PhD in Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences in Boulder United States | University of Colorado Boulder

To earn the degree, students must complete 36 credit hours of standard coursework. This includes 30 credits at the 5000-level or higher, with a minimum of 18 credits from ATOC graduate lecture courses that fulfill core requirements, plus one graduate-level applied or computational mathematics course. The Graduate School mandates an additional 30 dissertation credit hours. Before achieving candidacy, students must successfully complete a two-stage comprehensive exam. The first part, typically taken during the second year, consists of a written test covering core course content. The second part, usually in the third year, involves an oral defense of an original research paper. Following dissertation submission, a final defense of the doctoral thesis is required.