Advancement to Candidacy

Pre-Qualifying Exam
  1. In consultation with your faculty advisor, you will form a four member committee (please check individual program requirements above for specifics on qualifying exam committees).  It is your responsibility to schedule a specific date/time with your committee members.
  2. Submit the Nomination of Qualifying Exam Committee form to the department graduate advisor for review.  You must submit this form at least 30 days in advance of your exam to your department's graduate advisor.  This will be signed by the faculty graduate representative and then sent to the Graduate Division for final approval. It is advised at this point to also reach out to your committee with a draft of your paper/presentation to incorporate any feedback before your Qualifying Exam takes place.
  3. Graduate Division will email you and the department with their ruling on the examination committee members.
  4. If your advancement is going to be in-person or hybrid, please request a conference room here
  5. If your advancement is going to be virtual or hybrid, it is your responsibility to create a Zoom link. Please make sure to add your committee chair as a co-host, so they can handle logistics while you are presenting.
  6. If you are unfamiliar with Zoom, please see instructions here.
  7. Please submit a title, abstract and location information using the Advancement/Defense Notification Request Form at least two weeks prior to your exam date so that we can send out an announcement to the SOE community.

Advancement/Defense Notification Request

Qualifying Exam
  1. Print out the Qualifying Examination Report and bring it to your exam and give to your committee chair.
  2. Your exam committee will return the completed forms to your department's graduate advisor.
  3. After passing the qualifying exam and completing all required coursework, you are ready to advance to candidacy!
Advancing To Candidacy
  1. Turn in the Nomination for Dissertation Reading Committee form to your department's graduate advisor.  These will be sent to the Graduate Division along with your Qualifying Exam Report.  The advancement to candidacy fee of $90 will be billed to your account.  This fee must be paid in order for your ATC to process.
  2. You will be officially Advanced to Candidacy in the term following the submission of these materials and, if applicable, completion of any incomplete (I) grades.

All forms are available through the links on this page and through the Graduate Division website.  Check it out!

After you have advanced to candidacy (ATC), you have a few schedules to keep in mind:

I. PhD students are required to complete their degrees within three years after ATC, otherwise the student is beyond normative time and considered to be not making adequate progress.  In addition, students must petition the graduate division for an extension on financial aid eligibility (fellowships, loans, TA/GSR positions, etc.).  International students on an F-1 visa must complete their degree within three (3) years after ATC, otherwise non-resident tuition costs will be reinstated.

II. Another deadline to consider is students who do not complete the degree within seven (7) years after ATC will be required to re-take the qualifying exam as your candidacy will lapse .

II. As well, the normative time to finish your doctorate is considered to be five to seven (5-7) years total.