Ph.D. Program Guidebook - The University of Chicago Booth School ...

Ph.D. Program Guidebook 2007-2008
candidacy and conferral of the degree. The Ph.D. Program Office reviews eligibility for
candidacy once each year. Students have four years from the date of matriculation in the
Program in which to reach candidacy. Failure to do so will result in withdrawal from the
Program.
The requirements for candidacy are the first five steps of the Ph.D. requirements namely:
• Successful completion of the General Examination requirements in the student’s
dissertation area.
• Successful completion of the General Examination requirements in the student’s
support area (basic discipline).
• Successful completion of an approved coordinated course sequence.
• Successful completion of the dissertation area workshop requirement.
• Successful completion of the Curriculum Paper requirement (including presentation
in a Curriculum Paper workshop).
Upon reaching candidacy, the student is ready to complete the last two tasks of the Ph.D.
requirements: proposing and then defending his or her dissertation.
DISSERTATION PROPOSAL
To gain formal approval, the student’s dissertation proposal must be presented at a seminar.
At this seminar, open to all Ph.D. students and faculty members, the student has an
opportunity to explain, defend, and modify the dissertation proposal. The final decision
whether to permit the student to proceed with the dissertation topic is made by the
dissertation committee composed of the dissertation chairperson and at least three other
faculty members.
The chairperson authorizes the scheduling of the dissertation proposal seminar. Please see
Chapter 6 for additional details on scheduling the dissertation proposal. Once scheduled, the
Ph.D. Program Office distributes a notice inviting all faculty and doctoral students to attend
the seminar. This notice must be sent out no later than two weeks prior to the date of the
seminar. The student must provide a copy of the entire proposal to each dissertation
committee member and the Ph.D. Program Office one week before the proposal
seminar.
DISSERTATION DEFENSE
The dissertation has no prescribed length. To gain formal approval, the student’s dissertation
must be presented at a dissertation defense seminar. The dissertation defense presentation
may be attended by any Ph.D. student or faculty member, but final approval of the
dissertation is made by the dissertation committee. Approval by the dissertation committee is
required to pass the dissertation defense.
The dissertation chairperson, in consultation with the dissertation committee, determines
when a student is ready to schedule a dissertation defense and informs the Ph.D. Program
Office which then sends out a notice announcing the defense. This notice must be sent out no
later than two weeks prior to the date of the defense. Additional details on scheduling a
dissertation defense are in Chapter 6. The dissertation must be submitted to the student’s
dissertation committee and the Ph.D. Program Office at least one week before the
dissertation defense.
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