Qualifying Examinations

  1. Written Qualifying Exam (At the end of Year 1):
    Students will have a written (or combination written/oral) qualifying exam at the end of their first year of graduate school during which they will demonstrate their working knowledge of the course material learned in three of the first year’s courses (selected by the Graduate Program Director and Associate Director).  This exam will consist of questions/answers and discussions pertaining to a broad range of topics addressed in the core courses and will be required of all Quantitative Biomedicine students.

    Students will either pass the exam, be given a chance to retake the exam (or course) and retested, or will be terminated from the program, depending on their performance.

  2. Admission to Candidacy Exam (By the end of Year 2):
    Students will have a written and oral admission-of-candidacy exam with the Admission to Candidacy Exam committee, focused on the student’s proposed thesis research.   

    1. Written component: Students prepare a written proposal for their thesis research that must not exceed 20 pages single-spaced (not including references). The preparation of the proposal is intended to educate the student (about the work that has been done in the field to date and the techniques that will be useful for the work, the “how to” and the principles) and to promote creative thinking about the outstanding problems in the field and ways to solve these problems. The written proposal must be given to the student’s committee members at least two weeks in advance of the oral exam. The student should obtain the Application for PhD Candidacy and provide it to the chairperson of the committee at the time of the examination (for signatures at the end of the exam, to be returned to the Graduate School by the student)

    2. Oral component:   Students will defend the proposal and show relevant knowledge in an oral presentation of approximately 45-60 minutes in duration. The presentation may be open to the public if the student and committee agree. The date for this component of the qualifying exam shall be set up with the committee members at least one month in advance. The proposal shall be distributed at least two weeks before the scheduled date of the exam. The Exam Committee will meet after the presentation and decide among the following three options: (1) Pass; (2) Fail; (3) Fail with an opportunity to repeat the exam.  In the case of option #3, the student must repeat the exam within 3 months after the first exam. Repeat exams will be graded as Pass or Fail only. The student should obtain the Application for PhD Candidacy and provide it to the chairperson of the committee at the time of the examination (for signatures at the end of the exam).  A copy of this form must be provided to the office of the Associate Director of Graduate Studies and the original signed copy must be brought to the Graduate School.  If the student does not pass the qualifying exam, s/he may be eligible to earn a Master's degree at this stage. (See QB Master's Program section for details.)