The department’s primary educational goal is to train first-class sociology PhD students. The sociology graduate experience at Johns Hopkins University is a careful blend of formal instruction, faculty-directed individual study, and supervised as well as self-initiated research. The department’s small size and focus areas yield a personalized course of study and close relationships with faculty members and fellow graduate students. The social climate is informal, and the mix of students and faculty, drawn from a wide variety of geographic and social backgrounds, constitutes a rewarding intellectual community. For more details, please visit http://soc.jhu.edu/graduate/.
Admission Requirements
Applicants should have a broad background in social science, especially sociology, economics, and psychology. Training in mathematics is encouraged.
For more program admissions details, please visit the Sociology Admissions webpage.
To apply, please visit the Krieger School Graduate Admissions webpage and select 'Apply Now'.
Program Requirements
| Code | Title | Credits |
|---|---|---|
| Core Curriculum | Credits | |
| AS.230.602 | Classical Social Theory | 3 |
| AS.230.603 | Contemporary Social Theory | 3 |
| AS.230.600 | Introduction to Social Statistics | 4 |
| AS.230.604 | Linear Models for the Social Sciences | 4 |
| AS.230.643 | Sociological Analysis | 3 |
| AS.230.608 | Proseminar In Sociology | 1 |
| AS.230.420 | Sociology Department Colloquium | 0.5 |
In addition, students must take a third methodology course, such as:
- Categorical Data Analysis (230.605)
- Panel Data Analysis (230.615)
- An Introduction to Causal Inference (230.636)
- Qualitative Research Methods in the Social Sciences (230.649)
- Macro-Comparative Research Methods (230.650)
- In-depth Interviewing (230.661)
Proseminar: This course is designed to help first-year graduate students get to know the faculty members of the department. In their first semester in the program, students will meet with a different faculty member each week and discuss faculty members’ research projects, methodologies, biographies, and tips in academia. Students will be graded Pass/Fail based on their in-person attendance.
Colloquium: Each academic year, a planning committee organizes a Departmental Colloquium that typically occurs once per month. The Colloquium includes speakers from outside the Department who are invited to present research talks, as well as faculty members and advanced graduate students within the Department who are invited to present their own research and works in progress. Graduate students engaged in writing their dissertations are encouraged to present their research as part of this series. Participation in the Departmental Colloquium is regarded as an integral part of departmental life and graduate training. All faculty and resident students are expected to attend. After each Colloquium, the Department hosts a lunch for the graduate students and the speaker. Beginning with the 2025-26 incoming cohort, students in their first and second years are required to register for the Sociology Department Colloquium (230.420) and will be graded Pass/Fail based on their in-person attendance.
Substitutions for Core Courses (from outside or within JHU) are not accepted with the exception of Introduction to Social Statistics (see below for more detail).
To count toward degree requirements, Core Curriculum courses other than the Proseminar and Colloquium (which are graded Pass/Fail only) must be passed with a grade of B- or higher.
Electives
Five elective graduate courses are required. Graduate courses have a 600-level designation (230.6xx). However, 400-level (e.g., 230.4xx) courses are also eligible for fulfillment of the five elective courses.
At least four of the five electives must be a JHU Sociology Department course (i.e. with a 230 designation) or taught by a faculty member of the JHU Sociology Department.
Beginning with the 2026-27 incoming cohort, two of the five electives must be fulfilled by the following Core-Elective Course options:
- Economic Sociology (230.682)
- Political Sociology (230.651)
- Global/Transnational Sociology (230.625)
- Social Inequality (230.612)
The Core Courses are taught on a regular rotation and are designed to offer students a broad overview in sub-sections of sociology in which the department has particular strengths.
Substitutions for Elective Courses from outside JHU are not accepted.
To count toward degree requirements, electives must be passed with a grade of B- or higher except in cases where the course is offered only on a Pass/Fail basis (e.g., as is the case with some courses offered in other departments).
First-Year Research Apprenticeship
During their first year in the program, students are required to develop practical research expertise through professional-level participation in a research project under supervision of a faculty member of the Sociology Department. The first-year Research Apprenticeship is designed to help first-year students develop a direct relationship with a department faculty member. While students are not required to keep their first-year faculty supervisor as their dissertation mentor, many do. “Professional-level” work excludes purely clerical tasks and includes activities such as data analysis, literature reviews, and non-routine data processing or coding. The standard for certification is “substantial research accomplishment” as evaluated by the full-time faculty supervisor. All first-year students must register for the Research Apprenticeship (230.804) under the section for their faculty mentor. The first-year Research Apprenticeship is part of students’ academic requirement. At the end of every Research Apprenticeship, the faculty supervisor for a first-year RAship will place a letter in the student’s file that describes the Research Apprenticeship’s duties and evaluates their performance.
Teaching Assistantships and Research Assistantships
As part of their preparation for future academic work, graduate students are required to serve as teaching assistants (TAs) for at least six semesters. TAships include a variety of options such as: large introductory courses where students lead their own sections, small seminar-style advanced classes, and an Office Assistantship designed to help students build departmental community and learn how academic departments work. For all students, at least one TAship in Introductory Sociology is strongly recommended.
If a student is able to secure alternative funding as a Research Assistant (RA) on a department faculty member’s grant or through an external grant, students may apply to the Director of Graduate Studies (DGS) to except out of a maximum of 4 semesters of TAship.
TAs are required to register for 230.811 and RAs are required to register for 230.801. Since TAships and RAships count toward students’ employment contract, they do not count toward the required full-time study credit hours. However, satisfactory performance as a TA or RA is an important academic requirement of the program. At the end of every TAship or RAship, the faculty member who was assisted will place a letter in the student’s file that describes the TA’s duties and evaluates their performance and give a grade of pass/fail.
To assist students in their TAships, the JHU Center for Teaching Excellence and Innovation (CTEI) offers training workshops, which we encourage all current and prospective TAs to attend. All first-time TAs are required to take the online CTEI Teaching Assistant Orientation course. In addition, the JHU Center for Language Education offers courses designed specifically to help prepare international students for their classroom duties. All students whose native language is other than English are required, during their first year of graduate study, to take the screening assessment offered by the Center for Language Education. The result of this assessment will determine whether enrollment in the English Language Program for International TA's is required.
Foreign Language
The Sociology Department no longer requires certification of fluency in a foreign language as part of the PhD requirements. Students should be proactive in gaining the language skills necessary to conduct their TRP and dissertation research, and should work closely with their advisor to determine whether additional language education is needed.
Commitment to Full-Time Study
Students pursuing their Ph.D. in the Department are required to carry a full-time equivalent academic workload throughout the Ph.D. program. In general, full-time study refers to a minimum of nine credits (the equivalent of three courses) in a semester. Acceptable activities include regular courses, the TRP seminar, TRP Research Paper, dissertation research, and the dissertation fellowship semester.
Residency Requirement and Eligibility for Non-Resident Status
The Johns Hopkins University requires a minimum of two consecutive semesters of registration as a full-time, resident graduate student for all doctoral degrees. The Department of Sociology requires full-time residency while students are taking classes. After coursework is completed, students must maintain one of three residency statuses until all remaining requirements for the degree have been completed and the University Graduate Board has been so notified by the Department Chair. The three residency statuses are: 1) Full-time; 2) Non-Resident (usually requested when students are away from Baltimore for fieldwork or family reasons; students in Baltimore may also request non-resident status if they are not taking courses for official credit and/or are not being employed as a TA or as a course instructor by JHU); and 3) Term Leave of Absence or LOA (usually requested when medical conditions, compulsory military service, or personal or family hardship prevent students from continuing their graduate studies). Students on Non-Resident status are charged a reduced tuition, which will be covered by the University during years 1-5. Students on Term Leave of Absence are not charged tuition.
Further information on University Residence Requirements can be found at: https://krieger.jhu.edu/graduate-postdoc/
Applications for non-resident status and LOAs can be found at: https://krieger.jhu.edu/graduate-postdoc/student-affairs/status-change/
Trial Research Paper (TRP)
The Trial Research Paper (TRP) serves several important purposes. First, it gives students hands on experience with the academic research and writing process—i.e. analyzing the existing literature, formulating a research question, creating a research design, finding necessary data, conducting data analysis, and writing up the project in a coherent and succinct form. Second, it gives students the opportunity to write an academic paper that they can present at a conference and/or publish in an academic journal, an important qualification for competitive positions on the academic job market. Third, for many students, it allows them to “test the waters” in a methodology, a geographic area, or a topic that they might pursue for their dissertation research. The research for a TRP project should be more extensive than that required for a course paper, but less than that required for a dissertation.
The TRP requirement consists of three parts: completion of the TRP course, a written research paper, and (beginning with the 2026-27 incoming cohort) an oral examination of the paper. The goal for students is to write a draft of the paper in the TRP course in the spring of their second year, edit the paper in the summer after the course, and complete and defend the paper by the end of the fall of their third year in the program. Failure to complete these requirements by the spring of their third year in the program could result in a student being placed on academic probation. To be removed from probation, a student must successfully complete the TRP research paper and (beginning with the 2026-27 incoming cohort) an oral examination. In some instances, the "pass" for the paper and/or the oral examination may be conditional on satisfactory completion of specific additional work required by the examining committee.
TRP Advisor and Second Reader
By the beginning of the spring semester of their first year, students should invite a faculty member of the Sociology department to supervise the design and execution of the TRP project as their TRP Advisor. Faculty members whose positions entitle them to serve as dissertation advisors are eligible to serve as TRP Advisors. To facilitate progress on the TRP in their second and third years in the program, students register for courses that consist of one-on-one meetings with their TRP Advisor: TRP Research Paper I, 230.815 (fall of second year); TRP Research Paper II, 230.816 (spring of second year); and, if needed, TRP Research Paper III, 230.817 (fall of third year). Students should register for the section of these courses taught by their TRP Advisor.
During their second year, the TRP Advisor and student should also identify a Second Reader to be involved in the development and completion of the TRP. The TRP Advisor, Second Reader, and student should jointly develop a schedule and agree on responsibilities. With the advice and mentorship of their TRP Advisor and Second Reader, the student is responsible for gathering sufficient literature, data, and preliminary analyses to successfully complete the TRP course in the spring of their second year. The TRP Advisor and Second Reader then help the student revise and complete their TRP paper and (beginning with the 2026-27 incoming cohort) prepare for and conduct the TRP oral examination by the fall of their third year. At the completion of the TRP, the TRP Advisor and Second Reader must submit a copy of the TRP Completion Certification Report and the TRP itself to the Department Office Manager.
TRP Precis
By the end of the spring semester of their first year, students should submit to the Department Office Manager a one-page precis, stating their research question, how it fits into existing scholarly literature, and the data they intend to use to answer their question. The precis should be signed by both the student and the TRP Advisor.
TRP Research
The project does not require collecting original data and can, therefore, rely on existing data. The department expects that by the end of the summer between their first and second years, students have identified an existing dataset or gathered all original data necessary to write a complete TRP paper. Most students therefore devote the summer between their first and second years to data-gathering or working with their data source.
TRP Seminar Course
In the spring of their second year, students take the TRP seminar class (230.685). The course offers students a community of fellow TRP-writers and helps students through the process of drafting a research article. With the mentorship of their TRP Advisor and Second Reader, students work on their TRP over the course of the semester. Therefore, students should have sufficient data and preliminary analyses before the course begins to enable them to draft a paper during the semester. Each student is expected to submit a draft TRP by the end of the course to be graded by the course instructor. This course is graded pass/fail and does not count toward the fulfillment of the elective courses required for the Ph.D., but does count towards the nine credits for full-time enrollment.
TRP Research Paper
All TRPs must include a written research paper that is completed by the end of the Fall semester of the student’s third year. Examples of TRP approaches include (but are not limited to): a theoretical/meta-analysis of existing scholarship, a quantitative analysis of an existing dataset, a qualitative document analysis of documents such as newspaper articles, a historical trend analysis of existing historical data (for example, in government reports or online archives), or a qualitative analysis of interviews and/or short ethnographic fieldwork. In rare cases, it may be necessary to collect additional data between the second and third years; but students should plan to have all data that they need before the TRP seminar and not depend on collecting more data.
TRP Oral Examination
Beginning with the incoming 2026-27 cohort, all students must pass an oral examination of their TRP by the end of the Fall semester of their third year. The purpose of the examination is to measure the student’s understanding of the literature, their methods, and the implications of their research. The exam also offers an opportunity for the student and committee to jointly discuss ideas for the student’s future research and consider whether to pursue a publishable article out of the project or whether it would be better to move on. The TRP oral exam is intended to replace multiple rounds of revision requests from individual advisors with a 2-hour in-person discussion that can co-produce advice. The oral exam will be conducted by the student’s TRP Advisor, Second Reader, and a Department Reader, a faculty member chosen by the DGS from faculty who are not on leave. The Department Reader would be assigned after the end of the spring semester of the student’s second year and would not have provided feedback on the paper during drafting. The Department Reader allows the student to get practice defending their research to someone in a different area with little to no prior knowledge of the project and will help students engage with sociological work regardless of method or subfield, an extremely important skill for the job market).
Dissertation
The student must propose and conduct original research presented in a dissertation suitable for publication. The department administers an oral examination which must be passed before the student is allowed to defend before a university board. The dissertation must then be defended either at a Graduate Board preliminary oral examination, based on the dissertation proposal, or at a Graduate Board final oral examination, based on the completed dissertation.