The Ph.D. program emphasizes an interprofessional orientation to research and practice. The Ph.D. prepares students from a wide range of health and human sciences fields to function effectively as scholars and researchers within academic and practice settings.
Admission
A student seeking admission to the Ph.D. program must be admitted to the Graduate School, submit three letters of recommendation and a personal statement. Scores on the GRE are waived for applicants who have earned a graduate degree with a GPA of 3.50 or higher from an accredited institution.
Course requirements
Completion of this degree requires a minimum of 45 semester hours of graduate course work at NIU beyond the graduate credits earned toward the student’s master’s degree.
All students are required to complete an individualized program of study related to their professional areas of interest. Proposed course work must be pre-approved by the student’s adviser. Additional course work may be required.
Candidacy Examination (1)
A student must receive approval from his or her graduate committee to take the candidacy examination. The candidacy examination is a written examination based on the core courses and the student’s individual program of study. Upon satisfactory completion of the candidacy examination the student is admitted to candidacy for the Ph.D. degree. The examining committee may allow a student who fails a candidacy exam to repeat it after a period of time determined by the committee. A student who fails the candidacy examination a second time or is not granted permission for a second attempt will not be permitted to continue work toward the doctorate and admission to the doctoral program is terminated.
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