Qualifying Examination

The Qualifying Examination for advancement to candidacy in the Ph.D. degree program consists of a research oral examination taken during the later part of the second or early part of the third year of residency. In this examination, the student defends two research proposals to a five-member faculty committee. One of the research proposals addresses the problem chosen as the student's dissertation topic and the second proposal is on a topic unrelated to the dissertation.

The student chooses two members of the examination committee. These two members, together with the research mentor, constitute the student's Doctoral Thesis Committee and function in a continuing advisory role for the student.