The Qualifying Examination is designed to test the student’s potential for research, concentrating specifically on (1) the ability to think in an integrative and systematic manner; and (2) the ability to communicate clearly. It is also intended to aid the student and his/her mentor in addressing the strengths and weaknesses of the student so that an appropriate training program can be implemented. This examination would assume and use, but not specifically evaluate, an already acquired base of knowledge provided by previous course work, journal clubs, seminars, etc.

B.      Time of Evaluation

The Qualifying Examination should be completed no later than March 31st of the second year of study. The following courses must be passed prior to the examination, unless specific permission to waive this requirement is given by the Program Director: Molecular Cell Biology I (CNP 209), Molecular Biology II (CNP 210), Gene Expression and Signal Transduction (BCHM 233), and an advanced developmental biology course approved by the Program Director. Under no circumstances will a student be admitted to Ph.D. candidacy until these five courses and the Qualifying Examination have been completed and passed.

C.      Format of Examination

The examination will focus on a single research topic and shall consist of a written research proposal and an oral defense.

The topic for the proposal shall be chosen by the student with the approval of the Program Director and the Chair of the examining committee. It should not be directly in the area in which the student has extensive experience or plans to do his/her thesis. In general, the latter will be interpreted to mean that the topic should not be one which might be carried out in a lab in which the student has worked or rotated, although related topics would be permitted. Students shall submit their suggestions for the examination topic to the Program Director at least two weeks prior to the proposed start date of the exam in the form of a draft Specific Aims section of each proposed topic (see below for details of what the Specific Aims section is).

The examination topic should allow focused and in-depth study and literature review. The written component should have a clearly stated central hypothesis. The due date for the written proposal will be approximately four weeks from the time the student is officially notified of the exam topic. The oral defense shall take place approximately two weeks after the due date for the written document.

In preparing for the Qualifying Examination, students should feel free to ask the general advice of other students and faculty members, so long as the written work has been created and prepared by the student without any outside assistance. In particular, the written document should be written and edited solely by the examinee, without assistance in content, style, grammar, or syntax. Arranging practice oral defenses is permitted, although faculty may not be present at these mock oral exams.

The written portion of the examination will be no more than ten single spaced pages. It should be written according to the following page guidelines:

(a) Specific Aims 0.5-1 page
(Including statement of central hypothesis)
(b) Background and Significance 4-5 pages
(c) Experimental Design 4-5 pages
(d) References (with titles) 40 maximum

TOTAL: 10 pages maximum (excluding references)

The written exam is due four weeks after the topic assigned. Failure to complete the written exam on time can result in failure of the exam. The oral component will be two hours in length and will be administered two weeks after submission of the written portion. The student should prepare a 5 minute oral overview to be presented at the start of the oral defense to the program faculty and examination committee, after which the program faculty and examination committee will ask questions. After the questioning the student will be asked to leave the room and a discussion will be conducted with all faculty members that are present. The examination committee will then meet in private and will vote a grade of Pass, Conditional Pass, or Fail for the entire examination (written and oral).

D.      Qualifying Examination Committee

A committee of at least 3 faculty members, chosen by the Program Director on an ad hoc basis, will be responsible for the examination. This examination committee will be separate from the thesis committee, and will not include the thesis advisor or other faculty closely associated with the student, including lab rotation supervisors. However, the student’s advisor should be present at the oral defense to become more familiar with the student’s strengths and weaknesses. The chairman of each committee will be chosen by the Program Director, and at least two of the three committee members shall be members of the CMDB Program.

The Chair of the examining committee has a special role. He/she shall, in consultation with the Program Director, select the examination topic. Once the topic has been chosen, the Chair will meet with the student as soon as possible to assist the student with the Specific Aims of the project. This assistance is intended to ensure that the student and examining committee are in agreement on the focus and overall scope of the written proposal. The guideline to be used is that the proposed work should be similar to what would be proposed in a typical post-doctoral fellowship application, i.e., two years worth of work by a single individual. Neither the Chair nor any other faculty member will provide assistance to the student on which experimental approaches are appropriate or other aspects of the proposal content. Any questions that may arise during the examination process must be directed to the exam committee Chair only, or to the Program Director in the event that the exam committee Chair is unavailable in a timely fashion.

E.      Evaluation