Degree Requirements, Human Development and Family Sciences

Graduate handbook information is updated and maintained by each program. Graduate handbooks are available within each program's office and online at https://utexas.box.com/v/UTAustinGraduateHandbooks. Please contact the program with concerns or questions.

Master of Arts

The master’s degree requires completion of at least 36 semester hours of coursework; a core course sequence of 15 semester hours, consisting of theoretical and methodological foundations courses; 12 hours in research and thesis; and nine hours of electives. The graduate program in human development and family sciences is designed primarily to lead to the Doctor of Philosophy degree. Students normally earn the Master of Arts degree only in the course of work leading to the doctoral degree. Further information is available from the graduate advisor.

Doctor of Philosophy

Detailed descriptions of admission procedures and program requirements are available from the graduate advisor. Work leading to the Doctor of Philosophy includes: (1) the substantive major, which consists of a cohesive sequence of courses in human development and family sciences and related disciplines; (2) coursework in research design and statistics; (3) the supporting program, which consists of work complementary to the substantive major; (4) ongoing supervised research experience; (5) a pre-doctoral research project (the equivalent of a master’s thesis); (6) a series of field-relevant tasks, such as preparing manuscripts for publication and applying for external funding in order to advance to candidacy; and (7) the dissertation.