Qualifying/Advancement to Candidacy Policies

The goal of the preliminary meeting, which is not a test and is not assessed, is to give the student an opportunity to present their research proposal and meet with her/his committee in a relaxed setting to receive constructive feedback on the proposal and project, and to discuss clear expectations for topics and lines of questioning for the qualifying exam. The tone of this meeting is to be supportive, although with high standards communicated openly and honestly. The student should leave the preliminary meeting with the scope of the qualifying exam clarified, and empowered with advice, guidance, and strategies to strengthen the dissertation proposal and prepare for the exam.

The preliminary meeting takes place no later than the end of the student's 5th semester (or earlier as stipulated by the Concentration Area), and is generally 2-3 months in advance of the qualifying exam. A relatively short interval between the two meetings is strongly encouraged to maximize the value and retention of the information exchange facilitated at the preliminary meeting.

Preliminary meetings will generally be about 1.5 hrs long (flexible of course).

Extensions for the preliminary meeting (beyond semester 5) are rare. Students who must delay their preliminary meeting past the end of their 5th semester must submit a written request for an extension, as do their mentors. Those forms, due 60 days before the end of the student's 5th semester, require a justification for the extension, acknowledgment from the advisor that the student is on track and making good progress, and a proposed revised date for the preliminary meeting. Both the student's and advisor's Request for Extension forms must be approved by the Concentration Area Director as well as the BISI Director.

Note: Students do not need to have substantial amounts of preliminary data prior to their preliminary meeting; lack of sufficient data is not considered a valid excuse for delaying this meeting. By semester 5, students should have their thesis direction in reasonable focus. Those research questions and initiatives should enable students to proceed with this meeting on schedule even if work on all aspects of the project have not yet been designed or commenced.

The preliminary meeting will be chaired by the student's advisor. All other thesis committee members will attend (telecommute attendance permitted), although participation by the Dean's rep is optional. At least 2 of the attending members of the thesis committee must be University of Maryland College Park BISI faculty.

Please see this page to assist you in choosing your committee.

Students will prepare a dissertation proposal following either NIH or NSF guidelines. This proposal must be distributed to the student’s preliminary meeting committee two weeks before the meeting.

Students will present a 15 to (no longer than) 20 minute overview of the proposed thesis research, including questions and hypotheses, methods and experimental design, preliminary data, and broader context / significance of the project.

Following the oral presentation, the committee will provide the student with feedback (strengths and weaknesses; constructive suggestions for improvements) on the research project, the written proposal, the oral presentation, and the student's overall knowledge of the subject matter. The meeting will conclude with the committee providing the student with a list of up to 3 areas of specialization (level of breadth at the discretion of the committee) that will be focal topics for questioning at the Qualifying Exam. Topics directly pertaining to the student's research proposal will also be appropriate lines of questioning during the Qualifying Exam, as will general knowledge areas drawn from the student's graduate course work.

Extensions beyond semester 6 are rare, and require approved written requests for extension from both the student and faculty advisor, as described above for the preliminary meeting.

The qualifying exam is a defense of the student's doctoral research proposal, including its context and significance, as well as an assessment of the student's understanding of broader biological concepts.

The developing thesis project provides the framework for the qualifying exam, but questioning will also focus on determining whether the student has sufficient background knowledge, along with the abilities to think, synthesize, integrate, and communicate information, required for successfully completing the Ph.D. degree.

• Revised Written Proposal

  (format as described for preliminary meeting; document revised following first draft edits / suggestions discussed at the preliminary meeting). The revised proposal is due to the committee two weeks prior to the qualifying exam.

• Oral Presentation: Optional, at the discretion of the committee

  The committee may approve the student's preliminary meeting oral presentation as sufficient, waiving the need for a second presentation at the qualifying exam. A presentation at the qualifying may be stipulated by the committee if

  • they feel that the preliminary meeting presentation should be strengthened and redone [this expectation should be made clear to the student on the feedback form given to the student following the preliminary meeting], or
  • if the interval between preliminary and qualifying meetings drifts such that the committee would like to hear a short overview of the work to get back up to speed and updated on progress [in which case any committee member may request an oral presentation at the qualifying exam; the student must be informed of this request (cc'ed to the advisor) at least 3 weeks before the exam].

Covering the dissertation proposal, its broader context and significance, as well as the general knowledge from coursework and topics within the areas of specialization discussed and specified at the preliminary meeting will be asked of the student. The chair may participate in questioning or not, at her/his discretion, or in compliance with the policies of the Concentration Area.

The committee will conclude that the student has passed or failed the exam on the basis of the student’s performance during the qualifying examination. The exam will be formally divided into two parts for independent evaluation: defense of the proposal and a test of general knowledge. For each part of the exam, a student will pass if all, or all but one, of the committee members cast positive votes. Two or more negative or abstention votes on either the proposal defense or test of general knowledge constitute failure of that portion of the exam. If a student fails both parts of the exam by a unanimous or unanimous-minus one vote, the committee must decide whether to permit the student to take the exam a second time. This decision will be based on the committee’s assessment of the student’s ability to significantly improve within a relatively short period of time. If the committee decides against a second exam, the student will be dismissed from the program.

To advance to candidacy, students must pass both sections of the exam. Students who fail one portion of the exam or were given permission by their committee to retake both portions of the first exam may try once more to pass those sections.

The second (retake) exam will be scheduled when the major advisor considers appropriate, but no later than 9 months following the first exam. Failure to pass the one or two remaining sections of the second qualifying exam results in dismissal from the program.

In no case may a student repeat either section of the exam a third time.

 After passing the qualifying exam, the student must complete the Advance to Candidacy form; this completed form must be submitted to the BISI Office within one week of passing the Qualifying Exam. The BISI Office will submit that form to the Graduate School. Please note that, for forms submitted prior to the 25th of the month, advancement to candidacy becomes effective on the first day of the following month. A copy of this form must be included in the student’s file.