Comps Exams

General Information

Comprehensive Examination: To advance to candidacy for the Ph.D., students must pass a Comprehensive Examination by the end of the second year.  The exam is administered by a Comprehensive Exam Committee composed of four MCDB faculty members chosen by the Exam Committee, and one selected by the student and approved by the exam committee.  The student’s thesis advisor is not permitted to participate directly in the exam.  The exam has a written and oral component.

The written portion involves preparation of a research proposal in the form of a postdoctoral grant application in roughly the format of an NIH proposal on a topic of the student’s choosing and may include the student’s current thesis project.  The details of the written proposal (here) will be posted and available to students at least 9 months prior to the date the exam must be completed.  The proposals must be submitted to the examining committee at least 45 days prior to the announced date of the first oral exam.  The examining committee is required to review the proposal within 2 weeks and deem it acceptable or provide specific editorial comments to allow the student to revise the exam such that it can be made acceptable.  The readers of the exam must communicate with each other prior to returning the exam to the student for revision to assure a consistent opinion on the revision process.  At the end of the revision process, and at least one week prior to the oral exam date, the written exam must be deemed either acceptable or unacceptable.  If unacceptable, the examining committee has the right to extend the time for preparation or to terminate the student in the program.

The oral exam will be administered over a one-week period within a few weeks of the end of the spring term of the second year.  Generally, exams will begin with a brief presentation of the written proposal by the student including, if desired, a small number of overhead graphics.  Subsequent discussion will be roughly based on the written exam but is not restricted to it.  The committee is charged with exploring the student’s knowledge of related areas and topics of major importance to the proposed work as well as the ability of the student to integrate and interpret data in areas deemed important for the MCDB training program.  Dates, specific guidelines, and other particulars for each year's exam will be provided by the Comprehensive Exam Committee.

Students will receive written notification of the exam results within one week of the completion of all exams for the entire class. Evaluation criteria will be described in detail in a meeting between students and the Exam Committee prior to the exam.  As part of the final evaluation report, students will be provided a detailed statement sheet describing their performance in each of several clearly identified categories.  The only possible outcomes are satisfactory or unsatisfactory.  Students receiving an unsatisfactory evaluation must meet with the committee to discuss the reasons for the evaluation and, if deemed appropriate, the student will be offered the opportunity to retake the exam BEFORE the start of the fall semester.  Examination Committee members are obliged to be available for discussion regarding deficiencies and expectations for the re-examination.  The Graduate School allows all students two and only two attempts to pass the comprehensive exam.