Admission to all graduate programs in the Department of Human Health and Nutritional Sciences will normally be granted in September. Completed applications should arrive in the department by April 1 of the year in which the student wishes to begin study. Applications from international students, especially those applying for financial support, should arrive by December 1 of the year before the expected date of admission.

There are two parts to the application process (see steps below). Before submitting an application, you are strongly encouraged to view the "Before you Apply" section on the CBS Graduate Opportunities webpage for further details. This is a two-step self-administered application process. First you must complete an online “submission summary” and second, assemble all required documentation (listed below) and forward the complete package to the ADR Office, Laurie Winn, CBS Graduate Admissions Secretary, Room 256, Axelrod Building (moving to Science Complex effective August 1, 2007), University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario Canada N1G 2W1.

For further information, contact the CBS Graduate Admissions Secretary at lwinn@uoguelph.ca.

The major part of a student's time will be devoted to research in fulfilment of the dissertation requirement. Course work would be established through discussion with the student's Advisory Committee.

PhD students will become candidates for the PhD degree upon completion of a qualifying examination, which must be conducted not later than the fifth semester of the PhD program. The examination will be primarily research focused.

Submission and defence of an acceptable dissertation complete the requirements for a PhD. An acceptable dissertation comprises a report of the candidate's research on a particular and well-defined research problem or hypothesis. It should represent a significant contribution to knowledge in that field. Emphasis is placed on the quality of the work judged by the expression of mature scholarship and critical judgment in the dissertation. Dissertation approval implies that it could be published in reputable, refereed journals in its field.