The Biological Sciences Division (BSD) establishes the following requirements for admission to PhD candidacy and degree completion. This policy applies to all PhD students in the BSD. All PhD students must meet these standards while also fulfilling any additional program-specific requirements detailed in their graduate program handbooks.
Admission to PhD Candidacy
To advance to candidacy, students must:
- Maintain “B” average: Complete a minimum of five Divisional graded Course requirements (excluding Pass/Fail courses) and maintain a minimum 3.0 GPA.
- Pass qualifying exams: Candidates must submit a written thesis proposal and successfully complete an oral defense before their thesis committee. Some programs may include a public defense component.
- Complete all candidacy requirements by the end of the 12th quarter (typically before fourth year).
Extensions for Delayed Candidacy
When students cannot meet the twelfth-quarter candidacy deadline, they may request an extension to maintain registration eligibility. This requires the Associate Dean of Education, Graduate Education’s approval of a concrete plan from the program, student, and thesis advisor detailing:
- Program’s justification for the delay.
- Student’s plan to meet the requirement with a specific timeline not extending beyond eleventh quarter in residency.
- Thesis advisor’s mentoring plan to assist the student’s admission to candidacy specifying meeting frequency, mentoring and support strategies, and progress benchmarks.
Final Degree Requirements
Beyond achieving candidacy, PhD candidates must complete several additional requirements to earn their PhD degree.
- Completion of Divisional professionalization requirements.
- Completion of Divisional ethics training requirements.
- Completion of all graduate program-specific requirements.
- Submission and oral defense of an original dissertation to the satisfaction of the candidate’s thesis committee and graduate program.