The qualifying examination is given to determine whether a student
has acquired sufficient mastery of the field of concentration to
warrant admission to candidacy for the Ph.D. degree. The exam should be
taken as soon as a student has completed the major portion of
the course requirements. It should be taken not later than four
years after the student first registered in the Graduate School-New
Brunswick and not later than two semesters before taking the final
dissertation examination.
The qualifying examination,
conducted by a committee of at least four faculty members,
may be written or oral or both. Three faculty members must be members of the
student's graduate program (and the chair must be a member). The fourth faculty
member may be either a member of the student's graduate program or an outside
member.
Once a student has fulfilled the
language requirements, if any, and other relevant program requirements,
and has passed the qualifying examination, he or she is admitted to
candidacy for the doctoral degree. The student's program will certify
the results of his or her language examination on the application for
admission to candidacy for the doctoral degree. The student must obtain
this application from the Office of the Graduate School or at http://gsnb.rutgers.edu/resources/graduate-student-forms
and submit it
to the chair of the committee at the time of the examination. It
should be properly signed by the four members of the candidate's
committee and the graduate director and then returned to the Office of
the Graduate School.
Once a student has passed the examination, he or
she must remain registered (for courses or research) as a full-time student or lose his or her
status as a candidate. The official university definition of full-time enrollment
for graduate students is 9 credits per semester. There are, of course, many
occasions, for both curricular and individual reasons, when students will
enroll for fewer than 9 credits yet be de facto full-time, in the sense that
their principal activity is working toward completion of their degrees. Different
offices have different policies regarding waiver of the 9 credit requirement. Housing
will generally accept the word of the program director to the effect that a
student is de facto full-time. The Offices of Financial Aid and the Registrar have less
flexibility. The Center for Global Services has information for international
graduate students. Please consult their website for more information:
http://globalservices.rutgers.edu.
Degree Requirements 
