Summary of Ph.D. Degree Requirements
The following requirements include the course hours normally accumulated during the student's master's degree.
| Requirement | Hours |
Description |
| Group I: ECE 6000 level classes in one or two TIAs: | 9 |
Three classes in a combination of one or two technical interest areas of the student's choosing (All for letter grade credit). |
| Group II: ECE 6000-level classes | 9 |
Nine hours of classes, all of which must be outside of and not cross-listed with the TIA(s) above. All for letter grade credit. |
| Group III: Minor in an area outside ECE | 9 |
Nine hours of classes in a single discipline outside
of ECE. All for letter grade credit |
| Group IV: Electives | 14 |
(Up to 12 MS thesis hours, recorded as such on an official transcript, may be used in this area) |
| ECE 8010 (Research Seminar) | 1 |
Pass/fail. NOTE: PhD students are strongly urged to take this class during their first or second semester in the graduate program. |
| ECE 8022 Professional Communications Seminar | 1 |
Pass/fail. Students entering the graduate program after Summer 2006 are required to take ECE 8022 (Professional Communications Seminar) to fulfill ECE's professional communications requirement. NOTE: Ph.D. students are expected to complete ECE 8010 before taking ECE 8022. |
| Total hours required | 43 |
In addition, there are a number of requirements imposed by the Institute. These include:
- Student must pass a Comprehensive Examination. In ECE, this is the combination of the Ph.D. Preliminary Examination and the dissertation proposal
- Students must be in the Ph.D. program at Georgia Tech for a minimum of 2 years.
- Student must have at least two semesters of full-time, on-campus enrollment.
- A minimum of 9 hours for letter grade must be taken at Georgia Tech.
- Students must complete training in the Responsible Conduct of Research.
- The student must complete and defend a dissertation, for which prior approval of the topic is necessary.
- Once admitted to candidacy, the student must complete all degree requirements within 7 years.
- Students must maintain a 3.0 GPA.
Minor Field of Study: The minor is most often in mathematics or in computer science; a list of Math courses and a list of Computer Science courses acceptable for a Ph.D. minor are on the ECE web site. Minor courses in another area will be considered; however, minor courses in non-technical areas (for example, management) will not be approved.
Details of the degree requirements are in the ECE Graduate Student Handbook. To assist with planning when to take courses, visit the projected schedule of graduate classes page on the ECE web site and search for details about ECE classes on the ECE Course Information page.
Last revised on October 19, 2012.
