Admission to candidacy is a major milestone for a doctoral student on the path to completing the Ph.D. By admitting a student into candidacy, the faculty certify that the student has met all program requirements other than the teaching requirement and that the student has the potential to conduct and present original research in a reasonable time period for completing the Ph.D.

 

To reach candidacy a student must have completed all program requirements as established by their doctoral program and must have the dissertation topic approved by the dissertation committe. To help students stay on track, information about program requirements should be easily accessible on departmental websites.

 

The Division expects a student to reach candidacy in year 3 or 4 of registration and to complete the writing of the dissertation in 2 to 3 years after reaching candidacy. Though reaching candidacy in year 3 or 4 is the expectation, a student must be in candidacy no later than the start of year 6 in order to be allowed to continue in their program. 

 

Academic departments may have additional - earlier - candidacy requirements as it pertains to this policy that students must adhere to during the course of their program. Those policies will supersede the divisional policy.