Graduate Study at Brigham Young University

Dean: Addie Fuhriman, Professor of Psychology, B-380 ASB
Provo, UT 84602-1341
(801) 378-4465

A UNIVERSITY is a place where men and women of character meet minds and ideas that have shaped and will continue to shape human experience in significant ways. It is a place where people read and think and create and analyze, and where they give expression to ideas. It is a place of intellectual and moral broadening and deepening. It is a place where people contribute new knowledge and arrive at new levels of understanding.

Graduate study distinguishes itself by advanced systematic study and experience in depth—a depth in understanding, knowledge, and scholarly competence and in inquiry and discovery. Successful graduates are equipped to contribute to their disciplines, to teach and transmit knowledge within their disciplines, to conduct research and be creative, to apply their learning in the everyday world, and ultimately to extend service to their disciplines and to humanity. Building on the foundation of a strong baccalaureate education, graduate studies at BYU adds an expectation of significantly greater levels of competency. Through graduate study, students achieve mastery of a discipline by engaging its primary sources and comprehending its literature and methodologies. The graduate degree connotes that the graduate is not only aware of but has acquired experience in academic and professional roles and responsibilities.

Graduate study at the university culminates in doctoral and master's degrees in a broad range of academic disciplines and professional fields. The doctoral degree requires the student to demonstrate a high level of scholarly competence, which includes the ability to conduct and report significant research in a highly effective manner. Advanced systematic study in a discipline is also essential, and it is followed by comprehensive examinations that require students to integrate and understand the collective knowledge of their disciplines. A written dissertation resulting from independent research is scrutinized and tested in a concluding oral examination. The master's degree also includes advanced course work, demonstrated mastery on vital aspects of a discipline, skill in research methodology and theory, and preparation for future creative work. Nearly all master's programs involve integrating examinations and a major culminating piece of written work, usually a thesis, followed by an oral examination on that work.

Graduate study at Brigham Young University takes place within a learning environment characterized by rigorous programs of study, by selective admission of highly qualified students, and by a graduate faculty who are committed to excellence in teaching, scholarship and creative activity, and service.

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