Remaining in Good Standing
To advance in the program during their time at Duke, doctoral students must remain in good standing.
Maintaining good standing requires, but is not limited to, the following:
- Receiving a B or higher in all required courses.
- Maintaining a B (3.0) GPA overall.
- Successfully passing milestone exams on the specified timeline. This includes the first-year exams and the second-year paper defense.
- Submitting a version of the second-year paper to an acceptable journal by the beginning of the 3rd year.
- Successfully defending a dissertation prospectus by The Graduate School’s (TGS) deadline in the 3rd year.
- Serving as a TA is an academic exercise as it prepares students to teach. Students without fellowships or research assistantships are expected to TA each semester in years 2 through 5. Students assigned to TA must complete all reasonable duties, including, but not limited to, attending class, grading, and holding office hours, if requested by the professor.
- Behaving ethically, as outlined by the Duke Community Standard.
Consequences of Not Remaining in Good Standing
- Students who receive a single F in any sociology course must repeat the course and receive a B or better. Failure to do so will result in a recommendation that TGS remove the student from the program.
- Students who receive a B- or lower in a required course will be placed on probation. A second B- or lower in a required course will result in a recommendation that TGS remove them from the program.
- As stated by TGS, if students fail a milestone exam or the dissertation proposal defense, they may re-take it three months later with the same committee. If they do not pass, they will be unable to continue in the program.
- If students do not meet any of the other above milestones or criteria, the department will ask TGS to remove them from the program.
Process of Separating From the Program
Students who have not met any of the above criteria will be notified in writing and told what they need to do to return to good standing. The exception regards failing a preliminary exam after a second attempt, which can result in directly recommending that TGS remove the student.
Students who exit the PhD program are still eligible for a Master’s degree.
Personal Emergencies
Students who encounter a personal emergency can petition the DGS to change the timing of the first-year exam, second-year defense, and journal submission. Students with personal emergencies can also work with their instructor to adjust their TA duties accordingly.