After students submit their applications, they must meet with the Program Director, who will review their applications and, if appropriate, help them chart a preliminary course of study. Every student will be encouraged to take Urban Studies 201, the Program’s core course, as soon as possible.

Along with Urban Studies 201, which students must pass with a grade of B or above, students must complete three electives from the list of approved Urban Studies courses (or a substitute course approved by the Program Director). These courses must be in addition to coursework taken in fulfillment of a requirement in a student's concentration, though they may be used to fulfill distribution requirements. Each course must be from a different division of the University (natural sciences, engineering, social sciences, or the humanities) and no elective course may come from the student's concentration. To be counted toward the certificate, all courses must be taken for a grade.

While Urban Studies students’ senior theses will be written in their home departments, their work must contain an urban component, approved by the Program Director and supervised by a member of the Urban Studies faculty, who will serve as the second reader. Faculty from the students’ home departments will continue to serve as the primary advisors and first readers. Over the course of their senior year, students will participate in a senior thesis colloquium, which will bring students from different departments together to discuss their urban-related thesis research and present results to each other and to interested faculty members. The colloquium will not count as a credit course, though regular participation will be required for completion of the certificate. A prize will be awarded annually to the best thesis in an urban subject.