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| Handbook for Socio-Cultural PhD Students |
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This handbook is intended to help you navigate through the years of study and research that will lead to a Ph.D. degree in anthropology at Columbia. It is hoped that these explanations and the outlining of procedures will help you in planning your studies. For more information about the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences (GSAS) regulations and procedures you should also refer to the website of GSAS.
The Ph.D. in our department typically requires 3 years of course work; the third year is taken up with Admission to Candidacy Exams, prospectus writing, and grant submissions (additional coursework at a somewhat less intensive pace is to be continued during this third year, as well); 1-2 years of dissertation research; and 2-3 years of dissertation write-up. The ideal time frame for completion is 7 years, but circumstances vary, particularly when ethnographic fieldwork comes into the picture. GSAS, however, has a “seven-year rule” which bars further funding and continuance in university housing after seven years; after seven years, students are also not eligibile to be regular Teaching Fellows and must look for other sources of funding. Please be aware that the receipt of external funding does not defer or extend the seven-year rule. Additionally, GSAS has recently instituted a 9-year maximum for the completion of ALL Ph.D. requirements, including the approved dissertation. Students who do not finish within 9 years will not be allowed to finish their Ph.Ds.
When you enter the program your first year is arranged in consultation with the Director of Graduate Studies. By the end of the second year at the latest, each student chooses an advisor and two additional faculty members in order to form a committee. (see below, "Advising"). Your program and progress is reviewed annually by the entire departmental faculty; each student receives an end-of-the-year letter assessing academic progress and including suggestions for the coming year. The Department expects students to maintain at least an A- average and to complete all course work and other requirements for candidacy for the Ph.D. (culminating in the M.Phil.) in three years (note that the GSAS requirement is four years; our department, however, has a requirement of three years). All funding, whether from GSAS or from the department, is contingent upon being in good academic standing. Good academic standing means that you are completing courses in a timely manner, maintaining an acceptable grade average, and fulfilling all requirements as the department and GSAS schedules stipulate. If you do not do so, the GSAS and the Department may withhold stipends or delay registration until requirements are fulfilled. In extreme cases of unsatisfactory progress, a student may be asked to leave the program.
Please make yourself at home in and help maintain the Graduate
Student Lounge. Other facilities primarily intended for your use are
the Scheps departmental library and the adjoining computer room.
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