Ph.D. Programs

Application Requirements

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WSU Graduate School requirements for admission must be met, including a cumulative GPA of at least 3.0 for the most recent 60 semester hours of undergraduate academic coursework.

Specific requirements for School of the Environment Ph.D. programs include:

• a TOEFL score of 600 (Paper-Based), 250 (Computer-Based), or 100 (Internet-Based) for students with English as a second language.
• Completion of a Master’s degree (or equivalent)
• Admission to the program without subject matter deficiency requires at least 10 semester credits of completed coursework in basic biological and/or physical sciences (e.g., biology, chemistry, physics, geology).
• Students may be admitted with deficiency with the expectation that the deficiency will be met through completed coursework (for non-graduate program credit) within one year of admission.
• Obtaining and being accepted by a School of the Environment faculty advisor prior to admission. Arrangements for a faculty advisor should be made through interaction between the student and the faculty member. The initial contact may be made either by the applicant or the faculty member.

Program Committee & Advisor

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Students must identify a member of the graduate faculty in SoE who agrees to serve as their graduate advisor.  Together the advisor and student will select a committee consisting of at least three graduate faculty members.

At the doctoral level, the committee also has the responsibility for the Ph.D. preliminary examination and the qualifying examination for the Doctor of Philosophy degree.

Preliminary Examination

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Each student is required to pass a preliminary examination in order to become a candidate for the Ph.D. degree.

This examination will be taken after most of the required course work has been completed, as determined by the thesis committee, and upon submission of a dissertation research proposal. It will consist of written and oral parts which will focus on the student’s major area of competency, courses taken, and the subject matter of the proposed research.

Dissertation & Final Examination

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The final examination will be mainly a defense of the dissertation. All students are required to present a seminar to the faculty and public on their dissertation research.

Students submit their dissertation following the Graduate School directions listed on dissertations.wsu.edu at least 10 days prior to the proposed exam date. All dissertation submissions and signature page completions are now done 100% digitally.

After a successful final exam, the student has five working days to do the following:

• Email the Hold Harmless form and Survey of Earned Doctorates completion certificate to gradschool@wsu.edu
• Upload a PDF containing the dissertation’s title page, signature pages, and abstract to myWSU. Instructions can be found on the graduate school’s forms page under “Cotton Page e-Approval Guide“

Graduate students should be aware of the Departmental rules and requirements regarding distribution of dissertation drafts. Because a student only has five working days after defending their dissertation to turn in the final version to the Graduate School, substantially all changes must be addressed prior to defending their thesis in the final exam.

Consequently, your committee members need to have read your dissertation prior to scheduling a defense date. This means committee members should receive copies of your dissertation at least 14 days before scheduling the final exam, preferably a month before.

Depending on your advisor and your writing ability, you should generally allow for three to four weeks prior to this for addressing the rough draft comments.

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Current Doctorate Student Degree Checklist:

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Before Your First Semester Registration:

• Meet with faculty advisor to plan course of study for first semester

During Your First Semester:

• Resolve admission contingencies
• Establish ties in Washington immediately to allow for future semester tuition waivers

Your Second Semester:

• Establish Your Graduate Committee
• If you are working with animal subjects, make sure you have IACUC approval before beginning your research.
• If you are working with human subjects, make sure you have  IRB approval before beginning your research.
• Check with your thesis advisor if you are unsure about whether these approvals are already in place.
• Submit your program of study to Graduate School

Your Third Semester:

• Apply For Residency at the beginning of your third semester.
• Plan & schedule your preliminary exam
• Submit your preliminary exam form to your graduate student advisor by noon no later than 10 business days before you intend to take your preliminary exam.

Your Final Semester:

• Enroll for at least 2 research credits (or more depending upon your program of study)
• Apply for graduation within myWSU as early as possible this semester
• Order your cap & gown
• Update your diploma address on myWSU
• At least 14 calendar days before scheduling final examination, submit final draft of your dissertation to committee members, preferably earlier
• Schedule your final oral exam
• 10 business days before your final exam date:
  • submit your completed scheduling form to the SOE graduate student coordinator and CC soe.academics@wsu.edu by noon the day it is due
  • Format your dissertation according to the Graduate School’s formatting requirements.
  • Upload a complete draft of your dissertation to ProQuest using the Graduate School directions to submit.

Within 5 Business Days Of Completing Your Final Exam:

• Upload a PDF document of your dissertation’s title page, abstract, and signature page to myWSU using these directions.
• Email your completed Hold Harmless & Copyright Acknowledgement Form to gradschool@wsu.edu
• email your Survey of Earned Doctorates (SED) completion form to gradschool@wsu.edu.
• Update your ProQuest submission with your completed and revised dissertation. This must be the final version with all revisions. This is a graduate school requirement, and until this is done they will not clear you for graduation.