Doctoral Comprehensive Exams and Admission to Candidacy Before a student can become a PhD candidate, they must pass a comprehensive qualifying exam, which is comprised of two parts; the first is a written exam and the second is an oral exam. Both exams are designed and graded by the advisory committee of each student. These exams must be scheduled by March 1st and completed by May 31st of the student’s second year. An extension beyond May 31st may be requested in writing to the graduate coordinator. Students should keep in mind that most faculty have very limited availability during the summer months. Once the oral exam is scheduled, the student must let Susan White know of the details so that she can inform the Graduate School. The format of the qualifying exam in Genetics is as follows. 1. The written exam will be in the format of a research proposal based on the research the candidate expects to complete to obtain their PhD. The proposal should be a maximum of 12 single-spaced pages, including figures but excluding references. All margins must be one inch and the font in Times New Roman 12, Arial 11, or equivalent. The proposal should consist of the following sections: a. 1 page summary of the project, hypothesis/statement of problem, and statement of specific aims/goals. b. 2-4 page background/introduction to place the project in context. c. 4-6 page section on methods, experimental approaches, and how these address the specific aims. d. A paragraph specifically detailing how the reporting of details of experimental design, strains and reagents used, steps followed, data collected, and analyses performed will be done to maximize the rigor, reproducibility, and transparency of the research. e. Up to 1 page recognizing alternative outcomes and how those will be addressed. Students, please use this title page for your proposal: Genetics_WrittenExamTitlePageTemplate_2023.doc The proposal must be written in the student’s own words and without substantial editing from the advisor. However, feedback on aspects such as experimental design of the project and clarity of writing should be obtained from the advisor. Students must email the written proposal to their committee and to Susan White (whites@uga.edu) no later than three weeks before the scheduled oral exam date. Committee members will have two weeks to review the proposal and return a pass/fail grade to the student, their advisor, and Susan White (whites@uga.edu). If the grade is a fail, comments explaining this grade should be provided. If a committee member does not provide a grade within two weeks then it is assumed the grade is a pass. If the student receives more than one failing grade the oral exam will be cancelled and the student must retake the written exam. If the student fails the written exam, or if the oral exam is cancelled or postponed for any other reason, the student must immediately notify Susan White so that she can inform the Graduate School of the change. 2. The oral exam will last at least two but no longer than three hours. It will consist of questions covering both specific and general knowledge for the student to complete his or her proposed research. Students will not be asked to leave the room at the beginning of the exam; if there needs to be any communication among PhD committee members this can happen via email prior to the start of the oral exam. The exam will commence with the selection of the chair of the exam, who will be a committee member, other than the advisor, who scored the written proposal with a passing grade. To start the discussion, the student will give a ~15 minute presentation that summarizes their proposed research. This presentation will use a maximum of 20 slides and will be uninterrupted by the faculty. The student’s advisor will not ask or answer questions for the student, nor will they participate in the discussion unless granted permission by the exam chair. Every committee member must submit their grade of pass/fail before the meeting adjourns. It is a Genetics policy that students do not provide food or beverages at their committee meetings (including their qualifying exam and defense); if food is desired the major advisor shall provide it. General guidelines: To advance to PhD candidacy, we expect that you can identify a problem and explain why it is interesting, grasp the relevant literature, design experiments to test your hypotheses, and then interpret your data to determine whether your experiments worked and what it means if they did or did not. Substantial preliminary data are not necessary and you will not be graded based on the amount of preliminary data you present. Continuation to doctoral candidacy requires no more than one “fail” grade on each portion of the exam. If one part of the exam results in more than one “fail” grade, that portion of the exam can be re-taken in the subsequent semester. A student may only re-take a portion of the exam once. A failure to continue to candidacy requires that the graduate committee evaluate options for terminal MS degree, or removal from the Department of Genetics graduate program, in concert with the graduate coordinator. back to main page
