Graduate
Social Work PhD
Ph.D Admission
Admission Requirements
All applicants to the PhD program must have a master’s degree in social work or a related field. Admission to the PhD program is based on evaluations of
- an online application
- a professional resume
- undergraduate and graduate transcripts
- three letters of reference
- an example of the applicant’s scholarly writing
- a 750-word statement of purpose
- TOEFL scores for international applicants
Application Deadline
Applications for the full-time PhD Program are due December 1 for admission in the following fall semester. For application materials and further information, write to:
PhD Admissions
Education/Social Work Building 4138 Indiana University
School of Social Work 902 W. New York Street
Indianapolis, IN 46202-5154
Telephone: (317) 274-6730 E-mail: madamek@iu.edu
Ph.D Requirements
Course Requirements
The student must complete a total of 90 credit hours, including dissertation and research internship. Candidates for the PhD degree may be granted up to 30 hours of graduate credit from other institutions as follows:
- Of the 30 graduate transfer credit hours counted toward the PhD degree in social work, 15 of these credits must be in an area directly related to research (e.g., research methods, statistics, a mentored research project, etc.).
- All 15 research transfer credits must have been successfully completed as prerequisites for the two advanced research methods courses (S 726 and S 737), the Research Internship (S 725), and the advanced statistics course (S 728).
- All students must have successfully completed a graduate-level statistics course prior to enrolling in the required advanced statistics course.
- Any research transfer credits not completed prior to acceptance into the PhD program must be completed as part of the student’s doctoral studies in accordance with the above provisions.
- Foundation research courses offered by the program include S 718, S 721, and S 790.
All courses credited toward the PhD degree must have a minimum grade of B and must receive written approval from the School of Social Work PhD Program Committee and the Dean of the University Graduate School Indianapolis. Specific program requirements include:
- professional social work component (33 cr.)
- specialization component (18 cr.)
- research component (21 cr.)
- research internship (6 cr.)
- dissertation (12 cr.)
All students in the PhD program, with the approval of the program director, will select 3 faculty members to serve as their academic advisors throughout their doctoral studies, one of whom will represent the student’s area of specialization outside the School of Social Work.
Qualifying Examination Process
The qualifying examination process is comprehensive and integrative in nature. Specific guidelines for the completion of the qualifying process are available from the PhD Program Director. Admission to Candidacy following the passing of the qualification examination and the completion of all course work, the student’s advisory committee will sign off on a Nomination to Candidacy edoc submitted to the University Graduate School Indianapolis. Upon approval of the Dean, the student will be admitted to candidacy and awarded a Certificate of Candidacy.
Research Proposal
After nomination to candidacy, the student, with the approval of the Program Director, will select a research committee of no fewer than four faculty members, including one member outside of the School of Social Work. This committee must approve the proposed dissertation topic.
Final Examination
The final examination is the oral defense of the dissertation.
