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Advancing to Candidacy

Gillian Rodriguez, Program Coordinator

SOLS Graduate Office

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About the exams
Scheduling your exams
Where you can go for help
After advancing to candidacy
Funding
Common questions

Agenda

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About advancement: Overview

Comprehensive exams:

Written exam - typically the dissertation prospectus or a similar research proposal; submitted to committee at least 2 months before the scheduled oral exam.
Oral exam - In meeting with committee, answer questions about your knowledge of your field of study and readiness to pursue dissertation research.

Prospectus defense:

Present your research proposal and answer committee’s questions about it. In most programs, this is coincident with the oral exam.

Specific requirements for each program are detailed in your handbook. For questions about these requirements, reach out to your committee or program director if needed!

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About advancement: Deadlines

Animal Behavior	Before the end of the 5th semester
Biology	Before the end of the 6th semester
Biology and Society	Before the end of the 6th semester
Environmental Life Sciences	Before the end of the 4th or 5th semester
Evolutionary Biology	Before the end of the 6th semester
History and Philosophy of Science	Before the end of the 6th semester
Microbiology	Oral and written exams: end of 4th semester research prospectus: end of 7th semester
Molecular and Cellular Biology	Before the end of the 6th semester
Neuroscience	Before the end of 4th semester

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About advancement: Missing deadlines

If you do not meet your program’s deadline to advance to candidacy, you will receive an official warning letter with a new deadline.

If you fail to meet the new deadline, you will then be placed on probation.

Probation can include suspension of SOLS funding.
Failing to advance to candidacy during the probation semester will lead to recommendation of dismissal from your program.

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SOLS Grad Office responsibilities:

Committee responsibilities:

Exams/prospectus scheduling
Pass/fail form
Committee endorsements
iPOS review and updates
Room booking
TA/RA post-candidacy salary processing

Advising on readiness to complete exams/prospectus
The content required
Formatting requirements
What’s expected of you
Review of content and pass/fail decision

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Scheduling exams

Step one: �Work with your faculty committee when ready to confirm a date and time.

Step two:

Book your room. Your committee may have a room in mind. If not, you can use our room scheduling form.

Step three:

Ensure your iPOS is entirely up to date, particularly your faculty committee section.

Step four:

Fill out the SOLS Grad Office’s Comprehensive Exam Registration form.

Step five:

On the day of your exam, the SOLS Grad Office will send out your pass/fail form to your committee.

It may take up to a week for your pass/fail form to be signed.
Once signed, we enter the results officially into the iPOS for the Graduate College to approve.
Once approved, you will receive your official candidacy letter from ASU.

It’s important you remember to schedule your exams using our form, otherwise your committee will not receive a pass/fail form. This could potentially cause you to miss the deadline for your post-candidacy raise or not advance to candidacy in time.

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Finalizing your iPOS:

Confirm your faculty committee section is up to date.

If your committee is not finalized, your pass/fail results cannot be entered and you will not advance to candidacy.

If one of your committee members needs an endorsement, you can use our Committee Endorsement Request Form.

Getting a committee member endorsed can take up to a week, and sometimes longer, so be sure to keep that in mind when scheduling your exams!

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Scheduling deadlines

Submit registration form	At least 5 business days before your exam
Ensure room is booked	At least 4 weeks in advance
Salary increase	Exams and paperwork must be done by the semester’s deadline, indicated on the SOLS Grad Success site

Deadlines for the post-comp salary increase

Summer 26: April 27th

Fall 26: July 27th

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Comprehensive Exam Scheduling Form

Students must schedule their comprehensive exams using our scheduling form in order for the pass/fail form to be initiated.

If you fail to schedule your exams with this form, your results will not be recorded and you will not officially advance to candidacy.

Please schedule your exams at least 5 business days in advance.

You will need the following information to fill out the scheduling form:

Your comprehensive exam date(s)
Your committee members names and email addresses
Your name and ASU ID number

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You have advanced to candidacy

Now what?

You may request a Master’s in Passing (MIP)

All that is required for an MIP is passing your exams, having no previous MS degree on file, and filling out our MIP request form.

Enroll in dissertation credits.

You need exactly 12 dissertation credits to graduate.
You should take these while you still qualify for tuition remission.

Once you have completed all your credit hour requirements, you are eligible for funding as a GSA-1, make sure you do not need to take more than one credit a semester (799 credits) before becoming a GSA-1.

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Master’s in Passing

What is it and how do you receive it?

After the successful processing of your MIP application, the Graduate College will populate an MS iPOS.

You must fill out a minimum of 30 credit hours on this new iPOS and add your committee.
After the iPOS has been approved by your academic advisor and the Graduate College, you can then apply for graduation.

You MUST apply for graduation in My ASU in order to receive your MIP.

The MIP is treated just like any other degree, graduation is required for degree conferral.
Graduating with your MIP does not affect the status of your PhD program.

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Funding

What to expect

Pass/fail paperwork must be returned by the deadline to receive the raise for the next semester.

If you do not meet the deadline, you will receive the raise the following semester.
The deadlines are kept up to date on the SOLS Grad Success Site.

Depending on your circumstance, you may request a GSA-1 position.

GSA-1 positions have a higher stipend ($), but do not receive tuition remission.
These positions are recommended to students who have advanced to candidacy AND completed nearly all their requirements.

You should not request a GSA-1 position if you have not completed all 12 dissertation credits.

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Additional reminders

You do not need to submit anything to the Graduate College to complete your exams. The process is entirely internal until we submit the results from your pass/fail form in your iPOS.

Your committee MUST be finalized by the date of your exam. You must have at least 4 members (or 5, if you are in Animal Behavior), and they all must be approved in your iPOS.

You can find your program’s candidacy deadlines in the SOLS Graduate Handbook.

Our office sends out a digital pass/fail form through Adobe Sign directly to your committee members and program director. There is no physical form you or your committee need to collect.

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Any questions?