.1.1 MIT Deadline

MIT requires that the completed thesis be delivered to the Department office by a date set by the Registrar for all Departments. (Early in January for February degrees, early in May for June degrees.) The Department regards this requirement as met by delivery to the thesis committee by that date of what the student regards as the final draft of their thesis.

6.1.2 Thesis Defense

The student will meet privately with their thesis committee to defend the thesis and to discuss any needed revisions. This meeting constitutes the official oral examination of the thesis.

The private defense must be scheduled for a date which will leave time for the student to make revisions before the MIT deadline. Once a student has completed the oral examination, and made any requested revisions, the decision whether to recommend award of the PhD is made by unanimous vote of the thesis committee.

6.1.3 Public Defense

The public defense is open to all members of the Department and their guests; it is chaired by the thesis supervisor, and normally runs for an hour, starting with a twenty-minute presentation by the student of the main results of the thesis. The public defense is the one occasion on which the entire Department has an opportunity to learn about and participate in the student’s work, and is a central part of the Ph.D. program.

The public defense is to be held after the student’s committee has voted to recommend awarding the PhD. One week before the public defense, the student should email the revised version to the chief COG, to be made available to members of the Department. A copy of the abstract should be emailed to the Academic Administrator for distribution when announcing the public defense to the Department.

6.1.4 Final Library Copy

The final library copy must be given to the Departmental representative to MIT’s Committee on Graduate School Policy (CGSP) by the day before that committee’s end-of-term meeting at which it approves the final degree list.

6.2 September Degrees

Students who will be unable to complete their theses during the spring term may wish to petition COGS for consideration for award of the degree in September. Such petitions will be granted on condition that an appropriate thesis committee can be constituted to work with the student during the summer. A schedule analogous to that described under 6.1 — including the scheduling of private and public defenses — must be given to COGS by the end of the spring term. The final library copy of the thesis must be given to the Departmental representative to CGSP by the day before that committee’s September meeting at which it approves the September degree list.

7. Policies on Satisfactory Progress and Good Standing

A student is in good standing so long as they have not fallen behind on any deadline mentioned in this document. The most salient of these is the deadline for the 5th term paper.

If a student is not in good standing, they will be unable to use their travel funds. If a student is not in good standing or has received a grade of B or lower in two classes in the previous semester, they are at risk of failing to make satisfactory academic progress.

If a student is at risk of failing to make satisfactory academic progress, the faculty will discuss the matter at the next end of term of meeting. (If any of the student’s advisors are not present at the meeting, they will be consulted before any action is taken.) The faculty will consider the work the student has produced, or failed to produce, so far, and the progress it represents. If there are serious doubts about the student’s prospects of completing the PhD, which includes writing a thesis that meets the conditions in section 6 , the student’s academic progress will be deemed unsatisfactory, and they will be issued a written notice from the Chief COG. The notice will explain how the student’s progress is unsatisfactory, what the student should accomplish in the following semester in order to avoid an official warning from the Vice Chancellor, and what steps the faculty will take to help the student accomplish these things. If a student fails to meet the conditions of the notice by the end of the following semester, as determined by the faculty, the student will receive an official warning from the Vice Chancellor. This warning will explain why the student’s progress continues to be unsatisfactory, what the student should accomplish in the following semester in order to continue in the program, and what steps the faculty will take to help the student accomplish these things. If the student is in a position to receive a terminal Master’s Degree, the conditions for doing so will be detailed. If the student fails to meet the conditions of the warning by the end of the semester, as determined by the faculty, the student will be denied permission to continue in the program.

PhD Program Overview

Academic mission.

The PhD Program in Philosophy offers an intensive course of study in preparation for a career as a scholar and teacher of philosophy. The program in particular consists of four major components. (1) Completing coursework in the three main areas of contemporary philosophy and in the history of philosophy. (2) Participating in a paper revision workshop, in which students significantly revise an essay originally written for a seminar in consultation with faculty and other students. (3) Defining an intellectual project and writing the PhD dissertation under the direction of a faculty committee. (4) Teaching as assistants in faculty-taught lecture courses and then as lecturers in stand-alone tutorials and small courses. In addition to these major components, students and faculty also participate in a variety of workshops and reading groups in which students present their own work for criticism by their peers and faculty. Throughout the PhD program, students and faculty join together in a continuous, rich philosophical dialogue. And faculty also support that dialogue and students’ intellectual work through advising, mentoring, ongoing academic evaluations, and canny career advice.

Note: The PhD Program in Philosophy is the only graduate program to which the Department of Philosophy admits students; those students interested in a masters degree can apply directly to the Masters of Arts Program in the Humanities ( MAPH ). This is a standalone program in the Division of Humanities within which students can take a number of graduate courses in philosophy. Elsewhere on this site we have a more thorough explanation of how our faculty interests serve our MAPH students.

PhD Program Handbook for 2024-25

Culture of the PhD Program

The PhD Program in Philosophy is intellectually inclusive, capacious in its research and teaching interests, and unusual in the extent and depth of the collective engagement with both the analytic and continental traditions. All programs now promote their interdisciplinarity, but we’ve been enjoying our wide range of philosophical interests for decades here at Chicago—thanks in part to the thorough integration of the interdisciplinary Council of Advanced Studies workshops into the PhD program and also to departmental colloquia, in which departmental and visiting faculty speak (and are challenged) on various philosophical issues. The department hums with free-flowing philosophical discussions among students and faculty occurring in seminars, workshops, colloquia, the hallways of Stuart Hall, and the Friday afternoon coffee hours in our Anscombe Library.

Socially, the department also tries to make sure that every student’s voice is heard in the running and shaping of the department and its PhD program. There are always two elected graduate student representatives who help keep channels of communication open and flowing in both directions between the departmental faculty and graduate student body, and faculty meet with students regularly about issues of concern. The department also has a faculty diversity liaison; a Diversity, Inclusivity, Climate, and Equity (DICE) Committee composed of departmental faculty and graduate students; and a graduate student outreach coordinator. We all work to ensure that the PhD program, courses, and the departmental culture feel welcome to students from all backgrounds. Here is  more information on DICE .

The Women in Philosophy (WIP) group organizes bi-quarterly social gatherings for graduate women in the department. Gatherings typically consist of dinners or brunches hosted at the home of one of our members. While the primary purpose of these gatherings has typically been that of socializing, they are also a space in which people should feel free to raise and discuss any issues pertaining to life in the department. These social events build solidarity and community for the women in our department, and in general there is a high level of cooperation and collaboration between graduate women in the department. Here is  more information on WIP .

The University of Chicago is situated in the heart of the South Side of Chicago, one of the country’s most culturally and intellectually rich cities . Life in Chicago is itself also inclusive: it’s a diverse, vibrant city with many social possibilities and livable—and strikingly affordable!—neighborhoods for students.

The APA Guide to Graduate Programs in Philosophy

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Total Schools

Total students, total ph.d. programs, total ma programs.

The  Guide to Graduate Programs in Philosophy , published biennially until the early 2000s, was relaunched in 2012 as an annual online resource. The guide compiles data on both doctoral and master’s degree programs in philosophy at institutions throughout the US and Canada, offering prospective students, job candidates, and other members of the profession a rich resource on post-graduate education and employment in philosophy. 

All data in the guide are self-reported by representatives of the institutions. Any changes or corrections should be sent directly to them.

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2024 Best Philosophy Doctor's Degree Schools

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Department of Philosophy

Ph.D. Program Requirements and Guidelines

The Ph.D. program in philosophy is composed of the following requirements:

Coursework Requirements

Logic requirement, foreign language requirement, dissertation field exam requirement.

• Dissertation Prospectus and Dissertation Requirements

Below are the requirement details for the degree and the standards of progress .

Ph.D. Requirements

Credits The Graduate School requires a total of 72 hours of credit (formal coursework plus registered research hours) for the Ph.D. Within this 72 credit hours, the philosophy department requires students to complete 47 credit hours of coursework. Graduate students are required to complete at least three three-credit courses each semester, from among those courses approved by the department for credit toward the Ph.D., for each of the first five semesters. During the first fall semester, students are also required to take a two-credit proseminar focusing on research and teaching. Therefore, by the end of the fifth semester students will have taken a minimum of 47 credits of course work, with at least 11 credits in the first semester and 9 credits in each of the following four semesters.

Related requirements concerning graduate credits are as follows:

1. 12 Seminars By the end of the 5th semester, graduate students must have taken at least 12 regularly scheduled graduate seminars (36 credit hours) in the Department of Philosophy.

2. Proseminar In the first semester of graduate study, all graduate students must pass a two-credit department seminar on teaching and research methods. This course, graded on an A/F basis, will include guest participation by many members of the faculty.

3. Other Possible Sources of Credit for Remaining 9 Credit Hours The regularly scheduled graduate seminars and the proseminar must together account for a minimum of 38 of the required 47 credits of coursework in the philosophy Ph.D. program. This leaves students with some flexibility regarding the remaining 9 credits:

• Regularly scheduled graduate seminars : Students may take additional regularly scheduled graduate seminars in the Department of Philosophy toward remaining 9 credits.
• Independent studies : Students may take, with DGS approval, PHIL 8050: Readings in Philosophy (i.e., an independent study) with department faculty toward the remaining 9 credits. Student and professor must agree in writing to a one-semester (and no more) course of study that includes a reading list and writing assignments. Students must complete the Request for Independent Study/Directed Studies/Readings & Research form in YES to enroll in the course. The form requires original signatures from the student, instructor, and DGS. The form must be filed with the department no later than the first week of classes and submitted to the Graduate School no later than the tenth day of classes.
• Enhanced undergraduate-level courses : Students may take, with prior DGS approval, enhanced undergraduate level courses with department faculty toward the remaining 9 credits. In this case, students are expected to do additional work beyond the undergraduate requirements for the course. Student and professor must agree in writing to a one-semester (and no more) course of study that includes writing assignments. Students must complete the Request for Permission to Receive Graduate Credit for an Undergraduate Level or Professional Course form to enroll in an undergraduate class for graduate credit. The form requires original signatures from the student, instructor, and DGS. The form must be filed with the department no later than the first week of classes and it must be submitted to the Graduate School no later than the tenth day of classes.
• Transfer credit : Under unusual circumstances and with DGS approval, at most 6 credits can be transferred into the Ph.D. program toward the 47 credit requirement. Students entering the Ph.D. program with graduate credit in philosophy from strong graduate programs who would like to transfer credit can petition to do so at the end of the spring semester of their first year. They need to set up a meeting with the DGS and supply the DGS with their transcript/s, course syllabus/syllabi, and coursework. They should also be prepared to discuss how such transferred credit might fulfill course distribution requirements.

Graduate courses taken while at Vanderbilt in departments other than the philosophy department do NOT count toward the required 47 hours of the departmental coursework, but they do count toward the 72 hours required by the Graduate School for the Ph.D.

After completing coursework, students will enroll in 9 hours of PHIL 8999: Non-Candidate Research and PHIL 9999: Ph.D. Dissertation Research each semester until they have earned 72 credit hours. Once students have sufficient credits, students will continue registering for 0 credit hours of PHIL 9999: Ph.D. Dissertation Research each semester to maintain active student status until graduation.

Course Distribution Students will take at least five seminars in the history of philosophy and at least five seminars in topical areas of philosophy, with the additional stipulation that students must take seminars from at least three different categories in each. The topical area and historical categories are below, and the categorization of each graduate seminar in any given semester will be designated on the departmental course schedule.

Topical Area Categories:

T1. Mind and Language T2. Ethics, Politics, and Aesthetics T3. Metaphysics and Epistemology T4. Race, Gender, Identity T5. Contemporary Philosophical Movements

Historical Categories:

H1. Ancient Philosophy H2. Medieval Philosophy H3. Modern Philosophy H4. 19th Century Philosophy H5. 20th Century Philosophy H6. Trans-era History of Philosophy

Instructor Distribution By the end of the fifth semester, graduate students must have taken seminars from at least eight different tenured or tenure-track faculty in the philosophy department.

Incompletes If a student wishes to get a grade of incomplete for a given course, the student must meet with the instructor at least one week before the final week of classes . In that meeting, the instructor must approve a specific plan for completion of the work, including a submission date. The instructor should also specify the grade the student will receive if s/he does not meet the deadline for the incomplete. For final approval, the student must then submit to the DGS an Incomplete Request Form signed both by the student and the instructor (this form specifies the agreed-upon completion plan and the student’s current incompletes). An incomplete grade will not be approved if a student already has an incomplete. No incompletes may be carried past August 1. Also, incompletes may negatively impact the possibility of receiving departmental support for professional development, so students are advised to discuss this possibility with the DGS.

Course Grades A student must earn a grade of B or higher in each course counted toward the 47 hours. Grades in the A range are the norm for graduate students, while grades in the B range are the exception. If a student accumulates three grades in the B range, they will need to meet with the DGS to discuss their status.

Students enrolling in Philosophy 8999: Non-Candidate Research and Philosophy 9999: Ph.D. Dissertation Research will be assigned S/U grades, in accordance with the Graduate School’s policy:

“One U grade requires consultation between the student and the research advisor; a second U grade triggers a locally defined program-level intervention process involving (at least) the student, the research advisor, the student’s thesis or dissertation committee and the DGS; and a third U grade leads to de-matriculation. These steps are triggered by the accumulation of U grades, not simply U grades in succession. Each U represents approximately one-half of one academic year of unsatisfactory progress. No credit hours are awarded for an enrollment that earns a grade of U.”

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All graduate students must satisfy the department’s logic requirement in one of two ways:

• By passing a departmental logic exam, or
• By receiving a “B” or better in PHIL 3003: Formal Logic & Applications. PHIL 3003 is offered only in the fall semester. Students with no or minimal training in logic are strongly encouraged to audit PHIL 3003 in their first semester. The logic requirement must be satisfied by the end of the third semester. If students wish to formally audit the logic course, they must submit the Permission to Audit form . The form requires original signatures from the student and instructor. The form must be submitted to the department during the first week of classes and submitted to the Graduate School by the tenth day of classes.

The logic exam and coursework will cover the following three areas and will require a demonstration of competence at a level sufficient to teach an introductory symbolic logic course:

• Informal concepts of logic;
• Translation into symbolic notation for both propositional and predicate logic; and
• Natural deduction proofs for both propositional and predicate logic.

Students should contact the DGS to arrange for the administration of the exam. The exam will be given only once at the end of each semester.

Students who fail the exam or who fail to receive a grade of “B” or better in PHIL 3003 may re-take the exam or re-do the work for the course the next time the department schedules the exam and/or the course.

Students must take the logic exam by the end of the first semester and must pass the logic exam by the end of the third semester.

PHIL 3003: Formal Logic & Applications does not qualify for graduate credit and so does not count toward the minimum of 47 credits students must accumulate by the end of the fifth semester.

All graduate students must satisfy the department’s foreign language requirement by passing a departmental exam that tests for competence in an approved foreign language. The student should request the exam from the administrative assistant to the graduate program, who will then arrange for the exam with the DGS. The timed translation exam will be blind-reviewed and graded by faculty (typically but not necessarily in the philosophy department) with special competence in the given foreign language. The exam will consist of the students translating into English:

• A text (selected by the faculty member administering the exam, in consultation with and approval by the DGS) by a single philosopher (selected by the student), and;
• A second text (selected by the faculty member administering the exam, in consultation with and approval by the DGS) by a different philosopher (selected by the faculty member).

During the exam, students may use only a hard-copy dictionary. The translation exam will be marked pass or fail; passing it requires a demonstration of competence as measured by quality and quantity of translation. Students must first take the foreign language competence exam by September 1 of the third semester and must pass the exam by April 15 of the fourth semester .

Preparation for the Exam The Dissertation Field Exam (DFE), or Preliminary Exam, is a crucial component of the Department of Philosophy Ph.D. program. The DFE takes place during the sixth semester; by the end of this semester students are expected to have successfully transitioned from coursework to dissertation-related work. If students have satisfied all previous department requirements, they will have this sixth semester off from teaching (in addition to no longer having any coursework) to be able to devote themselves fully to this Dissertation Field Exam and the Dissertation Prospectus Abstract that follows the Field Exam at the end of the semester. While the DFE takes place during the sixth semester, work related to the DFE begins earlier; work on the DFE bibliography and planning of a DFE Committee should begin over the previous summer (the second summer).

Dissertation Field Exam Committee Students must choose the members of their Dissertation Field Exam Committee and report news of the committee to the DGS and the administrative assistant to the graduate program by December 1 of the fifth semester . This committee needs to be composed of a minimum of three philosophy department graduate faculty members, one of whom is the committee chair. This committee need not overlap in part or whole with the later Ph.D. Committee, though there usually is significant overlap.

Dissertation Field Exam Bibliography: Draft and Final Students must also submit a complete draft of their DFE bibliography to their DFE Committee members, the DGS, and the administrative assistant to the graduate program by December 1 of the fifth semester . The bibliography should include approximately 50 sources and should follow bibliography formatting guidelines as specified in a leading source, such as the Chicago Manual of Style. Students are advised to begin work on this bibliography over the previous (second) summer in the program.

Students must have a complete final DFE bibliography approved by their DFE Committee by January 15 of the sixth semester , and students must email this approved bibliography to the DGS and the administrative assistant to the graduate program by this date.

Dissertation Field Exam Questions By February 15 of the sixth semester , students must submit to the DGS, the administrative assistant to the graduate program, and to the members of the DFE Committee, a final list of possible DFE questions, previously approved of by the student’s DFE chair. Usually anywhere from six to nine questions are submitted, each of which looks forward to the possible dissertation area.

Dissertation Field Exam In the sixth semester, students will be given their DFE (which will be a subset of the questions on the list of possible DFE questions) by their DFE chair at some prearranged point during Spring Break and will be instructed by the DFE chair about when to return the exam . Students are usually given around three questions and answers are usually around 10-15 pages each, depending on the number of questions and amount of time given. The maximum amount of time that a chair can give is all of Spring Break (from the Friday before Spring Break until the Monday morning after), but less time can also be given.

Dissertation Field Exam Oral Defense The DFE Oral Defense needs to be taken and passed within one week following the Monday after Spring Break (by the end of the following Monday) of the sixth semester. The oral defense tests the student on the written exam and the broader constellation of issues brought up by material listed in the bibliography.

Provided the student passes the Oral Defense, they move on to the Dissertation Prospectus Abstract (see below). If they fail the Oral Defense, they may be dismissed from the program or they may be given another chance to take the exam, depending in part on factors surrounding the failure, previous performance in the program, and the degree of promise they have shown. If a student fails the exam twice, they will be dismissed from the program.

Dissertation Prospectus Process and Dissertation Requirements

Ph.D. Candidacy Admission to the philosophy graduate program does not imply admission to candidacy for the Ph.D. degree. To be admitted to Ph.D. candidacy, the student must satisfy departmental requirements, the last of which are the Dissertation Prospectus Abstract, the Dissertation Prospectus, and the Dissertation Prospectus Defense (Qualifying Exam). Once students have successfully defended their Dissertation Prospectus, they are admitted to the Ph.D. candidacy and have All But Dissertation (ABD) status.

Dissertation Prospectus Abstract After a student successfully passes the Oral Defense of their Dissertation Field Exam, they must next complete a Dissertation Prospectus Abstract by April 15 in the sixth semester. This abstract should be one page long, single-spaced. The student should email this abstract to their DFE Committee members, the DGS, and the administrative assistant to the graduate program.

The abstract should be submitted to an agreed-upon dissertation adviser and at least one more faculty member who has agreed to serve on the Dissertation Committee. Students must meet with these members individually by May 1 of the sixth semester for feedback on the abstract, and they must send an email to all with whom they have met, the DGS, and the administrative assistant to the department reporting that they have held their meetings.

Dissertation Committee The Ph.D. Dissertation Committee is appointed by the Graduate School on the advice of the director of graduate studies. The committee consists of no fewer than four members. Three of the members must be graduate faculty member from within (“internal” to) the Department of Philosophy; a fourth “external” member must come from outside the department. Graduate faculty include full-time tenured and tenure-track faculty with primary appointments in the philosophy department. Tenured or tenure-track faculty having secondary appointments in the philosophy department may also be considered “internal” committee members. The “external” committee member may be an appropriate academic from outside of Vanderbilt and needs to be approved by the DGS and the Graduate School.

In cases where a faculty member who had been chairing a dissertation committee departs Vanderbilt for another institution, that faculty member may serve as a co-chair of a dissertation committee but must count as an “external” member. Emeritus philosophy faculty may not serve as the sole chair of a dissertation committee, but they may co-chair dissertation committees, and they count as “internal” committee members.

The functions of the Ph.D. Dissertation Committee are to:

• Administer the Dissertation Prospectus Oral Exam (Qualifying Examination);
• Approve the dissertation subject;
• Aid the student and monitor the progress of the dissertation; and
• Read and approve the dissertation and evaluate the final Oral Dissertation Defense.

Dissertation advisers are responsible for submitting the following paperwork to the director of graduate studies (or the administrative assistant to the graduate program) to appoint the Ph.D. Committee, at latest three weeks before the Qualifying Exam:

• Request to Appoint the Ph.D. Committee form
• Rationale for selecting external reader (a few paragraphs)
• CV for the external reader

The paperwork will then be submitted to the Graduate School at least two weeks in advance of the Qualifying Exam .

Students are encouraged to begin assembling a Dissertation Committee during the sixth semester, during or soon after the DFE process, in order to make progress on their Dissertation Prospectus Abstract. It is strongly recommended that the committee be formally appointed during the summer following the sixth semester. At latest, Dissertation Committees may be appointed in the early fall of the seventh semester, with at least three weeks notice before the Dissertation Prospectus Oral Defense (Qualifying Exam), which itself must be completed by September 30 of the seventh semester .

Any changes to the Ph.D. Committee need to be approved by the Graduate School through the Request to Change the Ph.D. Committee form. If a new external reader will be added to the committee, the adviser needs to provide a rationale and the reviewer’s CV to the director of graduate studies or the administrative assistant for the graduate program.

Dissertation Prospectus Oral Defense (Qualifying Exam) Under the direction of the dissertation adviser and with appropriate input from members of the Dissertation Committee, graduate students must write a Dissertation Prospectus. Once the Dissertation Committee has deemed the prospectus worthy of defense, the student must take and pass a Dissertation Prospectus Oral Defense (or Qualifying Exam). This exam must be passed by September 30 of the seventh semester .

The final version of the Dissertation Prospectus must be distributed to the Dissertation Committee well in advance of the Dissertation Prospectus Oral Defense. It should reflect prior consultation, though not necessarily agreement, with each member of the committee.

It is the responsibility of the Dissertation Adviser to schedule the Dissertation Prospectus Exam and to submit the Request to Schedule the Qualifying Exam form to the DGS or to the administrative assistant to the graduate program at least three weeks in advance of the defense. This request must be received by the Graduate School at least two weeks in advance.

The Dissertation Prospectus Oral Defense is administered by the student’s Dissertation Committee in consultation with and approval by the DGS. The Dissertation Prospectus Oral Defense will test the student’s mastery of the proposed dissertation topic as well as the student’s overall knowledge of the sub-field within which the proposed dissertation project resides.

If a majority of Dissertation Committee members grade the Dissertation Prospectus Oral Defense as passing, the student passes the exam.

Students who fail the Dissertation Prospectus Oral Defense may be required to pursue one or more courses of action, including: re-writing the prospectus and then re-taking the exam; re- taking the exam; assembling a different Dissertation Committee to prepare for a different exam; perhaps pursuing a different course of study; or being dismissed from the graduate program. If a student fails the Dissertation Prospectus Oral Defense on a second attempt, the student must, according to Graduate School policy, be “officially dismissed from the Graduate School unless s/he has been given the option of receiving a master’s degree ( insert link ) .” Because all possible Dissertation Prospectus Oral Defense re-takes must be completed by September 30 of the seventh semester , students are encouraged to schedule their exams in the spring or summer before their seventh semester.

It is the responsibility of the dissertation adviser to complete the Results of the Qualifying Exam form and submit the results to the director of graduate studies or the administrative assistant for the graduate program following the defense. Once the form has the final approval of the director of graduate studies, the results will be forwarded to the Graduate School.

Final Dissertation Defense After the Dissertation Prospectus Exam, students begin writing a dissertation under the guidance of the dissertation adviser and committee. Once the committee judges the dissertation worthy of defense, the student must take and pass a public oral examination of the dissertation. It is the responsibility of the dissertation adviser to schedule the Final Dissertation Defense and to submit the Request to Schedule Final Defense form to the director of graduate studies or to the administrative assistant to the graduate program at least three weeks in advance of the defense. This request must be received by the Graduate School at least two weeks in advance.

Likewise, it is the responsibility of the dissertation adviser to complete the Results of Dissertation Defense form and submit the results to the director of graduate studies or the administrative assistant for the graduate program following the defense. Once the form has final approval of the director of graduate studies, the results will be forwarded to the Graduate School.

At least a majority of the Ph.D. Committee must be present at the Dissertation Prospectus Oral Defense and at the Final Dissertation Defense and original signatures from at least a majority of the committee are required on the “results” forms.

After the Final Defense Following a successful Dissertation Defense, students are responsible for preparing and submitting the final version of their dissertation to the Vanderbilt Library. Students are also responsible for completing the required paperwork for the official conferral of the Ph.D. and graduation from Vanderbilt. These matters may be discussed with the DGS at the appropriate time.

Standards of Progress

Overview of requirements and standards of progress.

To maintain good standing in the Ph.D. program, students must satisfy all requirements by the deadlines specified above. Failure to maintain good standing will result in departmental action, which may include expulsion of the student from the Ph.D. program.

Training for the Ph.D. goes beyond formal coursework and the dissertation; it includes participating in the life of the department. Students are expected to regularly attend departmental events, including colloquia, public lectures, workshops, and other events. Moreover, students are expected to exhibit an appropriate level of professionalism and responsibility in their roles as students, scholars, teachers, colleagues, and academic citizens. All graduate students should check and respond to their departmental email daily and should check their ground mail at least twice a week.

A student’s fellowship funding and good standing in the graduate program are conditional upon the student’s meeting appropriate standards of progress. In usual cases, these standards are as follows:

End of the first semester :

• Students must have completed eleven credits, including three three-credit courses and the required two-credit Proseminar.

End of the second semester :

• First summer: The department strongly encourages students to study for the Foreign Language Exam if they have not already satisfied this requirement and/or study for the Logic Exam if they have not already satisfied the Logic Requirement.

End of the third semester :

• Students must have completed three additional three-credit courses for nine additional credits, thereby bringing the student’s total number of coursework credits to 29, and must have passed the Logic Exam (or have previously earned “B” or higher in Logic 3003). Students must also take the Foreign Language Exam by September 1.

End of the fourth semester :

• Second Summer: The department strongly encourages students to begin work on their Dissertation Field Exam Bibliography. They should also begin organizing the bibliography into levels of priority and should begin reading material from the bibliography. Students may also want to start putting together their Dissertation Field Exam committee. Students must be in compliance with all departmental requirements by August 20 in order to qualify for the upcoming sixth semester off from teaching.

End of the fifth semester :

• Students must have completed three additional three-credit courses for nine additional credits, thereby bringing the student’s total number of coursework credits to 47 and must have satisfied all distribution requirements.

End of the sixth semester :

• Third Summer: Students should complete their Dissertation Prospectus if they have not already done so, should defend the Dissertation Prospectus, or should be working on their dissertation.

End of the seventh semester :

• If students are not ABD entering the seventh semester, they should register for a sufficient number of PHIL 8999: Non-Candidate Research credits to stay on pace for the timely completion of the required 72 credit-hours by the time they are ready to defend the dissertation.
• If students are ABD at the start of the seventh semester, they should register for PHIL 9999: Ph.D. Dissertation Research instead. Please note the policy on “S” and “U” grades for PHIL 9999 .

Eigth, ninth, and tenth semesters :

• Students must register for a sufficient number of Ph.D. Dissertation Research credits (PHIL 9999) to ensure the completion of the required 72 credit-hours by the time they are ready to defend the dissertation. Please note the policy on “S” and “U” grades for PHIL 9999 .
• By the end of the tenth semester, students should have completed a dissertation and passed a public Final Dissertation Defense, thereby completing all requirements for the Ph.D. Graduate students for whom the faculty have approved a longer course of study should complete and defend the dissertation and all Ph.D. requirements according to the schedule. No funding is guaranteed beyond this tenth semester.

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PhD in Computer Science

A Doctor of Philosophy in Computer Science is an advanced, intensive program that prepares students for careers in research, teaching, or development in the field of computer science. A program involves courses in core and elective areas of computer science, such as artificial intelligence, databases, and distributed algorithms. A Doctor of Philosophy in Computer Science program requires conducting original research under the guidance of a faculty advisor and writing and defending a dissertation that contributes to the knowledge base of computer science.

Program Objectives

PhD in CS program aims to:

• Equip learners with the ability to design and implement AI algorithms and models to address complex real-world challenges through rigorous research methodologies.
• Provide a strong foundation in machine learning and deep learning techniques for advanced data analysis, enabling students to contribute original findings to the field.
• Enable students to conduct comprehensive research on optimizing business processes through AI-driven automation and intelligent systems.
• Foster skills in artificial intelligence research to develop innovative applications and contribute to scholarly publications.
• Generate vision and strategic direction for creating AI-based solutions, supported by empirical research that aligns with organizational objectives.
• Develop expertise in ethical considerations and compliance related to AI and data usage, emphasizing the importance of responsible research practices.
• Cultivate the ability to lead and manage research projects that leverage AI technologies, ensuring they adhere to professional standards and contribute to the advancement of knowledge within the discipline.

Flexible schedule to accommodate working students

International academic staff and learning environment

Use of blended learning (in-class and online)

Sample curriculum.

Semester II

Semester III

Semester IV

Semester VI

Core Courses

– Research Methodology – Advanced Algorithms and Data Structures – Artificial Intelligence – Research Ethics – Conference Paper and Publications I – Conference Paper and Publications II – Research Paper

Departmental Electives

– Data Design and Visualization – Enterprise and Cloud Computing – Data Mining and Knowledge Management – Machine Learning for Data Analysis – Data Science and Data-Driven Decision-Making – Data Science with Open Source Tools – Enterprise Software Architecture and Design – Data Mining and Knowledge Management – Systems analysis and design – Enterprise architecture and systems integration – Advanced Selected Topic in CS I – Advanced Selected Topic in CS II

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Ph.D. Graduate Program in Psychological Sciences and Human Development

Introduction.

The Graduate Field of Psychological Sciences and Human Development (PSYHD)  includes faculty members from departments across the university including Psychology, Neurobiology and Behavior, Communication, and Philosophy.  See below for more on the Cornell Field System. The dominant strengths of the PSYHD Field lie in four broadly defined areas: Cognition , Development ,  Neuroscience , and Social and Personality . The goal of the Field is to educate students to become researchers, scholars, and teachers who will contribute to the future of psychology as a scientific discipline in academic or other research-oriented settings.

Our program prepares students for research and teaching careers in academic life, work in government agencies, and careers in industry or other public and private sectors.  We encourage you to explore the history of our M.A. and Ph.D. theses through the  Cornell University Theses/Dissertations guide .

Please note that we do not offer training in clinical psychology, counseling, school psychology, community psychology, industrial psychology, or clinical neuropsychology.  Applicants with primary interests in these subjects are not admitted.

To enter the PSYHD Doctoral (Ph.D.) program, you must  apply directly  to the Cornell University Graduate School. You may also want to investigate the  Cornell Graduate School  site for additional information about applying.

Application portal opens on September 1   Application portal closes on December 1 (11:59 pm)

Ph.D. Program

We offer three Ph.D. Degrees:

•Ph.D. in Psychology  •Ph.D. in Developmental Psychology  •Ph.D. in Human Development and Family Studies

The Ph.D. Graduate Student Handbook (Quick Guide) can be found here.

The Ph.D. program in PSYHD is a research focused, apprentice-styled (mentor-mentee) graduate program.  The curriculum and requirements are designed for a 5 year program; the median time to complete the Ph.D. is 5.5 years.

Student progress is supervised by a Primary Advisor who serves as the Chair of a Special Committee comprised of two faculty members, typically within the Psychological Sciences and Human Development graduate field . Prospective students should investigate the faculty members within the PSYHD field, and particularly within the Department of Psychology, whose research interests are compatible with the students' interests.  Prospective students for the Ph.D. program should then contact those faculty directly before applying.

Application requirements

• Unofficial transcript of the undergraduate record
• Three letters of recommendation , with a fourth letter optional, which your recommenders will upload to the application.

Academic Statement of Purpose

Describe (within 1000 words) the substantive research questions you are interested in pursuing during your graduate studies, and explain how our program would help you achieve your intellectual goals. Additionally, detail your academic background, intellectual interests and any training or research experience you have received that you believe has prepared you for our program. Within your statement, please also identify specific faculty members whose research interests align with your own interests.

Personal statement of interest

Please describe (within 1000 words) how your personal background and experiences influenced your decision to pursue a graduate degree. Additionally, provide insight on your potential to contribute to a community of inclusion, belonging, and respect where scholars representing diverse backgrounds, perspectives, abilities, and experiences can learn and work productively and positively together. We also encourage you to include information on any of the following areas:

• How your personal, academic, and/or professional experiences demonstrate your ability to be both persistent and resilient especially when navigating challenging circumstances.
• How you engage with others and have facilitated and/or participated in productive teams.
• How you have experienced or come to understand the barriers faced by others whose experiences and backgrounds may differ from your own.
• If relevant, how your research interests focus on issues related to diversity, inclusion, access, inequality, and/or equity.
• Your service and/or leadership in efforts to advance diversity, inclusion, access, and equity especially by those from backgrounds historically underrepresented and/or marginalized.
• Additional context around any perceived gaps or weaknesses in your academic record (including, but not limited to, personal and family struggles with unemployment and health as a result of the pandemic, systemic discrimination and the fight for civil rights, and any other situational factors that may have impacted achievements throughout your life).

Applicants are not required to submit scores on the GRE; the GRE subject test in psychology, or to have had an undergraduate major in psychology. 

Prior research experience is highly desirable; applicants may submit research reports or work.

Additional requirements for International applicants:

• English Language Proficiency requirement (TOEFL or IELTS)
• International Degree Equivalencies

The Field Structure

At Cornell, graduate study is organized using a field structure.   Fields are composed of faculty members from a number of departments who come together around a shared intellectual interest, and may draw from different campuses or colleges.  Graduate students are admitted to fields of study.  Within each field, they select major and minor subjects, which are research interests or concentrations.

Fields span departments and even disciplines.  It’s possible for a student in the field of economics to include faculty on his or her special committee from industrial labor and economics, civil and environmental engineering, and sociology, along with the more traditional economics and management.

Click here for the complete "Fields of Study, Subjects, and Concentrations" in PDF form .

Student Life

Alexander G. Ophir, Director of Graduate Studies Uris Hall, Room 218 E-mail:  [email protected] Phone:  607-255-3714

Pamela A. Cunningham, Graduate Field Assistant   •  Psychology Ph.D. Uris Hall, Room 211A E-mail:  [email protected] Phone:  607-255-3834 Fax: 607-255-8433

Marianne Arcangeli, Graduate Field Assistant   •  Developmental Psychology Ph.D.   •  Human Development and Family Studies Ph.D. Martha Van Rensselaer Hall, Room G201B E-mail:  [email protected] Phone:  607-255-4661

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History (MA)

History (PhD)

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About Our Graduate Programs

The Department of History trains students to be professional historians in a range of careers. Students in our graduate program receive mentoring from a faculty that includes specialists in the history of the United States, Latin America, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and Asia. Our curriculum emphasizes the building blocks of historical methods, including historiography, archival research, and critical thinking. Students use written archives, visual sources, oral history, and material culture to explore the past from a variety of perspectives. Our M.A. and Ph.D. graduates are employed in colleges and universities, secondary schools, and museums and other public humanities institutions.

The Department has a graduate enrollment of about 55 students at all stages of their graduate careers. A self-governing History Graduate Student Association serves as a liaison between students and faculty. Two graduate students serve on the Department’s Graduate Studies Committee, which administers the graduate program.

Look through our graduate programs

African American Public Humanities Initiative

The Department of History also participates in the University's African American Public Humanities Initiative , an interdisciplinary program integrating the disciplines of history, English, art history and Africana studies to train students for a broad range of careers in and beyond the academy.

Benefits of the AAPHI include fully-funded 5-year tuition and stipend and additional funding for summer research/internships and professional development.

Prospective graduate students interested in being considered for the African American Public Humanities Initiative scholarship should indicate their interest by checking the AAPHI interest box in their application and indicating their interest in their personal statement.

Learn MORE ABOUT AAPHI

Hagley Program in the History of Capitalism, Technology, and Culture

For more than 50 years the Hagley Program in the History of Capitalism, Technology, and Culture in the University of Delaware’s Department of History has been training M.A.- and Ph.D.-level students in the history of industrialization, capitalism, technology, consumption, business, labor and the environment. The program offers students an enriched graduate education including a range of resources and opportunities not normally available in the university setting. A large number of our students develop an expertise in the study of material culture, and many earn certificates in museum studies. Our alumni include more than 150 distinguished historians, museum professionals, archivists and others.

Interested in the program?

​​Please visit the  Hagley Program in the History of Capitalism, Technology and Culture  website for further information.

Supporting tomorrow's leaders, scholars and innovators

The University of Delaware holistically supports its graduate students, beginning with their health and wellbeing . Benefits include a subsidized health plan and physical and behavioral health services. UD fosters a culture of academic excellence , with committed faculty and staff and access to state-of-the-art research facilities and technology. UD prioritizes professional development with job training, internships and industry partnerships. Graduates further enhance their professional growth and visibility with opportunities to work on interdisciplinary research teams, present their work at conferences and publish in academic journals. Visit the links below to learn how UD is supporting society’s future leaders, scholars, and innovators.

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