Depending on the nature of prior graduate work, the doctoral degree will require between 61 and 83 credit hours, or more, and extend a minimum of six full time semesters of course work. The degree includes core, dissertation field, qualifying examination, and dissertation benchmarks. The core is composed of a sequence of semester-long doctoral seminars in metropolitan planning, metropolitan policy, metropolitan design, research design, technical writing, and teaching methods for a total of 21 credits. (Students without an accredited planning master degree will need to take up to 22 credits in core planning courses.)