Graduate Programs

PhD students choose between two tracks, the "Traditional Track" and the "Philosophy and the Sciences" track. In the traditional track, the first two years are devoted to course work and the third year is devoted to writing a conference paper and preparing a dissertation proposal. In the philosophy and the sciences track, two and a half years are devoted to course work, including four graduate courses in an empirical science, and the dissertation proposal is slightly postponed. The final two to three years are devoted to writing the dissertation. Some of our graduate students pursue MA degrees in other fields concurrently with their PhD work. However, admission to those programs is a separate process from general PhD admission and generally takes place only after students have matriculated to the PhD program.

Students enrolled in the PhD program receive full tuition remission and earn a living stipend and health benefits by working as teaching assistants for regular faculty, teaching independently as instructors, serving as research assistants or interns, or through a competitive fellowship. At least one advanced graduate student in Philosophy per year is awarded a predoctoral Taft Dissertation Fellowship, which also carries tuition remission and a living stipend and eliminates any teaching obligations for the year.

For inquiries, please contact Zvi Biener, Director of Graduate Studies at bienerzi@ucmail.uc.edu

PhD Students on the traditional track must complete 13 graduate-level philosophy classes before proceeding to candidacy: 

  1. Complete all three Foundational courses (First Year Proseminar (1 credit “add-on”), Formal Methods, and Philosophical Pedagogy)
  2. Complete two History courses (from different areas)
  3. Complete two Core Problems courses (from different areas)
  4. Complete two Value Theory courses (from different areas)
  5. Complete one Philosophy of Science course
  6. Complete four Electives

PhD Students on the sciences track must complete 16 graduate-level philosophy classes before proceeding to candidacy:

  1. Complete all three Foundational courses (First Year Proseminar (1 credit “add-on”), Formal Methods, and Philosophical Pedagogy)
  2. Complete two History courses (from different areas)
  3. Complete two Core Problems courses (from different areas)
  4. Complete two Value Theory courses (from different areas)
  5. Complete four Philosophy of Science courses (At least 1 in general history or philosophy of science, and 2 in different areas)
  6. Complete four Electives (At least 1 in a formal topic)

Learn more about the different opportunities. 

The department considers teaching to be a vital component of graduate training. To prepare students for this responsibility, they begin by serving as teaching assistants (TAs), gaining experience by observing how UC courses are conducted and learning through practical involvement. Subsequently, students may be given the opportunity to teach their own courses during the summer. Selection of graduate students for summer teaching is based primarily on teaching experience and ability. Once students have completed their coursework and developed confidence in their teaching skills, they may be eligible to teach during the regular academic year instead of serving as TAs.

Conference Paper

Students must compose a conference length paper suitable for presentation at a professional meeting (such as the APA, PSA, SPP, etc.). The paper will be written in consultation with a faculty advisor chosen by the student. The student is expected to present the paper at a refereed and selective professional (i.e., not student) conference. If reasonable efforts to present an approved paper to an approved conference do not succeed, the student may present the paper at a department colloquium instead.

GPA Requirement

In order to advance to candidacy, students must have a cumulative GPA of at least 3.5 in all (and only considering) Philosophy courses used to satisfy course requirements. The grading scale used will be the following: A=4.0, A-=3.67, B+=3.33, B=3.0, B-=2.67. (Note: per other requirements, no courses with grades lower than B- can count toward fulfilling PhD course requirements.)

Proposal Defense

A successful dissertation proposal defense is an essential component to advancing to candidacy. There is a strong expectation that all students will defend a proposal by February 1 of their third year of study. A suitable proposal will typically be 3000-6000 words (including footnotes/endnotes, but not bibliography) and will indicate that the student has a strong familiarity with the relevant literature, shows promise for making a novel contribution, and has a planned project of appropriate scope for a dissertation.

Dissertation defense

In accordance with Graduate College rules, all students must have a public dissertation defense. Students are required to get their completed dissertation to the committee at least four weeks before the scheduled defense. Except in extraordinary circumstance, dissertation defenses will be held during the academic year, i.e., between August 15 and May 15. Please note that having a job offer in hand is not an extraordinary circumstance.

Application Deadline: January 15

Items to be submitted online: Online Graduate Application

Required application materials as part of the online application include the following:

  1. A writing sample
  2. A statement of purpose
  3. Three letters of recommendation
  4. Undergraduate (and if applicable, graduate) transcript(s)
  5. Scores

Students are not required to submit GRE scores as part of their application, though they are encouraged for students whose applications do not otherwise provide strong evidence of past success working in philosophy. Any GRE scores submitted must be reported to the University of Cincinnati by ETS (Educational Testing Service).  See the ETS website for instructions.

International applicants only: Official report of TOEFL, IELTS, or PTE scores must be reported to the University of Cincinnati by the relevant testing service. See the Graduate School’s webpage for minimum accepted scores on those tests. Note: The Duolingo English test has now also been approved and the minimum required score is 105.

Please note: the University of Cincinnati’s graduate application system will give you the opportunity to upload a video with your application. Please do not upload a video. Any uploaded videos will not be viewed.

This application requires a nonrefundable $65 application fee for domestic applications and $70 for international applications, which can be paid by credit-card. Application Fee Waiver: The Philosophy department has limited resources to offer fee waivers.

To request a fee waiver, please send a copy of your CV to Zvi Biener, bienerzi@uc.edu by December 1st.

Letters of Recommendation

You need to have three letters of recommendation sent to us. Try to give your recommenders plenty of time to do the job. They should either send their letters directly to us or should give them to you in sealed envelopes for you to enclose with your application. (But do not let letters hold up the rest of your application.) As the deadline approaches you should check back with your letter writers and ask them whether they have sent their letters for you. To help your letter writers remember you and your work, give them back the written work you have done in their classes. Later on, do your recommenders the courtesy of telling them how your applications came out and where you have decided to go. At least one of your letters should definitely come from a philosophy professor. As for the rest, letters from philosophy professors are preferred, other things being equal, and letters should in any case come from college professors. Letters from family friends and community leaders will in most cases carry little weight.

Writing Sample

Your writing sample should be the best paper you have written in philosophy. It will probably have originated in work you did for a class or in a senior thesis. But you should have another look at it and see whether you can make improvements before submitting it with your application. It should be well written and exhibit clarity of thought, and it should contain some insight of your own (as opposed to merely summarizing something somebody has written). It should deal with some topic in philosophy, but it is not important to us that it represent your primary interests in philosophy. For instance, you might think you are mainly interested in philosophy of mind, and yet you might still submit a paper on ethics if it is your best work to date. (We hope that you will come here with an open mind, ready to take an interest in the subjects the faculty are most interested in.)

Statement of Purpose

We would like to know a little about your background, but you need not write a comprehensive autobiography. This is an opportunity to provide a narrative for anything unusual about your record or application. We would also like to know what your interests are in philosophy, and why you are seeking a PhD in philosophy.

The department doesn’t offer a stand-alone Master’s program. Students in, and remaining in, the Ph.D. program will be eligible to receive the Master’s Degree when they have completed all pre-doctoral work other than writing a dissertation proposal and being advanced to candidacy. (This is a non-thesis, “along-the-way to PhD” option.) Further, sometimes students enrolled in other graduate programs, such as science PhD programs, are admitted into our Master’s program to earn a Master’s in Philosophy alongside their other degree.

For more information, please consult the Philosophy Master’s webpage.