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NCSU Graduation Requirements

Master of Science Degree and Doctor of Philosophy

Master of Science
Requirements: Master's degree requires a minimum of 30 semester credit hours.
1. No more than two credit hours of departmental seminar may be included in the minimum 30-credit program.
2. No more than three credit hours of Master's supervised teaching (685) may be included in the minimum 30-credit program
3. Programs that require a thesis cannot include more than six hours of Thesis Research credit (695) in the minimum 30-credit-hour program. Thesis Research credit is not appropriate in non-thesis programs.
4. A Non-thesis program cannot include more than six hours of independent study credits in the minimum 30-credit program.
5. No more than ten hours of 400-level courses may be counted toward the minimal 30-hour requirement, and they may not come from the major field.
6. Master's Thesis Preparation (699) credits may not be used to satisfy the 30-credit hour requirement.
7. Non-thesis Master's Examination (690) credits may not be used to satisfy the 30-credit hour requirement.
8. At least 18 hours of the minimum 30 hours required for the Master's degree must be graduate credits earned while the student is enrolled in a graduate classification at NC State.
9. For information regarding transfer various types of course credits into a Master's program visit: http://www.fis.ncsu.edu/grad_publicns/handbook/

Doctor of Philosophy
Requirements: Doctoral degrees at NCSU require a minimum of 72 graduate credit hours beyond the bachelor's degree.
1. At least two residence credit points secured in continuous semesters' residence as a graduate student at the University.
2. For a student who has a master's degree from a university other than NC State, a maximum of 18 hours of relevant graduate credit from the master's degree may be applied toward this minimum, upon the recommendation of the student's Graduate Advisory Committee.
3. If a student completes a master's degree at NC State and continues for a doctoral degree without a break in time, up to 36 credit hours of required course work taken while in master's status may be used to meet minimum requirements for the doctoral degree.
4. Students cannot transfer courses into a Ph.D. program.
5. Students who hold a Ph.D. are generally not admissible for a second Ph.D. unless a "special exception" is requested.
6. A preliminary comprehensive examination (written - cumes; oral - prelim) presentation
7. A dissertation
8. Dissertation defense - final comprehensive oral examination
9. Submission to university of approved dissertation

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