The Prep Track is valuable because it gives students an early, structured encounter with research and doctoral preparation. The exact curriculum, eligibility rules, options, and contacts belong on BYU's official program page—not on a second site that will drift out of date.
See BYU Marriott's official Ph.D. Prep Track page for the current curriculum, program outlines, eligibility, and contact information.
What the track is designed to add
Research literacy
Students learn to identify a research question, understand a contribution, evaluate evidence, and critique a paper rather than only consume its conclusion.
Workshop practice
Exposure to live research presentations shows how papers change through questions, criticism, and revision.
Quantitative preparation
Additional work in mathematics, statistics, economics, econometrics, or computing helps students enter doctoral methods courses ready to participate.
Research apprenticeship
Faculty mentoring and assistant work make the career concrete and give potential letter writers direct evidence of a student's curiosity, judgment, persistence, and reliability.
Why the combination matters
Coursework alone can show that a student is quantitatively capable. The seminar, workshop, and apprenticeship pieces show whether the student actually enjoys research and can work through ambiguity. That makes the track useful even when the eventual decision is not to pursue a doctorate.
If you change your mind
Quantitative reasoning, programming, evidence evaluation, and experience communicating an analysis transfer to consulting, analytics, finance, internal audit, and other evidence-heavy roles. The track should be treated as a way to test a path, not as a promise that every participant must apply to doctoral programs.
If you are not at BYU
Build the same four pieces where you are: rigorous quantitative coursework, structured reading of research, regular workshop exposure, and supervised work with a research-active professor. A formal label matters less than credible evidence that you understand research and have prepared for the methods your target programs use.