About Graduate Studies at Utah State University


Utah State University was founded in 1888. As a Carnegie Doctoral/Research Extensive University, USU is in the top 2.4% of higher education institutions. At the same time, USU's land grant mission keeps the faculty in touch with the real-life problems of society as well as the intellectual challenges of scholarly research.

USU Space Dynamic Lab    

USU has seven colleges—Agriculture; Business; Education and Human Services; Engineering; Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences; Natural Resources; and Science. Forty of the university's 41 departments participate in graduate degree programs, with 95 master's, 38 doctoral, six educational specialist, and a civil engineer degree. The School of Graduate Studies is a member of the Council of Graduate Schools of the United States and the Western Association of Graduate Schools.

Approximately 3,000 post-baccalaureate students attend USU, and about 2,000 students are matriculated in graduate degree programs. Graduate degrees at USU attract students from across the country, with all 50 states represented, and from around the world, with students from over 80 countries. International students comprise approximately 16% of those seeking master's and doctoral degrees. Women make up about 46% of those seeking graduate degrees at USU. USU is on a semester system. The minimum number of semester credits required for a master's degree ranges from 30 to 36; 24 of the credits must be from USU. For a PhD or EdD degree, 60 semester credits is the minimum if you have a master's degree in a related field; 90 credits are required otherwise. For a PhD, a minimum of three full-time semesters in residence, two of them consecutive, is required. For an EdD, three semesters of residency are required, but they need not be consecutive. A 3.0 gpa is required for all graduate degrees.

Up to 12 semester graduate-level credits may be transferred to a USU graduate degree from an accredited university, if approved by the student's supervisory committee and they have not already been used for a degree. The credits should have grades of B or higher and should not be more than eight years old. At USU, coursework for a graduate degree is out-of-date after eight years. Although most are done much sooner, students have six years to complete a master's degree and eight years to complete a doctorate.