Most students enter the program after completing an undergraduate degree and obtain both a master's and a doctoral degree (in sequence) over a period of about five years. The master's degree requires 34 hours (8 of which are given tothesis research) and normally takes two years. The doctoral degree requires an additional 64 hours (18 to 31 of which are given to dissertation research) and normally takes three years. At the end of the second year or doctoral work, Ph.D. students normally take preliminary examinations in two specialty areas.Their third year of work then focuses on a dissertation that extends the boundaries of the discipline.