Coursework and doctoral program of study

The doctoral program of study includes coursework, research, internships, and/or seminar credits according to the requirements of the individual doctoral program. A minimum 27 credits of 603 Dissertation is required for all Ph.D. students; a minimum of 18 credits of 603 Dissertation is required for all Ed.D. students. A minimum of three academic years of satisfactory graduate study beyond the bachelor’s degree (equivalent to 81 quarter credits minimum) is required for all doctoral degrees.

For doctoral degrees, pre-admission and transfer credits must be graduate credit taken at a regionally accredited institution and applicable to a graduate degree program without qualification at the originating institution. Pre-admission and transfer credits cannot be correspondence credit. For doctoral degrees, pre-admission and transfer limits are at the discretion of the individual doctoral programs. Transfer credits are approved via a GO-21D form submitted to OGS. While potentially all coursework for the degree can be transferred from another institution, the following items must be completed at PSU: comprehensive exams, residency, proposal, advancement to candidacy, and dissertation research.

A student must have a minimum 3.00 GPA on the courses applied to the program of study, as well as a minimum 3.00 GPA in all graduate-level courses taken at PSU. Doctoral programs may establish a more rigorous standard. Although grades of C+, C, and C- are below the graduate standard, they may be counted as credit toward a doctoral degree with the specific written approval of the doctoral program. Grades of D or F indicate clearly unacceptable work and cannot be applied to graduate degree requirements. The grades of P/NP are used by only a limited number of departments which have received special authorization. Audited courses cannot be used to meet any requirement for doctoral degrees.

A grade of IP (In Progress) may be used for 601 Research and for 606 Project when a student is progressing in an acceptable manner toward completion of the work; final grades for 601 and 606 credits are assigned by the instructor via an online grade change. An IP grade must be used for 603 Dissertation when a student is progressing in an acceptable manner; final grades for 603 Dissertation credits are assigned by the instructor on the Recommendation for the Degree form (GO-17D) and posted to the student’s transcript after approval of the dissertation and certification for graduation by the Office of Graduate Studies.

All coursework on the program of study, with the possible exception of seminar and internships, must be completed before a student can be advanced to doctoral candidacy. All coursework on the program of study must be satisfactorily completed before graduation.

A student with any M (Missing) grades in PSU graduate courses that could potentially be letter graded will not be certified for graduation, even if the courses are not applied to the student's degree program. 

For students entering a doctoral program with a master’s degree, a maximum of five years will be allowed from admission to completion of all required comprehensive examinations. For students entering with a bachelor’s degree, a maximum of two additional years will be added to this limit, for a maximum of seven years from admission to completion of all comprehensive examinations. Failure to meet this time limit will result in cancellation of admission to the doctoral program.