Degree Requirements

¹

In consultation with the Advisory Committee, students should enroll in 500 – 800 level courses. Students wanting to take CS 893 Doctoral Supervised Research, should take this course before passing the preliminary exam.  Students wanting to take CS 895 Doctoral Dissertation Research, should take this course after passing the preliminary exam.

²

A PhD student with a Graduate Research Assistantship is required to assist with teaching two assigned Crop Science courses. For eligible teaching assignments as indicated by the DGP, enroll in 1 credit hour of CS 885 Doctoral Supervised Teaching during each teaching semester.

Additional Information

• The PhD Advisory Committee must include 4 graduate faculty members at NC State. The Chair or co-Chair must be a full graduate faculty member in Crop Science. An employee of the USDA may be a committee member or co-Chair, but not a sole Chair. One member must be external, i.e. not a graduate faculty member in Crop Science.
• A total of 72 hours beyond the bachelor’s degree are required to earn a PhD degree.  Counted courses must be graded C- or better (grades below B must be rare) or S, satisfactory. 
• Upon recommendation of the Advisory Committee and approval of the DGP and the Graduate School, a PhD student may be able to transfer in hours (graded B or better) from other relevant graduate-level coursework, for example potentially up to 18 hours from a MS degree at another university and up to 36 hours from a NC State MS degree if there was no gap before beginning the PhD program (if a gap occurred, the transfer limit is 18 hours).
•  Crop Science PhD students with Graduate Research Assistantships are required to pass the doctoral preliminary written and oral exam (establishing candidacy to receive the PhD) by end of your third year in the program.
• A Graduate School Representative (GSR) must participate in the doctoral preliminary and final oral exams to protect the interests of the student and the Graduate School. The Crop Science Program recommends that the GSR not be a member of the committee. However, the required external committee member may also carry out the role of the GSR if they are asked and affirm willingness to do so. The Graduate School appoints the GSR once a student asks to schedule the oral portion of the preliminary exam.
• You may not count CS 890, CS 896, or CS 899 CS 899 CS 899 towards the 72 hours required for the PhD degree.
• A maximum of 10 years is allowed to earn the PhD degree.
• An NC State cumulative GPA of 3.000 or better is required for graduation.

Faculty