Academic Requirements
This general summary of academic requirements is provided for prospective students only. Detailed degree requirements and guidelines will be provided to entering students at matriculation. Please see the Graduate Catalog of the University of Wisconsin-Madison for detailed degree requirements. School of Business graduate degrees are conferred by the Graduate School of the University, but individual departments may have additional requirements over and above those of the Graduate School. The PhD Coordinator in the School of Business serves as the primary liaison with the Graduate School and will be your best resource and ally in navigating the University bureaucracy.
General advising
Each entering student is assigned a general advisor from the major department. This faculty member counsels the student about program requirements and courses and assists the student in creating an appropriate degree plan.
Doctoral students are encouraged to network with other faculty members during the early stages of the program as they will select a major professor (with the concurrence of the department) for supervision of the dissertation. This faculty member will serve as the chair of the dissertation reading and oral examining committees. This may or may not be the one who served as adviser in the early stages of the degree program. The major professor/student relationship is one of mutual agreement which may be terminated by either party. Because of the critical nature of this relationship, both to completion of the dissertation and in recommendations for positions upon completion of the degree, students should consider very seriously the choice of dissertation advisor.
Credit loads
Ph.D. non-dissertators must carry a minimum of eight credits per semester. Ph.D. dissertators must carry a minimum of three credits per semester. A full-time program is eight to twelve graduate-level credits for a semester and four to eight graduate-level credits for the eight-week summer session. Graduate School rules prohibit PhD students from registering for more than 12 credits in the fall or spring semesters or 8 credits in the eight-week summer sessions.
Students with teaching and project assistantships, fellowships, and scholarships are required to carry a full program of approved graduate credits for the semesters in which they hold the appointment or scholarship. Pass/fail, credit/no credit, and audit courses do not count toward fulfillment of this requirement. Students who have achieved dissertator status after passing their preliminary exam and completing all major and minor course work register for three credits of dissertation research and are considered full-time students. Dissertators are not permitted to register for classroom course credits once they have achieved dissertator status.
Doctoral students are required to earn a minimum of 32 credits of coursework in the degree program at the University of Wisconsin-Madison prior to applying for dissertator status. Coursework completed at another University may be counted toward the completion of major program course requirements but may not be used to fulfill the required 32 credits taken at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Course work and degree plans – majors and minors
Each student will have a unique degree plan with a major and a minor. The students major department provides a general curriculum plan and specifies requirements and expectations.
The School of Business Instruction website provides business course descriptions by department. When available, links to online course materials are provided under the name of the instructor currently teaching the class.
Satisfactory progress GPA standards
Departmental requirements and standards for satisfactory progress vary within the School of Business. Each student in a Business PhD program is provided with a summary of progress each year at the end of the spring semester. It is the student’s responsibility to be aware of departmental expectations and requirements and to maintain satisfactory progress toward degree completion.
The following standards are in place: The Graduate School requires that doctoral students maintain a grade point average of 3.0 during the course of their program; the School of Business expects students to maintain a grade point average of 3.2 with some departments having a higher requirement. The Graduate School may impose probationary status on a student who falls below the 3.0 level. The major department in Business may impose some form of probation for a student who falls below the 3.2 level or their stated requirement if higher. Grades below the B level may mean that a student is not making satisfactory progress within their major department
Preliminary exam requirements
Students should meet with the PhD Coordinator to initiate the process no less than four weeks before the potential date of the prelim. Extra time is necessary because of bureaucratic requirements and providing the School of Business and the Graduate School time to prepare the paperwork. A Preliminary Exam Warrant will be issued only if the following conditions are met:
- The student has completed the 32 credits of course work.
- The student has no incomplete courses on the record.
- The student has an approved Minor Form on file and has completed all the minor coursework.
- The student has the appropriate grade point average for the minor and major coursework.
- The student has or will complete all required major coursework prior to the date of the exam.
Note: The “Request for Preliminary Exam Warrant” should always be filed with the School of Business PhD Office BEFORE the date of the preliminary exam, even if some of the conditions above may not yet have been met. However, the actual Preliminary Exam Warrant, itself, will not be granted by the Graduate School nor will the student become a dissertator until ALL of the five conditions above have been met.
Each department conducts prelims in its own unique way. Discuss requirements and expectations for prelims with your advisor; do not be guided by students or advisors outside of your major.
Dissertator and dissertation defense requirements
Successful completion of the prelim (in whatever format required by the major department) entitles the student to be admitted to dissertator status. The student must have completed the prelim by the Friday before the first day of classes in the semester in which he/she wants to be considered a dissertator. A dissertator registers for three credits of dissertation research each semester and works on the completion of the dissertation and collaborates with departmental faculty on papers and presentations.
Dissertators must defend and deposit their dissertation no more than five years from the date of the prelim exam. When ready to defend the dissertation, the student should request the Final Warrant from the PhD coordinator at least four weeks prior to the defense date because the PhD Coordinator must formally request the Graduate School to issue the Final Warrant for the student.. The student must supply the following information for the warrant:
- The proposed date of the defense.
- The proposed title of the dissertation.
- The names and titles of the five faculty who will be the final PhD oral exam committee.
The committee must meet the following standards for Graduate School approval:
- The committee must be composed of five members, all of whom have tenure or tenure track positions in degree granting departments.
- At least one member of the committee must be from a department other than Business. No more than two members may be from departments other than Business.
- Business faculty, who also have an appointment in a different degree granting department, may represent the other department if this is approved in writing by the Senior Associate Dean of the School of Business. A copy of this letter must be sent with the Final Warrant Request Form.
- Faculty who have retired or left employment at the UW-Madison may serve on the committee up to, but no more than one year from the date of retirement or termination.
Degree completion and graduation
The PhD degree is granted only upon completion of a set of requirements of the Graduate School of the University. The student will have received a written set of these responsibilities and requirements in the defense packet prior to the date of defense. The degree is not granted until the student has made an appointment with the appropriate degree coordinator in the Graduate School of the University and has filed the dissertation in person with that individual. Detailed information about this process may be found at the Graduate School's site