Transfer of Credits

Graduate courses completed at other institutions may be accepted for credit toward the doctoral degree, subject to conditions outlined by the Graduate School-New Brunswick and the judgment of the doctoral program director (see Program of Study below). Such credits would not normally include studio courses, independent or directed studies, or master's thesis research.

* Up to 24 of these credits can be transferred in from a prior graduate program of study. Must be approved in advance by the doctoral program director.

Students holding a master's degree must complete a minimum of 48 credits of course work and an additional 24 credits of thesis research, yielding the graduate school minimum requirement of 72 doctoral credits. Up to 24 of the 48 course work credits may be transfer credits (subject to approval of the doctoral program director); however, these must not exceed half the credits applied toward the master's degree.

Students who enter the program without a master's degree must complete a minimum of 63 credits (calculated as 45 credits for a master's degree, less 6 credits for the master's thesis, plus the 24 additional didactic credits required of a student already holding a master's degree) plus an additional 24 credits of thesis research (minimum of 87 credits).

Students in the doctoral program are required to take three courses in theory (9 credits) and three courses in methods (9 credits) that exceed the requirements of course work taken in completion of a master's program in urban planning or public policy. Relevant theory and methods courses include Planning, Public Policy, and Social Theory (16:970:624); Advanced Scholarly Research (16:970:626); Advanced Qualitative Methods (34:833:628); and Discrete Choice Methods (34:970:630). This specific course work in theory and methods, and more generally the classes taken by each doctoral student, must be approved by the course of study (COS) committee. (See below.)

To assist the selection of appropriate courses, first- and second-year doctoral students are required to submit a course of study (COS) form in the fall term. The COS is reviewed by the doctoral program director and other faculty members (COS committee) with the doctoral student in order to develop an individually crafted program. That program should guide the student's course selection.

First-year doctoral students are required to attend a doctoral seminar. Attendance at this seminar is strongly recommended for second-year doctoral students.

First- and second-year doctoral students will be asked to present a formal paper at doctoral conferences periodically held at the Bloustein School.