PhD Completion Timeline

Students entering the PhD program should aim to complete the degree in six years, which is the length of the GSAS fellowship. In many instances, students in the Religion Department have received a seventh year of funding, either internally (eg., teaching in the Core or with a Teaching Scholars Program award) or externally (via ACLS, the Charlotte W. Newcombe fellowship, etc). And, some students continue into the seventh year and beyond as self-funded. Of course, every PhD student’s trajectory is unique. The timeline involves not only the nature of the research, but consideration of personal and family commitments, health, the contingencies of pandemics and visa applications, etc.

The following, generalized timeline provides benchmarks for progress over the course of the six-year PhD fellowship. This also assumes the student does not have advanced standing (which you will know if you do, because you would have applied for it). Again: variations among students and projects are to be expected, but the department strongly encourages keeping to the proposed timeline where possible. This timeline does not include formal leaves of absence, which can be granted by GSAS for medical and some other personal considerations. Formal leaves of absence “pause” the six-year clock.  

Students should keep a copy of this timeline to hand and discuss their progress and plans in light of it with the Director of Graduate Studies and their sponsor each year of the program. Individual fields of study can vary with respect to some aspects of the timing.

While the timeline does not cover summers fully, this time each year is usually dedicated to study for the exams (in the early years of the program), preliminary fieldwork or exploratory archival work, and language training.

Deadlines set by GSAS are requirements that cannot be altered without permission by the Dean of GSAS; these are included in the timeline below.  

Year 1: A year of taking courses, and then an exam after the summer

  • Coursework (including Theory & Method and a Zone Course)
  • Summer after Y1: Theory & Method and Zone Exam (to be taken late August or early September)

Year 2: Another year of coursework, and the MA exam at some point, and teaching fellowship

  • Coursework
  • Teaching Fellowship
  • MA Exam (based on two seminar papers presented in an oral viva to the instructors of record; this can be taken any time from the fall semester of Y2 up through October of Y3)  
  • Summer after Y2: Start preparing for MPhil Exams (students to meet with their MPhil exam committee to agree on three comps lists, covering topics central to their research area)  

Year 3: Preparing for and taking the MPhil Exams, writing the Dissertation Proposal, teaching fellowship

  • Fall semester: Prepare for MPhil exams (aka “comps”)
  • Consider applying for outside funding that will support research (American Institute of Indian Studies, Fulbright, ACLS/Mellon, Wenner Gren, etc)
  • Spring semester: Take the exams (around March) and begin work on the Dissertation Proposal
  • Defend the Dissertation proposal by the September after Y3

GSAS: The MA degree (based on the oral exam and coursework) must be awarded no later than the October degree deadline in Y3

Year 4: Dissertation fellowship (cannot be taken before passing Proposal Defense) or teaching fellowship

  • Research and work for Dissertation (fieldwork, archival work, etc)
  • Consider applying for outside fellowships that will support research or writing (ACLS/Mellon, Wenner Gren, Louisville Institute, American Institute of Indian Studies, IRCPL summer fellowship)

GSAS: ABD students must arrange for dissertation progress meetings with their sponsor and another committee member each semester

GSAS: The Dissertation Prospectus must be completed by May 31 of Y4 

Year 5: Teaching fellowship, dissertation fellowship, or outside fellowship

  • Dissertation writing (and possible follow-up research)
  • Consider applying for outside fellowships that will support writing (ACLS/Mellon, Wenner Gren, Louisville Institute, IRCPL dissertation workshop fellowship, and especially Charlotte W. Newcombe—which has to be in the penultimate year of dissertating)
  • Enroll in the required Proseminar on Religion (meets three times per semester and covers the process of job applications and publishing)
  • Apply for jobs

GSAS: ABD students must arrange for dissertation progress meetings with their sponsor and another committee member each semester

Year 6: Teaching fellowship, dissertation fellowship, or outside fellowship

  • Fall: Dissertation writing
  • Fall: Apply for jobs and postdoctoral fellowships
  • Spring: Submit full draft of PhD to committee and finalize
  • Spring/Summer: Distribution (one month prior to defense) and Defense

GSAS: ABD students must arrange for dissertation progress meetings with their sponsor and another committee member each semester

**Further information on registration requirements, exams, and the dissertation proposal can be found on the department’s website and via the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. This also includes information on residential units, course credit requirements for the MA (30 applicable credits over two years), and requirements for the dissertation fellowship year.**