Doctoral Degree: Performance Standards and Progress

A degree plan should be approved at least three months before taking the preliminary oral examination; however students may submit the degree plan at any time after matriculating in the degree/major.

The advisor and DGS (including DGS of the minor field, if applicable) must approve coursework on the degree plan before it is routed to the collegiate unit. Some programs may require full faculty review. Collegiate units may review coursework for compliance with collegiate and University policies.

Confer with your advisor and director of graduate studies, obtain their signatures on the Doctoral Degree: Request for Extension to the Maximum Time Limit (UM 1777) form, and submit the completed form to your college for final action. While you are encouraged to apply for a time extension at least three months in advance, you must do so no later than the end of the term in which your deadline for degree completion expires.

Yes, although readmission is not guaranteed. If you are readmitted, it must be with a new deadline for degree completion specified by your graduate program. The program may also establish additional readmission conditions such as additional coursework, a schedule for completing each outstanding degree requirement, or other appropriate terms.

The expected length of an oral examination may differ by program. However, examinations typically range from 1.5 to 3 hours.

No. You must take and pass your UM graduate program’s preliminary written examination.

Yes. Committee changes require program and collegiate approval and must be recorded by the collegiate in the system of record.

No. It is the responsibility of the collegiate unit and the program to ensure that all initial and replacement members are eligible to serve on the doctoral final oral examination committee.

Yes. Substitutions for the doctoral prelim oral examination necessitated by emergency situations should, if possible, be approved in advance. The advisor should consult with the appropriate collegiate unit staff before the start of the examination.

Yes. Your advisor must be one of the three people representing your major field on the examination committee.

At least one of your advisors is required to represent the major field. If you have co-advisors, one may represent the outside/minor field.

An outside committee member is required to both ensure fairness and due process for the student in the examination and to ensure that the student is examined across the breadth of knowledge represented by the student's field of study. An outside member is typically from a graduate program than the student's major field; however see the next FAQ.

Yes if approved by the program and collegiate unit.

When a student passes with reservations, the committee chair must inform the student in writing of the reservations, what is needed to remove them, and the deadline for doing so. When a student fails the examination, the committee chair must inform the student in writing why the first attempt at the examination was graded “fail” and -- if the committee approves a retake -- what the student needs to do to prepare.

Not all students can deliver their oral examination “orally”; for example, a student may need an ASL interpreter or assistive technology to satisfy the oral examination requirement. The Disability Resource Center (DRC) is a resource for graduate students and graduate programs to explore formal disability-related accommodations not only for milestone examinations such as the prelim or final oral, but also coursework, program-specific exams, research/writing, teaching, and lab work.

Yes. As with other committee substitutions that are necessitated by emergency situations, the substitution should be approved in advance, and the advisor should consult with the appropriate collegiate unit staff before the start of the examination.

The University does not require a minimum amount of time between the first and second attempts at the doctoral preliminary oral examination; however, collegiate units and/or programs may set a minimum time requirement.

Graduate programs decide – at a program rather than a student-specific level – whether to offer the option to pass with reservations, as well as whether/how many retakes of the preliminary written examination are allowed. Only the final outcome of the written examination is recorded in the central system of record as a pass or fail.

Up to one-third of the course credits applied to your degree requirements can be graded S/N. Courses offered only on the S/N grading basis are not included in the one-third calculation. Courses for which you earn an N grade cannot be applied to degree requirements.

No, the international courses graded “S” will not be included in the one-third calculation.

A student who completes a master's degree in a program, leaves the University, and returns to enroll for the doctoral degree in the same program will have their time to degree clock stopped after the master's and restarted upon enrollment in the doctoral program.

Pursuing concurrent PhD degrees is not allowed. Students may pursue a second PhD after completing the first, although are generally discouraged from doing so. A second PhD is considered only under special circumstances, and only if the second PhD is in a distinctly separate graduate program. Students cannot apply milestone examinations or the dissertation completed for the first PhD to the second PhD’s degree requirements.

Yes. Students admitted for GPD status must adhere to the same registration requirements as other admitted students and must register in the fall and spring semesters.

For domestic students, the graduate program determines how long the student can take courses as a GPD student. The period for which the student can register as a GPD student should be clearly stated in the letter of admission. For international students, federal visa regulations and SEVIS requirements determine how long the student can take courses as a GPD student. International students admitted to GPD are given an I-20 for one year and must be admitted to a degree program if they wish to continue their advanced education at the University after that one-year period.

The program can discontinue the student if expectations, as well as consequences for not meeting those expectations, were clearly communicated at the time of admission. If this information was not provided in the admission letter, the program should communicate to the student in writing its performance expectations, what is needed to satisfy them, and consequences if they are not met. If the stated expectations then are not satisfied, the program is positioned to discontinue the student.

The advisor must be a member of the preliminary oral examination committee, and all committee members are expected to participate in the examination proceedings. Programs that choose to limit the role of the advisor in the preliminary oral examination must do so for all students in the program. Programs cannot impose such restrictions on other committee members.

Yes. Graduate programs can impose more stringent GPA requirements for their students. The higher GPA requirement may pertain to the overall GPA or to the degree plan coursework.

Yes.

No, all committee members are required to vote.

Yes. Graduate programs may impose more stringent grading requirements for courses its students complete in the major.