All students entering the Ph.D. program in Anthropology must satisfy three criteria. 1) They must meet the minimum standards established by Graduate Studies. 2) They must have completed a Bachelor’s or Masters degree. 3) They must be approved by the Department. Acceptance by the department will be based on several criteria including: grade point average as an undergraduate or graduate student, GRE scores, letters of recommendation, and the compatibility of the student’s proposed research with the expertise and interests of the department faculty. Students entering the Ph.D. program in recent years have an average grade point average during their last two undergraduate years of 3.4 and an average combined GRE score of 1100.

Upon admission to the Ph.D. program the student will be assigned a provisional adviser. The adviser will be a faculty member whose research is related to the topics of interest identified by the student in his or her application materials, but may or may not continue as Advisory Committee Chair. Incoming students should consult with their advisor before registering for classes regarding any background preparation they may need in preparation for the core courses. By the end of the second year, the student should select an Advisory Committee Chair and, in consultation with the chair, select the remainder of the Advisory Committee. The student's Advisory Committee will consist of not fewer than four members of the graduate faculty representative of the student's fields of study and research. Three members should be from the department and one must be outside the department. The duties of the committee include the responsibility for the proposed degree program, the third year evaluation, the dissertation research proposal, the preliminary examination, the dissertation and its oral defense.

Residence: A Ph.D. candidate must spend two academic years (one of these in continuous full-time residence) in residence beyond the baccalaureate degree, or one year in residence beyond the Masters degree.

Core Courses: All students entering the Ph.D. program must take the following courses: Evolutionary Anthropology (ANTH601), Archaeological Method and Theory (ANTH602) and Cultural Method and Theory (ANTH604). In addition,

1. Students specializing in cultural anthropology, physical anthropology, or terrestrial archaeology must take one course in the area of folklore/linguistics: Folklife and Material Culture (ANTH608), Folklore Forms & Methods (ANTH622), Folk Narrative (ANTH623), Sociolinguistics (LING602), or General Linguistics (LING608); one course in nautical archaeology: Nautical Archaeology (ANTH611), New World Seafaring (ANTH628), or Post-Medieval Seafaring (ANTH629); and one course in quantitative analysis: Statistics in Research (STAT651) or another comparable course.
2. Students admitted to the Nautical Archaeology Program must take Conservation of Archaeological Resources I (ANTH605), Nautical Archaeology (ANTH611), History of Shipbuilding Technology (ANTH615), Research and Reconstruction of Ships (ANTH616).

Students who have taken similar graduate level courses before entering A&M may petition to bypass required courses. Petitions to bypass a course must be made in writing and must include a copy of the syllabus of the equivalent course. Faculty who teach the core course will review the petition and vote to accept or reject it.

Anthropology Courses: Students must take at least 33 credit hours (30 if entering with an M.A.) within anthropology (not including required core courses and not including ANTH691 hours) and at least 12 hours of ANTH691. Generally 9 hours will be ANTH685 for Preliminary Exam preparation.

Outside Electives: Students must take at least 6 hours of graduate coursework outside the Department of Anthropology in subjects related to their research interests. These include such courses as biology, history, geography, geology, ecology, second foreign languages, and other areas of technical or theoretical specialization approved by the Student's Advisory Committee. Courses required to satisfy the minimum foreign language requirement and STAT651 cannot be used to meet this requirement.

Research Hours: Students must take a reasonable number of Research (ANTH691) credit hours.

For students continuing in the Ph.D. program, the Committee will outline a proposed degree program centered around the student's major area of concentration, his or her specialized areas of concentration, and a dissertation topic. The chair of the Advisory Committee will place a memo in the student’s file indicating the areas selected and the dissertation topic. During the spring semester of the third year of study (after approximately 45 hours have been completed), the student will register for a three-hour independent study (ANTH685) with his or her advisor to prepare a research paper related to the dissertation topic.

All Ph.D. students must have competence in at least one foreign language used in research. This language should be one with significant scientific literature of relevance to the student’s research areas (e.g. French, German, Spanish, Russian) or be a language the student will use in his or her field research. Students in the Nautical Archaeology Program must have a reading knowledge of two foreign languages or can substitute one language for a research skill at the discretion of their graduate committee (e.g. quantitative methods, remote sensing). The student’s advisory committee can specify what language(s) must be used to meet this requirement and how the requirement is to be met. In general, the language requirement can be met in one of the following ways:

1. Four semesters of undergraduate course work with a B average or above in the last two semesters or advanced course work (beyond the fourth semester) with a B average or above (at A&M or as demonstrated by a transcript); or
2. Two semesters of undergraduate course work with a B average or above (at A&M or as demonstrated by a transcript) and completion of a one semester graduate course in reading technical literature of the same language at Texas A&M with a grade of B or above (e.g. FREN601, GERM603, SPAN615); or
3. Students can demonstrate competency equivalent to four undergraduate semesters by taking the departmental exams administered for French, German, Italian, Latin, Russian, Japanese, and Spanish by Measurement and Research Services (MARS). MARS also offers correspondence exams for other languages.
4. International students from non-English-speaking countries can use a passing TOEFL score to meet this requirement.
5. Anthropology faculty can provide translation tests to certify competence in languages. Faculty who can provide such tests are included in an appendix.

The foreign language requirement should normally be satisfied by the end of the third year. The preliminary exam cannot be scheduled until it has been satisfied. Upon satisfaction of the requirement the chair of the Advisory Committee will place a memo in the student’s file indicating that the requirement has been satisfied.

Graduate students in anthropology may be eligible to receive the Certificate in Historic Preservation from the College of Architecture if they meet the following requirements:

1. Declare their intent to seek the Certificate by filing an Application at the time they file a Degree Plan for their chosen degree.
2. Add ARCH 646 Theory and Practice of Preservation (3 hours), ANTH 645 Cultural Resources Management, and at least 9 additional hours of coursework with preservation content (including courses in anthropology, geography, and history).
3. At least three (3) hours must be outside the student's major department.
4. The degree program must include a dissertation with a historic preservation focus.

The preliminary examination for all Ph.D. students will include both written and oral portions. All students will be expected to have one major area of concentration and two complementary areas of concentration. Final authority of what constitutes major and specialized areas of concentration rests with the Advisory Committee. The format of the Preliminary Exam is determined by the student’s Advisory Committee.

All students must complete all requirements for the Ph.D. within four years after completing their preliminary examination. Otherwise the student will be required to repeat the preliminary examination.

The Graduate Studies office must be notified in writing two weeks before a dissertation defense can be scheduled. All members of the student’s Advisory Committee must have a copy of the dissertation before the defense can be scheduled. The format of the dissertation must be acceptable to Graduate Studies. The dissertation must be approved by all members of the student’s Advisory Committee and must represent the candidate's ability to conduct original, independent research which represents an advance in the field and to communicate the results of that research.

The student shall present an oral presentation (open to the public), on the topic of the dissertation research. This presentation will generally be presented on the same day as the actual defense of the dissertation. A candidate for the Ph.D. degree must defend the dissertation by deadline dates announced in the graduate studies calendar.