The qualifying process is designed to enable students to
demonstrate the skills and knowledge they have learned through coursework as
well as their capacity to complete a successful dissertation. To sit for the qualifying exam, students must have completed at least 21 credits of core courses (six of which must be Inquiry I and Inquiry II). Students are required to write two papers
over the winter break, between the second fall and second spring semesters of
the program. One of the papers is
designed by the concentration faculty and one paper is common across all
concentrations. Each paper is
approximately 15 pages long.
The qualifying process will begin in December of the second
fall semester in the program and be completed on the first day of the spring semester. Doing the qualifying process at this time gives
students a chance to do summative reflection at a point when they are close to
completing coursework, demonstrate what they have learned, and begin to
finalize their thoughts on a dissertation topic with adequate time before the
proposal writing process begins in the summer.
If a student does not pass one or both of the qualifying
papers she or he has one month from the date of the face-to-face meeting to revise
the paper(s). Students may not solicit their reviewers during this interim
period of revision after they have received the initial feedback. The
paper(s) are reviewed again by the original graders. The student will have one opportunity to
revise and resubmit papers. If either
paper does not pass after the second attempt, the student will fail the
qualifying process and will be dropped from the program.
Degree Requirements 
