Preliminary Examinations

Ph.D. students will submit a research proposal on their thesis research to the DGS to satisfy the preliminary written exam at the end of the fourth semester for full-time students. The exam will be reviewed by three members of the graduate faculty, at most two of the reviewers may come from the preliminary oral examining committee. An advisor or co-advisor may not be a reviewer. Each reviewer must assign one of the following three grades: Pass, Conditional Pass, and Fail. The student fails the exam if at least two of the reviewers grade the exam as Fail. The student passes the exam if at least two reviewers grade the exam as Pass. In all other cases, the student conditionally passes the exam. 

CONDITIONAL PASS FOR THE PRELIMINARY WRITTEN EXAM: The student is asked to rewrite the proposal within six weeks. (See below for rules on rewriting the preliminary written exam.)

FAIL FOR THE PRELIMINARY WRITTEN EXAM: The DGS must call a meeting of the reviewers and the preliminary oral examining committee [including the advisor(s)] to determine by majority vote whether the student should be:

• Asked to re-write the proposal (see below for rules on rewriting the preliminary written exam), or
• Switched to the Master's program (Plan A or B), or
• Terminated.

If the student is allowed to re-write the proposal, the procedure is identical to a conditional pass and the student shall be given six weeks to resubmit the rewritten proposal.

REWRITING THE PRELIMINARY WRITTEN EXAM: The reviewers are asked to review the rewritten proposal and to determine whether the rewritten proposal is satisfactory. (Different reviewers may be chosen for the review of the re-written proposal but at most two of the reviewers may come from the preliminary oral examining committee.) If the reviewers unanimously recommend passing the student, the student passes. Otherwise, the DGS must call a meeting of the reviewers and the preliminary oral examining committee (including the advisor) to determine by majority vote whether the student should be:

• Allowed to re-write the proposal for a second time, or
• Switched to the Master's program (Plan A or B), or
• Terminated.

If the student is allowed to re-write the proposal for a second time, the student shall be given six weeks to resubmit the re-written proposal.

The number of times a proposal can be re-written is limited to two. If the reviewers do not agree to unanimously PASS the student after the student had a chance to rewrite the proposal twice, the DGS must call a meeting of the reviewers and the preliminary oral examining committee (including the advisor) to determine by majority vote whether the student should be switched to the Master's program (Plan A or B) or terminated.

When the DGS calls a meeting of the reviewers and the preliminary oral examining committee [including the advisor(s)], both the DGS and the advisor are eligible to vote. The co-DGS may substitute for the DGS. Both the DGS and the co-DGS may be present at the meeting but only one of the two has a vote.

Once the student passes the preliminary written exam and the Graduate School received the Preliminary Written Examination Report Form that informs the Graduate School that the student passed the preliminary written exam, the student can schedule the preliminary oral exam. This exam must be taken no later than the fifth semester in residence for full-time students. Schedule the exam with the Graduate School at least one week in advance of the exam. The preliminary oral exam includes a pre-thesis seminar, which is open to the public, followed by an examination, which is closed to the public. The preliminary oral examining committee for the preliminary oral exam of a Ph.D. graduate student consists of at least four members, at least three are BICB graduate faculty from at least two different budgetary units, and, if the student has a Minor, one member must represent the student’s Minor. If the student does not have a Minor, the fourth member may be from the BICB graduate faculty. The advisor/co-advisor will be members of the preliminary oral examining committee.