Degree Requirements
The program leading to the Ph.D. degree consists of a minimum of 117 semester hours in length, which includes all coursework completed as part of a master's degree program in counseling and up to 15 hours completed after a master's degree was earned. If a student holds more than one graduate degree, all courses from each degree program may be transferred into the doctoral degree program. However, students may not transfer in more credits than will be completed in the doctoral program at UNO. Due to all of the specified counseling, minor, and research courses required for graduation, most doctoral programs are well over 117 hours.
Emphasis Areas
The Ph.D. degree program must include an emphasis area. Emphasis areas require a minimum of 12 hours of specialized counseling coursework and require that the dissertation topic be closely related to the emphasis area. Emphasis areas must reflect areas of expertise held by one or more full-time faculty members. Students in the Ph.D. program take core courses which include a minimum number of hours.
Ph.D. Core Courses
- 48 hours of required master's level counseling courses
- 42 hours of doctoral level courses
- 15 hours of research tools
- 12 hours of emphasis area courses
Examples of emphasis areas (include, but are not limited to)
- Counselor Education
- Clinical Mental Health Counseling
- Counseling Children
- Group Counseling
- Multicultural Counseling
- Organizational Counseling
- School Counseling
- Private Practice Counseling
- Play Therapy
Doctoral students complete a total of 30 hours in research; therefore the minor for all doctoral students will be in the area of research.
