博士学位的期限 计划是五到八年。大学和部门法规规定，加州大学圣地亚哥分校的研究生学习最长期限为八年，而获得任何类型的大学资助的期限为七年。对于历史系，学位授予时间为7年。通常，在头两年中，学生参加课程，撰写两篇研究论文，完成语言要求，定义主要和次要学习领域，并至少参加一个次要领域考试。在第三年，学生通常会完成所有出色的次要领域和语言要求，定义学位论文主题，并通过主要领域的资格考试，届时该学生将正式升格为博士学位。候选人资格晋升必须至少在第四年年底之前进行，在某些课程中，例如古代历史和东亚研究，额外的语言要
The duration of the Ph.D. program is five to eight years. University and departmental regulations stipulate that the maximum tenure of graduate study at UCSD is eight years while seven years is the limit for receiving any type of university financial support. For the Department of History, the normative time to degree is 7 years. Normally, during the first two years, students participate in courses, write two research papers, complete language requirements, define major and minor fields of study, and take at least one minor field examination. In the third year, the student normally completes all outstanding minor field and language requirements, defines a dissertation topic, and passes a qualifying examination in the major field, at which time the student officially advances to candidacy for the Ph.D. Advancement to candidacy must occur at least before the end of the fourth year, and in some programs, such as Ancient History and East Asian Studies, extra language requirements may make fourth-year advancement the norm.