The requirements listed below are special to this department and must be read in conjunction with the general requirements of the Graduate School . In addition, students are urged to consult either the department’s or the University’s website directly for further information and course descriptions.
Ph.D. Program
The Ph.D. program is designed to provide students with the skills they would need to possess once they leave the department and become academic sociologists. An assistant professor of sociology needs to be well-grounded in the discipline of sociology, fully knowledgeable about the critical debates in at least one field so that her work will have strategic impact, capable of designing and carrying out research projects, able to present research results in written and oral form, and ready to teach courses. Students completing a Ph.D. in sociology will be trained in how to design and teach their own courses; how to apply for grants; how to publish articles and/or books; and how to present their work in professional meetings.
Students are initially admitted to the department as candidates for the M.A. degree, with the expectation that satisfactory academic performance during the first year results in formal admission to the Ph.D. program. At the end of the first year, the faculty reviews all students’ academic progress to determine whether their records meet the department’s standards for admission to doctoral candidacy. Students who complete the first-year requirements satisfactorily usually can expect to continue in the program.
Requirements for the M.A. (leading to the Ph.D.) The M.A. degree is awarded to all graduate students who complete the requirements listed below. Students must also satisfy the requirements of the Graduate School . It is the student’s responsibility to apply for the M.A. degree in a timely fashion, upon completion of all necessary requirements. Students admitted to the Ph.D. program are expected to apply for the M.A. degree before the end of semester four.
In order to be awarded the M.A. degree, students must complete 3 of the 5 requirements for the M.Phil listed in the next section by the end of their second year in the program.
Residence: Two Residence Units.
Points of credit: A total of 24: 18 points of courses taken for a letter grade within the department; six points of R credit within the department. Courses taken outside the department must have authorization from the DGS. Per the departmental guidelines for formal admission to the doctoral program, 16 points of courses taken for a letter grade are to be completed in the first year.
Required courses: G4050. Sociological Theory: Origins (must be taken in year 1); G4074-G4075. Introductory Social Data Analysis, a two-semester sequence, plus the associated lab courses G4076-G4077; G4097. Designs of Social Research (must be taken in year 1). Second Year Practicum (must be taken in year 2). These courses are taken pass/fail only. Professional seminar: A weekly, noncredit Professional Seminar is to be completed in the first and second semesters. Attendance is compulsory, but registration is not required.
Language requirement: Students are not required to demonstrate proficiency in any language with the following exception. International students for whom English is not their native language and who have not previously earned an undergraduate degree at an English-speaking college or University must pass the ALP (American Language Program) two-part examination with a grade of 10 before the end of semester two. This is a requirement of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. Instructors of the first-year required courses assess the language skills of all students. Any student deemed inadequately prepared in English is required to take a language course approved by the DGS.
Advanced standing: The normal route to a doctoral degree in the Department of Sociology is for students to first earn the M.A., typically at the end of the second year, then the M.Phil, typically at the end of the third year, and finally the Ph.D. Advanced standing means that the M.A. requirement is waived, the student is granted up to 24 course credits and up to 2 Residence units, and is moved one year ahead in the program. They are not exempted from any of the 5 M.Phil requirements. Students receiving advanced standing for the M.A. degree are not eligible to receive an M.A. from Columbia University .
Who can obtain advanced standing: Advanced standing may be granted to students admitted into the department with M.A. degrees in sociology from other institutions but it is not guaranteed. The department reserves the right to judge the quality of the program of studies undergone by the student, and whether it merits advanced standing. In some rare cases, advanced standing may be granted to students with non-sociology MA degrees.
How and when to obtain advanced standing: Advanced standing can be granted as soon as the first semester at Columbia . Students should consult with the DGS during the first semester and provide the DGS with documentation of their degree, courses taken, and especially with syllabi of courses. The DGS will then make a recommendation to the Graduate School . The final decision will is made by the Graduate School . International students are not considered for advanced standing until they have passed the ALP examination with a grade of 10.
Fellowships and Advanced Standing: Students who are granted full advanced standing (2 Residence Units) receive four years of fellowship funding, rather than the standard five years. For this reason, the department makes the decision about advanced standing only after careful discussion with the student about his or her background and objectives in the program, and with a view to promoting and protecting the best interests of the student. After a decision has been reached, however, advanced standing is not something a student can decline. If the department judges that a student is eligible for advanced standing, then it will recommend accordingly to the Graduate School.
Partial Advanced Standing: If a student’s M.A. degree is not in sociology or is judged not rigorous enough, or if a student has taken courses toward one M.A. degree but did not complete the degree, the DGS may recommend partial advanced standing or simply transfer of credits. With partial advanced standing, the student will typically be granted only 1 Residence Unit, and between 8 and 18 course credits. Transfer of credits typically involves no more than eight course credits. In both cases, the M.A. requirement is not waived, and the student still needs to satisfy the criteria for a Columbia sociology M.A..
For the M.Phil. Degree
Students granted permission to proceed to the M.Phil. degree must complete all requirements for the Ph.D. except for the dissertation proposal and the preparation and defense of the dissertation in order to receive the M.Phil degree. Timely completion of the M.Phil. ensures that students retain full eligibility for departmental, University, and outside fellowships, as well as for other forms of support. As with the M.A., it is the student’s responsibility to observe all departmental and school deadlines in applying for the M.Phil. degree.
Residence: Six Residence Units, including the two earned for the M.A. degree. Prerequisite: Columbia University M.A. degree or two Residence Units of Advanced Standing. Advising: By the end of the Fall semester of their second year, students must have identified, contacted, been accepted by, and switched to (if necessary) their “true” adviser/mentor.
Points of credit: A total of 48: 36 points taken for a letter grade or Pass/Fail; 12 R-credit courses, including those acquired for the M.A. degree. Students should note that instructors may impose certain requirements, with the exception of an examination, on students whom they permit to enroll for R credit. Students may satisfy a portion of the letter grade requirement by registering for an independent study in which they write a major research paper. For more information on individual study, students should consult the DGS as well as the faculty member with whom they wish to study.
Required courses: In addition to those required for the M.A., a second theory course (to be chosen from G4204 Historical Sociology, G8200 Economic Sociology, G4110 Power and Politics in Organizations, G4130 Sociology of Expertise, G6320 Immigration, Cities, States, G4122 Theory and Practice in the Study of Culture (taught every two or three years); G4165 Contemporary Sociological Theory; an advanced methods course to be taken by semester four (to be chosen from G4099 Field Research Methods, G6125 Long-linear Models, G6091 Historical Methods and Documentary Analysis or an alternative approved by the DGS); G6995 Graduate Research Practicum to be taken in semester five (offered for R credit only).
M.Phil. Requirements: There are five requirements, of which students must complete 1 by the beginning of the Fall semester of the second year; 2 by the beginning of the Spring semester of their second year; 3 by end of their second year, upon which they obtain the MA; All 5 by the end of the third year, upon which they obtain the M.Phil. degree. Students who transfer to the department after already obtaining an MA in sociology from another department are not exempted from any of these requirements
The 5 requirements are:
1) Write and submit a grant/fellowship application for a research project. The application need not be accepted to be considered a fulfillment of the requirement.
2) Write a field statement on a topic of student’s choice (topic approved by adviser and DGS).
3) Design two courses, one as a companion to their field statement and the other a general service course like theory, methods, intro, gender, race and ethnicity, family, education, etc. including a short course description and justification of substantive and pedagogic rationales.
4) Write and submit a paper to be presented at a professional conference. To be considered in fulfillment of the requirement, the paper must be presented at some forum, though not necessarily at the professional conference to which it was submitted. It could, for example, be presented at a departmental or center workshop in Columbia.
5) Write and submit a paper to a scholarly journal. The paper need not be accepted to be considered in fulfillment of the requirement. The paper can be co-authored, but the student must be first author. Unless in exceptional circumstances, it should not be a paper that was published before the student joined the department.
All requirements except for the grant/fellowship proposal would be read and approved by two faculty members: the adviser and a second reader. The grant/fellowship proposal would be read only by the adviser. The adviser will provide a written evaluation of each requirement (summarizing also the second reader review) to the student, utilizing an on-line professional development report form. The student will be able to respond. If a student has not completed all requirements as stipulated below by the end of a given year or if the work is deemed inadequate by the two faculty members reading it the student will be given feedback in writing, a deadline for completing the work, and a written warning that if the work is not corrected as stipulated the student would be asked to leave the program:
· one requirement by the end of the first year,
· two requirements by the end of the fall semester of the second year,
· three requirements by the end of the second year,
· or all five requirements by the end of the third year.
Teaching requirement: Participation in the instructional activities of the department for three years. As a rule, in the second, third, and fourth years of study, students gain exposure to teaching as assistants to professors in introductory undergraduate courses or other types of assignments. Students who are interested in broadening their teaching apprenticeships are eligible to teach in the Core Program once they have received the M.Phil. Students may only apply to be a preceptor if they have or expect to have the M.Phil. by the May prior to being appointed as a preceptor, and if they are not past their sixth year of registration during the first year of the preceptorship. Students may not hold instructional appointments after year seven.
For the Ph.D. Degree
For every student recommended to proceed to the Ph.D., a faculty member must indicate willingness to advise that student for the dissertation. The student must identify a dissertation sponsor before the start of the seventh semester. A dissertation proposal must be approved no later than January 1st of the fourth year of study. For more information on the dissertation proposal, students should consult the departmental guidelines. Subsequently, students must successfully conduct research for, defend, write, and deposit their doctoral dissertation according to the rules of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences.
