Qualifying Exams and Candidacy

The Qualifying Examination is a critical step within the doctoral degree program and is required for admission to candidacy. Students will be expected to prepare a written research proposal and a short presentation, and defend the proposal orally before a committee of three faculty. The examination is designed to test whether the student is ready to plan and carry out independent research. The exam will also test the breadth of the student's preparation beyond the focus of the dissertation research. It is scheduled typically at the beginning of the fourth long semester of study, so that students will have completed their core courses, and spent considerable time in a research laboratory. The examination will concentrate on the experiments and background aspects of the proposed research, but may also test general knowledge in all areas of their graduate program.

In order to proceed with the Qualifying Exam, graduate students must:

• Have a cumulative grade point average of at least 3.0
• Have completed all core courses with a grade of B or above
• Be assigned to a permanent laboratory
• International students must be ITA certified as eligible for employment “with student contact”

A Qualifying Exam informational meeting for second-year students will take place in the fall semester each year. At this meeting, students will review the timetable and guidelines of the Qualifying Exam as well as the expectations and exam process.

The Qualifying Exam is normally taken in the spring semester of a student’s second year, if all of the above requirements have not been completed by the start of the Spring semester the Qualifying Exam will be delayed to within 3 months of completing these requirements. 

Students who have not taken the Qualifying Exam by the end of their second year must write an explanatory letter of appeal to the GSC Chair and will be assigned a probationary status until further notice.

The Qualifying Exam consists of a single written proposal and oral exam on the topic of the student's laboratory research. The written component of the exam will consist of a proposal following the NIH guidelines for a pre- doctoral fellowship, but with an added appendix of relevant figures and preliminary data. In writing the proposal, students are expected to consult with your advisor, but the work must be entirely their own. 

For example, students are not allowed to copy sections of the faculty advisor’s research grant proposals. In addition, students must propose at least one set of experiments that have NOT been suggested to by the faculty advisor. Students will be expected to have a thorough understanding of their proposed research, both broadly and specifically.

Exams will typically be scheduled during the spring semester between early February and early March.

Each student is required to submit an abstract and title for the proposed research to ILS Admin at least five weeks before the qualifying exam date. The abstract should concisely state the problem, and briefly describe the approach that will be used in the research plan. The most relevant references should be included (typically one or two references), as well as a general description of the methods to be used. Each abstract typically fits on one page.

After submitting the abstract, students will have four weeks to complete the written research proposal (the written proposal is due one week prior to the exam). This document involves a detailed description of the background and logic behind the proposition, and the experiments proposed to address it. The proposal should address the following questions: (a) What does the student intend to do? (b) Why is this important? (c) What has already been done? (d) How is the student going to approach the problem? Proposals are usually hypothesis driven, with experiments designed to test the proposed hypothesis.

The written proposal must include the following:

• Cover Page
• Abstract
• Specific Aims
• Background and Significance
• Experimental Design and Methods
• Literature Cited
• Appendix
• Biographical Sketch

To conduct the exam, the student will make an oral presentation and defense before a committee of faculty on the assigned date. Students should prepare a twenty-minute talk. The examination committee will generally focus on questions pertaining to the proposal, but questions may also lead to discussion of related topics. 

The faculty supervisor is invited to the oral defense, but is not a member of the examination committee, and is asked to observe only. Following the exam, the examination committee will discuss the student's performance and their decision with the student, as well as any recommendations or conditions made. 

The examination committee will record the outcome and its evaluation on the Qualifying Examination Results form, and submit it to the ILS Admin team for records keeping.

Qualifying Examination Results forms should be initiated by the student no more than 24 hours prior to their exam:
BCH Qualifying Exam form 

CMB & MIC Qualifying Exam Form

There are four potential outcomes of the exam:

• Unconditional pass.
• Conditional pass. The committee may ask the student to re-write a portion of the proposal, or satisfy another other condition in order to pass the exam. Establishing conditions is up to the discretion of the committee.
• No pass. (Re-examination at later date). This outcome indicates that the proposal and/or defense are inadequate. Any student receiving this outcome will need to substantially re-write the proposal and re-take the examination.
• Fail. This will result in a termination of work towards the Ph.D.

• Complete the 4 core courses with a grade of B or above.
• Maintain a GPA of 3.0 or higher
• Successful completion of the Qualifying Exam
• Selection and Confirmation of Dissertation Committee members via completion of the Dissertation Committee Membership Form.
• Submission and final approval of a Candidacy Application.

The Graduate School will notify the student via email when their Candidacy Application is approved. Additional information about requirements for admission to candidacy may be found on the Graduate School website. 

Before submitting a Candidacy Application, students will need to form their official dissertation committee. The committee will have three primary responsibilities:

• General supervision of your research
• To monitor your degree progress
• To certify that an acceptable dissertation is submitted when you complete your degree

Students should consult with their PI and Graduate Advisor to form a suitable permanent Dissertation Committee. 

Per the Graduate School’s policy, a student’s doctoral dissertation committee must consist of: 

•  A minimum of four committee members (A student’s supervisor and at least three others) 
•  At least three members from the student’s GSC (Program of study/Major), one of which should be designated as Acting Committee Chair*.
• At least one member from outside of the student’s GSC. 
  • This member may be from another UT department or college or from another university entirely**.   
• In the event a student has more than one supervisor, an additional faculty member is strongly encouraged. 

Students should confirm faculty GSC membership using the following link: https://utdirect.utexas.edu/apps/ogs/auth/gsc/gsc_members/ 

Students should explicitly confirm with proposed committee members that they agree to serve on the Dissertation Committee by completing a Dissertation Committee Membership form prior to applying for candidacy. 

Please note, Dissertation Committee Membership forms are routed through ILS Admin for approval so they can ensure that the proposed committee meets the graduate school's requirements before the committee is confirmed.

* The Acting Committee Chair will be a faculty member of the student’s choosing, but is not their PI. The Acting Committee Chair’s role is to advocate for the student and to help mediate conflicts between the student and PI, particularly related to research progress and graduation time. 

**If a student elects to have a scholar from off-campus on their committee, they must be appropriately credentialed to serve on a Dissertation Committee. Students should consult with the Graduate Advisor for approval prior to contacting faculty members outside of UT Austin. This off-campus committee member would satisfy the outside member requirement for Dissertation Committees, would not have to travel to UT, and may participate in the committee meetings and defense remotely via teleconference (e.g. Zoom, Microsoft Teams, etc.) 

Once students have determined and confirmed their Dissertation Committee they are ready to apply for candidacy by completing the graduate school's  Candidacy Application.

• Candidacy applications route through an internal UT system for signature, not DocuSign
• As part of the application students will need to provide a brief (60 lines or less) description of their dissertation proposal that has been approved by your committee chair or PI.
  • This should be prepared in advance; the application will time out after 30 minutes of inactivity and you will lose any changes not yet submitted or saved.
• After the application has been submitted, it will route to each committee member and then finally the graduate school for approval. This process can take several weeks. Please plan accordingly. 

More information on the Graduate School's Candidacy requirements can be found here.

It is sometimes necessary to change the membership of the Dissertation Committee prior to completion of the dissertation. Changes for the sole purpose of constituting a more compliant committee will not be approved. Changes in the committee must be completed well in advance of scheduling the dissertation defense. Before changes will be approved, the Graduate Advisor and the Graduate Dean must approve the Request for a Doctoral Committee Change form. 

Consult the ILS Admin team prior to filing a request for a change in committee membership. 
Request to Change Doctoral Committee

Beginning the first long semester after admission to candidacy, students no longer register for Research Hours and instead must be registered for Dissertation Hours. Candidacy students must enroll in Dissertation Hours with a course number ending with a “W” (e.g. MOL 399W, MOL 699W, or MOL 999W) in all subsequent long semesters until graduation.

The Graduate School requires that the candidacy of each doctoral student be reviewed by their GSC after two years, and annually thereafter. Graduate advisers are notified when students are due for a review via an electronic document in the EASI SIS Routing Inbox. 

The decision to either extend or terminate candidacy is determined by reviewing the student's Annual Committee meeting form from the current year and open feedback from the GSC. 

A student must be in good standing for their Annual Committee meetings for their candidacy to be approved for extension. Once a decision has been made, the graduate adviser will either submit the request for extension via the electronic document to the Graduate School, or by means of petition, the GSC Chair will notify the Graduate School of the recommendation to terminate the student.